The CANDACE ROBB Newsletter

Issue 3 September 2000

THE CANDACE ROBB INTERVIEW

What first prompted you to write a series set in Scotland?

The histories of the north of England and Scotland, particularly the lowlands, intertwine so much that I'd learned a great deal about Scotland in my research for the Owen Archer mysteries, enough to make me want to know more. The time of Robert the Bruce and William Wallace particularly intrigued me - not the heroes, but the victims of the fighting - the people on whose land the battles were fought, the people who lost their homes as Robert the Bruce burned everything in King Edward's path. I wanted to tell their story.

What are the differences between the two series?

The Owen Archer mysteries are in a sense a chronicle of England in the late 14th century; the Margaret Kerr mysteries are a chronicle of the life of a young woman in a war-torn country. Owen Archer is a spy in the service of the Archbishop of York. The events he investigates happen largely outside his family (Lucie's troubles in A Spy for the Redeemer being an exception), and involve the community or the realm. His family life is incidental to the plots. Margaret Kerr's family is central to the series. She is investigating personal matters in the first book and will continue to be motivated by personal loyalties. Where Owen is frequently reluctant to take up an investigation, Margaret's sleuthing is entirely self-motivated. Owen is happily married; Margaret's husband is missing and she's discovering how little she knows him. Owen is a man who has begun life again after a career as a soldier. Margaret is an 18-year-old woman whose life, just beginning, is suddenly turned upside down by war. York is a thriving, cosmopolitan city; Edinburgh is at this time a modest town whose trade has been taken over by an occupying army.

Did you find that in writing about a female detective you were working under more constraints than with Owen who is an ex-soldier and a man?

Yes and no. Margaret wouldn't be believable as a sleuth-for-hire. She has neither Owen's background nor is she as mobile. So the motivation for her sleuthing has to come from within, and she needs a network of people assisting her.

What is going to happen to the Owen Archer series?

The Owen Archer books are moving slowly towards events in York in 1381, so there are a number of books still to come. I'm presently working on The Cross-Legged Knight. In autumn 1371, Owen Archer and Magda Digby become involved in the investigation of a fatal fire that takes the life of an elderly tenant of Bishopthorpe. The victim, Cisotta, was Magda's close friend. A boy who survived the blaze is accused of setting it. But Alisoun Ffulford (the redoubtable orphan of The Riddle of St Leonard's) believes that he is innocent and asks Magda to help see that justice is done. Magda has mixed feelings about helping Alisoun and the accused. Owen is pulled into the investigation when the Bishop of Winchester takes an interest in the boy.

Tell us how you came up with the idea of Margaret's family.

Margaret's family evolved as I wrote the book. I've been fortunate with the Owen Archer series in the characters I've collected around Owen and I wanted to do the same for Margaret. But her series is so personal that her family needed to be the key characters. I wanted a strong connection with the Austin canons of Holyrood and Soutra Hospital, and thus Father Andrew was born. Fergus, Margaret's younger brother, is a link with her childhood and a worry as the series continues when he becomes involved in the conflict. Malcolm, Margaret's father, developed as a contrast to his wife, Christiana, and an opportunity to study a different reaction to the conflict, someone who simply removes himself. Will he stay away? I doubt it. Christiana began as someone for Margaret to react against, but she'll also provide an opportunity to look at the Scots tradition of Second Sight, and the ambiguity of visions - are they madness or God's gift?