Most readers will know me best for the Miss Underhay series, set in 1930’s Devon. Book 20
in that series, Murder at an English Manor will be out in May and there are many more books
planned. So why write something new? The Secret Detective Agency, set in 1941, started life
as one of those ideas writers get when a character pops into their head and won’t go away.
That character was Arthur Cilento, asthmatic, reclusive and academic. He is medically unfit
to enlist. He does, however, have a great many skills which are very useful to the war
department. The other character who wouldn’t go away is Miss Jane Treen. Jane is
technically Arthur’s superior. She works deep in the bowels of Whitehall managing agents
overseas and at home.
Jane is the chalk to Arthur’s cheese. Like most people in that period, she smokes much to
Arthur’s vexation. She does everything at top speed where Arthur ambles along through life.
She appears tough on the outside because she has to be in the environment she works in.
However Arthur gets to know the other side of Jane as the series progresses and there are lots
of surprises in store.
Brigadier Remmington-Blythe appears in both series and by now should have retired but due
to the war he is still in post. The idea of writing a cozy crime mystery series set in wartime
with these characters just wouldn’t leave me alone. I then started what was laughingly called
The Friday Night Project.
On Friday evenings I often had the house to myself, just me, my cockapoo, Teddy and the
radio. I used to listen to a Bay City Rollers programme connecting me to other fans and
friends around the world. That was my time to write for fun and my own amusement.
During those times I opened a file and started what is now the first book in the series, The
Secret Detective Agency. Before long more characters leapt onto the page. Benson, Arthur’s
faithful manservant who manages his life and has accompanied Arthur on many of his prewar
missions. Marmaduke, Jane’s one-eyed orange cat who she had saved from a bombsite as a
kitten and of course Elsa, Jane’s mother.
Elsa, is introduced right at the end of the first book. She is American and is a singer and
actress. I love writing Elsa as she is so completely in love with herself and drives poor Jane
completely mad with her divaish antics.
Although the first of the Secret Detective books and the latest in the Miss Underhay series are
now only four years apart, 1937 is a different world compared to 1941. I had to immerse
myself in research to get the details right. Luckily I have a fabulous research assistant in my
niece, Sophia, who also used her university contacts to assist me. My local museums and
historical societies were also brilliant. Not to mention the people who generously shared their
own memories of that time.
When I had about fifteen thousand words completed I mentioned to my agent that I had this
project that I had been playing with, and she asked if she could see it. Normally I hate sharing
my work until it’s done but I was curious to learn what she thought, so sent it to her. I wasn’t
sure if the market was heating up for murder mysteries set in World War Two. I knew that
Agatha Christie’s Tommy and Tuppence books were popular, and I had noticed more people
writing crime set in this era.
She came right back after reading and asked if she could mention it to my then editor at
Bookouture. She also read it and loved it. They both made a couple of suggestions, and I
happily carried on writing on my Friday nights. My editor left and I had a new one. We all
met to negotiate a new contract for the Miss Underhay series, and she mentioned the Secret
Detective Agency book.
By then I was almost halfway so I sent it to her to look at. She too loved the book, and my
agent then negotiated a three-book contract for the new series. The Friday night project was
now an official thing and Jane, Arthur, Marmaduke, Benson and Elsa were going to make it
onto the published page. I’m very excited to bring the books to readers and hope they have as
much fun reading them as I have had writing them.
Author Bio:
Helena Dixon is a Black Country wench living in Devon. She writes award winning contemporary romance as Nell Dixon and best-selling golden age style cozy crime as Helena Dixon. Happily married to the same man for nearly forty years she has three daughters, two grandsons, a crazy cockerpoo and a cactus called Spike.
https://www.facebook.com/nelldixonauthor
