Welcome to this week's Coffee Chat!
Mystery author Bradley Harper is with us this week with his debut novel, A Knife in the Fog. I've already put it on my TBR list!
Nice to meet you, Brad. How do you take your coffee?
BH: I am kind of a wimp when it comes to coffee. I put in milk and sweetener, and usually have a cookie or biscotti to add to it.
Ally: Nothing wrong with that. It sounds delicious. While I gather our drinks and maybe those cookies, why don't you introduce yourself to readers?
Mystery author Bradley Harper is with us this week with his debut novel, A Knife in the Fog. I've already put it on my TBR list!
Nice to meet you, Brad. How do you take your coffee?
BH: I am kind of a wimp when it comes to coffee. I put in milk and sweetener, and usually have a cookie or biscotti to add to it.
Ally: Nothing wrong with that. It sounds delicious. While I gather our drinks and maybe those cookies, why don't you introduce yourself to readers?
BIO:
Bradley Harper is a retired US Army Pathologist with over thirty-seven years of worldwide military/medical experience, ultimately serving as a Colonel/Physician in the Pentagon. During his Army career, Harper performed some two hundred autopsies, twenty of which were forensic.
Upon retiring from the Army, Harper earned an Associate's Degree in Creative Writing from Full Sail University. He has been published in The Strand Magazine, Flash Fiction Magazine, The Sherlock Holmes Mystery Magazine and a short story he wrote involving Professor Moriarty in the Holmes tale of The Red Headed League (entitled The Red Herring League) won Honorable Mention in an international short fiction contest. A member of the Mystery Writers of America, Authors Guild, and Sisters in Crime, Harper is a regular contributor to the Sisters in Crime bi-monthly newsletter.
Harper’s first novel, A Knife in the Fog, involves a young Arthur Conan Doyle joining in the hunt for Jack the Ripper, and has been nominated for an 2019 Edgar Award by the Mystery Writers of America for Best First Novel by an American Author.
Something unusual/unique not in your regular bio: “When I was stationed in Heidelberg, my office was directly beneath the room where General Patton died. On the fiftieth anniversary of his death I was the acting commander of the army hospital, so I presided over a brief ceremony with local military and German mayors from the surrounding area. Patton was, and still is, greatly admired by the Germans to this day.”
ONLINE:
website: http://www.bharperauthor.com
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/bharperauthor
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/bharperauthor
Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/bharperauthor
GoodReads: https://www.goodreads.com/bharperauthor
Mysteries of the Past podcast: http://bharperauthor.podbean.com
Bradley Harper is a retired US Army Pathologist with over thirty-seven years of worldwide military/medical experience, ultimately serving as a Colonel/Physician in the Pentagon. During his Army career, Harper performed some two hundred autopsies, twenty of which were forensic.
Upon retiring from the Army, Harper earned an Associate's Degree in Creative Writing from Full Sail University. He has been published in The Strand Magazine, Flash Fiction Magazine, The Sherlock Holmes Mystery Magazine and a short story he wrote involving Professor Moriarty in the Holmes tale of The Red Headed League (entitled The Red Herring League) won Honorable Mention in an international short fiction contest. A member of the Mystery Writers of America, Authors Guild, and Sisters in Crime, Harper is a regular contributor to the Sisters in Crime bi-monthly newsletter.
Harper’s first novel, A Knife in the Fog, involves a young Arthur Conan Doyle joining in the hunt for Jack the Ripper, and has been nominated for an 2019 Edgar Award by the Mystery Writers of America for Best First Novel by an American Author.
Something unusual/unique not in your regular bio: “When I was stationed in Heidelberg, my office was directly beneath the room where General Patton died. On the fiftieth anniversary of his death I was the acting commander of the army hospital, so I presided over a brief ceremony with local military and German mayors from the surrounding area. Patton was, and still is, greatly admired by the Germans to this day.”
ONLINE:
website: http://www.bharperauthor.com
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/bharperauthor
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/bharperauthor
Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/bharperauthor
GoodReads: https://www.goodreads.com/bharperauthor
Mysteries of the Past podcast: http://bharperauthor.podbean.com
INTERVIEW:
Ally: I understand this is your debut novel. What inspired you to write it?
