Happy St. Patty's Day, Booklovers!
On this very Irish day morning, thanks for stopping to visit us for a little book talk! Today’s guest author is Janis Wilson, with her featured book, Goulston Street, a Jack the Ripper mystery.
Good morning, Janis. While I pour our coffee - and perhaps top it off with a little Baileys - please introduce yourself to readers.
Happy St. Patty's Day, Booklovers!
On this very Irish day morning, thanks for stopping to visit us for a little book talk! Today’s guest author is Janis Wilson, with her featured book, Goulston Street, a Jack the Ripper mystery.
Good morning, Janis. While I pour our coffee - and perhaps top it off with a little Baileys - please introduce yourself to readers.
Bio:
Janis Wilson is a retired trial lawyer. She is a frequent lecturer on fiction writing. A true crime commentator on the Investigation Discovery and Oxygen Channels, Wilson was a co-organizer of RipperCon, an international conference of persons who study the crimes and policing in the Jack the Ripper case. In her first novel, Goulston Street, the author purports to identify the real killer of five women during the Victorian era.
She attended the University of Memphis, graduating with a degree in journalism. She became a newspaper reporter, writing award-winning articles about the failure of local governments to address inner city problems, life in a women’s prison and the challenges of providing quality education. She returned to the University of Memphis and obtained a Master of Arts in Political Science.
Janis is a chapter president of Maryland Writers Association and belongs to Mystery Writers of America, Sisters in Crime, Guppies, The Wodehouse Society, and Sherlockians of Baltimore.
She lives without incident with her husband and two rescue cats.
Check out my new website, www.janiswilson.com
Twitter: @JanisW1888
Janis Wilson is a retired trial lawyer. She is a frequent lecturer on fiction writing. A true crime commentator on the Investigation Discovery and Oxygen Channels, Wilson was a co-organizer of RipperCon, an international conference of persons who study the crimes and policing in the Jack the Ripper case. In her first novel, Goulston Street, the author purports to identify the real killer of five women during the Victorian era.
She attended the University of Memphis, graduating with a degree in journalism. She became a newspaper reporter, writing award-winning articles about the failure of local governments to address inner city problems, life in a women’s prison and the challenges of providing quality education. She returned to the University of Memphis and obtained a Master of Arts in Political Science.
Janis is a chapter president of Maryland Writers Association and belongs to Mystery Writers of America, Sisters in Crime, Guppies, The Wodehouse Society, and Sherlockians of Baltimore.
She lives without incident with her husband and two rescue cats.
Check out my new website, www.janiswilson.com
Twitter: @JanisW1888
INTERVIEW:
Ally: What/who inspired you to write your featured book?
JW: When I was about ten, I heard a reference on television to Jack the Ripper, who murdered and mutilated prostitutes and, despite the entirety of Scotland Yard hunting him, was never captured. My mother wouldn’t let me watch the program and it always itched the back of my mind. For years, I wondered why there was never a trial. On a visit to London, I took the Jack the Ripper tour of Whitechapel. It has been gentrified since but at that time it was intensely dark. The streets were tiny and twisted and rivaled a rabbit warren for a confusing array of passages. Everything came together in my mind. I suddenly understood how the police could have been just a few steps behind him but never took him into custody. Later, I learned the 125th anniversary of the killings would be the subject of a conference. I attended, met many Ripperologists who became my friends, and began building my library. Suddenly, to my surprise, I had a full book in my mind. Goulston Street was meant to be.
Ally: What book/author was the biggest influence on your writing?
JW: Perhaps the most impactful author was Charles Dickens, not just because of his brilliance, but because he was a Victorian writer. He was also one of the first writers to incorporate a detective into his books. Dickens was very fond of mysteries, and Great Expectation remains my favorite of his works. Miss Havisham is one of the greatest characters ever fashioned and I devoured the master’s books.
Ally: If you met Jane Austen, what would you talk about?
JW: I’d seek her tutelage on character creation and observation. It is wonderful that she could imagine both Elizabeth Bennett, but also her ditzy sister, Lydia, who was so selfish she couldn’t foresee that an elopement would bring shame on the entire family and, essentially, make her sisters unmarriageable. I’d want to know how she handled editing when she was writing her books in cursive. Did she ever decide the way she’d written it at first was good enough and didn’t have to be revised? Did her family object to her sending her work to a publisher? Why was she reluctant to market herself? Was she modest or protecting her family from gossip?
Ally: If you were thrown into a different time, past or future, what book hero would you want with you? Why?
JW: I’d love to have Elizabeth Bennett as a travel companion. She loved to visit new places and to meet new people. She was kind and gentle but very no-nonsense. She had a great deal of dignity and intelligence. Her comments on people and things would be illuminating.
Ally: What is your next writing project?
JW: I'm writing about a famous 19th Century socialist who was a multi-lingual writer, editor, speaker and even an actress who performed on stage with her good friend, George Bernard Shaw. Sadly, she is murdered and Lady Sarah, who considered her a friend, investigates. The book isn't finished yet, but I am having a lot of fun watching my beloved aristocrat try to get information out of a lot of cautious socialists.
Ally: Which of the short answer questions did you pick to answer?
JW:
Ally: What/who inspired you to write your featured book?
