Every Tuesday, get to know a bit about the stories behind the books you love, and discover your next favourite novel.

Sabitha: Merlina Garance joins us to talk about their queer mystery romance, The Flourishing. Merlina, describe this fascinating book!

Merlina: The Flourishing is a lesbian romance novel set during a police investigation. When Andy Campbell, Detective Inspector in Leicester, gets assigned the case of Mr Parry’s disappearance, she expects to find nothing else than an umpteenth marriage ruined by a husband taking off with his mistress. Instead, she ends up investigating a murder case, and struggling to fight her attraction for Mrs Parry. When she realises the feelings are mutual, things definitely get complicated…

Sabitha: What inspired you to write this book?

Merlina: It’s a bit of a silly story. A very good friend of mine lives in Mexico and we have tried several times to exchange mail, but it always gets awfully delayed by the postman in his town. So we thought it would be funny to get revenge by writing a story about the postman going missing. Somewhere along the way, the postman disappeared and a romance plot came to me, because I cannot help myself.

Sabitha: That is delightful! We have a lot of writers in our community. Can you share your writing process?

Merlina: It includes a lot of daydreaming. I write most of the scenes in my mind while on the bus, or while walking or driving. Then I frantically type up the gist of it on my phone and then stay up for hours turning that into proper scenes. When the inspiration stops randomly striking, that’s when I need to pick up a notebook and start the real work: making character sheets, writing a timeline, cross-checking all that information… It’s not as fun as the first part but it’s what ties it all together.

Sabitha: What book do you tell all your friends to read? Besides yours of course!

Merlina: My real answer would be Le Coeur Cousu by Carole Martinez, but it’s in French and hasn’t been translated as far as I know… So I will recommend The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune. It is a really heartwarming read, and I believe it has a healing power for all those who grew up a bit different, feeling cast aside until they found their real family.

Sabitha:  Which character do you relate to the most and why?

Merlina: Andy is who I would be if I didn’t overthink everything so much. But I’m probably closer in personality to the love interest: mostly polite but capable of being impulsive when I feel really strongly about something.

Sabitha: How did you choose the title?

Merlina: It’s related to the name of the love interest. Her name is loaded with meaning and during the story, she decides to start using another one. The Flourishing is strongly linked to that second name…

Sabitha: Thanks for sharing your story and your process. We’re looking forward to reading! Where can the Night Beats community find you and your book?

Merlina: You can order here and find out more on my website. You can find me on Instagram and on Facebook.