St Leonards' very own Victorian lady detective

SussexWorld

Hastings and St Leonards enjoy the return of their very own Victorian lady detective in How To Solve Murders Like A Lady by Hannah Dolby (published by Head of Zeus, an Aria Book).

Transcript

00:00Good afternoon, my name is Phil Hewitt, Group Art Citizen at Sussex Newspapers. Now a lovely

00:06pleasure this afternoon to speak to Hannah Dolby, who has Book Two out in a very intriguing

00:11new crime series, featuring the budding detective, Violet Hamilton. But the point of interest,

00:17one of the many points of interest for us, is that these books are set in St Leonard's

00:22and Hastings. Now, why? Why did you go back to St Leonard's and Hastings for these books?

00:29So I studied journalism there nearly 30 years ago, and absolutely loved the town then, and

00:35it stayed in my mind for many, many years. And so when I was looking for a setting for

00:42my Victorian novel, it came back to me. And yes, I went back for many day trips and weekend

00:49holidays. And yeah, so now I'm on my second book of adventures in Hastings and St Leonard's.

00:56And what is it that you want to capture about this town, these towns?

01:01I think they are such, I'll start again, I think they are just very atmospheric places.

01:13And in the old town of Hastings, you can capture the kind of the Tudor history and the kind

01:18of fishing history, and you've got all that story. And then in the St Leonard's part,

01:24you've got all that new bustling seaside resort that you can imagine how it looked

01:28in its Victorian heyday, with all bathing machines.

01:31And how easy is it to conjure these towns in 1897, isn't it? How easy is it to get your

01:38way into those?

01:40Once you start, it's really easy to find out what you need to know. So I found myself a

01:44map of Hastings in 1897 and walked the streets. And I found loads of books, there's hundreds

01:52of really good books out there on Hastings. And even when you just wander the streets,

01:57you do get a feeling for what it must have been like, that Victorian atmosphere still

02:02lingers.

02:03And the proximity to the sea is crucial too, presumably, to the story.

02:07Absolutely, yes. And you can really imagine that kind of, what it must have been like

02:12with people bathing in the sea and donkeys and candy floss and all those kind of seaside

02:17things, because they're still there today.

02:19This sounds great. And your heroine, Violet Hamilton, tell me a little bit about what

02:24kind of character she is, and why does she want to become a detective?

02:29So I think Violet Hamilton wants to become a detective because she's a very sheltered

02:33Victorian woman. And the idea of being a detective is as a way to find out all about life, its

02:39secrets, and also to have adventures and free herself up from the restrictions of the day.

02:45She is feisty. She's very funny. So this is a funny book. And a lot of people have

02:53said that it made them laugh. So I hope it makes readers laugh too.

02:56That sounds great. Now a lot hangs on this book. This is a second Violet Hamilton book,

03:01because you're not sure about a third. So we need this one to be a success, don't we?

03:06Absolutely. I really hope it'll fly off the shelves. It should be a good

03:09summer read. So I'm hoping it'll be a nice beach read, even if you're not on a beach.

03:14Fantastic. Brilliant. Well, good luck with the book, Hannah.

03:17Really lovely to speak to you. Thank you for your time.

03:20Thank you so much.

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