THE CHILD GARDEN by Catriona McPherson

My relationship with this book started months ago, when I first pre-ordered it on Amazon. Then, one of my colleagues mentioned that she knew Catriona, and that we happen to live near one another. Finally, Janet Reid expressed the following on her blog:

"Lee Child writes wonderful commercial fiction. Laura Lippman does too. Catriona McPherson on the other hand must be read with a notebook at hand. Whether anyone distinguishes these enormously talented writers by literary/commercial is almost immaterial. They write books people want to read."

It was clear--I had to feature THE CHILD GARDEN. And it's definitely a book you'll want to read--complete with a spooky cover just in time for Halloween:

Eden was its name. “An alternative school for happy children.”  But it closed in disgrace after a student’s suicide. Now it’s a care home, its grounds neglected and overgrown, and its only neighbour Gloria Harkness. Her son lives there, lighting up her life and breaking her heart each day.

When Gloria’s childhood friend turns up at her door, she doesn’t hesitate before asking him in. A girl from Eden is stalking him, has goaded him into meeting her at the site of the suicide.  Only when the dead begin to speak, it’s murder they say.

Gloria is in over her head before she can help it. Her loneliness, her loyalty and her all-consuming love for her son lead her into the heart of a dark secret that threatens everything she lives for.

Catriona was also kind enough to answer some interview questions!

According to your bio, you lived in Scotland before settling in California. In what ways, if any, did this influence your writing, and can you tell us more about your journey toward publication?

Yes, I lived the first forty-four years of my life in Scotland and even if I live to be eighty eight here in California, I'll always be a Scottish writer.  Readers tell me my voice is Scottish even when I'm writing straight standard English narrative. But then a Texas writer I admire - Terry Shames - sounds pure Texas on the page although she uses no dialect representation. Language has music, right? And the tune of Scottish is a stiff breeze and a choppy sea. Texas . . . isn't!

My journey to publication was back in the olden days, before ebooks and self-publishing, and I was also lucky enough to break in during a boom. 2005, when my first book came out, was a buoyant moment. It's much tougher now but I still think how I did it is worth a shot for anyone who wants a traditional publisher. I sat alone in a room and wrote a book, start to finish, edited and polished it, then sent it out to agents. After forty rejections, I put it in a drawer and wrote a different one. It worries me sometimes (not that it's any of my business!) that beginning writers have critique groups and websites and Facebook author pages before they have finished books; almost as if you can network your way to being a writer and the actual slog of writing is a technicality. (Ha! Can you tell I've got ambitions to be a grumpy old battle-axe one day? I seem to be doing some ground work.)

Trust me--the actual slog of writing is still a necessity, because the writing is what readers go back for. And speaking of going back, let's explore the start of THE CHILD GARDEN, when you sat alone in a room and it was just an idea. How did the characters come to you, and what do you want readers to take away from their stories?

Thank you. I am very fond of Gloria Harkness (the hero of the book) and I admit I fell in love with Stig a bit too. The story began with the house, actually. That lonely, ramshackle, shambolic house in the middle of nowhere. I lived in the real-life Rough House for the last ten years before moving to the US and I wanted to write away my homesickness for it. So . . . it went: Who lives there? Why? What keeps her there? What would she do to stay there? The other spark came from that experience we're many of us having these days, where a childhood friend finds you online and you feel instant trust because you knew this person when they were ten. Madness! A childhood friend is a complete stranger. Everyone was a child once . . .

This is the real-life Rough House. 

As to the second part, I honestly have no idea. Once the book is out there it's only one part of every reading experience, added to the reader, her mood, what she read last . . . I go from being a furtive control-freak about first drafts to cutting my books adrift completely once they're in readers' hands. It's fascinating to got to book groups and hear what people think, but I wouldn't argue about any of it.

Book groups can be subjective, I think. And writers can benefit from your book too--it's already challenging me to play with words in new ways, especially with the lovely turns of phrase you use, such as, "the heavier tread of hedgehog." Does this kind of texture come when drafting, editing, or both, and what do you enjoy most about crafting words together?

Well, thank you again. It's a mixture. Some lines come out right first time and stay through all the drafts. Some bits of fancy schmancy writing feel good at the time of writing but stink the fourth time I read them! Some sections of a first draft stink immediately and I sail on, knowing I can fix everything later. I like to get the first draft out, even if it's ugly, and then I know I'm not polishing bits I'm going to cut anyway. Also - no one ever sees the first draft (furtive control-freak, see above). That's very liberating.

I think I enjoy the good days of the first draft best. Second best is when I finally see what's wrong in a late draft and correct something that's been a pebble in my shoe for months.

What a wonderful analogy for drafting (and editing). What are some of your current projects?

Right now, I'm writing the first draft of what I hope might be book one in a new series. Still crime fiction but something different for me. (Can't say more, see above). I'm also waiting for the edit notes on the eleventh Dandy Gilver novel and then I'll be licking that into shape. It's set in a convent and was a lot of fun to write. I do love a nun. Then I need to do one last pass on a short story for the third Sherlock Holmes anthology, edited by Laurie King and Les Klinger. I was honoured to be asked but I'm a bit terrified now.

Ooh, I love anything Sherlock Holmes! Can't wait to see your unique touch on it. And thanks again for such a lovely interview.

If you can't want to wait for Catriona's forthcoming books, you can still buy the following:

THE CHILD GARDEN

Buy:  Amazon.com
          Barnes & Noble                   
          IndieBound
          Or click the BUY IT button


COME TO HARM

Buy:  Amazon.com                     
          Barnes & Noble   
          IndieBound
          Or click the BUY IT button


THE DAY SHE DIED

Buy:  Amazon.com                     
          Barnes & Noble   
          IndieBound
          Or click the BUY IT button

AS SHE LEFT IT

Buy:  Amazon.com                   
          Barnes & Noble 
          IndieBound
          Or click the BUY IT button


You can also discover (or re-discover) the Dandy Gilver series.

Bio:

Catriona McPherson is the author of a multi-award-winning series of preposterous detective stories, set in her native Scotland in the 1920s and featuring the gently-born lady detective, Dandy Gilver. She also writes a strand of darker (that’s not difficult) stand-alone suspense novels, which have won two Anthonys and been shortlisted for an Edgar. THE CHILD GARDEN is the latest. Catriona immigrated to America in 2010, and lives in the hills west of Davis with a black cat and a scientist. She is second-generation librarian on her mother’s side.

www.catrionamcpherson.com