Poppy and I are over the moon to hear that The Jazz Files has been longlisted for the CWA Endeavour Historical Crime book of the year. It’s one of 10 nominees. Totally unexpected. We’re humbled and delighted.
Click here to see all ten nominees CWA Awards
There has been a great deal of light-hearted debate on my Fiona Veitch Smith – author FB page. In book 3, Poppy and Delilah are on a cruise, travelling to New York, on the RMS Olympic. They are about to try out the on-board swimming pool and need to choose outfits. As fans of the series know, I like to dress my characters (whenever possible) in original 1920s outfits that I source from fashion museums, books and archives. So I gave people the choice between eight outfits, as seen in this original photograph, and asked them to choose an outfit for both the girls. See which ones you would put them in then scroll down to see the results! If you agree or disagree I would love to hear from you in the comments below 
And now for the results: These are the top three popular choices for each of our leading ladies in descending order:
Poppy: 6, 1, 2
Delilah: 7, 2, 6
So that’s decided! Poppy will be in horizontal stripes and Delilah the floral pattern. For colours I’m going with dark green and gold for Delilah (gold flowers) and nautical blue and white stripes for Poppy. I’ll make Poppy’s slightly longer though.
Now you’ll have to wait until 2017 to see your choice in print!!!!!
I have just received the most lovely review from an American reader who also happens to be a Christian. Now, although my publisher Lion Fiction is part of a Christian publishing company (and their American distributor, Kregel, is a Christian company too), Lion’s aim, and mine, is not to write ‘Christian fiction’. It is to write great fiction, compatible with a Christian worldview, that can be enjoyed by anyone. So I never describe what I write as Christian fiction and am grateful that in most bookshops The Jazz Files is listed simply under historical mystery and crime.
For me, faith – or the lack of it – is part of the fabric of life. So it is inevitable that faith will seep into my writing. That would happen whether I was writing for a Christian publisher or not. My novel The Peace Garden (published by Crafty Publishing) is not a ‘Christian book’ in any way, but some of the characters are Christian (and some Jewish and some Muslim). And of course themes of redemption, forgiveness and reconciliation run through the book. The same is true of the Poppy Denby Investigates series. It has been read and reviewed by people of faith and no faith – and that’s just the way I want it to be. It is also stocked in general bookshops such as Waterstones here in the UK. So if people of no faith – or a different faith – get back to me and say they think I am trying to Bible bash them, I would think I had failed as a novelist. And, I suppose, general bookshops might stop stocking it and that would prevent a whole lot of readers – who would never buy a book from a so-called ‘Christian’ bookshop – having access to it.
I am not a Christian novelist (although I am a novelist who happens to be a Christian). I am first and foremost a storyteller. I simply want to write about real people with messy lives. In Poppy’s case that means struggling with the faith she has been brought up with as she tries to find her own way in the world. That includes thinking about what she believes in God, for herself, not just what her upbringing has taught her. A few – and fortunately only a very few – Christians have been offended that I have put my character in the midst of ‘sinners’ and felt she was not ‘Christian’ enough. Well perhaps the Poppy Denby Investigates series is not their cup of tea. But how heartening it is to receive reviews from Christian readers who really seem to get it. One of those reviewers was Beth Milinski on her wonderful blog, For the Love of Books. She said:
“I enjoyed all of the characters in this book but I absolutely LOVED Poppy Denby. She is a great character with a natural curiosity and instinct to find out the truth. She struggles with what is right and wrong, making choices to honor her beliefs. Poppy loves her Aunt Dot and is motivated by Dot’s confidence in her. All of the characters in this book are real, their lives are messy, trouble happens, people get hurt, good people do bad things to try to help, and good can triumph over evil.”
Thank you Beth. It’s good to be reminded that we are all people with messy lives. And yet, we are still loved.
I’m currently writing book 3 in the Poppy Denby Investigates series. Poppy and her friends will be going to New York, travelling on an oceanliner the RMS Olympic, sister ship to the Titanic. As you well know, the Titanic sank in 1912 (in The Jazz Files Elizabeth Dorchester’s mother, Maud, died on the maiden voyage, and in book 2, The Kill Fee, the parents of Delilah’s new boyfriend also went the same way). The Olympic was one of three sisters operated by the White Star Line between Europe and New York. The third ship, the Britannic, was sunk by a German underwater mine in 1916. But the Olympic survived and had a long and illustrious career until 1934 when she was finally decomissioned. Poppy and her pals will be travelling in April 1921. I am beside myself to have found this incredible promotional film of life on board the Olympic. Just imagine what fun Poppy is going to have! It’s 16 minutes long, so make sure you have a cup of tea at the ready – and don’t forget to turn up the sound.
Delighted that The Jazz Files is a featured book of the month at Love Reading UK with a crop of flapulous reviews. I think my favourite is ”Feared this would be a ‘fluffy’ lightweight but found it remarkably engaging most notably for capturing many of the social changes of the 1920s’. Fluffy, moi????
And if you buy through the Love Reading website you get 20% off the cover price! Now that’s a New Year’s bargain.
A grand ending to 2015 with The Jazz Files being listed in the top 10 books of the year by Rather Too Fond of Books blogspot and being put on the favourite books of all time shelf! Happy New Year everyone from Fiona and Poppy!
You can see the top 10 books here.
We can get all nostalgic about past eras and I’m the first to admit I focus on the glamour of the 1920s. But in The Jazz Files and its sequels I try to also show the darker underbelly of the period. In The Jazz Files there’s the long shadow of WWI, the Spanish Flu, the torture of suffragettes, domestic abuse, the dreadful living conditions of the poor and the forced institutionalisation of women with ‘mental health issues’. In Book 2(to come out in September 2016) there is the displacement of millions of people after the Russian Revolution and the plight of injured and unemployed servicemen in London. In Book 3, which I’ve just started, I’ve come across my first piece of misery: Pea Soup Fog! This lethal mix of mist from the Thames and noxious by-products from coal fires caused the ill-health or death of tens of thousands until the Clean Air Act of 1956 started to reverse it. Click here to see a picture of a policeman at Charing Cross in the early 1920s trying to direct traffic through the ‘pea soup’. Imagine poor Poppy having to live through that!
Blown away by the latest review of The Jazz Files on Day 5 of Poppy’s blog tour. This reviewer has seen things in the book – things I’ve layered deep into the text – that (so far) no other reviewer has seen. I’m delighted! Rather Too Fond of Books
The Yellow Wallpaper which she refers to is a short story by the feminist writer Charlotte Perkins Gillman who wrote the story in light of her own post natal depression in which a woman imagines someone crawling behind the wallpaper in her convalescent room. It is a powerful story of insanity that could have been prevented if women and their ‘problems’ were treated differently. You can read it for free on the Project Guttenberg website.
… well Darlington, anyway. Check out this 60 second film about Poppy Denby filmed at the Darlington Railway Museum with actress Amber Leigh Irish playing Poppy and author Fiona Veitch Smith as the suffragette. Filmed by: Tony Glover Film & Video. Music: ‘The Black Bottom Stomp’ my Jellie Roll Morten.
Here are some pics from a film shoot we did for a book trailer for The Jazz Files American launch. I’ll show you the finished film when it’s ready, but for now enjoy these stills of actress Amber Irish playing Poppy Denby as she arrives in London and starts investigating.
