HILARY DAVIDSON blogs about Agatha Christie's DESTINATION: UNKNOWN

[becke_davis]

Today's guest blogger in our Agatha Christie celebration is author HILARY DAVIDSON. Hilary is blogging about a book I recently re-read - I'd forgotten how good it was!

Hilary will be joining us on Wednesday to talk about her blog. See you then!

http://www.TheDamageDone.net
http://www.hilarydavidson.com
http://www.glutenfreeguidebook.com

Hilary’s claim that she will do anything for a story is something that she’s had a few opportunities to regret. It sounds great until she finds herself diving for shipwrecks in the icy waters of the St. Lawrence River or losing her shirt — literally — in the name of “cardio” striptease. On the other hand, it has also let her explore the cemeteries of New Orleans, Pompeii’s brothels, and Bangkok’s seedy night markets.

She got her start in journalism in 1995, when she moved to New York for five months to intern at Harper’s Magazine. When Hilary returned to Toronto, she joined the staff of Canadian Living magazine as a copy editor. While there, she began to freelance for newspapers such as The Globe and Mail and The National Post. Her first freelance article, “Death Takes a Holiday,” about a New Orleans cemetery, was published on February 14, 1998, in the Globe. She finally got the nerve to quit her day job to write full-time in June 1998.

Fortunately, Hilary’s first steady magazine gig guaranteed that she wouldn’t starve: as a restaurant reviewer for Toronto Life, she never went hungry. She started writing about a variety of subjects, including health and wellness, business and entrepreneurship, and science and psychology. Still, her first love was travel. 

Ironically, she has spent much of her time writing books and articles about her hometown, Toronto, and her adopted city, New York, where she’s lived since October 2001. She’s written 11 editions of Frommer’s Toronto and the first edition of Frommer’s New York City Day by Day, in addition to co-authoring five editions of Frommer’s Canada. (She also ghostwrote one book for a famous author who probably wouldn’t appreciate her revealing the title.) Hilary does venture further afield a few times each year, and her husband, Dan, somehow always manages to come along on those trips. Most recently, she has visited Peru, Chile, Easter Island, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Spain and Turkey.

In March 2008, she launched the Gluten-Free Guidebook, a website for people with celiac disease and gluten intolerance. (Hilary was diagnosed with celiac disease in 2004). The site — which has been covered by National Geographic Traveler, Reader’s Digest Best Health, and the Manhattan User’s Guide — helps others eat gluten-free all over the world.

Even though she’s always wanted to write fiction, Hilary didn’t start working on it seriously until 2006, after she returned from a trip to Prague. Her first short story was published by Thuglit in June 2007 (issue #17). It was called “Anniversary,” and it went on to be included in the anthology A Prisoner of Memory and 24 of the Year’s Finest Crime and Mystery Stories, edited by Martin H. Greenberg and Ed Gorman. The story was also mentioned as a “Distinguished Story of 2007” in the Best American Mysteries 2008 anthology by Otto Penzler and George Pelecanos.

Since then, Hilary has published stories in Beat to a Pulp, Crimespree, A Twist of Noir, Crime Factory, Spinetingler, Needle, The Rose & Thorn, and The Feral Pages. In September 2009, she won first prize in the Watery Grave Invitational, a short-story contest for crime writers. She also won the 2010 Spinetingler Award for Best Short Story. Her story “Son of So Many Tears” appears inThuglit Presents: Blood Guts, & Whiskey (Kensington, 2010).

While Hilary loves writing short stories, the creation she’s most proud of is The Damage Done. The novel’s main character, Lily Moore, is, like Hilary, a travel writer. While their personal lives have nothing in common, they do share a few things, such as a love of vintage clothing, classic Hollywood movies, and Art Deco design.

Steve Weddle of Do Some Damage has interviewed Hilary about New Orleans cemeteries, Pompeiian brothels, and a host of other subjects. David Cranmer, editor of Beat to a Pulp, has interviewed Hilary about her upcoming novel and her career. Book blogger Jen Forbus of Jen’s Book Thoughts featured Hilary in her Six-Word Memoir project.