JW: When I was about ten, I heard a reference on television to Jack the Ripper, who murdered and mutilated prostitutes and, despite the entirety of Scotland Yard hunting him, was never captured. My mother wouldn’t let me watch the program and it always itched the back of my mind. For years, I wondered why there was never a trial. On a visit to London, I took the Jack the Ripper tour of Whitechapel. It has been gentrified since but at that time it was intensely dark. The streets were tiny and twisted and rivaled a rabbit warren for a confusing array of passages. Everything came together in my mind. I suddenly understood how the police could have been just a few steps behind him but never took him into custody. Later, I learned the 125th anniversary of the killings would be the subject of a conference. I attended, met many Ripperologists who became my friends, and began building my library. Suddenly, to my surprise, I had a full book in my mind. Goulston Street was meant to be.
Ally: What book/author was the biggest influence on your writing?
JW: Perhaps the most impactful author was Charles Dickens, not just because of his brilliance, but because he was a Victorian writer. He was also one of the first writers to incorporate a detective into his books. Dickens was very fond of mysteries, and Great Expectation remains my favorite of his works. Miss Havisham is one of the greatest characters ever fashioned and I devoured the master’s books.
Ally: If you met Jane Austen, what would you talk about?
JW: I’d seek her tutelage on character creation and observation. It is wonderful that she could imagine both Elizabeth Bennett, but also her ditzy sister, Lydia, who was so selfish she couldn’t foresee that an elopement would bring shame on the entire family and, essentially, make her sisters unmarriageable. I’d want to know how she handled editing when she was writing her books in cursive. Did she ever decide the way she’d written it at first was good enough and didn’t have to be revised? Did her family object to her sending her work to a publisher? Why was she reluctant to market herself? Was she modest or protecting her family from gossip?
Ally: If you were thrown into a different time, past or future, what book hero would you want with you? Why?
JW: I’d love to have Elizabeth Bennett as a travel companion. She loved to visit new places and to meet new people. She was kind and gentle but very no-nonsense. She had a great deal of dignity and intelligence. Her comments on people and things would be illuminating.
Ally: What is your next writing project?
JW: I'm writing about a famous 19th Century socialist who was a multi-lingual writer, editor, speaker and even an actress who performed on stage with her good friend, George Bernard Shaw. Sadly, she is murdered and Lady Sarah, who considered her a friend, investigates. The book isn't finished yet, but I am having a lot of fun watching my beloved aristocrat try to get information out of a lot of cautious socialists.
Ally: Which of the short answer questions did you pick to answer?
JW:
- a. A memorable book you’ve read: The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins is my favorite book of all time. Collins was a close friend of Dickens and they even wrote and performed in plays together. Collins was a passionate feminist and wrote repeatedly about how women were disadvantaged in Victorian society for no good reason. He wrote a brilliant mystery with a gutsy woman as the sleuth. She knew how to deal with avaricious, deceitful men and she took care of herself and her sister in doing so.
- b: Your pets: I have a great passion for cats. I am on the staff of two tuxedos who, although unrelated, look like twins. This led me to name them for their eye color – Jade and Amber. I acquired a cat on the day I registered for law school, so I named him Amicus. He was solid black except for a Ginsburg patch of white at the throat. I also had a grey cat I chose to name Dorian, in honor of Oscar Wilde. I collect cat figures, which are spread throughout the house and which cheer me up. Jade and Amber stay with me while I write. Amber sleeps nearby and Jade drapes herself over my shoulder. They’ve made the COVID-19 isolation tolerable.
- c: Your hobbies: I adore the theater. I’m a great fan of Tom Stoppard, whom I had the pleasure of meeting shortly after he was knighted. My love of theater melds with my enjoyment of international travel. That’s how I’ve managed to see every Shakespeare play. I also saw a performance of Witness for the Prosecution performed in a real London courtroom.
- d. Best place you’ve ever visited. Definitely London, the center of the universe. I love the theater, afternoon tea, and history. It is the location of my first and second novels. Research is a pleasure.
Goulston Street: The Quest for Jack the Ripper
Genre: historical mystery
Whitechapel, London, 1888.
It is the Autumn of Terror, when Jack the Ripper is brutally murdering prostitutes. Queen Victoria pushes the police to solve the killings quickly, but they are stymied.
Lady Sarah, a disgraced aristocrat, who runs a boarding house, takes up the quest as her own misfortunes weigh on her. Along with her brother, other aristocrats, and the prostitutes who rent from her, Sarah doggedly followed the trail at her own personal peril. As the murders grow even more grisly, Lady Sarah’s chase takes a number of twists and turns, much like the grimy streets of Whitechapel itself.
"A formidable entertainment crammed with incident and characters..." Ripperologist magazine.
Goulston Street: The Quest for Jack the Ripper is available on Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble.
Genre: historical mystery
Whitechapel, London, 1888.
It is the Autumn of Terror, when Jack the Ripper is brutally murdering prostitutes. Queen Victoria pushes the police to solve the killings quickly, but they are stymied.
Lady Sarah, a disgraced aristocrat, who runs a boarding house, takes up the quest as her own misfortunes weigh on her. Along with her brother, other aristocrats, and the prostitutes who rent from her, Sarah doggedly followed the trail at her own personal peril. As the murders grow even more grisly, Lady Sarah’s chase takes a number of twists and turns, much like the grimy streets of Whitechapel itself.
"A formidable entertainment crammed with incident and characters..." Ripperologist magazine.
Goulston Street: The Quest for Jack the Ripper is available on Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble.
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