NICOLA UPSON

Nicola Upson

Nicola Upson was born in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, and read English at Downing College, Cambridge. She has worked in theatre and as a freelance journalist, and is the author of two non-fiction works, and the recipient of an Escalator Award from Arts Council England.

Since discovering the work of Golden Age author Josephine Tey/Gordon Daviot, she has developed a passion for the theatre and literature of the period, and an admiration for those who wrote and performed between the wars. Her research has included many conversations with people who remember the time and who knew Josephine Tey, including Sir John Gielgud and Margaret Harris, one of the design team ‘Motley‘.

She lives with her partner and splits her time between Cambridge and Cornwall, where the next novel in the series is set.

Photograph of Nicola courtesy of Julia Hedgecoe

You can hear Nicola broadcasting most weeks on Mandy Morton's BBC Eclectic Light Show, where she's the resident arts correspondent. Tune in on Wednesday evenings between 6 and 8pm to BBC Radio Cambridgeshire, 96 and 95.7FM, on-line and on DAB digital radio, and on Listen Again at www.bbc.co.uk/cambridgeshire

Q & A

You’ve already written two arts-based books and contributed to the Continuum Encyclopedia of British Literature, so why crime fiction?

The other books were commissioned and wonderful to do, and I loved working with the late Valerie Grosvenor-Myer on the encyclopedia which she edited, but this book also started many years ago as non-fiction – a biography of the crime writer Josephine Tey, whose work I loved and who was vastly underrated in comparison with contemporaries like Christie and Sayers. Although Tey’s work was well-documented, her private life left many questions unanswered and after a long time of banging my head against a wall, my partner suggested that I recreate her as a fictional character based on what we know. It seemed sensible to put her in the genre for which she was famous.

The Daughter of Time and The Franchise Affair are Tey’s best-known works, but you’ve set An Expert in Murder long before they were written, in 1934, during the run of her play, Richard of Bordeaux; why start there?

Because it was her first big success. She wrote the play under the name of Gordon Daviot (her real name was Elizabeth Mackintosh), and it ran for over a year in the West End, turned John Gielgud into a commercial star, and gave her many of the friendships which would run throughout her life. I spoke to Gielgud and several other people involved in that play during my research, and that’s helped to make the setting as authentic as possible. It was a moment of real contrasts, which are great for any novel: I loved setting the glamour of the West End against the misery of the depression and the aftermath of the Great War; and, for Tey, there was the more personal difficulty of balancing success and fame, which she was never comfortable with. The book’s set in the last week of the run, when some of the shine had worn off and egos were starting to clash – and that’s a marvellous background for a fictional murder.

In reading the book, it’s fun guessing who really lived and who didn’t. The Motleys create some wonderful comedy moments amid an otherwise quite dark novel; who were they really?

They were two sisters, Margaret and Sophia Harris, who, with a friend called Elizabeth Montgomery, formed the design company Motley. They designed the costumes and sets for Richard of Bordeaux and many other West End hits, and did some groundbreaking stage and film work here and in America. I spent a wonderful afternoon with Margaret Harris, and many of the Motley traits in the book have developed out of what she told me. You needed a sense of humour in theatre at that time!

With so many fictional detectives already, how did you set about creating Inspector Archie Penrose?

Archie is one of the purely fictional characters in the book, although he’s a tribute to Tey’s Inspector Grant – she was a forerunner in creating a detective who was a credible professional rather than a talented amateur. I’ve made him cousin to the Motleys and a long-time friend of Josephine’s, and the two of them – in true crime fiction tradition – share a somewhat troubled past. He’s important, because although Josephine Tey is a central character I don’t want her to be another Miss Marple; the detection in the book has to be as real as it can be and appropriate to the time.

The book has many layers, twists and turns – how important is it to you that the reader doesn’t guess who did it until the end?

I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t satisfied when people don’t guess – but it’s certainly not the most important thing. The characters in An Expert in Murder and in the book I’m writing now are ordinary people, some of whom are driven to extraordinary measures by the circumstances of their lives; what satisfies me most is when people are convinced by a character’s behaviour – not just the murderer, but other acts of love or hate or kindness. In some ways, they’re less about murder than they are about loss: it’s vital to me that we care about who dies, that the reader feels a genuine sense of regret at the same time as they’re intrigued by the puzzle element.

You mentioned that you’re writing another book in this series; besides Josephine, which characters can we look forward to a reappearance from, as I imagine it turns into a bit of a repertory company?

That’s exactly what it’s like, and it’s been wonderful to return to people I’m beginning to know well. Archie’s in the next book, and the Motleys – and some of the others will appear in subsequent stories. I can’t really be more specific without giving away the names of some who may not be in a position to return anymore!

Are you able to tell us where the next book is set?

Cornwall, in the summer of 1935.

This must be a very exciting time for you, but getting a publisher is one of the most difficult things to do these days. How was it for you?

I was lucky enough to be selected for an Escalator Award. It’s an extraordinary project run by the New Writing Partnership and the Arts Council, and it does exactly what the name suggests. I think the hardest thing for any writer is putting your work out to an impartial audience; I worked in marketing for fifteen years, but I can’t sell myself and Escalator did that for me – publicising the book to agents, who are the first vital step in the path to a publishing contract.

Was it a nail biting time?

Yes, but the confidence I gained from being selected for Escalator and getting a fantastic agent helped me to deal with the rejections – and there were several! But if I’d had a wish-list right from the start, I would have chosen to be with Faber and Faber; there’s something very special about being part of a publishing tradition which includes PD James and, before her, Cyril Hare. It still feels slightly unreal, and a huge privilege.

Harper Collins are publishing in the States – how do you think the Americans will receive the book?

Josephine Tey is much-loved in America, and that particular period is still very popular so I’m keeping my fingers crossed – and I couldn't have asked for more enthusiasm from Harper Collins. The strangest thing, though, is that there are going to be Russian and Romanian versions – and I can’t wait to see what the covers for those are like!

With period dramas riding high on TV at the moment, can you see the series turning into a House of Eliott or even a Gosford Park?

This time last year, I wouldn’t have dreamt that anything like that was possible, but the first book is now going to be a Woman’s Hour drama serial in the spring – so who knows? I’m still pinching myself.

So are you any closer to writing the biography of Josephine Tey?

It’s strange how these things go, but the minute you close the door on an idea, things start to happen which might make it possible after all, and a lot of new sources of information have come to light since I started making things up! It’s been odd to discover that many of the details of her life that I put into the first book have since turned out to be more accurate than I could have imagined, and my partner has been busy collating letters and diaries from a number of different people which paint a fascinating picture, so we are planning to work on a book together which we hope will give an insight into the real lives of the theatrical community of that period.

What sort of time-span will the fictional series cover?

If people like the books, they’ll run until 1952, when Elizabeth Mackintosh died at the age of just 55. It’s a great period of time to write about, and the books will reflect her life as she grows older and follow the pattern of her work. It’s interesting that the people who know about Josephine Tey really love her, and I hope that more people will discover her for themselves. Her eight crime novels are just a joy to read.

Interview with Amanda Vale.