1. Can you tell us a little about
yourself?
I am the author of 40-some books, most of
them novels of British Christian history. The award-winning Glastonbury,
A Novel of Christian England, an epic covering 15 centuries of English
history, is my best-known work. I am
also the author of The Monastery Murders: A Very Private Grave, A Darkly
Hidden Truth and An Unholy Communion as well as the Lord Danvers
series of Victorian true-crime novels and the literary suspense series The
Elizabeth & Richard Mysteries. I am also the mother of 4 and grandmother of
12. This year my husband Stan and I will celebrate our 50th wedding
anniversary. I am an enthusiastic gardener when life allows time to pull the
weeds.
2. When you were a child did you have a
favourite book or books?
Books, period. I was an only child and my
mother wasn’t well, so I was required to entertain myself quietly for hours on
end. The Bobbsey Twins, Heidi, Hans Brinker, Bambi and stories of King Arthur
were my best friends as a child, then I graduated to Jane Austen and the
Brontes. (Jenny here I loved Heidi also as child)
3. Do you have a favourite Genre to both
read and write?
English mysteries! Especially the
classics: Dorothy L. Sayers, Margery Allingham, Josephine Tey; and more modern:
P. D. James, Martha Grimes, Reginald Hill, to name just a few. Well-developed
backgrounds and lively characters are most important to me and that’s what I
find in these writers. I also enjoy the slightly slower pace of English
writers. (Jenny again I loved Agatha Christie and loved reading her mysteries)
4. Did you have favourite authors growing
up who have influenced you?
Jane Austen has always been my great
literary love and had a lot of influence on my becoming an English teacher and
later a writer. This autumn A Jane Austen Encounter, book 3 in my Elizabeth
& Richard Literary Suspense series will be released. My literature
professor sleuths visit all the homes where Jane Austen lived— and, of course,
encounter a few dead bodies along the way.
5. When did you know you wanted to be an
author?
Mostly I wanted to be a reader. Then a
minor character in a novel I was reading got hold of my imagination and
insisted that I tell his story. It was like being pregnant. Brandley’s
Search, which eventually became book 3 in my Cambridge Chronicles and was
later republished as Where Love Begins, was that story. Everything else
followed on from writing that book.
6. How did you go about becoming an
author?
Writing the story came first. Then I
discovered Christian writers’ conferences. Meeting other writers, taking classes
from top editors and learning tips from publishers taught me the business and
professional end of the writers’ world.
7. If you were not a writer what would
you like to be?
I honestly can’t imagine doing anything
else. I love to travel, but most of my travels are related to research for my
writing— so there I am, coming full circle again.
8. Outside reading and writing what do
you like to do?
Spending time with my grandchildren,
gardening and drinking tea with friends.
9. Do you have a place you love to visit
or would love to visit?
Since all my travel is either for family
or research and I am rather compulsively task oriented, I occasionally
fantasize about being on a warm, white beach somewhere with absolutely nothing
to do but lay around and read. I recently read about Australia’s Cottesloe
Beach and the white sands at Hymans Beach. Those would fit my fantasy to a tea.
And, yes, it would have to be someplace where I could get good tea! (Jenny again I have been to Cottesloe Beach I love Perth)
10. If you could have a meal with 3
living people who would you choose and why?
My first thought was, “Here’s my chance—
I’ll ask to have dinner with Queen Elizabeth!” As amazing as that would be and
much as I admire her, however, I think when it came right down to it, I would
most love to have dinner with my daughter and 3 daughters-in-law. (I know, you
said 3— but I can’t leave anyone out.) Unfortunately, I think I have about as
much chance of having dinner with the Queen as I do getting my far-flung family
together from Los Angeles, Boston and Calgary.
Thanks again for your time and agreeing
to be on my blog.
Thank you, Jenny. It’s been delightful
visiting with you and your readers. Now that you know that one of my fantasies
is to visit Australia I can at least say I’ve had a virtual visit. And I would
love to have your readers visit me at www.DonnaFletcherCrow.com. You can see
the trailers for my Monastery Murders books, photos from my research trips, and
see my garden before it got quite so weedy.
First light, Ascension morning. From the top of the tower at the College of Transfiguration, voices rise in song.
Felicity's delight turns to horror when a black-robed body hurtles over the precipice and lands at her feet.
Her fiancé Father Antony recognizes the corpse as Hwyl Pendry, a former student, who has been serving as Deliverance Minister in a Welsh diocese. The police ignore the strange emblem of a double-headed snake clutched in the dead man's hand, labelling the death a suicide. But Hwyl's widow is convinced otherwise, and pleads for Felicity and Antony to help her uncover the truth.
Matters grow murkier as Felicity and Antony, leading a youth pilgrimage through rural Wales, encounter the same sinister symbol as they travel. Lurking figures follow them. Then a body is found face-down in a well …
"Donna Fletcher Crow gives us, in three extremely persuasive dimensions, the world that Dan Brown merely sketches." - Timothy Hallinan, author of The Queen of Patpong
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