Next up into the Festive Fun with... spotlight it's my pleasure to welcome Pam Lecky to the blog.
Tell us a little bit about yourself.I’m an Irish historical fiction author who is somewhat obsessed with the past. This most likely stems from a lifetime of consuming historical fiction (crime, mystery and romance), and crime novels from the likes of Dorothy L Sayers, PD James and Agatha Christie. I’m married with three children and live in a small town north of Dublin city.
My father was a ferocious reader and a lover of history; something he passed on to me at any early age. A special gift from him when I was about 12, the complete works of Jane Austen, firmly set my sights on the 19th century. My love of reading grew to encompass many genres and I read my way through classics, historical fiction and crime (both modern and set in the past). But I found myself always returning to the 19th century as I was fascinated by the speed of social and political change, the fashion, architecture and the way people behaved. But in the end, it was another author who inspired me to put pen to paper: a historical mystery with a disappointing ending sparked the mad idea of actually writing my own. Now, my writing world has expanded to encompass WW2 – a nice challenge for me and an enjoyable one to boot.
My first novel, The Bowes Inheritance, was published in 2015 when I was 50 and I carry that as a badge of honour for I do not believe I could have written it as well at a younger age. Life experience has to colour your writing and I hope my work is the richer for it. Of course, what I didn’t realise is that writing can become addictive. Bowes did very well, being longlisted by the Historical Novel Society and shortlisted for the Carousel Aware Prize. That success gave me the confidence to keep writing and so here I am six years later, earning my living as a fulltime writer.
My writing career took a great leap forward when I signed with the Hardman & Swainson Literary Agency in London in 2018. And it was through my agent that I signed a two-book deal with Avon Books UK/Harper Collins at the end of 2020. However, I will continue to be a hybrid author, with my popular Lucy Lawrence Mysteries (Victorian mysteries) being independently published and the third book in the series, The Art of Deception due for release in December.
