Veronica Heley Interview

Q. How did you get your start writing fiction and what genre do you predominantly write in?
A: I started in crime, and am now returned to it. The main difference is that in my first books – which are, incredibly – now being reprinted, I didn’t include much Christian thinking. Nowadays I write about two women who are both trying to behave as Christians in an ungodly world.

Q: What does your writing space look like?
A: It’s the smallest ‘bedroom’ in the house. Instead of a bed there is a large old desk with my computer on it. Besides that there’s a table for filing and writing with a pen, a stack of open shelves and, most important of all, two Victorian seascapes above my desk, for escapist purposes.

Q: In this busy world, how do you find time to connect with God and how does this impact your writing?
A: I have a space for prayer first thing in the morning and last thing at night, but I use ‘arrow’ prayers throughout the day when I need advice or meet with a problem, or just see or hear something to give thanks about.

Q: What part of a writing career do you find the most difficult?
A: Doing line or copy edits. My sight is not that good, and I find looking for lost spaces or commas tiring.

Q: Would you tell us about your current book release FALSE WALL?
A: This is the 10th book in the Abbot Agency series.
When the party wall dividing the gardens of Bea Abbot from that of her fiance Leon collapses, a human skeleton is unearthed in Leon’s garden. Having only just purchased the property, Leon and Bea set out to discover more about the house’s previous owners. Before they can proceed in their investigation however, the pair fall victim to an elaborately-laid trap. With her home, livelihood and the agency under threat, it seems Bea is the subject of a meticulously-planned vendetta. But why? And why is Leon becoming so strangely distant?

Q: Where did you get your inspiration for this story?
A: The wall between my daughter’s garden and that of a neighbour was covered with ivy, and it collapsed when someone tried to pull the ivy away, loosening the mortar between the bricks. The result was spectacular! No wall. And expensive to replace.

Q: Tell me a little about your main character and how you developed him/her.
A: Bea was a single mother bringing up her son when she went to work for, and eventually married Hamilton, who had inherited a domestic agency. When Hamilton died tragically young, Bea took over the agency. She attracts waifs and strays but tries to keep a balance in her life as she is responsible for the employment of her agency staff. She is a businesswoman with a heart. And her son is now a hard-working member of Parliament who thinks he knows best about everything.

Q: What did you enjoy most about writing this book? Least?
A:  I can ‘become’ Bea for a bit when I’m writing about her. She is far more decisive and businesslike than I am. I envy her her beautiful London early Georgian town house, too.
However, I have to take great care over the time lines of my plots, which fit together like pieces in a jigsaw puzzle. I go over and over and over these to make sure I haven’t made any mistakes.

Q: What is the main theme or spiritual message of this book?
A: ‘Cast your bread upon the waters and it will be returned to you after many days.’
When Bea is in trouble, the people she’s helped in the past come to her aid.

Q: Would you share with us what you are working on now?
A: I write alternately about Bea Abbot and Ellie Quicke – who is far less businesslike than Bea. And now I’m back to Bea again, in a story which starts with a dinner party held for two ten-year old children, which is interrupted by a curtain being set on fire.

Q: If you could have dinner with 2 people, who would they be?
A: Two of my oldest friends. I don’t move in the Celebrity world and wouldn’t know how to talk to them if I met them –  and as for Nobel prize winners and the like, my poor brain couldn’t cope!

Q: Do you have a favourite hobby?
A: I garden and read widely.

Q: What is the most rewarding thing you have ever done?
A: Helped to start various community projects.

Q: Where can readers find you on the internet?
A: www.veronicaheley.com.  I also send out a free monthly newsletter with news and views – and trivia. No photographs! There is a button to press on the home page if you would like to receive this.

Q: Anything else you’d like to tell or share with us?
A: I am grateful that in my eighties I can continue to write stories which people want to read.