The Dulcie Chambers Mysteries series will appeal to anyone looking to keep up with an unconventional detective as she solves the classiest whodunnits you’ve ever read. It’s also perfect for those who want a splattering of the art world mingling with their thrillers, since it’s steeped in stylishness while also educating the reader about anything from oil painting to falconry. The author crafts intriguing characters with nuanced personalities (as well as backstories almost as interesting as every cunning plot twist.)
Author Kerry J Charles’ impressive background makes her the perfect writer for artistic mysteries with uncanny depths of knowledge. With her years as a researcher, work writing and editing for major institutions (National Geographic, the Smithsonian Institution, Harvard University), not to mention a whopping four degrees, she’s spent a lifetime in learning.
Stay tuned for the next scrape that Dr. Chambers manages to get into (and out of) when the eighth novel comes calling! In the meantime, read this interview with its prolific creator. Read the reviews of her books here.
Q: Why did you begin writing this series? What’s kept you going?
A: I’d had the idea of an art museum mystery series eons ago, and had written the first draft of the first novel literally in the last millennium. Life took over for a long time before I dusted it off and began working on it again. That’s when I started adding a lot more of Maine. I grew up in the Portland area, but as an adult lived elsewhere in the US and abroad for many years. When I returned to Maine, all of the childhood memories came rushing back: sailing, camping on the beach, swimming in the chilly Atlantic, taking the ferry out to the islands. Being a part of coastal Maine again has given me so much material for each new book in the series.
Q: How would you yourself describe Dulcie? Has she grown and changed over the series?
A: Dulcie is an intuitive introvert, dedicated to her career. When we first meet her she’s a pragmatic idealist, which is easy to be when you’re fresh out of graduate school (in her case, earning a doctorate from Oxford). Initially, she’s still a bit starry-eyed and in awe of the art world that she’s rapidly ascended within, but she quickly evolves into more of a realist throughout the series. She’s forced to deal with some traumatic events in rapid succession and to take on responsibilities that many don’t encounter so early in their careers. She’s also begun to see her own flaws and is learning to accept the flaws of others which builds trust, both in herself and with those around her.
Q: Do you have a personal favorite novel you’ve written?
A: I love them all (of course!) but I really enjoyed writing From the Murky Deep, the second in the series. It sounds crazy, but that’s when the characters really started “speaking” to me, and I felt more like I was transcribing their conversations rather than composing a story. Sometimes I felt as though I couldn’t type fast enough to keep up! Every book since then has been like that, and I’m finding out so many new things about their personalities, which is a lot of fun!
Q: What was a particularly challenging scene to write?
A: In book six, The Hand that Feeds You, I really had to work at writing all of the scenes with falconry expert Esmerelda Graves. She definitely isn’t a likable person, but I didn’t want readers to dislike her either. It was a fine line, and I found myself rewriting a lot of her dialog which is unusual for me. She’s the sort of person who relates well to other creatures, just not the human kind.
Q: Have you learned anything surprising from your exploration of so many artistic mediums?
A: I have a master’s degree in art history from Harvard so of course I thought I knew more than enough about the subject of art when I started writing the Dulcie Chambers Mysteries. Was I ever wrong! Art is really a reflection of humanity, so it’s incredibly vast. The art world is huge, in terms of the media used to create works of art, the diverse categories of artworks and the long history of art in every culture. It’s been very humbling to realize that I need to go back and do a lot of research for every single book that I write.
Q: Is there an end in sight for Dulcie’s adventures?
A: I’d always envisioned the series as having 10 books, but now that I’m getting started on the eighth … who knows? As long as the characters keep talking in my head, I’ll keep writing down what they say. I’m also currently developing the previous books into screenplays, so stay tuned!
Kerry J Charles’ books are available for purchase here.
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About Kerry J Charles:
Kerry J Charles has worked as a researcher, writer and editor for National Geographic, the Smithsonian Institution, Harvard University and several major textbook publishers. She holds four degrees including a Masters in Geospatial Engineering and a Masters in Art History from Harvard University. She has carried out research in many of the world’s art museums as a freelance writer and scholar.
A swimmer, scuba diver, golfer, and boating enthusiast, Charles enjoys seeing the world from above and below sea level as well as from the tee box. Her life experiences inspire her writing and she is always seeking out new travels and adventures. She returned to her roots in coastal Maine while writing the Dulcie Chambers Mysteries.
