2021 Kansas Notable Book; Elizabeth Bunce; Unknown

a little bit a little bit nancy drew today and keep your prisons our cancers notable book series continues with premeditated murder all i'm kate mcintyre each year the state library of kansas likes fifteen of the best books about kansas or by kansans as their kansas notable books it was a bunch of lenexa is the author of premeditated murder oh it's the first in a series featuring the young detective myrtle hardcastle it was great to see you again after all these years it's so nice to be back premeditated murder or is not just a kansas notable award winner it's also the winner of the prestigious edgar award for best juvenile mystery and it was nominated for the agatha ward and foreign anthony award first of all congratulations we'll talk about myrtle in just a minute but for people who aren't up on the world of mystery publishing tell a little bit about the edgar award city just thinking about the edgar award so it's named after edgar allan poe the crew maybe we

can go into here we know him a lot as a as a horror writer but he also wrote one of the very first works of american true detective fiction the murders in the report and nhtsa i'm so the mystery writers of america which is a national organization for mystery writers as one might guess from their name he gives out this award every year for the past thirty five years and someone else will have to do that math on but yes so the city actually about the edgar is that it is thought one award that people outside the world of books have heard about so and people might vaguely remember the public other than a very us from when they were kids and seeing those beautiful song golden slumbers seals on the on the books that they love but the anger people light up and know exactly what that is because they fit bits been on

so many science of of film and television and i'm short stories for so long so it's it's exciting to have have gotten it honored in a way that it has added its making an a nice splash ferland man getting some attention that we made haven't had before what's it like to win something as prestigious as the anchor of the war and it's a little ah ahh striking that's not a word it renders that the wordy author speech less it's wonderful it's it's a very very very very cool that's that's probably the best i can to you know eat you know people i haven't heard from and my mom's best friend of forty years and semi flowers this week if you've read and premeditated murdoch there's an

mcguffin of these fabulous way bailey's and there is a cat in the series named cheney and so we had bouquets of values we had donkeys and peonies it was very very fine on seeing all the heat on a theme edgar and mystery fun that all my my friends and loved ones at four s will again congratulations it's very exciting i started out by describing your protagonist as a little bit short called little bit nancy drew how would you describe the myrtle hardcastle wow i did describe her ways as irrepressible and its brittle notes in in the butt it's maybe not a compliment adults seem to think it is let's see you know i would say was kirk as the kirk has refused that she leans into her identity as some more good morale

and i think that that was an excellent observation because she does lean into who she is and that's one of the things that i love about myrtle and an end what i try to bring my characters in general are heroines who are comfortable in their own skin and they know kind of who they are in now and what they want from from their own minds and waits it's how i was when i was when i was young when i was most aged so i knew the things that i was interested in and even if they happen to be may be out of step with with my peers are alarmed i still felt you know that strong passion for them and so it's fun writing a protagonist to sort of knows what she said about even at a young age i don't want to get too much into the plot because spoilers but can you give us a sense of the plot of premeditated murder oh oh yes i

have i have in the middle of your pitch for you and it is that premeditated barnard is the story of a twelve year old girl who is obsessed with the new victorian sciences of criminology so fingerprinting and toxicology in crime scene analysis and when her neighbor dies under mysterious circumstances she takes it upon herself to prove that it was border and solve the crime even if no one else believes her including her father the prosecuting solicitor i'm really glad you brought that up because one of the really cool things about this time the fighting is the fact that crime investigation was changing really dramatically talk to me about how you brought that in the science of criminology how you brought that into the story is so the city at nineties that the book is set in nineteen ninety three and

that iraqi armed know sort of that we associate with sherlock holmes is in sydney the most exciting era of criminology because everything that we rely on today that we've known for the last hundred years or forty years or you know all of those things were nail down policing was just beginning to have a scientific dance to it and people were understanding how science could help solve crimes and help tell stories of what had become of victims and so merkel is a bleeding edge early adopter of all things a moderate and i loved the idea of white such a kid would be like you know the one that has to have dubbed the brand new iphone and the newest latest i don't know i lived at nineties so i don't know what that what

