Pauline Bell

Latest Release

Interview

Can you give some background details on your crime series?

My stories are set in Cloughton, a West Yorkshire town based on Halifax but I take liberties with it and spare you the building society. There are 14 books so far in which my main character Benedict Mitchell (Benny) progresses from DC to DCI. He is brash, impulsive and a loose cannon. Having seduced his DI's daughter, he marries her and becomes a good husband and father to 4 children

Can you tell us about the characters and where they came from?

Mitchell's current sergeant is Jennifer Taylor whom he met at police training college. He is aided by 3 DCs, Caroline Jackson who abandoned a career in music, Adrian Clement, thorough, 'good with old ladies' - a description he resents - and the team's depressive and Shakila Nazir, a young Pakistani officer who goes out on a limb in the way Mitchell used to do himself. Sometimes they work well together, sometimes not.

Characterisation or plot, which do you think is more important?

They have to hang together. I usually begin with the barebones of a story in my head and a few characters who suddenly appear in my mind. I set them to act out the story and very soon they refuse to do what I want. It doesn't work unless I abandon the plot and go with the people who usually sort out the various puzzles for me in their characteristic ways.

Do you stick to a strict routine when you write?

If only! Fifteen times with fifteen books I have had this intention. I am hampered by the fact that I have 7 grandchildren, am a keen church member, have sung in at least 2 choirs for most of my life, occasionally am overcome by the chaos that is my house...need I go on? I do become a little more disciplined as my deadline approaches. I do actually enjoy getting the story together on paper when I get round to it. My best ideas occur to me in the middle of the night so there's always a pen and notebook on the bedside table

How much research do you have to do in order to write your books?

I set most of my books against a background I understand fairly well - the machinations of a large choral society, church politics, producing a school play, organising and taking part in a 26-mile charity run/walk, the second hand book/map business (for which my husband provided all the necessary information). I had to read up the work of the ARP during WW2 and talk to people who were young adults then for 'Blood Ties' and have needed information about insurance, the fire service etc. I have never been rebuffed and always helped generously. I am fortunate to have relatives in the police service and two close friends who are police surgeons

Other than writing, what other jobs or professions have you undertaken or considered?

I taught (English) in state senior schools for almost 30 years but don't hold that against me! I enjoyed most of it until I was swamped with forms and restricted by the National curriculum. Producing plays and making music with teenagers is an enjoyable privilege.

What are you working on at the moment?

Yes. It's a compulsion not a job. I'd never killed anyone off by shooting because I knew nothing about firearms and it seemed too complicated for a complete non-scientist to try to understand. However....

What do you want your readers to get out of the book?

Enjoyment and the impression that my characters are new people that they've met.