Lori Rader-Day
Author Interview - Lori Rader-Day
Author of Death at Greenway
During World War II, three million children were evacuated out of England's major cities to avoid the Blitz. Ten children spent the war at Agatha Christie's house.
Bridey Kelly has come to Greenway House—the beloved holiday home of Agatha Christie—in disgrace. A terrible mistake at St. Prisca’s Hospital in London has led to her dismissal as a nurse trainee, and her only chance for redemption is a position in the countryside caring for children evacuated to safety from the Blitz. Greenway is a beautiful home full of riddles: wondrous curios not to be touched, restrictions on rooms not to be entered, and a generous library, filled with books about murder. The biggest mystery might be the other nurse, Gigi, who is like no one Bridey has ever met. When a body washes ashore near the estate, Bridey recognizes murder. As the local villagers look among themselves, Bridey and Gigi discover they each harbor dangerous secrets about what has led them to Greenway. With a mystery writer’s home as their unsettling backdrop, the young women must unravel the truth before their safe haven becomes a place of death . . .
Author Interview - Lori Rader-Day
Author I draw inspiration from: Agatha Christie, of course!
Author Interview - Lori Rader-Day | Author I Draw Inspiration From
Favorite place to read a book: On my back porch
Book character I’d like to be stuck in an elevator with: I wouldn't want to be stuck on an elevator with anyone and they wouldn't want to be stuck on an elevator with me... also most of my favorite characters are a little on the unpredictable side! That said, I would never turn down a chance to have tea with Miss Marple, Murder in the Vicarage, Agatha Christie. I'm also very fond of the Kopp sisters from Amy Stewart's series which starts with Girl with Gun.
Author Interview - Lori Rader-Day | Book Character I’d Like to be Stuck in an Elevator With
The moment I knew I wanted to become an author: When I was in the second grade or so, I realized there was a name on the cover of my favorite books—Beverly Cleary, who is this so and so?—who was NOT Ramona Quimby. (I love Ramona fiercely to this day.) This was when I realized there were people who created the stories I loved, that I might be such a person.
Hardback, paperback, ebook or audiobook: Trade paperback forever!
The last book I read: Clark and Division by Naomi Hirahara—Chicago WWII historical by one of my favorite contemporary writers
Author Interview - Lori Rader-Day | The Last Book I Read
Pen & paper or computer: Computer unless I get stuck, and then it's pen and a Moleskine notebook.
Book character I think I’d be best friends with: Most of the characters of the books I read—well, it would be better to keep them at arm's length. But I think Cass Raines from Tracy Clark's P.I. series would be someone I could hang out with. How long before I annoyed her, though?
Author Interview - Lori Rader-Day | Book Character I’d be Best Friends With
If I weren’t an author, I’d be a: Communications Strategist for non-profits. That's what I was, anyway.
Favorite decade in fashion history: I don't follow fashion. Which decade is when women could wear slacks? That's a key shift in clothes for me.
Place I’d most like to travel: I love Tokyo but I was supposed to go to Stockholm and Helsinki in 2020, a trip ruined by COVID-19, so I would like to make those plans again, and add Iceland and Denmark.
My signature drink: English breakfast tea with milk, English style. I wish it were a better answer... I'm very fond of sweet cocktails and beers than require fruit slices.
Favorite artist: Edward Hopper and photographers Richard Nickel and Vivian Maier. I really love paintings and photos that find people in the middle of their lives. They're great story starters.
Number one on my bucket list: Visit all the continents. Antarctica might the tough one.
Anything else you'd like to add: People are usually interested to learn that I researched Death at Greenway by staying three nights at the house as the guest of the National Trust. It's a beautiful place with 30 acres of woodlands and gardens. A truly wonderful place that was a safe home to the children who really stayed there and to the sailors stationed there after the house was requisitioned. Later this area of England would play an important role in Operation Overlord, D-Day, and the eventual Allied victory.
Find more from the author:
website: https://loriraderday.com/
https://www.facebook.com/loriraderdaybooks/
Instagram: @loriraderday
Twitter: @loriraderday
Author Bio: Lori Rader-Day is the Edgar Award-nominated and Anthony Award- and Mary Higgins Clark Award-winning author of The Lucky One, Under a Dark Sky, The Day I Died, Little Pretty Things, and The Black Hour. She co-chairs the mystery conference Murder and Mayhem in Chicago and is a former national president of Sisters in Crime. Her new book, Death at Greenway, is based on a little-known moment in history, when a group of Londoners were evacuated from the Blitz during World War II to Agatha Christie’s holiday estate.
