Q&A with Evie Hawtrey

From my Q&A with Evie Hawtrey, author of And by Fire:

How much work does your title do to take readers into the story?

Generally I am rubbish at titles. Absolute rubbish. That’s not a new discovery for me, because, although this is my first foray into crime writing, I’ve been a published historical novelist (Sophie Perinot) for over a decade. So, I get stressed around titles because they matter. And I am also very open to input from my agent and editor when titling my books.

In the case of And by Fire, however, the title is mine and I am rather proud of it. I think it takes the reader deep into both timelines in my crime novel (modern-day London & London 1666), while simultaneously connecting them.

And by Fire is excerpted from a longer phrase, “and by fire, resurgam,” from a taunting note written by my modern-day murderous arsonist on the back of a unusually placed necktie. The word resurgam (Latin for “I shall rise”), come up repeatedly in the novel—spotted by my contemporary detectives, DIs Parker and O’Leary, on the south transcept of St. Paul’s Cathedral; on the charred page of a book that floats down at the feet of architect Sir Christopher Wren during the horrific...[read on]

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Q&A with Evie Hawtrey.

--Marshal Zeringue