Welcome to another Weekend Read. This week author Michelle Salter has dropped by to tell us about her new book Murder at Big Ben, and her writing life. So grab yourself a cuppa, get cosy and let’s get chatting to Michelle.

Blurb

Three women hide in Big Ben, only two come out alive…

2 April 1911 is census night, when suffragettes hide overnight in parliament to force census takers to record it as their address – the only way women can have a place in government.

Coral Fairbanks, suffragette, actress, and artist’s muse, is among the women who break into parliament. What she doesn’t know is that Guy Flynn, artist and Scotland Yard detective, has been ordered to guard it that night.

When a suffragette hiding in Big Ben is poisoned, suspicion falls on the residents of two grand houses in Mayfair. The Kesbys are avant-garde artists, the Ashcourts are aristocrats fallen on hard times.

Once again, Fairbanks and Flynn put aside their differences to investigate an astonishing case of deception and murder.

A new historical mystery set in Edwardian London featuring the iconic detective duo Fairbanks and Flynn.

While this novel has the same detective duo as the other books in the Fairbanks and Flynn Mystery series, it can be read as a STANDALONE

Buy Link: https://mybook.to/MurderAtBigBen

Welcome to my blog Michelle.  I was really interested to hear that for your research for this story you decided to find out how to hide a suffragette in Big Ben! Can you tell us about this?

Thanks Karen, Yes, all in the name of research, I climbed to the top of Big Ben (334 steps to the belfry – don’t look down the stairwell if you’re afraid of heights!), toured the Palace of Westminster, and squeezed into the broom cupboard where suffragette Emily Davison once hid.

In Murder at Big Ben, my aim was to recreate the famous event in 1911, when Emily hid in a cupboard in the Chapel of St Mary Undercroft on census night so that the Houses of Parliament was recorded as her address.

In my story, Emily is one of six suffragettes who break into parliament on census night, and I needed to give each of them a hiding place.

I’ve visited the Houses of Parliament several times over the years, first in 1996, in the company of author and presenter, Gyles Brandreth. At the time, he was an MP, and I worked for the publishers of his first novel. To promote the book, he gave the sales and marketing team a tour of the Palace of Westminster.

Thirty years later, I found myself back in parliament, this time to research my own book. And, after some persuasion, I was allowed into the broom cupboard in the chapel where Emily hid – although due to security, a photo of me in the cupboard wasn’t possible!

I’d mapped out the route my six suffragettes would take when they broke into parliament, first concealing themselves inside benches in St Stephen’s Hall before splitting up and going to different hiding places. While Emily took her rightful place in the cupboard, it was more challenging to get three of my suffragettes into Big Ben (official name Elizabeth Tower – Big Ben is the great bell at the centre of the clock tower).

Even after exploring the clock tower, it was difficult to establish whether my suffragettes could have entered it from the main palace. But thanks to House of Commons library staff, I discovered it was possible.

There used to be three prison suites (for MPs who disobeyed the rules of the House) in the wing of the palace to the south of the clock tower. The bedroom and dressing room of one were in the clock tower itself, close to the weight shaft. This was my hiding place.

To find out what happens to my census night suffragettes, read Murder at Big Ben, an Edwardian mystery set in the very heart of London.

What a fascinating story, Michelle. Thank you for dropping by to talk to us today.

Meet Michelle

Author bio

Michelle Salter is a bestselling author of Edwardian and 1920s murder mysteries featuring female amateur sleuths, suffragettes and Scotland Yard detectives. She combines colourful characters, fascinating British history, and will-they-won’t-they romance in classic golden-age whodunnits.

Each book can be read as a standalone even if it’s part of a series.

Michelle’s cozy crime novels have gained a dedicated following of readers who love her compelling characters and page-turning plot twists.

When she’s not writing books, Michelle enjoys exploring the backstreets of London and sharing fascinating facts from the Edwardian era and Roaring Twenties on her blog and social media.

Author links

https://mybook.to/MurderAtBigBen

https://www.michellesalter.com

https://www.facebook.com/MichelleSalterWriter

https://www.instagram.com/michellesalter_writer

More of Michelle’s Books