I Do Love to Tease the Reader with Cliff Hangers: 5 Questions for Thomas Taylor, author of Malamander – Our June Young Reader Pick

 
 
Malamander is a fun, wildly imaginative story about fearless, clever children in pursuit of a sea monster. It’s also our latest Monthy Young Reader Pick, and we can’t wait for everyone to dig into this delightfully illustrated first installment of the new Legends of Eerie-on-Sea Series—where the mist is thick, and the legends are real. Since Malamander is a mystery adventure at its core, we were inspired to ask author Thomas Taylor five questions on everything from writing a mystery to what his favorite mysteries were to read when he was a kid.
 
 

Malamander is such a fantastical and spirited mystery adventure; what drew you to this story?

The inspiration for Malamander comes from my experience of living in a seaside town, and of being there in the stormy and misty winter season when the tourists are gone and the dark creeps in. This strange atmosphere lends itself beautifully to the sense of a secret life, to mystery and adventure, and to the eerie and the strange. In such a place, where the senses can be tricked by odd weather, shifting tides and long shadows, it’s all too easy to believe that a legend might actually be true, or that someone you thought you knew might turn out to have dark secrets. I think it would be hard for me to write in a different genre now. And I’m fine with that!
What’s your favorite part of writing a mystery? The suspense, the inevitable plot twist?

I do love to tease the reader with cliff hangers. And, to ratchet up the suspense. Twists can be hard to handle, and I think there is sometimes a tendency to add too many of them to mystery stories these days, though that’s more a criticism of television than books. One good twist is enough because even that can be hard to pull off well. I also enjoy the freedom that writing Middle Grade mystery brings — the freedom to explore the extraordinary, to dial up character and plot to ten, to play with language, to deal in wonder, and to offer hope.
Herbie’s background is kind of a mystery in itself (one we can’t wait to see unfold!); where did you draw the inspiration for his character?

Herbie’s faint heart yet innate sense of fairness comes from me, I suppose. Or rather from my own childhood self. But I’m also aware that many people find it hard to find the courage to act well in difficult and dangerous situations, so I think that makes Herbie relatable. I’m also drawn to the smallest and seemingly most insignificant person in any situation, and to the possibility they may turn out to be the real hero in the end. Herbie, as Lost-and-Founder, is a very junior member of staff at the Grand Nautilus Hotel, something the manager Mr. Mollusc will never let him forget. And yet, despite being such an underdog, he manages to triumph. Especially with help from his best friend Violet, and—if he can get one—Mrs. Fossil’s freshly baked salted-caramel muffins!
The spooky seaside town of Eerie-on-Sea is so amazingly detailed it’s like its own character in the story; how do you feel setting changes and shapes a mystery?

I think it is very important, and I learned just how important writing Malamander. I decided on a narrative structure to the town and built it up from there. That structure is based on an all-pervasive sense of menace and uncertainty, dotted with a network of warm, reliable, and safe places for Herbie and Violet to operate from. I wanted the reader to feel, whenever the characters left these safe places—the Lost-and-Foundery, the Book Dispensary, Seegol’s Diner—that danger and adventure could strike at any moment. Eerie-on-Sea is also a small, twisty place, that sits beside a vast and fathomless ocean. The combination of these two opposing qualities gives huge scope for storytelling.
And finally, what were your favorite mysteries to read when you were a kid?
I remember loving the Three Investigators as a child. And I got into Sherlock Holmes stories from a very young age, and from there into Golden Age crime fiction a bit later. I’ve always been a huge fan of the Tintin books too, and that blend of mystery, detection, and clue-hunting—with a hint of the supernatural—has carried through to Malamander.