people today they had new and modern but i love the idea of art and capturing that spirit in in another era of that that sense of everything is new and modern and in hand advanced technology and her fascination for all of those things i'm visiting with elizabeth and specifically either premeditated murder all a myrtle hardcastle mystery where did you come up with the name so i am before the show started and i were discussing the fact that neither of us is a morning person and so several years ago a straggling to remove my morning routine my husband and i were attempting to have a cogent conversation about something on the news that has long been forgotten and one of that i don't remember exactly which reverses it was trying to say something about it

no crime story that was on tv and they tended to say not gonna get it right of premeditated murder and it came out a premeditated myrtle and i looked at him and i said that is a middle grade mystery and that's that was the impetus and so of course naturally once i had premeditated murder oh i had to come up with an entire series worth of of titles or the play on merck also book two is how to get away with murder all and but three witches coming out this october is cold blooded murder own and working on it for right now so i'll keep going as long as i can keep coming up with titles for the possibilities are and was they really are one of the things i love about premeditated murder all is the relationship between merkel hardcastle and her governors ms johnson talk about ms jensen and her place in merkel's life oh my gosh i don't know that merle would describe her as her bff but

she she really is marvel's best friend well if you think about it is it sherlock holmes as a twelve year old girl and what's it was mary poppins that's kind of like kind of the relationship here we we've we've got the bird that they had strong sleigh with them and they sort of maureen dowd down to earth sidekick if you will or you know the media associate missouri solver of the partnership and that's how i envisioned this pairing and douglas johnson has really evolved into such a wonderful character of her own and she has this it's says cutting off oil from myrtle and merle tends to go charging in headfirst into situations aren't eat you know and as easy as she mentions at the appointment book that she's never hysterical

with us dom of her fight to emphasize her lack of hysteria ireland ended ms jensen on the other hand is is unflappable and had never loses her temper and always is the voice of reason holding myrtle down and yet she manifestly fails to keep myrtle entirely out of mischief and that is i think another one of the reviews said she's at best half hearted encourage fans to dissuade offer up for getting involved in and in murder investigations so i am and i think they have such a such a it's such fun to write how they play off each other and if i'm if i am when i'm working on a scene the first person whose voice i hear almost always is this jetsons and the the level of wry comment that

she's going to make to summer mark of merkel's and that's normally what sort of sets up a seat in motion for me a hand on i don't know that anyone has ever noticed less about any of the books no one's mentioned it to me but ms johnson gets the first line in every book i hadn't noticed that night i've read premeditated myrtle and i've just finished the second in the series how to get away with murder all that i didn't notice that yes it is it is a it is a hidden tradition and there are a lot of those little hidden moments tucked into the series with lots of easter eggs tonight my favorite things but yes so so every so when i'm when i'm picturing how a book is going to be good it's how business judson set the seating for four what's happening here i want to explore another relationship in merkel's life tell me about her

father myrtles father is to say he's a single dad myrtles mom passed away when she was seven and since then she's she's had ms johnson her governess by her side and sort of guiding her in and hoping her grow into the young lady of quality she is today and i am merkel's gad is the prosecuting solicitor for the small english village they live in it's a fictional village cops wonder and this is a broad ramps banking new career path in in english law criminal law victorian emotional life is a ball labyrinth of new laws or laws common laws things that are changing it's it's a whole confusing morass that data a confused even the people of the time by as we were talking earlier with the development of the scientific methods of

crime solving gay people were starting to realize that they needed a more systematic and modernized system of criminal justice and so the evolution of the familiar system that that we see two day i had just sort of barely began in its most confusing origins as part of merkel's brand beer you know love of maternity that they live in a one of the most progressive victorian villages in england and so their village has a prosecuting solicitor who is a full time prosecutor of the un steam ways amount of murders that occur in this very small hole community either so was so wild ms jensen has served the the woman that merkel would aspire to be and she is also heavily influenced by her father's law career and says she's been raised in this

