CLARE CHASE
The mystery author talks to Margaret James about juggling three different series
The prolific crime and mystery novelist Clare Chase grew up in a hugely creative family, but this didn’t mean she had a head start when it came to writing fiction. ‘My mother was an artist, as is my brother,’ she explains. ‘But, if you could see my drawings, you’d understand why I turned to writing, which I did while I was still very young. As you can imagine, it was dreadful stuff!
‘My maternal grandmother was a ballet dancer, and in the generation before her there was an artist, a poet, an actor and a dressmaker. My birth father played the clarinet, and my adoptive father loves to write everything from limericks and funny plays to academic works. I guess I might have got twitchy if I hadn’t done something creative!
‘I taught myself to touch type so I could get my ideas down quickly, and this has paid dividends because I can be far more productive when I’m short of time.’
Nowadays, Clare writes several series of crime novels, each series featuring a different heroines.