Guest Post: Weather patterns in crime fiction by Anna Jaquiery

Today it's my stop on the Death in the Rainy Season blog tour with a guest piece by author Anna Jaquiery about weather patterns in her novels.

In my first crime novel The Lying Down Room, it’s very, very warm. The setting is Paris and the city is trapped in an oppressive heat wave. It’s August, which means many Parisians have fled the city. Only the tourists remain, trudging from one sight to the next with their city maps and water bottles. Commandant Serge Morel’s team is investigating the murder of an elderly woman, which is soon followed by another… the case is difficult and the heat doesn’t make the work any easier. 

My second book, Death in the Rainy Season, takes place in Phnom Penh. Morel is on holiday in Cambodia when a Frenchman is found murdered in a hotel room. Morel’s boss tells him he has to cut his holiday short and become involved in the investigation; the Frenchman is a prominent politician’s nephew. This is a very different environment to the one in which Morel is used to working. For a start, it’s the middle of the monsoon season. The rain is relentless. As I was writing this book I felt I was there, getting drenched during a sudden downpour or hearing the ticking sound of water dripping from the trees. At times, the rains are oppressive; other times, they evoke a lush green landscape; romance and exoticism.