The detectives were brave and determined and enterprising. A police force, as we would recognise it, had been set up. Had you always wanted to write historical fiction? And is this a period that particularly interests you? Ann: Victorian policework has long fascinated me. These mysteries are set in the mid 1800’s. Lizzie: In 2006 you wrote the first Inspector Ben Ross mystery. Eventually she jumped out of the rag box and into print as Fran.

I was particularly impressed by the fishnet tights and Doc Marten boots! She looked self-assured and capable: someone who, if she set herself to tackle a problem, wouldn’t let go until she’d solved it. I did not speak to her and know nothing about her. Fran was based on a girl I saw, sitting with her boyfriend, in a pub in Golders Green. Can you tell me how nearly homeless Fran came about? Had you met someone in that situation, or did she just jump into your head?Īnn: I have a kind of rag box in my head into which go all sorts of things, seen, overheard, fragments of conversations with strangers. Lizzie: I have enjoyed all your books, but my favourite of your series are the Fran Varady books. After all, in the very first book, they didn’t even have mobile phones! I had missed them too! However, after such a long gap, I had to make them older, facing retirement, but still going strong on the detection.

What prompted your return to this series after a gap of eighteen years ?Īnn: Over the years I had been asked many times for another Mitchell and Markby book. Before we get on to talking about Fran, I am interested that your most recent book Deadly Company published this year features Meredith and Markby. Although, you had also started a second series in 1997, featuring Fran Varady.

You continued with this series until 2004. Lizzie: Ann, when I first met you in 1997, you were the author of ten books featuring Chief Inspector Markby and Consular Officer Meredith Mitchell. She is the author of four series of detective fiction books and has to date written a total of 40 books. They lived first in Zambia, then Germany before returning to the UK. She met her husband, who was also working for the British Embassy in Prague. Ann Granger was born in Portsmouth where she was a pupil at the then Northern Grammar School for Girls and went from there to London University where she achieved a BA in Modern Languages.Īfter a period spent first teaching English in France and then working in the Visa Section of British Embassies around the world.

The Companion by Ann Granger