Lockdown allowed crime writer Priscilla Masters the chance to be naughty and there is a sparkle in her eye as she talks about her new book due out in May.
The Subsequent Wife was a book she wasn’t expected to write, she was sure her publishers wouldn’t like it and she was quite prepared to self-publish it. It turns out she was wrong; her publishers loved it every bit as much as she does and it’s about to hit the bookshelves.
Priscilla is an accomplished crime fiction writer with two long-running series and several standalone books published. She’s been writing since the 1980s and earned her first publishing contract in the 90s.
Her series about Detective Inspector Joanna Piercy is on Book 14 right now with number 15 out soon and it’s allowed her to develop Piercy’s personal and professional life whilst solving crimes in the lovely town of Leek in Staffordshire where Priscilla used to work.
Joanna Piercy came to life in the early 90s and helped secure a publishing contract with Macmillan.
Priscilla said: “I just knew that I really enjoyed reading police procedurals and too few of those novels featured a female detective.”
In our interviews she revealed the plot of Joanna Piercy’s 15th investigation and it sounds fascinating. Go ahead and listen to what she has to say about her books here.
Priscilla is also the Libraries Champion for the Crime Writers’ Association and she can’t wait to get back to visits to libraries to meet crime readers. Those conversations so often give her valuable insights including the man who picked her up on a line in one of her books where she had written about a bullet coming from a shotgun. He offered her his card and told her if she ever needed advice about guns for future books he’d be happy to help!
You can hear Priscilla talk more about libraries and their importance to writers here.
And, of course, we always ask our Mug Shots interviewees to give us tips for writers seeking to get their own work out into the world.
Priscilla’s advice is memorable. She says: Keep your feet on the ground and your head in the clouds.”
What does she mean?
She said: “Don’t lose that dream. Someone has to do these things, someone has to write books.”
You can find the Mug Shots interviews on Youtube right here and discover more about Priscilla Masters’ crime fiction novels on her website here. I can recommend the Joanna Percy series and I’m already looking forward to reading The Subsequent Wife.