BH: I'm a life-long fan of Sherlock Holmes. One day I read that there was a four-year gap between Doyle writing the first Holmes story, A Study in Scarlet (1886), and the second, The Sign of Four (1890), with the Ripper murders in 1888, right in the middle. Doyle only got twenty-five pounds for Scarlet, which was about what he'd get for a short story, while Scarlet was a novella. Additionally, he had to surrender full copyright and was so embittered by the experience he vowed to never write another "crime story" for as long as he lived. The Ripper murdered five women at least, but stopped as suddenly as he began, never knowingly being caught. I envisioned a story involving Doyle in the Ripper murders that would explain why Doyle eventually returned to Holmes, and why the Ripper stopped his rampage in Whitechapel. The idea just caught hold, so I went for it.
Ally: How did you get it published?
BH: Being too dumb to quit. I was rejected by seventy-nine agents before number eighty said "maybe." After a couple of revisions that she suggested, we signed a contract, and now I'm a finalist for the Edgar for Best First Novel by an American. I rewrote or revised my novel thirty times, so I believe that persistence beats raw talent in almost every human endeavor.
Ally: Do you write with a theme or message in mind?
BH: I do. The plot is what drives the action, but it is a backdrop to the protagonist's inner struggle. If your character doesn't derive some life lesson or insight into the story, it can become as meaningless as rush hour traffic. I begin with the idea clearly in my mind as to what the story is really "about," and that makes the writing go very quickly.
Ally: Talk about your main characters. Are they likable? Do they have off-putting flaws or beliefs?
BH: In my first book I really have three main characters. First there's Conan Doyle, who is the narrator of my tale. Doyle is a very neat, rather fussy individual who abides by the rules. Then there is Professor Bell. Bell was Doyle's professor of surgery in medical school in Edinburgh, and was the inspiration for Sherlock Holmes, and in real-life he did do some forensic investigation. My third character is Miss Margaret Harkness, also a historical figure. Margaret was a suffragette and socialist who was both an author and labor organizer. She was living in Whitechapel at the time of the Ripper murders so that she could experience the daily struggles of the working poor she portrayed in her novels. Margaret thinks what she says as soon as she thinks it, and refuses to be bound by the conventions of the time.
After I'd finished my novel I realized that the three portrayed the three aspects of human personality. Doyle is Ego, a rule-follower. Bell is Super-Ego. He understands the reason the rules exist, but also knows when they should be bent. Margaret is pure Id. She acts on her emotions, rules be damned. The interplay of the three created something that was far beyond the sum of their parts, and I grew very fond of all three of them.
Ally: What is your next writing project? Anticipated release date?
BH: My next book is in final edits now. Called Queen's Gambit, Margaret is my protagonist this time, though Bell is involved early on. In this story Margaret stands between an anarchist assassin and Queen Victoria during her Diamond Jubilee ceremony. The expected release date is October 8.
Ally: Which of the quick answer questions did you select?
BH:
Ally: I understand this is your debut novel. What inspired you to write it?
BH: I'm a life-long fan of Sherlock Holmes. One day I read that there was a four-year gap between Doyle writing the first Holmes story, A Study in Scarlet (1886), and the second, The Sign of Four (1890), with the Ripper murders in 1888, right in the middle. Doyle only got twenty-five pounds for Scarlet, which was about what he'd get for a short story, while Scarlet was a novella. Additionally, he had to surrender full copyright and was so embittered by the experience he vowed to never write another "crime story" for as long as he lived. The Ripper murdered five women at least, but stopped as suddenly as he began, never knowingly being caught. I envisioned a story involving Doyle in the Ripper murders that would explain why Doyle eventually returned to Holmes, and why the Ripper stopped his rampage in Whitechapel. The idea just caught hold, so I went for it.
Ally: How did you get it published?
BH: Being too dumb to quit. I was rejected by seventy-nine agents before number eighty said "maybe." After a couple of revisions that she suggested, we signed a contract, and now I'm a finalist for the Edgar for Best First Novel by an American. I rewrote or revised my novel thirty times, so I believe that persistence beats raw talent in almost every human endeavor.
Ally: Do you write with a theme or message in mind?
