UK-based Mark Ellis is former barrister and entrepreneur turned thriller writer and creator of DCI Frank Merlin, an Anglo-Spanish police detective operating in World War 2 London. Mark grew up under the shadow of his parents’ experience of the Second World War: his father served in the wartime navy and died a young man, and his mother told him stories of watching the heavy bombardment of Swansea from the safe vantage point of a hill in Llanelli, Wales. As a consequence, Mark has always been fascinated by WW2 and the fact that while the nation was engaged in a heroic endeavor, crime flourished—murder, robbery, theft, rape and widespread looting. This was an intriguing, harsh and cruel world, the world of DCI Frank Merlin.
Dead in the Water is the fifth and latest installment in the Frank Merlin series, set in 1942 with the war still raging. A mangled body is found in the Thames River just as some items of priceless art go mysteriously missing. What sinister connection links the two? Following a twisting trail of secrets, Merlin and his team must investigate a baffling and deadly puzzle.
Mark Ellis stops by In Reference to Murder to take some Author R&R about researching and writing the series:
The Importance of Research in my Writing
I am the author of a detective series set in World War Two London. My hero is Detective Chief Inspector Frank Merlin, a police officer working out of Scotland Yard. There are 5 books in the series to date, and I’m currently working on the sixth. The Embassy Murders (formerly titled Princes Gate) kicked off the series with Merlin investigating deaths at Joe Kennedy’s London American Embassy in January 1940. The series then progressed to the latest, fifth book, Dead In The Water, set in August 1942, when Merlin investigates a number of deaths linked to Nazi-stolen art. The next book will take Merlin on to early summer 1943.
When I took up crime writing I chose wartime London for a number of reasons. One was that it was a period which had not been covered very much recently in crime fiction. Another was that I found out there had been a crime boom during the war. Crime grew by approximately sixty per cent in England and Wales between 1939 and 1945. Criminals benefited from the blackout, rationing and the black market, the growing market for vice, and the general civil disarray caused by bombing and the war. It seemed to me this would be a great time in which to set a detective series.
I am very keen on achieving historical accuracy in my books. I aim to transport readers to another very different time and place and in my view this cannot be done successfully without accuracy and authenticity. As to the research process I use to achieve this, it has changed a little over time. When I began writing in the early 2000s, I relied very heavily on libraries. In particular I spent a lot of time at the British Public Records Office in Kew, London, where amongst much other helpful information, they hold copies of all the newspapers printed in the war. However as the internet grew, I found that I could increasingly get much of that information online, and the balance of my research process changed, both in terms of sources and procedure.
Having built up a good detailed general knowledge of the period, my main focus now is the specific timeline of the story. Merlin 6, as mentioned above, will be set in early summer 1943. Before starting to write this autumn I spent around 3 months immersing myself in May and June 1943. I began by trawling through the internet searching for any information connected to that time. Then I did the same with my own wartime library of histories, biographies, autobiographies, diaries and literature of the period by authors like Graham Greene, Evelyn Waugh and Elizabeth Bowen. Public libraries still play a part if I encounter gaps. Of course, the research process hasn’t stopped completely now I am writing. There are always facts to verify, and geographical locations to check out.
Good research is crucial, but it is important for the author to remember that the story is the most important thing. There is often a temptation to show off the depth of research done. Many readers enjoy learning new facts in historical fiction books but authors should not overdo it and allow the fruits of research to overwhelm the story. I try hard not to leave myself open to that criticism.
PS I’ve been asked to say who I would consider for the part of Frank Merlin if my series was filmed. This is not so unlikely an event as I have had tv/movie interest from the BBC and others. I like a British actor called Luke Evans who has a Hollywood pedigree (Beauty and the Beast, Midway, The Hobbit). He has similar looks and build to Merlin, as does another possibility, the experienced British actor, Orlando Bloom. Both are the right age.
You can learn more about Mark Ellis and his books via his website, and follow him on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Dead in the Water is available now from Headline Publishing and via all major booksellers.
