H. Y. Hanna’s Oxford Tearoom Mysteries

  H.Y. Hanna’s Oxford Tearoom Mysteries starring intrepid graduate Gemma Rose and her cheeky cat, are for fans of TV shows like Inspector Morse and Midsomer Murders, with twisty tales set in classic English villages. Hi there I’m your host Jenny Wheeler and today H.Y.  - known to her friends as Hsin Yee - talks about her years as an Oxford student and why food and animals play such a big role in her stories. Six things you’ll learn from this Joys of Binge Reading episode: How HY got started writing The attraction of the Cotswolds  Why she - and her readers love animals The importance of food in the Tearoom Mysteries The writers she admires most What she'd do differently second time around Where to find HY Hanna (Hsin Yee) (Pronounced Sin Yee) :  Website: https://www.hyhanna.com/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hyhanna.books  Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7232313.H_Y_Hanna What follows is a "near as" transcript of our conversation, not word for word but pretty close to it, with links to important mentions. Jenny: But now, here’s Hsin Yee. .  Hello there Hsin Yee and welcome to the show, it’s great to have you with us.  Hsin Yee: Thank you for having me, it's very exciting to be on my first podcast! Jenny: That's lovely. I'd just like to mention to listeners- I'm in Auckland, New Zealand and you're in Perth, Western Australia. We've got a lot of ocean to cross between us, haven't we! HY Hanna: (Sin Yee) Tearoom Mysteries Murder Jenny:  Beginning at the beginning - was there a “Once Upon A Time” moment when you decided you wanted to write fiction?  And if there was a catalyst, what was it? Hsin Yee: Well, I think all authors will tell you they wanted to write, so that's probably not a very original answer. But that's pretty much my luck. As a little girl, I was always making up stories and sitting in my room. I had little plastic animals that my parents bought me- little farm animals- and I'd make little stories with them, going back and forth. So I guess I've always wanted to tell stories. And then as I got older, once I could start writing, I wrote these little stories in my diary usually featuring myself. You know, going to buy an ice-cream or something! But they were all stories with a beginning, middle and end. And so I think as you grow up a bit more, you realize that's kind of what you want to be; a writer. And then of course reality intrudes, and as you get a little bit older you realize it's not as simple as that. Usually you get people saying, "do a "sensible" job, do a "normal" job". So I put that away for awhile - I went to university and did all the usual things. I did a selection of different jobs actually, because I was very much doing what was expected of me. And then I think you'd call it one of those "midlife crisis" moments - I was approaching my 40th birthday, and I started thinking- what am I doing with my life? Where is it going? I guess you get that feeling of 'I better do what I really want to do now, otherwise life is just passing me by.' I was never really happy with any of the jobs I did. I tried various things; obviously you enjoy doing your work well, but it wasn't where my heart was. Creatively, I was always very frustrated. So I don't think it was a particular triggering event, but I guess my looming 40th birthday where I just thought, if I don't do it now, it's never going to happen. I was actually quite lucky during the time I was moving into writing anyway, in the sense that I was working as a freelancer writer and journalist writing for various magazines. So I was already used to the whole idea of working with an editor and having a piece commissioned,