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Bestselling Author Anne Perry Rob Holden: Anne Perry, welcome to ReadersRoom.com. It is a pleasure to have you with us today! Anne Perry: Pleasure to be here. Rob Holden: I would like to start this off by asking about your latest novel Shoulder the Sky. Could you tell our readers a bit about that? Anne Perry: It is the 2nd in the world war one series, 1915, the trenches in Flanders, first gas attack. Natalie R. Collins: Can you summarize the plot a bit for us? Anne Perry: Joseph Reavley is serving as chaplain, most of the British Army at that point has been either killed or wounded. We are facing loss of the war. We need to recruit a million more men, voluntarily, no conscription then, and a new young war correspondent arrives, determined to make his name. He wants to tell the truth, regardless of cost to the war effort. What he says faces some censorship, but there are small regional papers, and pamphlets. He is hated because he blackmails some men, intrudes on the grief and terror of others, but mostly because of the fear of the damage his work will do. He is found dead in no man's land, by Joseph, and has obviously been murdered by one of the British, not a German. Joseph has no choice but to seek his killer, because as a chaplain, how can he be of any spiritual help to anyone if he has condoned murder when it is convenient, and temptation is high. Moral problem. Rob Holden: Shoulder the Sky is your second novel of 2004. The first, The Shifting Tide, carries on your series with William Monk. Could you tell us a bit about that novel?

Anne Perry: About The Shifting Tide. Monk is hard up financially and forced to take a case for a man he dislikes and distrusts, based on the Thames River. A valuable cargo of ivory has been stolen and the night watchman killed. His employer cares only about the theft. Monk, in pursuing the murder as well, discovers something so terrible it could be the end of pretty well everything. Hester is involved in something that threatens her life in the clinic in Portpool Lane, and cannot receive any help from Monk. I can't tell you what it is without giving away the plot.

Natalie R. Collins: Let's talk more about the Monk series.

Anne Perry: Fine. Ask away. I'm actually working on the next one now. Put down the pen to speak to you.

Natalie R. Collins: You have said that you like to raise questions about responsibility, particularly for acts that one cannot remember. Would you care to tell us how that theme runs through this series?

Anne Perry: It did do until lately. I think I have said all I can think of by now. It was a device to force Monk to look at others with the same compassion he would like to be looked at himself. Like the rest of us. I believe that most people do whatever they do thinking it is okay at the time, or not thinking at all. We don't always see the results. When we look at other people's acts, we don't know how it seemed to them. Hence harsher judgment.

Natalie R. Collins: To switch themes a bit, what is it about Victorian England that you particularly like, as many of your mysteries are set there?

Anne Perry: Really? The first time a publisher said YES, instead of no. That will always do it. Now I like the fact that we can do without forensic sciences to detect, simply use knowledge of human nature, observation of people etc. Just like any reader. A novel which happens to have a crime as a main element of the plot. I am interested in what people will do under the pressure of investigation. Any period in history will do, but 1800s are close enough to understand yet far away enough to have a certain glamour.

Natalie R. Collins: Yes, I agree, and they seem to hold allure to many people.

Anne Perry: Long may it be so!

Natalie R. Collins: I heard that you actually had no intention of writing a series when you began the Monk series. Can you tell us how that happened?

Anne Perry: Not at first. Didn't think I would be lucky enough to have the choice. Now I have no plans to let go of either Pitt or Monk, until I have no more readers.

Rob Holden: I would like to know about the sort of research you do to get inside the heads of your characters living in that time period. Is it mostly on the internet? Old documents?

Anne Perry: I use the internet for facts, dates etc. Have a lot of books about social trends, customs, recipes, what was read, believed, on the stage and so on. Religious beliefs, all very interesting. Mostly I think human emotions don't change much, and the things we feel all the time - love, hate, fear, embarassment, hope etc. are the ones that matter, so I look into myself, listen to others, watch and think. It is not really different from writing about people at any time.

Natalie R. Collins:Now let's talk a bit about the Thomas and Charlotte Pitt series. Can you tell us how you came up with these characters?

Anne Perry: To begin with Charlotte was mostly me, but has changed over time, became more domestic, and of course she is only 30 plus. Most characters change as things in the story happen to them and they have new thoughts and feelings Pitt now has more of my thoughts and beliefs. He reflects a side of me far more than Monk does. And I think in that series, Hester is another side of me. If you ask most writers, I think they will say main characters tend to reflect something in themselves.

Natalie R. Collins: As a fellow writer, I have to ask, do you also use others around you as creative inspiration for your characters?

Anne Perry: I should not admit to that, but yes I do. Usually bits and pieces, taken to extremes. I feel very strongly about taking liberties with real people. But we need an endless supply of faces, gestures, beliefs, and especially oddities! Don't you find yourself watching and listening, and then thinking: What if?

