An Interview with Erica Obey

The Second Black Beacon Book of Mystery will be released on the 8th of July (but the Kindle version is available for pre-order at just $1.99 instead of $3.99, and you can add it to your Goodreads list today) and to celebrate this new volume of short mysteries bound to get armchair detectives the world over donning their deerstalkers, we’re interviewing the contributing authors. Are you ready to glimpse the inner workings of these criminally clever minds? Sit back with a cup of tea and enjoy the following interview—on second thoughts, don’t drink that!

Hi Erica,

There are several sub-genres of mystery fiction, but the stories in this anthology are traditional fair-play mysteries in which the reader can try to solve the puzzle before all is revealed. What makes this kind of mystery so timeless?

For me, at least, what’s important is having a puzzle with a solution. Especially in the current times, when everything seems so unanswerable, it’s comforting to settle in with a story with a clear answer that can be arrived at logically. In a way, a fair-play mystery is a promise that the world’s problems really can be worked out if we try hard enough.

Give us one classic mystery writer you admire and one new talent (not from this anthology) readers ought to discover?

When it comes to classic mystery writers, it’s first, last and always John Dickson Carr for me. As for current locked-room specialists, I highly recommend Gigi Pandian’s Tempest Raj series.

Is this the first mystery your protagonist has solved?

No, Watson and Doyle have solved one full-length mystery, The Brooklyn North Murder, as well as several other short mysteries.

If you were a detective, private investigator, investigative journalist, or amateur sleuth, what would be your trademark quirk?

Constantly running down intellectual rabbit holes. Arguably, it’s an inevitable side effect of being a research junkie, but it’s my worst habit as a writer. On the other hand, you can find incredible material that way.

Have you ever solved a real-life mystery?

The great appeal of working in archives is that you solve mysteries every single day. A document or a letter will open up a question that may not get answered until you find another document in a completely different file drawer. Did Thomas Cummins win his 1779 appeal to the Court of Oyer and Terminer to overturn his death sentence for aiding the British during the Revolution? (He did!) What happened to the two unexploded WWI shells Poultney Bigelow wanted to donate to the Ulster County Historical Society. (Let’s just say they’re at West Point now. Any more detail is a saga involving Hudson Valley kissing cousins and FDR’s purported mistress).What did Jane Byrd Whitehead do that was so appalling not one, but two society matrons wrote her stiff notes declining to ever associate with her again? (I don’t know yet, but trust me, I’m determined to find out).

How important is setting to you in your writing? Have you lived or visited where your story is set?

I live in the Hudson Valley, and it is as much a character in this series as Watson or Doyle. Woodstock is one of those magical places where the bounds between reality and imagination are very tenuous indeed. The woods, cliffs, water, and, yes, the historical archives are constantly unfolding new mysteries to intrigue me.

What do you aim to give your readers?

A fair puzzle, first and foremost. And I hope a little fun.

What are you working on now?

I’m currently working on several Watson & Doyle short locked-room mysteries, including one set in an online D&D game and another set in an escape room. I’m also working on a full-length novel about a woodstock rock star’s son who inherits a puzzling castle in England. It is tentatively titled The Last Riddle of Ransome Peake.

Where can we find you online?

I’m at www.ericaobey.com, where I blog on what I find in the archives of the historical arts colony where I live. Wearing my other hat as a book collector, I’m also active on LibraryThing. And you can find me on social media at @EricaObey.

Thanks for playing along. Enjoy the tea!