Steam-powered drama from friends’ first novel
It’s a murder mystery written as a love letter to female friendship, the British Steampunk scene and classic novels.
Best friends Imogen Laverick and Nicola Lawton have self-published their own detective story – Beaumont and Elscrook in the Pith and the Pendulum.
It follows the introverted Lady Beaumont, who has always dreamed of becoming a sleuth, and her wild childhood friend and pilot companion, Commander Elscrook, through their journey of catching a murderer.
The authors met three years ago at an event in Dudley dedicated to Steampunk, a genre of science fiction that has a historical setting and typically features steam-powered machinery.
The idea to team up and write their own murder mystery came “out of nowhere” a year later and they began creating their characters and the world they live in simply for fun.
“It started as a joke and it kept spiralling. We started writing a few chapters and before we knew it we had half a book. So we decided to take it seriously and looked into self-publishing,” says university student Nicola, aged 20.
The first in what they plan to turn into a series, the book is set in a Steampunk-inspired world and is full of homages to literary greats such as Conan Doyle, Agatha Christie and Edgar Allan Poe – a nod to the pair’s love of murder mysteries.
“I’ve growing up reading classics and my mum brought me up reading Sherlock Holmes and my aunt introduced me to Agatha Christie. All of the book references that Beaumont makes in the book are ones I’ve read over the years,” says Imogen, 23, who is a trainee theatre seamstress.
The first book’s title is a nod to Poe’s short story The Pit and the Pendulum while the second in the series will be titled The Case of The Endless Light, paying homage to Christie’s novel Endless Night.
The pair, who both attended Dormston School in Sedgley and write as I. I. Laverick and N. J. Lawton, are both fans of the Steampunk genre and say the endless opportunities it offers have helped to inspire their writing.
“I’ve grown up with the local Steampunk community. Mixing history with fantasy really speaks to me. You take all the things that really happened and say anything could happen ,” says Imogen.
“The Steampunk genre gives us some much freedom to create our own world and our own towns in our books,” adds Nicola.
They spent a year writing penning the chapters and another 12 months editing before publishing their first book and hope to publish the sequel later this year
“It took several cups of Earl Grey and long, animated conversations in the Full Moon in Dudley and from there, we built our characters and the world they live in and it escalated dramatically.”
“Now we have a whole series in the works centred around these two crime-solving best friends and the trouble they get themselves into on their travels,” says Nicola.
“The characters are very much like us. Beaumont is like Imogen and Elscrook is like me,” she adds.
They say their book, which was officially launched at STMO’s Magic Alley in Stratford-upon-Avon, has been well-received by readers of all ages.
“We had targeted it at the new adult audience but we’re finding people of other ages are reading it. There is a such a range of characters in it, from 16 to 60, that there is something for everybody,” says Nicola.
Beaumont and Elscrook in the Pith and the Pendulum is available from imolaverick.wixsite.com/bandemysteries/shop
