Anne Coates has admitted to being behind several murders in her quiet corner of S.E. London and she doesn’t care who knows it, writes Michael Holland.
Anne is a writer who began putting stories together at an early age: ‘I used to write plays to be performed by my friends when I was at primary school,’ she says. ‘I moved on to poetry and gradually started to write short stories.’
Inspired by Enid Blyton’s Secret Seven she upgraded to Sherlock Holmes and also developed a lifelong love of the horror genre through Dennis Wheatley books. Her mother was a great reader and took the young Anne to the local library, then a good English teacher brought books to life as he read to the class, just like her mother did. With more access to books at school, Anne recalls that she could ‘read to my heart’s content’. Even now, she admits to reading contemporary fiction and books aimed at young adults.
But reading novels did not stop Anne from finding time to write seven non-fiction books: ‘They are a lot easier to write’, she reveals. I asked if she had a preference: ‘They are such different parts of me!’ she starts. ‘I enjoy the discipline of non-fiction but adore the freedom of writing fiction.’
Anne will use everything for inspiration ‘Anything I read, see, experience can leave a little seed which sometimes germinates months or even years later. Writing a series of crime novels has been eye-opening and inspiring. Characters who may have been subordinate in one book nudge me saying, “It’s my turn now…”’ Minor characters in one book have ended up centre stage further on in the series.
But, out of the two genres, it is fiction that Anne has been working on lately, and her Hannah Weybridge series of crime mysteries now has Murder in the Lady Chapel, a new edition to add to the original five that have seen our local heroine solve murders in such genteel places like Peckham Rye Pond, Dulwich Library, and St John the Evangelist on Goose Green!
What is Hannah Weybridge like? ‘Hannah was created from some of my own experiences as a journalist – although I have never found myself in any of the threatening situations she faces. The books are set in the 1990s when single mothers like Hannah were blamed for just about everything that was wrong in the country. She is struggling journalist until she makes a breakthrough writing an article for a national newspaper. She is fairly naïve at the beginning of the series but soon learns to stand her ground. Other characters often underestimate her – to their detriment. She’s wary of most people but she’s definitely the person you’d love to have fighting in your corner.’
What deadly deeds in Dulwich will Hannah be solving in your latest book? ‘Murder in the Lady Chapel opens with the vicar of St John’s finding one of the choristers dying in the church when he’s about to start morning prayers and implores Hannah to find out what she can… While she investigates, someone is trying to intimidate her in a series of seemingly unconnected ways. The past as well as the present haunts her. Will she be able to solve the mystery before Christmas is ruined?’
I need to get Murder in the Lady Chapel to find out!
The Hannah Weybridge books read well as standalones, although reading the series in order gives a much better experience. The order is: Dancers in the Wind, Death’s Silent Judgement, Songs of Innocents, Perdition’s Child, Stage Call and Murder in the Lady Chapel.
The series can be ordered from bookshops – Chener in Lordship Lane stocks them – and online or order and collect from Blackwell’s or Amazon.
