April Author Spotlight 2015

Letter ‘I’ is for Ita Ryan author of It Can Be Dangerous

Why do I recommend It Can Be Dangerous?

This is a different type of murder mystery. I loved the funny and feisty heroine, who narrates events in first person revealing how clever, yet naïve she can be, trying to investigate her boss’s murder. She proceeds to interview her eccentric bunch of co-workers and the deceased’s family, leading to some quick, sharp, and often hilarious dialogue, as everyone becomes a suspect, and she’s targeted by the killer. She discovers much more than the police ever could by pestering his employees and family: illicit affairs, theft, embezzlement, etc. Other devious means of investigation include the use of a children’s toy fingerprint detection set! Cynthia’s conversations with Superintendent Foster are priceless! I could imagine Audrey Hepburn and Cary Grant bickering back and forth. The grand finale where all the suspects are called and the killer is disclosed, (or perhaps not?) is reminiscent of classical crime stories. Great fun to read!

What is It Can Be Dangerous about, Ita?

 

IT Can Be Dangerous is a murder mystery set in the City of London. Computer programmer Cynthia Hegarty finds her unpleasant boss’s body in his office behind her. Feeling like a techie Bridget Jones plunged into a twenty-first-century Agatha Christie, she sets out to find his killer before she’s arrested herself.

If you only read non-fiction or you take your reading very seriously, you will hate this book. Reviewers who loved IT Can Be Dangerous were diverse – men and women from all over the world, some murder mystery fans, some first-time detective-story readers. They all enjoyed a lively page-turner with a contemporary setting and a sense of humour.

What are you working on now?

When ‘IT Can Be Dangerous’ was finished I sent Cynthia off to open a detective agency. Find out what happened next in a free online story ‘The Mystery of the Elusive Fitness Instructor’. In my second novel, which is currently brewing in the pot, Cynthia inadvertently becomes enmeshed in a web of intrigue. Her tangled romantic life isn’t much help. Poor Cynthia, let’s hope she sorts it out. Over the years I’ve written a few short stories. One of them was broadcast on Ireland’s national radio station RTE1. I’d like to publish a collection of them in the next while.

What would you like readers to know about you?

I love reading and include PG Wodehouse, Georgette Heyer, Terry Pratchett, Agatha Christie, Janet Evanovich, Douglas Adams, Richmal Crompton and Marian Keyes among my favourite writers. Looking over this list I notice that they’re all master plotters. Wodehouse used to devise 30 pages of plotting before he started a novel. They’re also all very funny. When I pick up a book I like to be transported into a different, convincing and compelling world where the evil are punished, the good triumph and there’s plenty of laughter along the way. Closing the book I’m already missing the characters, wondering what they did next. That’s the feeling I try to capture when I write, while combining the traditional British pre-war mystery, twenty-first-century life and wry observation with a dash of parody.

How can we find out more or contact you?

My Facebook page

Twitter: @itaryan

Goodreads

Amazon author page:

To buy It Can Be Dangerous 

 

 

Please take some time to check out some of the other blogs on the A-Z Challenge. There are plenty of interesting and varied topics.