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Marley
Louise
Behind the Scenes
Murder at Raven’s Hollow
As with all my books, lots of different kinds of inspiration came together to create this story.
My grandfather was a fireman, killed during the Sheffield Blitz when my mother was three years old. Like Harriet, she often talked about her sadness that she couldn’t remember him and her guilt that she hadn’t really missed him until she was an adult and realised she’d never get the chance to meet him. She had to rely on other people’s memories to build up an idea of what his character had been like.
The buildings and places in my stories are made-up, but often inspired by somewhere real. The idea of a café entirely covered in Virginia creeper (The Witch’s Brew), was suggested by Tu Hwnt I’r Bont Tea Rooms in Llanrwst, close to where I used to live.
Finally, I’ve always been fascinated by ancient burial mounds and the legends that surround them, so one was bound to find its way into one of my books sooner or later. The chamber in my story is loosely based on one that was practically next door when I lived on Anglesey. Bryn Celli Ddu (the Mound in the Dark Grove) is a Neolithic tomb where bones, arrowheads and carved stones have been found.
Mixed together, these elements became Murder at Raven’s Hollow. I had such fun writing it. I do hope you’ve enjoyed reading it!
My grandmother never really recovered from his death, so there were no photos of him in her flat. It was only after she died that we found an album, begun when he’d been a teenager, filled with photos of people and places we didn’t know. Like Iris, I went back to where my grandparents had lived and tried to follow in their footsteps, matching up the photos to the places. It was a very emotional experience.
Whit’s bookstore (The Secret Grimoire) owes its slightly chaotic feel to the wonderful Shakespeare and Company in Paris. For a bookworm like me, the idea of a store so completely crammed with books that they won’t all fit onto the shelves is absolute bliss.
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