“Spencer-Fleming explores a serious societal issue - the reentry problems of soldiers home from combat… while concocting an an absolutely irresistible combination of crime fiction and romance… this is a surefire winner. This series, as intelligent as it is enthralling, just keeps getting better.”
—Booklist on "One Was A Soldier"
HANK: Talk about intelligent and enthralling. That's exactly how I would describe Julia Spencer-Fleming. Wouldn't you? Given half a chance, I'd just take this moment to gush. But hey, Julia has stuff she wants to talk about. And a moment ago, I knew what it was. Now, ::scratching head::, if I could just have a moment to think, I know I could..why did I come into this room,anyway?
Oh. To let the fabulous Julia talk.
It's Not the Years, Honey...
I remember the moment I realized my main characters were somewhat out of the fictional zeitgeist. I was at the Edgars dinner, I believe, and the presenter of the prestigious Mary Higgins Clark award was explaining the parameters of the contest. The books had the feature a heroine under 35, in a good relationship with her family, who got into trouble through no fault of her own. And no real bad language, either. (Footnote 1)
My heroine, whom I had felt was as a cool young priest, didn't qualify.(Footnote 2) She was already 35, and getting older with each succeeding book. My hero, the rugged and ready for action chief of police, wore vision correcting glasses to read and couldn't kneel properly because it hurt his knee.
Why are we so enamored of young protagonists?
I'll grant you, the mystery community has a rich tradition of well-seasoned detectives, but for the most part, popular contemporary fiction features one 30-something store owner/reporter/cop/lawyer/bail bondsman after another. These characters wade into action scenes without having to think about their lower backs going out. They jump into bed with nary a concern for stretch marks and sagging bits. The heroine never misses a clue because she had menopause brain while walking into the crime scene. (Footnote 3) The hero never falls asleep in the cop car on a stake out because it's after nine.
What makes this preference more of a mystery (4) is the trending age of the readers and writers of crime fiction. The primary consumers of mysteries—indeed, of most fiction—are women over the age of forty. And if you belly up to the bar at a mystery convention (5) you will see we may be raucous and lively, but there's no way you'll mistake us for a gathering of recent college grads. Or even recent doctoral dissertation grads.
As I get older, I want to read about people like myself. I take my daily omeprezole (6) for my ulcer, I have traumatic arthritis in one knee, and last year I bit the bullet and let my hair grow out
to its now-natural silver. (7)
Now, it's true that I want the people I read about to be able to solve crimes, chase down bad guys, and even do the horizontal hokey pokey (8) if it's that kind of book. But is it too much to ask that they think about bifocals as well as blood spatters? College tuition as well as cadavers? Gums as well as guns?(9)
What do you think? Do you want your detectives fresh, young and Ben-Gay free? Or is it time for the crime fiction world to stage a gray revolution?
Footnotes:
(1) My table had an impromptu unacceptable-Mary Higgins Clark opening line contest. The winner was: “[email protected]#$ you, mother!” Deidre shouted as she stormed out of her 40th birthday party, looking for trouble.
(2) Episcopalians average age: 53.(See a)
(a) I just made that up. But we are kind of gray.
(3) My children imitate me standing in the middle of the kitchen, saying, “What did I come in here for?”
(4) Ha! Get it?
(5) Not that I am suggesting you do this.
(6) My husband calls them my Oprah pills.
(7) God knows what I'll be like 10 years from now, when I'm 58. Dead, probably.
(8) My daughter says I must NEVER use this phrase. EVER.
(9) Too much?
Julia Spencer-Fleming is the Agatha and Anthony-award-winning author of the upcoming One Was A Soldier, the seventh Clare Fergusson/Russ Van Alstyne mystery. You can find her at Facebook, on Twitter, and at her Reader Space. One Was A Soldier is available for preorder at: Amazon Barnes & Noble Books-A-Million Borders Powell's Books and your locally owned independent bookstore.
Julia, I have heard about your grey hair - you look beautiful! It suits you.
Posted by: Robin Agnew | February 20, 2011 at 05:50 AM
My first comment is "DARN You're lucky!" My silver is still too mixed with the dark colors to grow out yet. Your complextion really works with the silver! Second comment, I think since we are at the tail end of the baby boomer generation (still the largest one around) then that means the majority of adults are over 48. So why not write characters who we can identify with (and as we are not as a 'sanitized' version, or a version that more fits our parents than us.) Your characters act appropiate for their age. (the only problem I have with the series is the Vietnam conflict timeline regarding Russ' age, but I always tell myself that these books took place in the past, and we are catching up with them.)
