Allison Montclair

Allison Montclair is the author of the Sparks and Bainbridge mysteries, beginning with The Right Sort of Man, the American Library Association Reading List Council's Best Mystery of 2019. Under her real name, she has written more mystery novels and a damn good werewolf book, as well as short stories in many genres in magazines and anthologies. She is also an award-winning librettist and lyricist with several musicals to her credit that have been performed or workshopped across the USA. She currently lives in New York City where she also practiced as a criminal defense attorney.

Montclair's latest novel is An Excellent Thing in a Woman.

My Q&A with the author:

How much work does your title do to take readers into the story?

“Her voice was ever soft / Gentle and low — an excellent thing in a woman.” King Lear, after the death of Cordelia. This mystery deals with voices — how they sound, who they belong to, and the stilling of them by death. The book begins with a new client coming to The Right Sort Marriage Bureau who has a background in radio and a particular love for voices. Iris mentions the Lear quote, with her own typically acerbic take: “Another man realizing the value of a woman when it’s too late.”

Titles have generally been difficult for me, and I have wrestled with my editors over them many times. This one, however, was accepted right away. It also echoes P.D. James’s An Unsuitable Job For A Woman, one of my favorite mysteries.

What's in a name?

My protagonists are Iris Sparks and Gwendolyn Bainbridge. I had a colleague named Sparks, and I thought it appropriate for this volatile woman. I liked Iris because of its similarity to Eris, the goddess of discord. Gwen was derived from The Importance of Being Earnest, and I settled upon Bainbridge because it sounded British. It occurred to me after that my subconscious was sending me the names of female British novelists: Iris Murdoch, Muriel Spark, and Beryl Bainbridge.

How surprised would your teenage reader self be by your new novel?

My teenaged self wanted to become some combination of Thomas Pynchon, Tom Stoppard, and Stephen Sondheim. Teen Self would have been surprised to find me writing mysteries and not sprawling modernistic novels, but they are historical, something shared with the first two writers. I started writing mysteries because I thought they would be easy (they’re not) and a good learning experience (they are). I’m also writing musical theater, so Teen Self would be pleased with that.

Do you find it harder to write beginnings or endings? Which do you change more?

It’s all hard, it’s all easy. The middles are the difficult parts. Sometimes I know the ending in advance, sometimes I will write my characters into a hole, then claw my way out. Research drives the story. I tie it into specific events happening at the time, and I’m more skilled at planting items in earlier books that pay off in later ones.

I usually don’t change much. My editor felt one book had a secondary character with too much plot time, so I rewrote extensively, giving some of his plot points to Iris and Gwen and dropping others. (It saddened me, because I liked the character.)

Do you see much of yourself in your characters? Do they have any connection to your personality, or are they a world apart?

Iris is closer to my own personality, although much smarter and more physically capable. I aspire to be on her level. Other than that, the time and place are very different than my own, so the fun is discovering that world and the characters’ voices.

What non-literary inspirations have influenced your writing?

I am looking at historical events, so that research is fascinating and a source of many writing ideas. I’m interested in social change and its effects on individual existence. An Excellent Thing In A Woman is set in the world of BBC-TV as it resumed after the war. I knew when I planned the series that I would be addressing it at some point. Alexandra Palace, which the BBC had taken over for their broadcast facilities, was a wonderful setting for a mystery.

Visit Alan Gordon's website.

The Page 69 Test: An Excellent Thing in a Woman.

--Marshal Zeringue