Fine Old Hymns, Fine New Mysteries
an interview with Julia Spencer-Fleming
by Deborah Oliver
Julia Spencer-Fleming is the author of a mystery series featuring Clare Ferguson--woman, priest, ex-helicopter pilot and sometime sleuth. Recently Julia sat down for a talk with Deborah Oliver, editor of The Northeast, a publication of the Diocese of Maine.
NORTHEAST : How do you come up with book titles and do you have to fight your publisher over them?
JULIA : All of my titles are taken from hymns. I spent a lot of time leafing through hymnals--sometimes during sermons-- looking for a hymn that would match the theme of the book. I also got a lot of suggestions. All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence [book 5 in the series] was a suggestion from a friend.
The only title I was ever in conflict with my publisher was for my second book. My original title was Just as I Am--it's a great hymn and it fitted very well with one of the themes of the book, which is acceptance. The St. Martin's marketing people thought `Just as I Am' sounded like a self-help book and they wanted a "more lurid hymn." So I found There is a Fountain Filled with Blood in the 1909 hymnal. My editor loved it, though I still have some reservations.
Some titles are more perfect than others. I think the best one is Out of the Deep I Cry--the content of the hymn was very evocative of the content of the book.
NE : What in your Episcopalian past made you want to make the protagonist of your first novel an Episcopalian?
JULIA : One of the first pieces of advice a would-be writer is given is "write what you know"--and I know Episcopalians! I wanted to write about spirituality and about a character for whom spirituality is the wellspring of her identity, but I wanted to do it in a nondogmatic way.
So you know, if you want to talk about religion and not mention God too much, you gotta be Episcopalian! Having a cleric as a sleuth is also the perfect stepping stone fir getting people over the question, "why is she snooping around murders?" Because we expect a cleric to be there in moments of crisis, we expect them to be privy to information others don't have, and we expect them to be involved in social issues. All of those tie into mysteries.
NE : What inspires you in your writing?
JULIA : One thing that drives me in these particular stories is that the situation of these two lead characters is very compelling. I don't know exactly what they'll be to each other at the end of the series. Discovering where they're going has been fascinating to me.
Another important motivations is the chance to write about social issues I'm concerned about. I think that one of the great strengths of crime fiction today is that, more than any other sort of fiction, it deals with social ills.
NE : What are some of the social issues you'll tackle?
JULIA : The book I'm writing now [All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence] is the one least focused on social issues because it's zeroing in on the personal development of the two main characters, Clare and Russ. On a larger scale it talks about marriage; what are people willing to do to hang onto a marriage? I tend to do research ahead of time, so I'm also already working on the sixth book.. I'm interested in the use of immigrant labor in the upstate New York dairy industry--the southern Adirondacks, where my books are set, is on the edge of dairy country.
Even in Maine, I was surprised to discover there's a thriving market for Latin American guest workers in agriculture and forestry. It makes for a situation rife with opportunities for abuse.
Plus of course there'll be lots of Russ and Clare, angst and romance!
NE: What do you read when you're not writing your mysteries?
JULIA : I like to read a lot of crime fiction. I read literary fiction, romance, science fiction, classics-- just about everything but westerns. I've never known another writer who is not deeply, widely read.
NE: Many of your readers aren't Episcopalians: what--besides a riveting read--do you think draws them to your books?
JULIA : Well, yes, the riveting read! The number one thing I get asked about is the relationship between the priest and the cop. I think people appreciate the chance to see a cleric who is a fully realized human being, even if they themselves are unchurched.
I try to walk a very fine line between putting in the appropriate details about the church and not overwhelming people who are not familiar with ECUSA, and at times that can be tricky because one of the hallmarks of our tradition is that we have a special name for everything.
I got an email once that I think exemplifies what I try to offer people who aren't Christian: a woman thanked me for showing someone who had a deep faith but who was not "pat" about it--most people who called themselves Christians, in her experience, were smug about their Christianity, and she found it fascinating to find a priest who was struggling with issues. I felt very good about that.
I'm not writing these to proselytize. But in some sense these books are my witness. To have someone else get it--get that being a Christian does not mean you get a hall pass and everything is answered for you-- that was very gratifying. The interview with Julia Spencer-Fleming first appeared in The Northeast and is used with permission. Fine New Mysteries continued from previous page
More about Julia Spencer-Fleming
She is a graduate of Ithaca College, George Washington University and the University of Maine Law School, and took up writing when she was the stay-at-home mother of two, drawing on her childhood as an Army brat and her knowledge of the Episcopal Church.
Her projected series about Clare Ferguson, rector, and Russ Van Alstyne, police chief in the fictional town of Millers Kill NY will run to six books, of which four have already been published by St. Martin's Press Minotaur. These are, in order of publication:
In the Bleak Midwinter (2002)
A Fountain Filled with Blood (2003)
Out of the Deep I Cry (2004)
To Darkness and to Death (2005)
All are available in both hardcover and and paper except To Darkness and to Death, which is available in hardcover only.