Crime, Women and Comedy: an insight into writing humorous female-led fiction

Kiss, Marry, Murder is set in the leafy environs of Barnes in south-west London. I call it ‘urban cosy crime’, because while it borrows some of the tropes of a traditional murder mystery, it also flouts the rules occasionally with – gasp! – sexual exploits, bad language and not a pensioner-aged sleuth or village vicar in sight.

Kiss, Marry, Murder follows the exploits of Jessica Sinclair, ex-reality TV presenter-turned-private detective, and her sidekicks Della and Darcy: three women from different walks of life who band together to solve a crime. It joins the small but growing number of books taking cosy crime in a fresh direction: think Jesse Sutanto’s Vera Wong, Elle Cosimano’s Finlay Donovan series, and of course, the godmother of humorous crime, Janet Evanovich.

In my first novel, Tinker, Tailor, Schoolmum, Spy, I very deliberately wrote characters that mirrored my own experiences of motherhood, mid-life and female friendship. When it came to writing Kiss, Marry, Murder, I couldn’t help but draw again on this rich vein. Female protagonists of a certain age are still woefully under-represented in commercial fiction, despite so many readers being of a similar demographic. My books are my small contribution to making these ‘invisible woman’ slightly less so.

Kiss, Marry, Murder largely centres around the theme of friendship. It’s fast, furious and occasionally chaotic, and isn’t intended to be taken too seriously. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t substance behind the wisecracks and clowning. I think that for humour to resonate, it has to come from the tickly spot in your brain but also be planted in truth. This means writing characters who can deliver pathos as well as joy, with a journey that is balanced and realistic for my characters and my readers. The metamorphosis of the three women from strangers to allies had to feel organic and realistic; in turn (no spoilers!), the end of friendship also needed to be given the respect it deserved. Whether it’s actual death or the death of a relationship, I think mourning the finish of something is important and real. Hopefully I have done this justice. 

When writing crime I always imagine that it’s helpful to know ‘whodunnit’ but I like to experiment with my writing and so I never plot. It takes me far longer with lots of u-turns but I enjoy working it out and giving myself some surprises along the way! I think that’s why I enjoy writing humour too, because it’s so spontaneous. If you try to be funny, you’ll fail every time. It’s always gamble of course, because it is so subjective: one person’s ‘hilarious’ will be another person’s ‘not funny at all’. It feels like a very brave or a very crazy thing to do – particularly when writing crime – but my roots are in acting and comedy improvisation, and I think that can’t help but inform how I write. 

I think the other reason I like to write humorous fiction is purely for my own sanity. Writing is such a lonely profession and it’s difficult, sometimes, to stay motivated. I enjoy the process of conjuring up characters, scenarios and dialogue that make me smile when I picture them. It spurs me along and feeds my imagination, even if a lot of the slapstick action doesn’t make it as far as the final cut.

Kiss, Marry, Murder has been a joy to write, and I’m looking forward to developing Jess, Della and Darcy in book 2 of the series. For now, I’ll leave you with a short excerpt from the book, where we first meet Jess in her new incarnation as a private investigator. Hopefully it reflects some what I’ve been talking about!

“Jess sat in a banged-up, silver Ford Focus on a mansion-lined street in Chelsea, reflecting on her words to Damon all those months ago and pondering how much long it would be before one of them admitted the whole thing had been an utter disaster. Shuffling in her seat, she flexed her buttocks in alternate bursts to try and relieve the numbness. She’d been there for over an hour, and not for the first time, wondered if she’d end up dying of deep vein thrombosis before dinner. As if in response, her stomach gave an angry growl, and she contemplated nipping to the corner shop for a KitKat. She resisted the temptation. On the wrong side of fifty, she couldn’t afford the extra calories. And by the looks of her recent bank statement, she couldn’t afford the KitKat.”

Kiss, Marry, Murder is available to pre-order and is out on 28th May.