I talked about the first of Susan Grossey’s Sam Plank mysteries, Fatal Forgery earlier today. Grossey was kind enough to take part in a Q&A with me, too. I really enjoyed these responses and hope you do to, and hopefully they make you inclined to check out the book.
Your website talks a little about your background and how you got into focusing on financial crime professionally—how did you get from writing Non-Fiction about it to writing Fiction about it?
Like most bookish people—and those who study English at university—I had always harbored dreams of writing a story book. In my professional life I wrote many technical books on the subject of money laundering and financial crime, and one day I came across a short account of a banker who had stolen all the money from his own bank and then inexplicably confessed to it quite readily. I started writing a straight biography of him, but then decided that fictionalizing it would be more fun—and that became, after many false starts and different iterations, “Fatal Forgery”. And once I’d written one fiction book, I found I couldn’t stop! It’s the temptation of hiding from the world in a fictional environment that I can control…
I don’t want to ask “where do you get your ideas?” But out of all the ideas floating around in your head, how did you latch on to Regency-era Financial Crimes? Can you talk a little about the decision to make this a series instead of just one novel?
Once I had come across the story of Henry Fauntleroy, I started to research his era more closely. And I found that the late Regency—the 1820s specifically—was a time of great upheaval in two arenas that fascinate me: finance and policing. In finance, paper money had just been introduced, and much as we today are having to come to terms with cryptocurrencies, people in the 1820s had to learn to trust paper money instead of weighty coins, where you had value in the actual metal. And stories of rogue bankers didn’t help! And in London—a growing city with escalating rates of crime—thoughts were turning to improving policing. Everyone has heard of the Bow Street Runners (founded in 1749) and their work tackling crime, but having men who are paid bounties according to who they arrest brings certain problems. In 1829, the world’s first organized police force—the Metropolitan Police—was created in London. Between the two, London had a system of “magistrates’ constables”—and Sam Plank, the narrator of my series, is one of these. As far as I have found, there are no other novels with a magistrates’ constable as the hero!
As for the series decision, it was actually Sam’s idea. When I first wrote “Fatal Forgery” I wrote it from the point of view of the banker, but it didn’t really come alive. As an experiment I tried a couple of chapters with the arresting constable telling the story, and it just leapt off the page. And I am afraid that by the time I finished I was hopelessly in love with Sam and couldn’t face saying goodbye. Just one more Sam book, I thought—as the first one was set in 1824, I’ll do one for 1825. And then Sam suggested that it would be logical to see what he would make of the arrival of the Met Police in 1829, and so I needed to write a book for each intervening year…
I have zero previous knowledge of the criminal justice system in this era of English history, but I really never felt too lost during this case. How did you approach weaving just enough information into the book to keep it authentic (or at least relatively authentic) without turning this into an information dump?
I am a research addict—I would happily spend the rest of my life in archives and libraries! But I once read a review of a book (sadly, now forgotten) which said, “The author wears his research lightly”. And this is what I strive for. I try to drop in just enough information for the reader to feel oriented, but not so much that it’s like reading a history book. I like to think that I hold all the information in the background, so that if a reader said to me, ah that’s interesting, but what would have happened in this instance, or where did that street actually go to, I would have the answer. I like the reader to feel that they can trust that I have done the research on their behalf and am sharing with them only the bits they actually need. And you should see my research files—they are ENORMOUS!
Who are some of your major influences? (whether or not you think those influences can be seen in your work—you know they’re there)
At the formative age of about twelve, I discovered that the “Poldark” stories I had loved on television were in fact books – and lots of them! I read them at a gulp, and I think my preference for historical series (rather than standalone books) started there, with author Winston Grahame and his dashing Cap’n Ross. In more mature years, I admire the historical writing skills of Antonia Fraser and CJ Sansom. And for sheer volume and sticking at it, there are few to beat Agatha Christie, Catherine Cookson and Barbara Cartland—all women, as it happens. When I am feeling lazy, I gee myself up with thoughts of their astonishing output: 66 novels for Agatha, 104 for Catherine and an unbelievable 723 for Barbara!
Is there a genre that you particularly enjoy reading, but could never write? Or are you primarily a mystery/suspense/thriller reader when you’re not doing Financial Research?
For relaxation, I enjoy what are sometimes disparagingly called “Aga sagas”—slice of life family dramas by authors like Joanna Trollope and Maeve Binchy. I could never write them myself, as I am childfree and know very little about that sort of family life, but perhaps that’s why I enjoy learning about it. I actually read very little in the crime/thriller genre as I am rather squeamish and frankly have had enough of nasty things being done to women, which seems to be a trope these days. I do like more gentle whodunnits, but have no interest at all in gore, torture or psychological horrors.
I’ve often heard that writers, or artists in general, will forget hundreds of positive reviews but always remember the negative—what’s the worst thing that someone’s said about one of your books, and has it altered your approach to future books?
I don’t know whether I’m lucky or mercifully forgetful, but I honestly can’t remember a poor review. Someone once gave me one star on Amazon because “Amazon always asks for reviews too soon and I haven’t even started this book”, which was rather annoying – but it was no reflection on the book. After about book two in the Sam Plank series, a couple of readers asked for “more Martha” (she’s Sam’s wife) and so the later books have given them just that, albeit within what would have been realistic for a working class, uneducated woman in the 1820s.
This year you released the seventh and final book in this series. What’s next for your fiction?
I am already knee-deep in research for my new series, and have written about six chapters. I just can’t leave the 1820s so we’re still there, but this time we’re in Cambridge (my hometown) and our narrator is a university constable called Gregory Hardiman. There will be five books, each—again—with financial crime at its heart. It’s interesting knowing from the outset that this will be a series, as I’m allowing myself to wallow in the research (it will pay dividends down the line) and also I’m choosing my characters carefully as I know I’ll have to live with them for a long time! So far, Gregory’s friends include a coroner and an innkeeper, so we’ll see both life and death in action. I’m hoping that “Gregory 1” (with a much better title) will be out in spring 2023.
Thanks for your time—and thanks for Fatal Forgery and for introducing me to Sam Plank!
