An Interview With Jessica Baker

by Grace Topping

For writers, one of the most exciting things is holding a copy of that first book and celebrating the accomplishment of becoming a published writer. Jessica Baker’s first book, Murder on the Flying Scotsman, was launched this spring, just in time for the pandemic to put a stop to her book launch celebrations, public appearances, and book signings. So we here at Writers Who Kill are happy to celebrate Jessica’s accomplishment and help introduce Murder on the Flying Scotsman to our readers.  

Murder on the Flying Scotsman

Back Cover Copy

As the 1910 London Season comes to an end, it’s time for Lady Theodora Prescott-Pryce’s annual pilgrimage to visit her cousins in Scotland. Accompanied by only her maid, Molly, she thinks she’s in for another long, dull trip aboard the Flying Scotsman. The last thing she expects to find as they departed from London is a body in her compartment. Despite Molly being accused of the murder, Thea knows her maid is innocent. Aided by a young Scotland Yard inspector and an American heiress, Thea uses the detective skills she learned from reading Sherlock Holmes to track down the real murderer, but will she find them before they can strike again?

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Welcome, Jessica, to Writers Who Kill.

You set your book in England, in fact, on the famous Flying Scotsman. What inspired you to write about murder on a train—and that train in particular?

Jessica Baker

I’ve loved trains for as long as I can remember. My mother always talked about taking train trips when she was growing up, and I thought that would be a fun way to travel. I knew I wanted to set a book in England, so I went looking for train services that were in operation around that time. 

Why a historical mystery?

I’ve always loved history. I hadn’t actually discovered many mysteries set in the Edwardian era at the time I decided to write my book. 

What did you decide on first—the setting or the characters?

I decided on the characters first. Thea and Molly popped into my head and refused to leave until I wrote them down. Thea’s full name, Theodora Prescott-Pryce, came to me before I even had a story to go with her character, but with a name like that, I knew she had to be an English lady.

With a setting in England, were you able to visit England to do research? If not, what proved to be the best method for learning what life was like for a young Englishwoman living in the early twentieth century. 

I didn’t get to visit England, but I’ve always wanted to go. I did a lot of research on the Internet. YouTube was particularly helpful for the setting since the Flying Scotsman is still in operation. The train has been updated to a sleeker and faster design, but the route is still the same, and people have videos of that. Some of my research was from the Downton Abbey Behind the Scenes books. There was a lot of specific etiquette that young women of that time had to follow. 

According to the mores of the time, Lady Theodora was nearly on the shelf. Why was she reluctant to marry? 

Thea’s main reason for being so reluctant to marry was she saw how marriage affected her peers. Thea’s closest friend, Ilene, married Thea’s brother, Cecil, and their relationship became strained after that, so in the back of her mind, she’s worried that she’d do the same.

Could having an American mother account for Thea’s outlook on life and her more forward manner?

I think having an American mother definitely accounts for her outlook. Thea’s mother was inspired partially by Cora Crawley in Downton Abbey, but mostly from a line that Lady Mary said to her mother: “You wouldn’t understand. You’re an American.” I’ve always loved reading about the American heiresses who married into the British nobility, the Million Dollar Princesses, and the fascinating lives they went on to lead. 

What aspect of the publication process have you enjoyed the most and the least?

The part that I’ve enjoyed the most is hearing from people that they loved my book. The part that I’ve enjoyed the least is when I’ve had file corruptions. For example, I had some books printed, only to discover the cover file was corrupted and all those books have a printing error.

The path to publication can sometimes be filled with potholes. What is the most valuable thing you’ve learned along the way?

The most valuable thing that I’ve learned is that formatting for e-books is harder than you’d think if you’ve never tried it. I’ve spent a lot of time with online tutorials trying to figure out how to make things happen and where I want them to happen, only to discover that the minute it’s converted into a MOBI file, a lot of that gets stripped away. But it’s also something that you want to try at least once because it gives you an appreciation for the professional formatters who do that as a job.

Who are some of the writers who inspired your work?

For historical, I’ve always loved Frances Hodgson Burnett and Eva Ibbotson. I love the way they describe things so even the bad situations their characters were in took on a magical quality.

For mystery, one of the first adult mysteries I can remember reading and enjoying was Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None, so I tried to emulate some of that. 

Please tell us about your work as a freelance camera assistant in film? 

I started working as a production assistant. I was on a production as a production assistant, the bottom of the set food chain, where the only person I knew was the camera assistant. It was for Disney, and I was super nervous. So I clung to the camera assistant’s side quite a bit during that production. On the next job, the camera operator and producer remembered that I had been helping the camera assistant. Suddenly I started getting called specifically to be a camera assistant. 

I’ve always enjoyed it. Every job is a new experience. One of my most exciting ones was getting to slate for Jerry O’Connell at the AKC Dog Show. On my last job, I was moved from 2^nd Camera Assistant, who is basically support for the one pulling focus, to the 1^st Assistant Camera, which is the person actually pulling the focus. I was a nervous wreck because I responsible for not messing up the shot. If everything is out of focus, the footage isn’t usable. It was amazing how much faith he had in me that I could do a good job with it. 

Now that you have a book out, what do you know now that you wish you’d known when you started out? What advice would you give pre-published writers?

Something I wish I had known when I started was that it would have been better if I published sooner than I did. My timing was off and I published right after the pandemic started, so I wasn’t able to promote my book in person as I expected. Promoting solely online is harder than I thought it would be. Since I overthink things too much, I know that I don’t promote as much as I should and miss a lot of opportunities.

To pre-published writers, my advice is if you think you’re overthinking things, you probably are. My first draft of Murder on the Flying Scotsman was completed in December 2017 (which coincided with the release of the new Murder on the Orient Express movie coming out). I had about fifteen drafts of edits. I debated back and forth whether I wanted to look for an agent or not. At one point, I even had a query letter completely written and ready to send. I realized that these were all just my way of stalling and that if I didn’t just go ahead and publish it myself, I wasn’t going to let it see the light of day.

What’s next for Thea Prescott-Pryce? Will we be seeing more of journalist James Poyntz or Inspector Leslie Thayne?

In Book 2, Thea will be in Scotland with her aunt, uncle, and cousins at their castle during their big hunt when the body of a maid who went missing six years ago is found. I have a title for it, The Corpse at Ravenholm Castle, and I’m currently figuring out how much editing needs to be done before I have an exact release date. I’m aiming for August though.

James Poyntz and Inspector Leslie Thayne are both in the next book, as is Wilhelmina Livingston. It’s a society party as much as a hunt, so we’ll get to meet their families at the party. Since it’s in Scotland, Inspector Thayne doesn’t have jurisdiction over the investigation and it drives him crazy because he wants to be involved.

Thank you, Jessica. 

To learn more about Jessica Baker and Lady Theodora Prescott-Pryce, visit www.jessicabakerauthor.com.