Back in 2007, Massey, who is of Indian descent, was researching her standalone novel The Sleeping Dictionary, which explored the maturation of a young woman in 1930s Bengal. That’s when she came across an article about Cornelia Sorabji, the first woman to study law at the University of Oxford and the first female attorney in India, where she began her practice in the 1890s.
“Sorabji wasn’t just the first woman attorney in India, she was the first woman solicitor in the whole British empire,” says Massey, 56, speaking from the Baltimore home she shares with her husband of 30 years, Tony, and their two dogs. Their two children are now in college.
“I thought she sounded like such an interesting person and thought someday, someday, I would like to refer to her in some way, in some book.”
Massey did what many authors often do. She printed out the newspaper story and put it in a folder with other articles, such as one on India’s first female doctor and another on the fashions of time. “I have all these folders. It’s my method of keeping track of details when I’m entering a new world. And for me, then, historical India was a new world I had never written about,” says Massey, the author of 15 novels to date.
About 10 years later, Massey was talking with her agent and an editor at Soho about a possible series set in India when the proverbial lightbulb went off and she remembered the Sorabaji article.
And fact eventually worked its way into fiction.
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der Summer #168 2021-Ausgabe von Mystery Scene.
Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.
Bereits Abonnent ? Anmelden
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der Summer #168 2021-Ausgabe von Mystery Scene.
Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.
Bereits Abonnent? Anmelden
6 New Writers to Watch
Wiley Cash’s debut, A Land More Kind Than Home, about the bond between two brothers landed on the New York Times Best Sellers List and received the Crime Writers’ Association Debut of the Year.
ANN CLEEVES
British author Ann Cleeves has an affinity for remote areas and how these isolated regions affect her characters.
CARLENE O'CONNOR
“Anyone can play Snow White. It takes real talent to play the Wicked Witch.”
Mystery Scene MISCELLANY
FIRST USE OF FINGERPRINTS
PANIC ATTACK
The newest entry in my Pittsburgh set series of thrillers is called Panic Attack. It’s the sixth book featuring Daniel Rinaldi, a psychologist and trauma expert who consults with the Pittsburgh Police.
LAIDLAW'S LEGACY
During the pandemic, Ian Rankin stepped away from Rebus and into the shoes of friend and literary hero, the “Godfather of Tartan Noir” William McIlvanney.
HILARY DAVIDSON
Call it The Case of Life Imitating Art.
Thomas Walsh - The Unusual Suspect
Any paternity test on the sub-genre of police procedural will identify the DNA of Ed McBain and Lawrence Treat, as well as the 1948 movie The Naked City and the radio and TV series Dragnet…and of course Thomas Walsh.
S.A. COSBY
In Razorblade Tears, two aging men—one Black, one white, both with criminal pasts—join forces to seek revenge for the murders of their gay sons. The themes of fathers and sons and toxic masculinity will be familar to fans of Cosby’s 2020 breakout Blacktop Wasteland.
VIPER'S NEST OF LIES
A slip of the tongue is a dangerous thing. Not only does it expose indiscretions, it also can lead to murder. The latter especially applies to me.