house with all these lot of it all these logbooks and and legal latin and ends c has been studying alongside her dad all this time and so she feels she knows the law nearly as well as arthur hardcastle prosecuting solicitor and so so that relationship both brings them closer together and kind of puts them into conflict with one another because of course a proper young lady of quality in at ninety three should not have her nose in law books and murder investigations and should not be aspiring to solve crimes she should be doing more ladylike pursuits but merkel's passions did not take her in that direction an end i think arthur finds himself a little bit befuddled about what to do with all these strong young women feel he is surrounded by as as a proper victorian gentleman i'm going to read a quote from merkel's data

girls of mortals age should be doing needlework and riding ponies and thinking about dress is not dead neighbours that about sums for the subsidence of the dead the party line that arthur things he would like that the family had to do a tell but of course it does not always work out quite that way if you just because you're discussing the evolution of the legal system and in britain and i'm reminded of another character in premeditated murder or and that's the up and coming law clerk proper blakely yes mr blaikie like me as a fan favorite and i just went out when i was writing premeditated it belongs to a fantastic writers group of children's writers in the kansas city metro area heart when

writers for kids and teens and i had the wonderfully good fortune of being able to bring the manuscript of premeditated murder all to grow every week for alarm about so nsa and great white is green such a tremendous motivation for me having both at the help and support and advice from my colleagues but also the enjoying then they got from from which is reading the story and seeing how they were responding to it and it made me feel a little bit like charles dickens putting out at the weekly serial and i was really such fine having knowing i had people waiting for a new chapter each week and i have forgotten the question is yeah it's

so when i draw me up here on the page well and i am in the first scene that i wrote for him it was the first thing he appears in win win myrtle barges into his office he is the law clerk for the dead neighbours lawyer and she has gone there but of course she's gone they're looking for information on the case and he just appeared there in the office as i was writing camp and heat he took over the scene and i'm as an equity group said the heat took over this cd in a good way a hands on so every time he makes an appearance in in a bike i i hear fans cheering for for virtually there and there's a q i think i think it's cute moment when armed revolt no notes that he is not taking any notes when she's explained that the very dire cruel

situation she's come to discuss an end she says my name is spelled m y r t l e and he says award but i was very glad you said that because i was going to go with s t p h e n and then where would we be and from that moment onward in the entire series we're for but said now he calls her stephen it's like you're funny moment between the two of them and it's you know it's let's get a throwaway line that it just it's this connection between them that's pretty humorous and warm and sweet and and there there has been talk of grown up myrtle and mr blakeney fan fiction and that has been moving around to publish her office under the surface so in in my mind of course i watch oral grow up a little bit in hand and think about where she ends up an ad that's another funding reader

responses i have so many people knew who raises say to me you know un base here as a librarian when she grows up for is here doing this job and as here during a man am i season but yes i'm worried and whatever career you see her and the un yes met many fans of maryland <unk> blakeney would love to see this relationship deepened and evolve although it dow i will put that on the page i am quite that far although i don't know we'll see how how far the series guess if i'm still doing this in another fifteen years she might have grown up a bit elizabeth burns is the other of premeditated murder or it's the first in the myrtle hardcastle mystery series it recently was named a kansas notable book and one that ankara word it was i have you read an excerpt from premeditated murder all maybe but the southern up for us i'm sure and and and virtually

our listeners can't see the cover of the books so they will have to come imagine this scene as i read so let's recap the jacket back from from artist rick hallquist it was so fun to see that this is the scene that he chose to depict on the cover of the book and it was one of the scenes that was the most fun to write and it did it it kind of encapsulates everything we've learned so far about what it's like to be a young detective in the victorian era and on a brief set up of the plot ms hardcastle's a neighbor has died under mysterious circumstances are our highway and believes she has been unlawfully killed by ed nefarious perpetrator you know and i think you know nothing so i'm and cart she suspects is the dead

