Christine Trent's guest appearances

Christine Trent

The Best in Mystery, Romance and Historicals

Poisoned Pen Podcast

Mimi Matthews

Craig Johnson

Kate Quinn

Martin Walker

Rhys Bowen

Ian Hamilton

Sherry Thomas

Michael Robotham

Karen White

Hannah Dennison

Fiona Barton

Isabella Maldonado

Fiona Davis

Naomi Hirahara

Kristan Higgins

OwlTail

Anna Lee

Barbara Peters in conversation with CS Harris, Anna Lee Huber, Susanna Kearsley, and Christine Trent

Barbara Peters in conversation with CS Harris, Anna Lee Huber, Susanna Kearsley, and Christine Trent

CS Harris, Anna Lee Huber, Susanna Kearsley, and Christine Trent

Christine Trent's addictive mysteries edge into the dark and Gothic – Victorian England through the eyes of Violet Harper, the undertaker heroine of the Lady of Ashes series, or the nightmare of the Crimea as seen by Florence Nightingale.Hi there, I’m yourhost Jenny Wheeler and today Christine talks about the mentor who inspired herto write, and where’s she’s performing Lady of the Lamp, her one-woman show onFlorence Nightingale’s life..Sixthings you’ll learn from this Joys of Binge Reading episode:Why Christine says she's been 'lucky' as a writerHow British kindness helped her survive Sept 11 Queen Victoria's role in making mourning "high fashion"Bringing Florence Nightingale to life in books and on stageThe passion she shares with Thomas JeffersonThe best lesson she's learned  as an authorWhere to find Christine Trent: Website: http://www.christinetrent.com/books.htmlFacebook: @ChristineTrentBooksWhatfollows is a "near as" transcript of our conversation, not word forword but pretty close to it, with links to important mentions.Jenny: But now, here’s Christine. .  Hello there Christine and welcome to the show, it’s great to have you with us.Christine:  Thank you for inviting me!Christine Trent - Mystery authorJenny:    Beginning at the beginning – was there a “Once Upon a Time” moment when you decided you wanted to write fiction??  And if so what was the catalyst for it?Christine: Well I actually do have a story like that. I have always been a reader - as a young child, I was a big reader. In fact, my mother used to get so annoyed having to read to me all the time that she taught me to read very early just so I could leave her alone and go and read my own books! But writing had never occurred to me until much later in life. I had gone to a University book store, and there was a sad little box of books sitting on the floor. It said “any book $1”. Inside that box of books, there was a cover that attracted me. It was very royal, it looked like a palace on the front of it. I picked it out and it was a book called To Dance With Kings by an author going by the name of Rosalind Laker. It was just a lovely book- it was historical, it was romantic; it was just wonderful. Very few books make me cry, but that book made me cry. I was actually inspired to try and find that author. Fortunately I’ve got a sister in law who works as a librarian, and she tracked down that author’s agent. As it turned out, she lived in the UK and I wrote to that author - I had never done such a thing in my life. Then the author wrote back to me, and that started  a friendship whereby my husband and I travelled to the UK and visited her. Christine and her mentor, Rosalind LakerI just got inspired to write by sitting with her and talking with her. She had had a long career herself with probably 25 books; that was actually the inspiration to begin writing myself. Jenny: What a lovely story! Now from that, you’ve got two historical mystery series, Lady Of Ashes and Florence Nightingale and you’ve got some historical romance “standalones” as well. Why did you choose historical fiction for a start, and then mystery secondly?Christine:  Well as I mentioned, Rosalind Laker  - whose real name was Barbara Ovstedal  - most of her books were historical romance. She did write some modern things, but most of them were historical romance. I adored them. Just from picking up her books, I had always read historical type books because it always interested me. I think a lot of historical readers out there would agree that it’s a fun way to learn history, especially when it’s done well and done right. That was really what got me started on historical in general. But the reason I got into historical mystery was because of my fourth book, Lady of Ashes. I actually wrote that as a piece of stand alone historical fiction, and then my editor came back to me and said “I think this idea of a Victori...

Christine Trent's addictive mysteries edge into the dark and Gothic – Victorian England through the eyes of Violet Harper, the undertaker heroine of the Lady of Ashes series, or the nightmare of the Crimea as seen by Florence Nightingale. Hi there, I’m your host Jenny Wheeler and today Christine talks about the mentor who inspired her to write, and where’s she’s performing Lady of the Lamp, her one-woman show on Florence Nightingale’s life.. Six things you’ll learn from this Joys of Binge Reading episode: Why Christine says she's been 'lucky' as a writerHow British kindness helped her survive Sept 11 Queen Victoria's role in making mourning "high fashion"Bringing Florence Nightingale to life in books and on stageThe passion she shares with Thomas JeffersonThe best lesson she's learned  as an author Where to find Christine Trent:  Website: <a href="http://www.christinetrent.com/books.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://www.christinetrent.com/books.html</a> Facebook: @ChristineTrentBooks What follows is a "near as" transcript of our conversation, not word for word but pretty close to it, with links to important mentions. Jenny: But now, here’s Christine. .  Hello there Christine and welcome to the show, it’s great to have you with us. Christine:  Thank you for inviting me! Christine Trent - Mystery author Jenny:    Beginning at the beginning – was there a “Once Upon a Time” moment when you decided you wanted to write fiction??  And if so what was the catalyst for it? Christine: Well I actually do have a story like that. I have always been a reader - as a young child, I was a big reader. In fact, my mother used to get so annoyed having to read to me all the time that she taught me to read very early just so I could leave her alone and go and read my own books! But writing had never occurred to me until much later in life. I had gone to a University book store, and there was a sad little box of books sitting on the floor. It said “any book $1”. Inside that box of books, there was a cover that attracted me. It was very royal, it looked like a palace on the front of it. I picked it out and it was a book called To Dance With Kings by an author going by the name of Rosalind Laker. It was just a lovely book- it was historical, it was romantic; it was just wonderful. Very few books make me cry, but that book made me cry. I was actually inspired to try and find that author. Fortunately I’ve got a sister in law who works as a librarian, and she tracked down that author’s agent. As it turned out, she lived in the UK and I wrote to that author - I had never done such a thing in my life. Then the author wrote back to me, and that started a friendship whereby my husband and I travelled to the UK and visited her. Christine and her mentor, Rosalind Laker I just got inspired to write by sitting with her and talking with her. She had had a long career herself with probably 25 books; that was actually the inspiration to begin writing myself. Jenny: What a lovely story! Now from that, you’ve got two historical mystery series, Lady Of Ashes and Florence Nightingale and you’ve got some historical romance “standalones” as well. Why did you choose historical fiction for a start, and then mystery secondly? Christine:  Well as I mentioned, Rosalind Laker - whose real name was Barbara Ovstedal  - most of her books were historical romance. She did write some modern things, but most of them were historical romance. I adored them. Just from picking up her books, I had always read historical type books because it always interested me. I think a lot of historical readers out there would agree that it’s a fun way to learn history, especially when it’s done well and done right. That was really what got me started on historical in general. But the reason I got into historical mystery was because of my fourth book, Lady of Ashes. I actually wrote that as a piece of stand alone historical fiction, and then my editor came back to me and said “I think this idea of a Victori...

Christine Trent – Victorian Gothic