V.M. Devine: A Terrible Beauty - The Murder at Joyce's Tower Book Launch
Book Launch – V.M. Devine
March 16, 2017
A Terrible Beauty – The Murder at Joyce’s Tower
Hosted by: Skoobs Theatre of Books
Entering Skoobs and climbing up the stairs, I was greeted with crime scene tape – ‘Do Not Enter - Crime Scene’ adorned the rails…what awaits, I wondered? Two down-to-earth, humorous people who have written a serious murder mystery, of course! This father / daughter combination has penned a wonderfully descriptive, very intriguing story. The setting is Ireland (mostly!) and we were welcomed to Skoobs by the wonderfully lilting tones of an Irishman reciting a poem by Yeats relevant to the tale in the book. Snacks and drinks were available for those who wanted and old friends were greeted and new friends made. Mike Mahoney has written seven books on theology and is not new to the writing process but admitted that writing a murder mystery was a very different experience. Although interested in children’s fiction, this is Valerie’s first novel. We were warned that when reading the novel, we should be careful not to chase red herrings and to reign in our overactive imaginations in trying to determine who the murderer was. As yet, the authors have not had one reader who guessed the murderer correctly before he / she was exposed. If those nuggets aren’t enough to compel you to read the story, perhaps the following will be!
How did they come up with the pen name? V (Valerie); M (Mike); Devine – Val’s grandmother’s name.
When asked how the collaboration worked, Mike noted that he wrote ¾ of the book before sending it to Val to edit. She is familiar with his writing process as she has previously edited his theology works. Half was removed (too much unnecessary detail) and half was rewritten by Val. After that, each would send a chapter they wrote to the other, who would then ‘re-write’ it, bringing together the story in its present form. In order to make it work and so that each was seeing the characters in the same way, Val suggested that they Google images of what they thought the characters looked like. Imagine their amazement when they compared images and discovered that they each had a completely different picture in their heads!
Mike was very forthright in saying that he has learned a lot during this process about writing fiction. Val’s experience was instrumental in this. Basics, such as from whose point of view the story is going to be told, were foreign to him. A whole lot of research and coaching from Val has expanded his knowledge exponentially. He also told the audience of his surprise at how the characters seemed to develop their personalities and almost take over the writing process. In this process he saw words being written that he would never say!
Mike has been reading murder mysteries ever since he can remember and is an avid fan of authors such as Agatha Christie and P.D. James, so it is not surprising that his fictional efforts have revolved around murder mystery. Mike’s day job was in IT which involved logic and problem-solving, so again, not surprising that the genre is murder mystery.
Mike was born and grew up around Joyce’s Tower in Ireland (which is a real place!) and has travelled over the years. This knowledge made him confident to be able to incorporate some of these places into the story. In particular this novel features Nigeria. It is also why the Easter uprising of 1916 and the words penned by Yeats are significant:
‘..all changed utterly:
A terrible beauty is born.
….transformed utterly:
A terrible beauty is born.’
When asked if they had favourite characters in the book, neither could really say although Mike was leaning towards the lawyer. Val did note however, that she was surprised at how strongly readers felt about the characters!
Family support was critical during the writing process and each thanked their families for their patience and input with this endeavor.
What’s next for V.M. Devine? The place for the fictional murder has been chosen (the library in Dublin Castle which has a fascinating history of its own) by Mike and some of the characters will return. I, for one, cannot wait!
On Behalf of The Blithering Bibliomaniacs
Kim Hunter
