An interview with Nicola Whyte about 10 Marchfield Square

An interview with Nicola Whyte on Bloomsbury.com about her brilliant new crime novel, 10 Marchfield Square, a twist-packed cosy mystery set in the smallest residential square in London.

The book was actually inspired by a real place, so in a way, the setting came first! About ten years ago, I was walking back from a meeting near St James’s Park in London, and spotted a curious passageway I’d never noticed before. Lined with dark panels, it appeared to lead to a little courtyard and the sign on the wall named it Pickering Place. When I looked it up on the train home, I discovered it was the smallest square in London, and the idea for Marchfield began to form immediately, and while the full story took a long time to come together, the key ingredients were there right from the beginning: a wealthy old lady, a tiny residential community, and one question… what would happen to that community if the wrong person moved in?

It was years before I finally sat down to write it, and in that time, I read a lot of Golden Age classics, so I’m sure that had an influence on how the story turned out! There are also some nods to the history of the real smallest square in the book, so I hope readers will spot the easter eggs.

I think most of us have felt like an underdog at some point; undervalued and underappreciated, our work unseen, our talents overlooked. Audrey loving her work as a cleaner is one form of success but she also struggles financially and with other people’s ideas of her abilities. Lewis is isolated, and struggling to deal with the reality that hard work and skill doesn’t always mean you succeed. They both need a win, and that’s a very relatable situation. We all want to see people we recognise rising to an unexpected challenge and coming out on top, so I like to think there’s hope in their story too.

Read the full article on Bloomsbury.com