Posted by: Lyssa | February 20, 2011 at 06:49 AM
Oh, it's too touchy for a blog--but remind me to tell you when I see you--whoever reads this!--about why Charlie, my main character, is 46 and not 55. It's quite a tale!
Yes, ideeedy...it's a "situation."
(And Robin, I agree.)
Julia--did you "decide" about their ages? Or was this how the characters "appeared" to you?
Posted by: Hank Phillippi Ryan | February 20, 2011 at 07:46 AM
So good to have you here, Julia! Awesome books, great hair ... I'm not jealous though. Much. :)
Clare wouldn't be Clare if you'd made her younger. She needed more years to be where she is, which to me means a more interesting place in her life. That may be what I look for in any book, now that I think of it. I'd rather read about experience and loss.
Does that make me weird or just old? :)
Posted by: Mary Saums | February 20, 2011 at 09:29 AM
Hi Julia. You're a Silver Fox at heart - the natural color looks great on you. BLOG: I enjoy the spread in ages of your characters. Being a 1950's Boomer I relate well. Episcopalians - of course you have us pegged. We seldom color our hair, belong to the Junior League, shop at Talbots (classic shops) and always work at our church bazaar. We are served genealogy appreciation along side the family silver settings(Aunt Rose's silver marrys well with Grandmother Bailey's...). And of course the lifespan of any dilemna is "forever and ever Amen..." Carry on dear Julia! I enjoy every work you produce! Cheers,
Posted by: Ann Sypolt | February 20, 2011 at 09:33 AM
Ann, you know the Episcopalian world even better than I do. NOBODY is more Episcopalian than a Southern Episcopalian.
Thank you all for the compliments on my hair. It was actually seeing how great women like Hank and Robin and Louise Penny looked "au naturel" that gave me the courage to try it. And I have to say, I'm very pleased. It looks good, feels wonderful, and oh my Lord, the savings in time and $$!
Posted by: Julia Spencer-Fleming | February 20, 2011 at 11:48 AM
Hank, when I started writing, Clare was just a few years younger than I. She's aging a lot more slowly than I am at this point.
Russ--I always knew he was older. I needed someone who thought he was settled in his life and had everything figured out in order to get the full effect of having his world turned upside down by Clare's arrival.
And I'm going to hold you to that promise to tell the story of Charlie's age...
Posted by: Julia Spencer-Fleming | February 20, 2011 at 11:52 AM
Each time I've been to an author signing in my big city, at early to mid-thirties, I've been the youngest by a couple of decades most of the time. I know I want to read books with characters who are more seasoned, just because I am. I look back and think of how much I didn't know back in my twenties, and when I read a book featuring a young twenty-something, I don't believe they are as together as they're written. So, to me, bring on those older characters and all their issues, physical and emotional. It just adds more to their character.
I love the au naturel look, Julia! I got my first white hair when I was 17 and thought it was cool. I'll admit to a few misgivings about the coolness factor as I've aged and more and more show up. I'm still hoping for a dramatic streak, a la Rogue from X-Men.
Posted by: Carolyn | February 20, 2011 at 12:58 PM
I'm stll laughing about menopause brain. I do think that could be the center of a pretty funny mystery novel.
I GUESS it would be funny..
Posted by: Hank Phillippi Ryan | February 20, 2011 at 02:00 PM
Gorgeous hair!
My aspiring protagonist is 39. I think it's a funny age, but then I remember Jack Benny. I was tempted to make her my age so she could remember the '50s, because that's the decade I still inhabit mentally, but decided to put her on the cusp of bifocals. That's a funny time, too, as long as someone else is going through it.
Posted by: Kathy Waller | February 20, 2011 at 05:31 PM
One of my readers complained because my protagonist said she was tired after driving from Baghdad to Amman, flying from Amman to Paris, and then being ordered to Fez, Morocco, all in under 24 hours. I was exhausted just writing about it. And Lee is under 40, sort of. The scar of the knife wound in her left side will trouble her a bit in the next one. She should have my knees!
Posted by: marilynn | February 20, 2011 at 05:47 PM
Can't wait to cry over the new book -- I always cry when I read a "Clare and Russ."
Since I was in my fifties when I started writing my Biscuit McKee mysteries, I made Biscuit 49. That seemed young enough at the time. Now I'm 64, and she's just barely past 50. How can so many murders happen to one librarian, or in your case, one Episcopalian priest?
Posted by: Fran Stewart | February 20, 2011 at 07:11 PM
Obviously, overexposure to murders is what keeps one young. If we all got jobs at a CSI lab, our joints would be flexible, our brains fog-free, and we could see what we're texting without pausing to put on the reading glasses.
