I’m delighted to welcome Jackson Marsh to the blog today to talk about writing his ten book Victorian series, The Clearwater Mysteries. They are complex, engrossing books that dip deep into the history of the period. Take it away, Jackson!
In 1890, when my current work in progress is set, being gay in Britain was punishable by up to two years in prison with hard labour. This came about because the Labouchere Amendment to the 1885 Criminal Law Amendment Act made ‘gross indecency’ a crime. This law stood in various forms until 1967 (1980 in Scotland), which means being gay was criminal when my romantic historical series is set.
That was one of the reasons I wanted to write The Clearwater Mysteries. Throughout the eleven books, my main characters live under the pressure of being criminals simply because they were born gay. Their love must remain hidden because it is a ‘love that dare not speak its name’, as Lord Alfred Douglass famously wrote in his poem of 1892, ‘Two Loves.’ Forbidden love was one subject I wanted to explore, but there are many others.
Inspired by Jack the Ripper
The idea for the Clearwater Mysteries began as a brain-spark. ‘What if Jack the Ripper killed rent boys?’ That idea set off ‘Deviant Desire’, the story of how, in 1888, one such street-rat renter rises from being a prostitute living in a rope house to living with a viscount. The love theme was ‘insta-love’, and it happens across the classes. The story developed based on actual events of the time (twisted to suit my world), and by the time I reached the end, I realised I hadn’t written a standalone novel as I intended, but the first in what was crying out to be a series. I have been writing the series for over two years now and am just finishing the 10th mystery, which leaves the way open for another series set in the same world.
There’s More to Romance Novels than Love
I wasn’t only interested in writing a love story where a gay relationship crossed the class divide in Victorian Britain. I’d always wanted to write compelling mysteries, adventures and bromance, and The Clearwater Mysteries contain all those elements. Of my five main characters, four are gay, the other has had a bromance with one, and later, two more young, gay men join the ‘crew.’ The Clearwater world is a gay one for sure, and yet the word ‘gay’ didn’t even exist in that context at the time. The word ‘Homosexuality’ was only just starting to be used in the medical and psychology professions.
I realised that where Lord Clearwater and his friends were restricted by society, laws and expectations, so I was restricted by language, technology and experience. For example, it wasn’t until I’d published ‘Deviant Desire’ that I realised I couldn’t use the word ‘Okay’ because it didn’t come about until the 1930s. (I’ve since edited that, and other words, from the text.) That’s one of the things that irks me about historical fiction; authors not using time-appropriate language. I try not to write in a convoluted Victorian style unless it is how a character speaks, but there is no excuse for using words that people in 1890 would not have known. These days I’ve become adept at stopping myself and asking, ‘Can I use that word?’ The other day, I was working on ‘The Clearwater Inheritance’ when I typed the word ‘Paperwork.’ A quick check, and I discovered that word wasn’t used until 1940.
Fact + Fiction = Friction
Language is one thing; facts are another. Although ‘Deviant Desire’ is not about Jack the Ripper, what takes place is based on events of the time. I love mixing fact with fiction and using the combination to cause friction and drama between characters.
Through the series, we find ourselves backstage at the Royal Opera House, where an assassination is to take place. All the details of the stage, facilities and even the weight of the curtains are accurate. In ‘Fallen Splendour’, I use a Tennyson poem as the clue device, and one of my fictional characters meets the poet. Details about his house, appearance and works, are accurate. Later, we meet Sir Arthur Sullivan, Henry Irving and Bram Stoker and go to the Garrick Club and the Lyceum Theatre. We also break into the National Gallery as accurately as possible. The prequel, ‘Banyak & Fecks’ is the most accurately researched one of the lot, and was a joy to write.
So, there are constraints when writing historical fiction, but there is also a wealth of opportunity. All you have to do is be accurate with your language and research the hell out of everything. And that’s a fact.
The Clearwater Mysteries
The Clearwater Mysteries are an on-going series of Victorian mystery, romance and friendship set in an imaginary London of 1888-1891. The series starts with a non-mystery, historical bromance ‘Banyak & Fecks’ which should be read sometime before book nine. The 10th mystery, ‘The Clearwater Inheritance’ is due for publication in early June.
The series is best read in order, starting with ‘Deviant Desire.’
The non-mystery prequel, ‘Banyak & Fecks’ should be read before books nine and ten.
Keep up to date with all Jackson’s news at www.jacksonmarsh.com or follow him on Facebook an Instagram
The Clearwater Inheritance
‘No one can take away your name.’
Archer Clearwater will lose his entire fortune unless he cracks a musical code.
If Archer’s insane brother dies, their distant cousin, the evil Count Movileşti, will inherit everything, and with the influenza pandemic threatening the brother’s asylum, the outlook is grave. The only thing that can ensure Archer’s future is a legal document left behind by his grandfather, but the clue to its location is hidden within two pieces of music. Archer has one; the other is in Movileşti’s collection at Castle Rasnov.
Archer dispatches two of his team to the Transylvanian castle, and two to the Clearwater Archives in London, leaving the rest to search every inch of his country house. The men face their pasts and decide their futures as loyalties are tested, and death stalks the corridors of Larkspur Hall. With Movileşti on his way to claim the inheritance, everyone has a vital part to play and everything to lose as they race against time.
Set during the 1890 Russian influenza pandemic, The Clearwater Inheritance is a mystery thriller that takes us from Cornwall to Transylvania, and from the cellars of Larkspur Hall to the Orient Express.
A mashup of romance, mystery and adventure, the tenth book ties up previous threads, answers questions, and sets the scene for the Clearwater future.
You can read an excerpt from The Clearwater Inheritance here on Jackson’s website or here on Amazon. All books available in Paperback, Kindle and KU.
As you know, I self-id as a complete and utter history nerd and I regularly get sucked down research rabbit holes. I find that I get stuck on how something would work so fixedly that I can’t move on with the story until I’ve worked it out in my own head. A lot of this doesn’t make it in to the book, because it’s simply not necessary for the plot for everyone else to know how corn was harvested in 1920, or what precise underwear working women wore in the mid-eighteenth century, or, in this particular case, what lanterns someone would have used to explore a cave system in the Himalayas in 1780.
After watching that, I made myself a little lamp with olive oil and a bit of cotton string supported out of it with some wire, in a glass jar. It gave enough light to hang out and chat, but not really enough to read by unless you were right next to it. I guess more wicks in the jar would make a difference.