2015 Most Anticipated ..... Lock and Mori

This next book is one that plenty of people will be buzzing about. Sherlock Holmes has had many adaptations, and plenty of liberties have been taken with the character, and the premise in various retellings. This one, however, jumped onto this list not because of anything to do with this take on Sherlock, but rather it's take on Moriarty.

Read this all too brief synopsis and you'll be immediately sold and adding it to your own 'to be read' wishlist for 2015

Debut author Heather Petty's Lock & Mori trilogy, in which a female Moriarty teams up with her classmate Sherlock Holmes to solve a mystery in modern-day London, until the answers lead him too close to all that she's been hiding.

A female Moriarty. A FEMALE MORIARTY! Is it wrong that I want to ship them? I want kissing and angst! I also cannot wait to see what role Watson will take in this adaptation.

Heather Petty took the time to answer some questions about adapting an iconic character, why plain tea would suit her novel, and much more.

1 Describe Lock and Mori in Twitter format (140 characters or less)

LOCK & MORI is a Sherlock Holmes origin story told from the perspective of a 16-year-old, female Moriarty, who lives in modern London.

2 If someone were to make a tea flavour in honour of your book, what might be included?

Depressingly underwhelming answer to a super cute question: PG Tips? Boring, but reliable when you just need tea with milk and your brain is too preoccupied with the problem at hand to give much thought to tea flavors. :)

3 Can you share a secret about your book (either its world, its characters, or something that helped inspire the story)?

I can’t share any secrets yet! But I think I’m always most inspired by gaps in history or folklore and “what if” questions. The idea for this novel came from both. We don’t know a lot about Moriarty from the original stories, which gave me free reign, for the most part, in crafting the character. I also thought it was super interesting that Watson never actually meets Moriarty. He just relays what Sherlock told him as if it were true.

When the main idea for the book finally coalesced for me, I thought, “What if Sherlock lied about Moriarty? What if Sherlock has always known that Moriarty is out there? What if they knew each other before Sherlock met Watson? What if they used to be best friends?”  Obviously the concept morphed even more from there to become what it is in the book, but those were my starting points.

4 Your novel is inspired by Sherlock Holmes. Were you at all nervous about creating something inspired by a beloved classic? 

Definitely! Writing derivative work is always scary, because there is an existing readership/fanbase who probably knows the original material as well, if not better, than I do. That readership and the fans of the various television/movie adaptations all come to anything Sherlock-related with a certain set of expectations, which can be really hard to meet. 

I was really lucky to have a Sherlock super-fan read and do a critique of the book for me when it was in its early stages. When he said he liked the book, I was so incredibly relieved! My literary agent is also a really big Sherlock Holmes fan, so her love of the book gave me a lot of confidence that the story would appeal to people who love the characters.

5 If you could travel to anywhere, in any time period, when and where would you want travel? 

I’d maybe like to sit with Dorothy Parker at the Algonquin Round Table meet-ups in 1920s Manhattan. Jazz Age New York might be really cool.

6 What three things do you need while revising?

Coffee, Swedish Fish, and someone who will listen to me whine. That last one is probably the most important. I’m really lucky to have an amazing group of writers who let me talk through/argue out logic issues and other rough patches while I edit and revise.

7 If possible, please share the first line of Lock & Mori. (Only answer if not too spoilery).

I wore a hat with a feather plume the first time I met Sherlock Holmes.

I love that basic tea is what she selected simply because Sherlock has got too much going on to worry about tea flavours. It totally fits the character. If you are not from England/do not know already PG Tips is a brand of tea there.

I LOVE that this is told from her perspective. The fact that Sherlock fans have read and loved this makes me incredibly excited.

Lock and Mori is set to be released Fall 2015 and no pre-order links are available yet but do keep an eye out for it! You can add it to Goodreads in the meantime.

Be sure to check back later on during the event for a chance to win a copy of Lock and Mori (or any one of my featured titles!).

You can follow Heather Petty on Twitter, visit her official website, and learn more about the book from the publisher website.

Are you a Sherlock fan? Let me know in the comments.