Natalie R. Collins: We've had quite a few readers' questions since we announced this chat. Can you answer some of them for us?

Anne Perry: I can try, fire ahead.

Rob Holden: Tom M. Washington, D.C. Your father seems to have been a very special person in your life. How has his inspiration and structure effected your writing today?

Anne Perry: He was very logical. He said that if I could not put my thoughts into words, then I did not really know what I meant. That is thoughts rather than feelings of course. He taught me that it is good and healthy to question, it is not an attack. He is the model of Henry Rathbone, and for John Reavley. But I only wrote him after he died I suppose it is a way of honoring people, and remembering them.

Rob Holden: Dee S., Macon GA: I read part of Long Spoon Lane on your web site. Thank you for including excerpts from your books. Do you have any special books contests planned for the holiday season?( I have yet to win!)

Anne Perry: Good idea. I'll speak to my office manager who does that. Do you have any good ideas? Send in an email with an entry and remind me who you are. You should be accorded something!

Rob Holden: Robin T. Dallas, TX: The quote from Cater Street Hangman where Pitt holds Charlotte, agreeing they share the same pity for poor Martha--is one that seems to stay with me. Are there any quotes from any books that stay with YOU in the same manner?

Anne Perry: Thank you. Yes, you are right, probably the most deeply felt sentiment I wrote in that. She truly was a very sad creature, in spite of what she did. I think it a measure of a person's stature if they can pity even the worst or most frightening of us.

Rob Holden: Kim F. Scotland, PA: When you sit down to write an introduction as for The Hound of the Baskervilles or Scarlett Pimpernel (sink me!) what is the most important point you wish to get across to the readers?

Anne Perry: Good question - answer, what it is that has made that work become a classic instead of sinking, as most books do. Is it character, plot, a unique voice. What about it is universal rather than particular.

Natalie R. Collins: And we have one last reader's question.

Rob Holden: Barb V. Provo, UT: While growing up, what one experience touched you so deeply that it plays a part in your writing today?

Anne Perry: What a question? I should think about that for ages to give you the best answer. It will have to be off the top of my head. I'm thinking! I suppose learning how to find the resources within to survive alone. I had to on and off from age eight, through force of circumstances. Perhaps the answer is that people are pretty good. We have far more in common than separates us. Ask for help, and there will pretty well always be someone who will. You can make friends everywhere I have ever been. Perhaps that is the strongest lesson. Thanks for asking.

Rob Holden: Thank you for answer those. Anne, living in Scotland and writing about Great Britain as you do, what kind of reception do you find your books getting in the United States?

Anne Perry: WONDERFUL ! It is my best market by far! Thank you America. Actually I only returned this Tuesday last. I will be back in Chicago in Feb. Then tour all over in April 2005.

Rob Holden: And your readers can find out about your schedule for touring at your website, www.anneperry.net ?

Anne Perry: When I know, which is usually only shortly before. My publisher knows before I do. I am sent to whatever place I am requested by book shops. Usually includes main centers like NY, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, some in Texas, possibly Houston, Pittsburgh, I hope Washington DC. If you go to the Ballantine site they will know before I do. Thanks for asking.

Natalie R. Collins: Now, many of our readers who are also writers always want to know about an author's writing schedule. Can you tell us about your daily routine?

Anne Perry: I usually start about 9 in the morning, and go on until 9 at night, with breaks for lunch, dinner etc. six days a week (put the pen down to come and talk to you), and take work with me when I travel.

Natalie R. Collins: Wow! That's an intensive schedule.

Anne Perry: You might say compulsive, I would rather say I love it. Life is not going to be long enough.

Natalie R. Collins: So tell us, what is next for Anne Perry?

Anne Perry: Trip to Italy in December for a festival, Chicago in February, Italy again and France in March, tour of USA in April, then other smaller trips. Finish this Monk story, do another Christmas novella, write the next Pitt, plan in more detail and then write the fourth war story, and plan what I will do when the war stories, (all 5) are finished. That should sort 2005. Who knows? What I want most is to see something really well filmed - so work on that too. Please keep a good thought. Thanks for asking.

Rob Holden: Before we wrap this up, we would like to thank Marie Coolman at Random House Publicity for all her help in making this chat happen.

Anne Perry: She's great. I'm just beginning to get the hang of this! I don't type my books. Thank you too.

Rob Holden: Finally Anne, is there anything you would like to say to your millions of fans who might read this chat at ReadersRoom.com?

Anne Perry: Only THANK YOU, without readers it would all mean very little. Thank you again.

Rob Holden: Anne Perry, thank you for joining us here today, and best of luck with all your future projects!




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