Tom Mead: On Continuing a Murder Mystery Series
Tom Mead is a UK-based author specializing in crime fiction. His stories have appeared in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, Litro Online, Flash: The International Short-Short Story Magazine, Lighthouse, Mystery Scene and Mystery Weekly (among others).
Several of his pieces have also been anthologized, most recently “Heatwave” in The Best Mystery Stories of the Year 2021 (ed. Lee Child). His debut novel, Death and the Conjuror, was published by Mysterious Press in 2022. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook.
Tom Mead
Geoffrey Shek
In this post, Tom shares his love for golden age detective fiction, the pros and cons of complex plots, and more.
Name: Tom Mead
Literary agent: Lorella Bella (LBLA)
Book title: The Murder Wheel
Publisher: Mysterious Press
Release date: July 2023
Genre/category: Murder mystery
Previous titles: Death and the Conjuror
Elevator pitch for the book: Illusionist turned sleuth Joseph Spector returns to investigate a string of sinister, interconnected mysteries backstage at a run-down theatre in 1930s London.
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What prompted you to write this book?
The Murder Wheel was written very soon after I finished the first draft of Death and the Conjuror. This was during 2020 and 2021, at the height of the nationwide lockdowns here in the UK. My writing was a wonderful means of escape during that troubled time.
I’d already written several short stories featuring my detective character, Joseph Spector, that were prompted by my love of classic, golden age detective fiction—particularly locked-room mysteries. So I plotted and drafted the first two Spector books as a kind of natural progression from the short stories, out of a desire to take on a fresh challenge.
Once I got started, I knew that I had too many characters and mysteries for a single novel. And since most of my favourite authors (John Dickson Carr, Agatha Christie, and Ellery Queen, for example) wrote long-running series, I decided to start writing the second mystery as soon as I finished the first; to try and keep the momentum going, and to keep generating new ideas through reading and research.
How long did it take to go from idea to publication? And did the idea change during the process?
I submitted my final draft for The Murder Wheel in March 2022, but to be honest I can’t really remember when I first started coming up with ideas for the book. It was probably pre-pandemic, back when I was working full-time and scribbling notes whenever I had a spare moment. Realistically, it must have been five years between my initial ideas and the finished piece.
And yes, there were many significant changes throughout the process, from the mechanics of the mystery and the relationships between the characters all the way to the structure of the story itself.
Were there any surprises or learning moments in the publishing process for this title?
Too many to list here! Because I wrote the first and second books purely for myself, it was a decidedly steep learning curve once I set foot in the world of professional publishing.
Inevitably, it came as a shock to the system when I started thinking more practically about the books and how readers would respond to them. But I’ve been pleasantly surprised by the way different editors and artists have embraced the project, as well as the positive reactions from readers.
Were there any surprises in the writing process for this book?
I tried a few different things with The Murder Wheel, as I was keen for it to fit the tone of Conjuror while providing readers with something fresh. So I experimented with different themes and narratorial voices, and made a deliberate effort to surprise myself with a lateral approach to plotting.
This was a handy means of stimulating new ideas. Inevitably, I wrote myself into a corner a few times, but the great thing about writing deliberately complex plots is that there are always plenty of threads for you to unravel.
What do you hope readers will get out of your book?
I hope it will entertain them, amuse them, and give them a challenge. But above all I hope it will immerse them in the world of the Golden Age of Mystery.
If you could share one piece of advice with other writers, what would it be?
When I’m in the right frame of mind, I can write very quickly, and I really think that’s the best way to get things done. So I’d suggest that you set yourself a daily word count and stick to it.
Don’t worry about the quality of what you’re writing—you will inevitably focus on that during the subsequent editing process. Instead, focus on getting your story down on paper from beginning to end. You can think about the rest later.
While there’s no shortage of writing advice, it’s often scattered around—a piece of advice here, words of wisdom there. And in the moments when you most need writing advice, what you find might not resonate with you or speak to the issue you’re dealing with. In A Year of Writing Advice, the editors of Writer’s Digest have gathered thoughts, musings, and yes, advice from 365 authors in dozens of genres to help you on your writing journey.