Patricia Wynn loves history, travel, and a good mystery. In this interview, the award-winning author describes how she’s been able to blend those interests to write mysteries as well as Regency and historical romances. Her latest Blue Satan historical mystery is “Acts of Faith,” which explores life in 1716 England and the religious persecution of the time.
In “Acts of Faith,” Gideon Fitzsimmons, the outlawed Viscount St. Mars, aka the highwayman Blue Satan, returns to England after smuggling an escaped Jacobite prisoner into France. He’s soon arrested when the murder of a neighbor reveals the secrecy in which Roman Catholics must live. That secrecy is where this story really begins.
Wynn said, “Most people have heard about priest holes in English manor houses so that priests could hide. I had always thought of them as being relics of the Reformation and later the persecution by Cromwell’s army. I was reading a biography of the poet Alexander Pope and came across the fact that in 1715, he was forced to leave London for a while because all Roman Catholics were banned from the city. Then I learned that the laws against Catholics persisted for centuries.
“At times of external threat, such as the Jacobite Rebellion of 1715, they were strictly enforced and Catholics were hounded again. They suffered everything from double taxation to a restriction of only one gun and one horse to a family. The purpose of these laws, including the banishment not only from London, but all cities, was to make it impossible for them to mount a rebellion in aid of the Pope, but it forced them into all kinds of secretive behaviors. One of the behaviors practiced by some Catholics made me think that it could easily become a motive for murder.”
Sometimes, the parallels of history to current-day events are uncanny. Wynn said she doesn’t usually have an issue in mind when she writes a mystery novel, but often finds parallels to current events. “In one of my books, I wrote about the government surveillance of mail and private papers in 1715, due to the threat of a Jacobite invasion. The English were frightened by what seemed an unprecedented invasion of their liberty, so they burned their papers and diaries, which has made it difficult for me to do research for my series.”
One reviewer felt that Wynn was purposely drawing a parallel between the historic events and the Patriot Act. Wynn said, “I do think the parallel is there, but I was simply using a historical situation to enhance the mystery plot. In ‘Acts of Faith’ I did want to talk about religious intolerance and show that only the names change, the fears stay the same.”
Wynn lived in France and Mexico before she was married. While she’s fluent in French and Spanish as well as her native English, she had no idea the title of the series was going to be an issue. She described some of those misunderstandings.
“It’s surprising how many people read ‘satin’ instead of ‘Satan.’ I thought the name Satan was pretty well known. Then there are the people who do read it correctly and are either offended or titillated. It was a common expression in England to call someone a ‘devil.’ I used that custom to name my highwayman, but you would think I had blasphemed or was promoting Satanism by the looks I sometimes get.”
Those experiences, however, were not as embarrassing for Wynn as a live web chat where she was a guest. During her live interview, several people came into the room to ask whether Wynn wrote porn. She said, “They were very disappointed to discover that I did not. The host was mortified and assured me that had never happened on her program before, but it made me swear off live internet.”
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Patricia Wynn has written ten Regency and historical romances. Her five mystery novels have been finalists for several national awards. The second book in Blue Satan Mystery series, “The Spider’s Touch,” won the Benjamin Franklin Award for Best Genre Novel of 2002 from the Independent Book Publishers Association.
Learn more about Patricia Wynn on her website at www.patriciawynn.com.
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