woman's nice press sellout who as we've already discussed the fact that rebels father is old widow work and has decided to entertain the idea of perhaps getting involved in romance again mark merkel has other plans for how that should go that do not involve persona on and as the scene unfolds priscilla is that merkel's house for dinner this is chapter eighteen motif means and opportunity and each chapter in these bikes begins with and epigraph from i am the erudite a gym hardcastle's book principles of protections of this one is a suspect must have the motor and the means and the opportunity to commit defense did he have a reason to kill a did he have access to the murder weapon and the skill to use it

and was he in the right place at the right time the more curiosity about what was happening in that dining room among father aunt helen and priscilla felt like us crawling under my petticoats stationed myself at the top of the stairs trying to hear but could make out nothing useful peony at her neighbor's cat who has come to live with them keely perched beside me serenading the dinner party with an undulating song of woe and the trail i thought she was spectacular until cooke stepped into the foyer address tonight is a butler the master requests that the cat be removed she in town now that said pee wee on peonies me outside she sang out i guess i can find my legs from the ballast years yes ma'am i skipped out peony who responded with one parting letter and strong enough to break wine glasses and carry her into the dark schoolroom crews were still open and i noticed lights on across the way red grapes some lights were normal even with priscilla over here not wanted to come home to an absolutely dark hair is that these

flights were upstairs in empty bedroom is not down in the main areas of the house and the whites shouldn't know as i watched one set of windows went dark a moment later the adjacent room brightened as someone turned up the gas rich in and my thumbnail trying to decide what to do i have three options two of which are sensible wine notify nasa johnson over at the diner is downstairs one of whom would certainly be concerned about the nefarious goings on and ray graves but to whom i owed no duty of care to re investigate on my own dear reader i will allow you to deduce what choice i made before i could talk myself out of it a tight and maybe laces checked that my skirt hence more likely to be stopped upon and loaded up my bag and my head what my dear stock recap last i open up the cabinet and retrieved the key with affordably handle heaney watching my preparations almost gave me away she twined about my ankles complaining and ignored all my admonitions

to shush do you wanna come yes she replied and tried out the school run down the back stairs to the scullery door the city prepared to commit the most egregious transgressions of which a young lady of quality is capable i was about to capital letters go outside alone after dark dear reader surely i need not enumerate the dangers posed by my present course of action they are drilled into every girl from the cradle by every possible means i knew all about spring heeled jack the fiend who stalks the pages of the penny dreadful sin not to mention jack the ripper the fiend who instructs talk to the real life streets of london only a few years ago there were body snatchers and burgers but no name for mr bergen mr herr the notorious scottish grave robbers turned murderers press gangs waiting to drug the unsuspecting and ship them off to see and all manner of deviance ready to defy oh the innocence i was not certain what this last man

precisely except that it was practically guaranteed to occur the instantly young lady of quality touched her boot heel to them at birth that's a list of buns reading from premeditated murder all the first in a series of myrtle hardcastle mysterious elizabeth what's next for murdoch so what coming up very soon for a murder also so after premeditated murder or we have looked to you know how to get away with murder all which is a classic mystery set on a train and a home a seaside resorts and that one is actually my personal favorite of all of them so far way it's a new book from three is coming out october fifth and that it's cold blooded merkel and that is at an inn in which an exceptionally victorian christmas is interrupted by a series of bizarre murders him nevertheless i've invested with elizabeth finds her book

premeditated myrtle is a kansas notable book and it's also a winner of an edgar award elizabeth thank you so much for coming in to keep your today this was a ball this is it's always carries a catch up with the air now to talk about what we've been up to i'm kate mcintyre take their presence is a production of kansas public radio at the university of kansas