Posted by: Julia Spencer-Fleming | February 20, 2011 at 09:41 PM
If my hair looked like yours, I'd let it grow out too. It looks great.
I'm sooooo glad your book is almost out. It's been a long, deprived time without knowing what happened to Clare and Russ. I may have to take a day off work to enjoy it when I get it. Loved the blog. What fun!
Posted by: Ellis Vidler | February 21, 2011 at 02:55 AM
hey, they don't call it gray matter for nothing !
I have not read your books, but I sure will now...I like your attitude !
I find that I actually prefer my heroines to be closer to my own age...just because we might be slower, does NOT mean we are not smarter ! I wouldn't mind meeting up with some of the hormones I had at twenty, but that's the ONLY thing I want back from that era !
Posted by: Sandy Smith | February 21, 2011 at 04:25 AM
I'm all for heros with some patina on them. When I look back at my own youth and observe those currently luxuriating in a mindless lack of years, I am reminded of my father. "Aging is not for the feint of heart," was his favorite pronouncement. I'd like to think of us as survivors-- smart, adaptive and way too experienced to make those dumb mistakes again.
Jackie/Nora
Posted by: Jackie Edwards | February 21, 2011 at 06:20 AM
Love the post -- especially the "hokey pokey" phrase! As one of those writers at the bar, I think you've nailed it. We may not look like college students (anymore), but we have more fun than most. And I do like for my heroes and heroines to have more worries than which brand of beer he'll buy tonight or where she left her eye shadow.
Posted by: Sarah H. Baker | February 21, 2011 at 06:59 AM
Love the post, and the pictures! You look fabulous. I think we must often ignore our daughters, though. Mine told me years ago to quit wearing my bell bottoms, and now they're back!
Posted by: Kaye George | February 21, 2011 at 07:33 AM
Great post, Julia. Can't wait to get the book! At long last. And the hair looks mahvelous, dahling.
Posted by: Jeri Westerson | February 21, 2011 at 07:40 AM
I saw your hair "in person" at Bouchercon and I thought you'd gone blond. It is completely lovely, Marilyn Monroe-ish - I'd say you got the good hair genes.
G.M. Malliet
http://GMMalliet.com
Posted by: GMMalliet | February 21, 2011 at 07:47 AM
Yes,the Julia-Bouchercon hair experience was a once-in-a-lifetime...people just stopped in their tracks! It was fantastic.
And yes,J is very lucky with the color of the gray. It's more--silver.
(Can you believe we're talking about this? :-) )
Posted by: Hank Phillippi Ryan | February 21, 2011 at 08:06 AM
It's in the platinum blonde range. Maybe that's why I thought of Marilyn. Well, also, when Julia started singing "Happy Birthday, Mr. President." (Was that a great Bouchercon, or what?)
I'm fine talking about hair so long as the discussion doesn't drift over into what color MY hair really is.
Posted by: GMMalliet | February 21, 2011 at 08:33 AM
Silver is the new blonde! Lookin' good and I love the long hair. I'm early 50s and am letting my hair go natural. IMHO dyed hair looks fake and obvious.
In my pre-pub book my hero is 38 and gearing up for a major mid-life crises. He's young enough for action scenes but old enough to know better (sometimes).
So you're Episcopalian too? (I'm a convert). Seems like a number of mystery writers are. What's up with that? Maybe it's the rich literary tradition of the prayer book that inspires writers or we're just a bunch of rowdies (LOL).
Posted by: Sally Carpenter | February 21, 2011 at 08:51 AM
Sally, I believe you've got something there. The prayer book bit, not about being rowdies. :)
This reminds me of the time I heard Phyllis Tickle (a writer and was the religious editor at Publisher's Weekly or one of those big book pubs) speak. The instant I saw her, I thought she looked like an Anglican priest. Because of her bearing, her command of language, yes, but mostly because of her beautiful SILVER HAIR.
I think we've hit on important scientific evidence here.
Posted by: Mary Saums | February 21, 2011 at 11:04 AM
Nice post, Julia--and welcome to the Femmes' blog!
Your post reminded me of the Judi Dench incarnation of M in the rebooted Bond movies. She must have been something in earlier decades to survive (politics and bullets) to become head of MI6, and man, I bet she'd be fun to drink with now.
Posted by: Dana | February 22, 2011 at 07:20 AM
Dana--Judi? Or M? I guess it would be fun to have drinks with either. Or both. And you, too. And Julia.
Posted by: Hank Phillippi Ryan | February 22, 2011 at 07:51 AM
Both and either, Hank! Was thinking M, in terms of a fun character, but I suspect Ms. Dench has some cool stories too!
Posted by: Dana | February 22, 2011 at 11:28 AM