Writers Read: Carola Dunn

Friday, July 3, 2015

Carola Dunn

Carola Dunn is the author of many mysteries featuring Daisy Dalrymple, as well as numerous historical novels. Born and raised in England, she lives in Eugene, Oregon.

Dunn's latest novel is Superfluous Women, the 22nd Daisy Dalrymple mystery.

Recently I asked the author about what she was reading. Her reply:

I've been travelling, driving from Oregon to Southern California and back. The perfect reading for the motel evenings (and also for staying in a house with young children) is Discover magazine. I've been a subscriber since it was called Science '80. Every issue is full of fascinating stories about what's going on in the world of scientific research, from archeology, anthropology, and medicine to cosmology. I always read it from cover to cover, though I usually don't understand the physics, even at this popular level.

The latest issue but one has an article about an astrophysicist who has come up with a hypothesis about dark matter: that it doesn't exist. His theory, based on a development of Newtonian gravity, would do away with the clash between Einsteinian gravity and quantum mechanics. I don't claim to fully comprehend the arguments but that sounds to me like a good idea! The great thing about Discover is that it doesn't bombard me with math which I wouldn't understand at all.

The latest issue has a large section of news about green energy—with lots of good news about new ideas and inventions and improvements in old technology. Sometimes I almost think we will take climate change seriously enough to do something about it.

Before I started my travels, I was rereading some of Michael Innes's Appleby mysteries. They vary enormously, from very literary (he was a lecturer in English at Oxford University) to melodrama to outright farce. He had a way of creating quirky characters and weird plots that I enjoy, as well as comparatively straightforward murder investigations. I particularly like the books where Appleby's artist wife Judith is involved.

Since reaching my destination, I've read a young adult book, The War that Saved My Life. It's a good story and good characters, but as usual with American writers setting books in England, the author hasn't quite mastered the differences between US and UK English, particularly the historical aspect (WWII). If asked, I always advise US writers of UK books to use an American protagonist, which makes the inevitable mistakes less glaring. That wouldn't have worked in this case but the author could have had an actual real live Brit do a read-through.

And now I'm reading Sara Hoskinson Frommer's cozy mystery, Her Brother's Keeper. I don't read many contemporary mysteries, but I do enjoy her series.