I’ve always loved a good murder.
I’ve always loved a good murder.
Not in the police-tape, fingerprints, and grim detectives sense, but in the delicious puzzle-box tradition of Christie, Sayers, and their ilk. Ever since I picked up my first Agatha Christie as a teenager, I was hooked. Give me a cup of tea, a rainy afternoon, and the prospect of genteel poisonings in a sleepy English village, and I’m happier than Miss Marple in a hat shop.
Over the years, I’ve devoured Golden Age mysteries the way others devour chocolate éclairs, sometimes in one guilty sitting. And while I’ve written a few non-fiction books, there’s always been a quiet voice at the back of my mind saying: One day, you must write your own murder mystery.
Well, I’ve finally listened to that voice. This isn’t about chasing bestseller lists. It’s about finally scratching an itch that’s been with me for decades, the joy of weaving mystery for its own sake.
So why a murder mystery?
There’s something irresistible about them.
The structure is neat, almost mathematical, and yet it brims with human messiness, secrets, betrayals, jealousies, and lies whispered behind lace curtains. I love how the genre allows you to explore the darkest corners of the human heart, all while sipping tea and never spilling a drop on the Afghan rug.
Period dramas, especially those set around the world wars, have always been my favourites. There’s atmosphere in abundance: ration books, stiff upper lips, battered suitcases, the lingering shadows of conflict, and the promise of a new world pushing against the old. Setting a murder mystery in that period is exactly what I’ve always wanted to do.
The Heirloom’s Secret (well, that’s the title for now)
So here it is: my very first foray into murder and mayhem on the page. The Heirloom’s Secret, and it’s everything I’ve ever wanted to write rolled into one mystery, memory, and more than a few skeletons in cupboards that really ought to have stayed shut.
The story is set in the spring of 1953, a time when England was still recovering from the war but looking forward with excitement to the coronation of the young Queen Elizabeth. Perfect, I thought, for a village brimming with gossip, suspicion, and just a hint of scandal.
And into this fictional village, Thornfield Haven, steps my heroine.
Meet Agatha Carroway
Agatha Carroway (Aggie to her friends, though heaven help anyone who uses the nickname without permission) is not your average sleuth. She’s not a bright-eyed ingénue stumbling across corpses while taking her corgi for a walk. She’s not a retired colonel with a monocle and a moustache waxed to a lethal point.
Agatha is a retired midwife in her early seventies. She’s sharp, witty, and carries the calm authority of someone who has seen life, from its beginnings to its endings and everything in between. She has no patience for nonsense, though a great deal of compassion for the frailties of human nature. Her hands may be stiff with age, but her mind is as nimble as ever, and when something doesn’t add up, she’s the one who notices.
I wanted a protagonist who wasn’t in the first flush of youth. Agatha has lived a full life, loved and lost, and now finds herself pulled into the dark tangle of secrets that threaten to engulf her village. She’s not nosy, exactly… though the villagers might disagree. As the story unfolds, we learn more about this woman and some of her unique talents.
Her Partner in Crime-Solving
Every sleuth worth their salt needs a foil, someone to challenge, assist, and occasionally roll their eyes when the detective insists on poking into places best left alone.
For Agatha, that someone is Inspector George Hargrove of the local constabulary. A man of steady temperament and dry humour, Hargrove is perhaps the only one who sees Agatha’s sharp mind as an asset rather than a nuisance.
Together they form an unlikely partnership: the seasoned policeman and the sharp-eyed pensioner, allies united by mutual respect (and perhaps a little exasperation on his part). Their friendship gives the story warmth and wit as they set out to solve the mystery. Well, that’s the intention. Agatha blithely pushes past boundaries in pursuit of the truth, even dragging him into shady scenarios.
A Village with Secrets
Thornfield Haven may look postcard-perfect, with its stone cottages, churchyard yews, and lace-curtained windows. But as anyone who has read a Christie will tell you, appearances are never to be trusted. Beneath the surface lies a tangle of long-buried secrets, resentments, and scandals, some reaching back decades.
When the first murder occurs, it feels shocking enough. But Thornfield Haven isn’t done yet. More than one body will fall before the truth finally comes to light, and Agatha will find herself not just uncovering a crime, but tearing open the very fabric of her community’s history.
And yes, there’s an heirloom at the heart of it all. A relic of the past, delicate yet potent, that binds the secrets together like a thread in an embroidery. To say more would be to spoil the fun, and I wouldn’t dream of robbing you of that.
Writing The Heirloom’s Secret has been a dream decades in the making. It’s not just a story about murder, but about memory, identity, and the weight of the past on the present. It’s about women’s voices in times when they were often dismissed, and about the way seemingly small choices ripple through generations.
Agatha’s age, her perspective, and her wit are all dear to me. In a world that too often sidelines older women, I wanted to put one firmly centre stage and let her shine. She may have traded her midwife’s satchel for a sensible handbag, but she’s no less formidable for it.
Of course, I have loosely based my heroes on people I know, both past and present, and set it all in a period coloured by my own childhood memories.
A Promise of Twists and Turns
Now, a good mystery must be more than setting and character. It must puzzle. I’ve really tried to lay false trails, scatter red herrings, and turn the kaleidoscope just when you think you’ve got the picture clear. I can promise you that nothing in Thornfield Haven is quite as it first appears. Suspects abound, motives multiply, and the truth, when it finally arrives, may surprise you. And even if you do guess the villain (or villains), I’m trusting the motive may stay hidden until the end.
But that’s as far as I’ll go. To tell you more would be to hand you the solution, and what fun is that?
This is just the beginning. The Heirloom’s Secret is the first of what I hope will be a series of mysteries featuring Agatha Carroway and Inspector Hargrove. They’ve become so real to me that I can’t quite imagine leaving them behind after just one adventure. There are more secrets to be uncovered, more scandals lurking in village lanes, and, inevitably, more bodies waiting to be discovered.
If you, like me, have always longed for a fresh slice of Christie-style crime, set against the backdrop of a world in transition, then I hope you’ll enjoy stepping into Thornfield Haven. Pull up a chair, pour yourself a cup of tea, and prepare to be intrigued.
After all, as Agatha herself might say, life’s too short not to poke your nose into things that don’t concern you, especially if there’s a murderer about.
I do need to point out that I’m still in the editing phase, so there may be some time before I get around to publishing it (if that’s what I decide to do). You see, this is definitely a ‘hobby’ type project, and one that may not be author material, but the process is certainly fun!
