Staying the Course

The Percivious trilogy straddles numerous genres. When we started writing, we were unsure where the story was going to lead. The literature that influenced us came from a variety of classifications and so it was no surprise that we ended up with one that at times fell outside the bounds of the medical thriller/sci-fi adventure we ultimately decided upon. Our joint love of mysteries had a significant impact on our debut novel, and if you love mysteries you can’t help but love Agatha Christie.

An English writer known for her 66 novels and 14 short story collections, she also wrote the world’s longest running play, The Mousetrap. Guinness World Records lists Christie as the best-selling fiction writer of all time, her novels having sold more than two billion copies.

During both world wars she served in hospital dispensaries, acquiring a thorough knowledge of the poisons which featured in many of her novels. In 1955 she was the first recipient of the Mystery Writers of America’s Grand Master Award. More than 30 feature films have been based on her work.

Murder on the Orient Express became the benchmark for us for a number of reasons. Christie makes an improbable plot and solution appear convincing, and we kept this in mind as we started upon our own mystery in book one – Percivious Insomnia. Not only does her novel influence our book one but also book two, for entirely different reasons. While her characters are trapped aboard a train, ours, for the most part, are also confined, the only difference being that our train takes the form of a starship. The interactions between characters and the pace at which information is shared as the story progresses seems accelerated due to the confined space. This example was one we were determined to follow in our book two.

Her cadence, the elegant setting of the roaring 20s/early 30s as a backdrop, and a cast of unforgettable characters were all priorities we adopted, inspired by her work. A timely return to the roaring 20s is ripe in the face of the current pandemic and it is this spirit we hoped to incorporate regardless the departure in genre and lapse of time.

Lastly, her mastery at divulging just the right information at just the right time all the while promising the reader that if they stay the course all will be revealed, is something that rests at the top of the list of our goals for book three. While we did not set out to write a mystery and have produced something that falls well outside the genre, the fact remains that Agatha’s Christie’s influence is arguably the greatest influence on our trilogy.