Q&A with Allison Montclair

From my Q&A with Allison Montclair, author of An Excellent Thing in a Woman:

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

“Her voice was ever soft / Gentle and low — an excellent thing in a woman.” King Lear, after the death of Cordelia. This mystery deals with voices — how they sound, who they belong to, and the stilling of them by death. The book begins with a new client coming to The Right Sort Marriage Bureau who has a background in radio and a particular love for voices. Iris mentions the Lear quote, with her own typically acerbic take: “Another man realizing the value of a woman when it’s too late.”

Titles have generally been difficult for me, and I have wrestled with my editors over them many times. This one, however, was accepted right away. It also echoes P.D. James’s An Unsuitable Job For A Woman, one of my favorite mysteries.

What's in a name?

My protagonists are Iris Sparks and Gwendolyn...[read on]

Visit Alan Gordon's website.

The Page 69 Test: An Excellent Thing in a Woman.

Q&A with Allison Montclair.

--Marshal Zeringue