Peril at the Bake Off by Ruth Quayle

March 4th 2021

Q: Can you tell us a little about your new books: The Muddlemoor Mysteries?

The Muddlemoor Mysteries is a funny (hopefully!) detective series, featuring 9-year-old Joe Robinson and his cousins, Tom and Pip Berryman. It is all about what happens to them when they go to stay with their Granny in the school holidays because although Granny’s village Muddlemoor looks like a safe sort of place, it is, in fact, a hot spot for crime. And it is up to Joe, Tom and Pip to keep Granny safe – even if it means getting into trouble themselves!

Q: Why did you write a mystery story? What was your inspiration?

I didn’t set out to write a mystery. I wanted to write about cousins because I love seeing how well my own children get on with their cousins (much better than with their own brothers and sisters!). My sisters and I have nine children between us so we often do ‘cousin swaps’ during the school holidays to keep the peace and we also send different combinations of cousins to stay with Granny and Poppy. Whenever they are together the cousins spend hours absorbed in private games and they love spotting SUSPICIOUS activity.

Q: Which character is most like you?

I think I am probably a mix of the three main characters. Like Pip, I loved doing gymnastics when I was a child. I could also be bossy, like Tom, especially with my younger sister (I used to persuade her to swap her 10p pieces with my 2p’s because I told her the 2p’s were gold and more valuable!) and Joe is like me because he is quite happy to follow along with everybody else. I was the middle child growing up so I often tried to please everybody – I still do!

Q: What was the most fun part about writing these books?

I loved writing them. It was such fun seeing the children jump to the wrong conclusions about people, especially Anthea and the spy cat.

Q: What was the most difficult part about writing these books?

It was tricky striking the right balance between truth and imagination. I wanted to make sure the reader could guess some of the plot while leaving some twists and surprises. To be honest the hardest thing was trying to slow down the pace. Joe’s voice is very breathless and excited and I had to stop things getting too carried away at times!

Q: Did you like reading mysteries as a child?

I loved reading mysteries as a child and still do. The Famous Five books got me going and I read them over and over again until my mum started leaving other books next to my bed to wean me off them. It worked and I was soon reading anything I could get my hands on.

Q: What was your favourite book when you were growing up?

This is a hard because I loved so many books but I think my all-time favourite was Goodnight Mister Tom by Michelle Magorian. I also loved the Just William books by Richmal Crompton – laugh-out-loud funny!   

Q: What advice would you give to anyone who’s thinking about becoming a writer?

Read, read, read. Everything and anything.  

Q: When you sit down to write, what do you need around you?

Silence! I find it hard to write when my children are around because they are a noisy bunch so I try to get my writing done when they are at school. As long as I’m not being interrupted it doesn’t matter where I write. In the winter when the house is cold, I often write in bed! 

Q: Joe and his cousins stay with their granny in the school holidays. Did you like the school holidays? What was your favourite thing to do?

My favourite thing of all was going on holiday to the Isles of Scilly. We had complete freedom because there were no cars on the island we stayed on and it always seemed to be sunny.

Q: What was your granny like?

My mum’s mum was called Dana and she lived with Grandpa in North Wales at the bottom of a mountain. I loved staying with them in the school holidays. They had a sprinkler in their garden and they bought us those mini cereal boxes for breakfast – such a treat! 

Q: Is there a children’s book, apart from your own of course, that you think everyone should be reading?

I think Katherine Rundell is just brilliant.

Peril at the Bake Off is out now