Researching The Killing Sense in Paris, bestselling author Sam Blake ‘went down into the sewers and not up the Eiffel Tower’ . . .
Stephen King talks about great story being the collision of two unrelated ideas. At this stage, after twelve books (and a pile of unpublished novels and partials pre- my bestselling debut Little Bones), I’ve learned to tune into my subconscious so that when an idea arrives, I know that it is the start of something – or part of something. I saw an author recently call them ‘glimmers’ which is a fabulous description. I think of them as light-bulb moments. Ideas appear unexpectedly, often in fragments, but ideas are like magnets – they seem to attract more. My challenge then, is to work out what the story is, whose story it is, and how I’m going to tell it.
The Killing Sense began life as a picture in my head of a woman with red hair on a train – the Eurostar. I discovered rather randomly that perfume smells differently on people with red hair compared to others – red heads have an acid mantle on their skin which makes scent behave differently. I knew that red heads had a different reaction to anaesthetic (they need a LOT more than those without the red hair gene), but the perfume fascinated me. I haven’t found any scientific studies to back the theory, but when I mention it to people with red hair, they nod, knowingly.
My wandering thoughts on perfume connected me to France, and then to the novelty of being able to get on a train in London St Pancras and get off in the Gard du Nord. St Pancras station is one of my favourite places, and it seemed to be the perfect location for this story of a red haired woman and perfume to begin.
As the idea grew, I could see a man sitting opposite the red haired woman on the train (think Daniel Craig in a navy wool coat carrying a walking stick). I knew he’d been in the military, but I didn’t know in what capacity, and I knew she was going to Paris because she’d won the trip in a competition. Previously I’d been thinking about a girl going into a student type house where there was a bicycle leaning on the wall in the hall, it was winter, and I could see her turning on the heating and unpacking her groceries. Was she part of this French story? I wasn’t sure, but I could see the man on the train standing on a landing at the top of a stone staircase that had ornate iron work banisters. I knew that was at the end of the story, but that was about all I had.
Normally I plot books in some detail before I begin them, but with this vague string of images, I wanted to start writing and see where this one took me. I want to grow as a writer with each book, and trying new ways of approaching a story is one way to do that.
There was one hitch with this ‘plan’ though – I’d spent a lot of time in France, but I’d never been to Paris, so I needed to do that first.
The protagonist in The Killing Sense, single mum Kate Wilde goes to Paris during the February half term (that bleak one that is always a struggle) – she’s a teacher, so she has the week off, as does her young daughter Hanna. Kate is able to leave Hanna with her sister Orna for the week – Orna doesn’t have any children and it’s a week to spoil her niece.
If Kate was going to Paris in February, that’s when I needed to go too.
I caught the Eurostar, and booking into a hotel near the Louvre, spent three days wandering around the city going to the locations that I knew would feature in the story.
As the idea developed in my head, I realised that it actually opened with a head being found in the Paris sewers, a head with red hair. I’m probably one of the few people who went to Paris for the first time, and went down into the sewers and not up the Eiffel Tower. The research for this book ended up being three trips to Paris – in February, August and then in February again when I had finished it and needed to check my final points.
As well as a visiting the sewers, on that first trip I did a course to learn how perfume is made. Based in Le Marais, I spent a day becoming acquainted with the olfactory pyramid and the history of perfume making. Kate wins a perfume course in the story, and so I wanted to see for myself what that entailed.
Scent and senses – including feminine intuition and that creepy feeling you get when you feel you’re being watched – are very important in this story, so getting a real feel for the city was crucial. You can do a lot of research with Google street view, but you have to walk around Place Vendome to realise that every one of the designer boutiques has a different signature scent that you are enveloped in as the doors open.
Seeing Paris in February was important too – the bare trees in the Tuileries Gardens, how sound carries on the winter air, and how the Eiffel Tower is lit up at night all help build the sense of Paris as a character. Kate stays in an apartment on one of the narrow streets that wind through Le Marias, and from there she walks along the Seine to the Eiffel Tower and to the Musee d’Orsay, and importantly to the pedestrian bridge that link the two. As well as winning the competition, Kate has her own reason for wanting to go to Paris – to honour her school friend Trish’s memory.
I love writing characters who have lots of quirks and interesting backgrounds. I research each one, working out where they went to school, discovering where they live and what they love and what they hate.
When Kate arrives, she calls into a café and befriends Agathe, an architecture student, whose friend Sandrine has disappeared – we quickly learn that there is a killer in Paris stalking red heads. But that’s not Kate’s only problem. Her violent ex is also in Paris, and when Kate gets back to her apartment and thinks things have been moved, she’s terrified he’s been following her.
Waiting to see where the story took me meant that this book took a much longer write than some of my others – it took the full year, and the first draft was 120k words. I knew it would have to be cut right down, but the big trim means that for the first time I’ve got some of those mythical deleted chapters that writers talk about!
I loved writing about a new city, and getting to know a cast of completely new characters – I hope that if you’ve been to Paris it will bring back memories, and if you’ve never been, that it might make you want to go. Most of all I hope that it’s a mystery that will keep you reading late into the night…
About The Killing Sense by Sam Blake:
Danger is closer than you think…
Single Mum Kate Wilde has escaped an abusive marriage and hasn’t had a holiday in years, so when she wins a five-day trip to Paris to learn about perfume – in a competition she can’t remember entering – it’s a dream come true. Or is it?
Almost as soon as she arrives, Kate’s ex texts with evidence that he’s in Paris too. Kate can feel she’s being watched, and she’s sure someone has been in her apartment. Then she discovers that there’s a killer in the city focusing on red headed women like her. And his kill count is rising.
Who should she fear the most?
All Kate’s senses are on alert. But can her instincts keep her safe?
‘A riveting, textured, glamorous crime thriller set in contemporary Paris – magnifique!’ ANDREA MARA
‘If Dan Brown was a woman, her name would be Sam Blake’ EDEL COFFEY
Order your copy of The Killing Sense by Sam Blake online here.
Read more from Sam Blake on Writing.ie here. And a review of The Killing Sense here.
