The Murder Mystery genre of books has a new author, with Kim Donovan’s “The Mysterious Mrs. Hood” finally getting published last month.
Donovan’s story is based off the life of Victorian Mary Jane Bennett. “I found an old photograph of her when I was a child, and when I asked my grandmother who she was, she told me that she was her aunt, and that she had been murdered” said Donovan, “I have been interested in the story ever since, and I wanted to find out what had happened to her.”
Orion’s non-fiction list Seven Dials published Donovan’s book after the author went on a 9 month search for a publisher, with the UK Based publishing group finally being the one’s to give her the thumbs up. Seven Dials have published books by many celebrities, including ‘Five Star Kitchen’ host Michel Roux’s “The French Revolution” recipe book, along with actress Emily Atack’s first book entitled “Are We There Yet”.
On her book getting published, Donovan said, “I was lucky because I found an agent who wanted to represent the book within a few months, and around 9 months after that, we found a publisher. My agent and editor were a great fit for me and the book, which I’m thankful for because those relationships don’t always work out for authors.”
Donovan had many inspirations which helped her write her story. This included the writing style of Kate Summerscale’s ‘The Suspicions of Mr Whicher’ and the change of perspective seen in Hallie Rubenhold’s ‘The Five’, of which the story is told from one of Jack the Ripper’s victims instead of the serial killers.