Book Title: MARION LANE AND THE RAVEN’S REVENGE
Character Name: Marion Lane
How would you describe your family or your childhood?
I grew up in a small flat in post war London. My father died when I was very young, so I never really knew him, and instead lived alone with my mother, Alice. Mother did her best for us, but times were tough and the realities of life as a single parent soon became too much for her. She took her own life when I was just sixteen, which left me under the care of my overbearing grandmother, Dolores. And while I was grateful for her support and love, I found her difficult to tolerate. We had such vastly different outlooks on life. She wanted me to settle down and marry, to find happiness as a wife and mother. I wanted just the opposite: to be independent, to find work, and a purpose, and to find myself. Thankfully, at the age of 23, I was offered the position of apprentice Inquirer at the top-secret underground detective agency, Miss Brickett’s Investigations and Inquiries. That changed my life forever.
What was your greatest talent?
Fixing things, I suppose. Gadgets, specifically.
Significant other?
Well, it’s a bit complicated. American detective Kenny Hugo would certainly tell you we’re an item, but we’ve only been going out for four months so I’m not entirely sure I’d agree. I can’t deny I fancy him though.
Biggest challenge in relationships?
Trusting people. I lost everyone I cared about as a child, so it’s always been hard for me to believe people when they promise to stick around. Like Kenny.
Where do you live?
In the staff rooms at Miss Brickett’s Investigations and Inquiries. It’s a bit creepy and dark and don’t get me started on the rats! Even so, it’s far better than my old flat aboveground.
Do you have any enemies?
How many would you like me to name? Being a trainee detective, venturing aboveground and sticking your nose where it doesn’t belong means you’re bound to collect enemies by the dozen. I just never imagined it would be the people inside Miss Brickett’s I feared most.
How do you feel about the place where you are now? Is there something you are particularly attached to, or particularly repelled by, in this place?
I love Miss Brickett’s more than anything. It’s the first and only place I’ve ever truly called home and I’d do anything to protect it, and the people who work here. I will say, however, that there are certain parts of the labyrinth that still frighten me: the tunnels beyond The Border—dark, nameless passageways that seem to meander on to nowhere. And, of course, the Holding Chambers—the agency’s in-house prison cells. I pray I never end up in either (again).
Do you have children, pets, both, or neither?
No children, but if you call the mechanical birds, snakes, and arachnids in the Department of Gadgetry pets, then I suppose I have quite a few!
What do you do for a living?
I’m an apprentice detective and repairs mechanic in the Department of Gadgetry at Miss Brickett’s. Weren’t you listening earlier?
Greatest disappointment?
Not telling mum I loved her as often as I should’ve.
Greatest source of joy?
My work, and the people I work with. Having a sense of purpose, knowing that I’m needed and wanted, is the greatest feeling in the world.
What do you do to entertain yourself or have fun?
The library bar at Miss Brickett’s is usually where I go to unwind after a long day at work in Gadgetry. And if I can drag my friends Bill and Jess along, even better.
What is your greatest personal failing, in your view?
My tendency to make rash decisions, based on emotion rather than logic, has certainly got me into a lot of trouble in the past.
What keeps you awake at night?
Apart from the sound of mechanical snakes slithering past my room, it’s imagining what will become of Miss Brickett’s in the future. My greatest fear is that one day this place will close down and I will lose everything and everyone I care for.
What is the most pressing problem you have at the moment?
Well, to be honest, it’s Bill - my closest friend and ally, a fellow apprentice at Miss Brickett’s. He started going out with a woman named Darcy a fortnight ago and ever since he’s been - I don’t know, different, distant. There’s something bothering him about the relationship, and I know from past experience (with the David debacle - if you know you know) that when Bill withdraws into himself like this, bad things are bound to follow. I just hope I’m wrong this time.
What are you planning to do about it?
Speak to Bill, firstly, and try to get to the bottom of the problem. Once I know what we’re dealing with, we can solve it together. Like always.
If you could be granted one wish, what would it be?
To bring mum back.
The raven had struck. And the thing was, she knew exactly who was next…
London, 1960. Marion Lane, a twenty-five-year-old apprentice detective at the elusive Miss Brickett’s Investigations & Inquiries, is busier than ever and determined to prove herself worthy of an official Inquirer badge. But when her close friend's girlfriend, Darcy, is targeted by a dangerous gang leader and seeks out the Inquirers’ assistance, Marion cannot help but get involved.
Just when Marion thinks she has the situation under control, Darcy disappears and the agency receives a package containing a dead raven. Everyone is puzzled by what the threat could mean, except for Marion. She recognizes it as the same calling card left on her mother's doorstep just before she died.
With harrowing twists and turns, Marion Lane and the Raven's Revenge follows Marion’s most personal case to date. To uncover who is behind these ominous packages and find Darcy, she must piece together how they are related to her mother’s mysterious death and secretive past.
Thriller Historical [Park Row, On Sale: June 6, 2023, Trade Paperback / e-Book, ISBN: 9780778334194 / eISBN: 9780369735881]
T.A. Willberg was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, and grew up on a small-holding outside Durban surrounded by horses, sheep, chickens and more snakes and spiders than she cares to recall. She was home-schooled until she was 16, then spent the next 2 years in competitive horse riding and represented South Africa in mounted skill-at-arms. At 18 she began a seven year chiropractic degree at the Durban University of Technology, where she qualified with a masters, focusing on spinal deformities. After 2 years of working and living in Cape Town, she moved to Malta with her partner where she now divides her time between chiropractic and writing.
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