Hani must secretly obtain a Hittite bridegroom for Queen Meryet-amen, but Ay and the faction behind Prince Tut-ankh-aten are opposed--to the point of violence. Does the death of an artisan have anything to do with Ay’s determination to see his grandson on the throne? Then, another death brings Egypt to the brink of war…
Hani’s diplomatic skills will be pushed to the limit in this final book in The Lord Hani Mysteries.
Interview
What inspired you to start writing?
A few years before my retirement, I was teaching a course called Ancient Near Eastern Empires. One of the assignments I gave to the students was to look at the (very few) documents we had related to a certain ancient divorce case, to evaluate them, and to describe for me what happened. It became pretty obvious that almost anything we could say was so speculative that it could almost be considered historical fiction, not historiography. So, as soon as I found myself retired, with no more papers to grade, I decided to turn the story into a novel!
What was the hardest part about writing this book?
This isn’t true of every book, but it happened that I had a big problem laying out the clues and facts in the right order. If certain facts were known too soon, it lessened the tension. Or if clues dropped too late, the reader had already figured it out. This timing is an issue with any novel, but especially with mysteries. I think the problem was that I had, as usual, written certain scenes out of order, just because I knew well how I wanted that scene to go—and then stitched them together later. And somehow, I had made the wrong choices about what went here. I had to do a major restructuring of my first draft.
Does one of the main characters hold a special place in your heart? If so, why?
This is one of those series where there are lots of lovable characters. Hani is solid, loving, humorous, intelligent, and a man of principle—I wish I were such a person. Neferet is a young woman who doesn’t let the world tell her what she must do—a model for us all. She’s getting her own series soon. But as an older person, I think I like the complexity of Lord Ptah-mes. He’s chilly and formal on the outside, never shows what he feels or suffers, plays the rôle of a rich, always-in-control aristocrat, but is really a man of deep feeling and moral courage, despite his sense of insufficiency. I have especially liked the books where he plays a larger rôle. With him, what you see isn’t often as good as what you get.
If your book was to be made into a movie, who are the celebrities that would star in it?
People ask this so often, and I’m utterly incompetent to answer! I have no television and rarely see movies. All the actors I know are too old now for the parts. But I can say this: except for the Hittites, they need to be people of color, whether light or dark. Hispanics, Arabs, Indians. How about real Egyptians? It’s a shame Omar Sharif is dead. And of course, Maya is a dwarf.
What do you hope your readers take away from this book?
If I have a goal, it would be to convince readers that the people of ancient cultures were human beings just like us. They may have had different langages and clothing and world views, but their emotional responses to life were deeply and utterly familiar.
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N. L. Holmes
N.L. Holmes is the pen name of a professional archaeologist who received her doctorate from Bryn Mawr College. She has excavated in Greece and in Israel, and taught ancient history and humanities at the university level for many years. She has always had a passion for books, and in childhood, she and her cousin (also a writer today) used to write stories for fun.
Today, she and her husband live in France with their chickens and cats, where she weaves, plays the violin, gardens, and dances.
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Thank you for hosting N.L. Holmes today, with such a fabulous interview. xx
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