I have been making up imaginary worlds my whole life. Was it challenging to find your own ways of extending and inhabiting them? These books delve into worlds like those of classic mysteries and J.K.
I also created a descendant of Holmes, but he’s far removed from Sherlock and a creature of his own time.
But Lestrade and his descendants are another matter. You’re right: I could never write Holmes. We see him bumble about, but how much do we really know about him? I’m just dying to hear his story. I definitely feel that way about Lestrade. The guy directing traffic, the kid who scoops your ice cream: these people might be utterly fascinating. We don’t notice minor characters much, but they are stars of their own stories. “The Red-Headed League” is a favorite partly because I once created a puppet show based on the story, and it’s a wonderful example of Conan Doyle misleading his readers.ĭoes using Inspector Lestrade-a minor character in the original Holmes stories-free you in ways that following Holmes might not have? Add to that a mysterious curse, physical evidence to analyze, and Holmes’s signature use of disguise, and you’ve got the perfect gothic mystery. My favorite Holmes stories are The Hound of the Baskervilles and “The Red-Headed League.” In Hound, the setting-creepy, isolated moors with treacherous bogs and wild animals-practically tells the story. I’ve internalized them so completely that I’d be a different person without them. If I hadn’t read Sherlock Holmes, Nancy Drew, and Trixie Belden when I was a kid, I don’t know what would have become of me. Berinstein, who hosts the podcast The Writing Show and whose Amanda Lester books include Amanda Lester and the Pink Sugar Conspiracy and Amanda Lester and the Orange Crystal Crisis, talked to PW about how and why she created Amanda.Ĭan you say a bit about your history with Sherlock Holmes and mysteries?
But when she is admitted to the Legatum Continuatum School for the descendants of famous detectives, she gets caught up in mysteries that need solving, with the help of her trusty video camera. She is descended from Inspector Lestrade of the Sherlock Holmes novels and stories. Teenage Amanda, a budding film buff, is reluctant to embrace the family business-detective work. Paula Berinstein’s Amanda Lester novels introduce a new YA heroine.
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