BH: I do. The plot is what drives the action, but it is a backdrop to the protagonist's inner struggle. If your character doesn't derive some life lesson or insight into the story, it can become as meaningless as rush hour traffic. I begin with the idea clearly in my mind as to what the story is really "about," and that makes the writing go very quickly.
Ally: Talk about your main characters. Are they likable? Do they have off-putting flaws or beliefs?
BH: In my first book I really have three main characters. First there's Conan Doyle, who is the narrator of my tale. Doyle is a very neat, rather fussy individual who abides by the rules. Then there is Professor Bell. Bell was Doyle's professor of surgery in medical school in Edinburgh, and was the inspiration for Sherlock Holmes, and in real-life he did do some forensic investigation. My third character is Miss Margaret Harkness, also a historical figure. Margaret was a suffragette and socialist who was both an author and labor organizer. She was living in Whitechapel at the time of the Ripper murders so that she could experience the daily struggles of the working poor she portrayed in her novels. Margaret thinks what she says as soon as she thinks it, and refuses to be bound by the conventions of the time.
After I'd finished my novel I realized that the three portrayed the three aspects of human personality. Doyle is Ego, a rule-follower. Bell is Super-Ego. He understands the reason the rules exist, but also knows when they should be bent. Margaret is pure Id. She acts on her emotions, rules be damned. The interplay of the three created something that was far beyond the sum of their parts, and I grew very fond of all three of them.
Ally: What is your next writing project? Anticipated release date?
BH: My next book is in final edits now. Called Queen's Gambit, Margaret is my protagonist this time, though Bell is involved early on. In this story Margaret stands between an anarchist assassin and Queen Victoria during her Diamond Jubilee ceremony. The expected release date is October 8.
Ally: Which of the quick answer questions did you select?
BH:
- a. favorite book: The Seven Percent Solution by Nicolas Meyer. The finest Holmes book ever written by anyone other than Doyle himself.
- b. book you're currently reading: Wired for Story by Lisa Crom. She gets into the neurophysiology of the brain and how stories affect us such that we really do in a sense live the struggle the protagonist experiences.
- c. an item on your bucket list: Three weeks in Lyon, France. Two weeks to study French (I speak some now), then one week to research the world's first forensic laboratory established there in the early twentieth century by Edmond Locard. The principles of forensics he established are still used today.
- d. favorite movie: It's a three-way tie between Blade Runner, Young Frankenstein (which I first saw in a Vietnamese detainee camp I was deployed to as a young Army Officer before I went to med school), and The Princess Bride.
- e. something unique in your closet: I have a Gurkha fighting knife I bought while I lived in Puerto Rico. It's great with coconuts.
A Knife in the Fog by Bradley Harper
Seventh Street Books, 2018
Genre: historical fiction/mystery/suspense
September 1888. A twenty-nine-year-old Arthur Conan Doyle practices medicine by day and writes at night. His first Sherlock Holmes story, A Study in Scarlet, although gaining critical and popular success, has only netted him twenty-five pounds. Embittered by the experience, he vows never to write another "crime story." Then a messenger arrives with a mysterious summons from former Prime Minister William Gladstone, asking him to come to London immediately.
Once there, he is offered one month's employment to assist the Metropolitan Police as a "consultant" in their hunt for the serial killer soon to be known as Jack the Ripper. Doyle agrees on the stipulation his old professor of surgery, Professor Joseph Bell--Doyle's inspiration for Sherlock Holmes--agrees to work with him. Bell agrees, and soon the two are joined by Miss Margaret Harkness, an author residing in the East End who knows how to use a Derringer and serves as their guide and companion.
Pursuing leads through the dank alleys and courtyards of Whitechapel, they come upon the body of a savagely murdered fifth victim. Soon it becomes clear that the hunters have become the hunted when a knife-wielding figure approaches.
Buy links:
- Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Knife-Fog-Featuring-Margaret-Harkness/dp/1633884864
- Indiebound: https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781633884861
- Indigo: https://www.chapters.indigo.ca/en-ca/books/a-knife-in-the-fog/9781633884861-item.html
- Audible: https://www.audible.com/pd/A-Knife-in-the-Fog-Audiobook/B07HKJH1W5
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