 

 http://blog.hilarydavidson.com/

Text and photographs copyright 2007-2010 Hilary Davidson. All rights reserved.

[becke_davis]

Damage Done 

Synopsis

Lily Moore, a successful travel writer, fled to Spain to get away from her troubled, drug-addicted younger sister, Claudia. But when Claudia is found dead in a bathtub on the anniversary of their mother’s suicide, Lily must return to New York to deal with the aftermath.

The situation shifts from tragic to baffling when the body at the morgue turns out to be a stranger’s. The dead woman had been using Claudia’s identity for months. The real Claudia had vanished, reappearing briefly on the day her impostor died. As Claudia transforms from victim to suspect in the eyes of the police, Lily becomes determined to find her before they do.

Is Claudia actually missing, or is she playing an elaborate con game? And who’s responsible for the body that was found in the bathtub? An obsessive ex-lover? An emotionally disturbed young man with a rich and powerful father? Or Lily’s own former fiancé, who turns out to be more deeply involved with Claudia than he admits?

As Lily searches for answers, a shadowy figure stalks her and the danger to her grows. Determined to learn the truth at any cost, she is unprepared for the terrible toll it will take on her and those she loves.

Publishers Weekly

In Davidson's razor sharp mystery debut, travel journalist Lily Moore, who's been living in Spain, rushes home to Manhattan's Lower East Side on learning that her younger sister, Claudia, a recovering heroin addict, has apparently drowned in her bathtub on the anniversary of their mother's suicide. The corpse in the morgue, however, is that of a stranger who'd been posing as Claudia for months. So where's Claudia?

An increasingly frantic Lily launches her private investigation while NYPD detectives Norah Renfrew and hunky "Brux" Bruxton oversee the official one. As Lily dodges the amorous attentions of Martin Sklar, her wealthy ex-boyfriend, who she suspects might've had a secret affair with Claudia, she discovers Claudia's connection to a recently deceased "pseudopsychologist" who had a habit of getting too involved with his female patients.

Davidson, herself a travel journalist (Frommer's Toronto 2010), offers a great portrait of sisterly love, despite a dysfunctional past, as well as a highly satisfying mystery. (Oct.)

More Reviews and Recommendations

Biography

Hilary Davidson is a travel journalist and the author of eighteen nonfiction books. Her articles have appeared in more than 40 magazines, including Discover, Reader’s Digest, and Martha Stewart Weddings.  Her short fiction has been widely praised and included in anthologies such as A Prisoner of Memory & 24 of the Year’s Finest Crime & Mystery Stories and Thuglit Presents: Blood, Guts, & Whiskey. Originally from Toronto, she now lives in New York City. The Damage Done is her first crime novel.

More About the Author

Hilary Davidson’s crime novel, THE DAMAGE DONE — called a “razor sharp mystery debut” by Publishers Weekly — will be published by Forge on September 28, 2010. Her first short story, “Anniversary,” is featured in A Prisoner of Memory and 24 of the Year’s Finest Crime and Mystery Stories (Pegasus, 2008). Her “Son of So Many Tears” is included in Blood, Guts, and Whiskey (Kensington, May 2010). 

Hilary won the 2010 Spinetingler Award for Best Short Story for “Insatiable.” Her recent stories include “Fetish” in Beat to a Pulp, “Cheap Bastard” in Spinetingler and “Good Bones” in Crimefactory. In September 2009, Hilary won the Watery Grave Invitational, a short story competition for crime writers, with her entry, “Beast.” 

Hilary is also the author of 18 nonfiction books, including Frommer’s New York City Day by Day and Frommer’s Toronto. Originally from Toronto, she has lived in New York since October 2001. Her articles have appeared in more than 40 magazines in the U.S. and Canada, including Discover, American Archaeology, Fitness, Chatelaine, Canadian Living, Reader’s Digest, and Martha Stewart Weddings. In March 2008, she founded the Gluten-Free Guidebook, an online resource for people who have celiac disease or gluten intolerance but still love to travel. 

[becke_davis]

Frommer's New York City Day-by-Day 

Frommer's Canada, 15th Edition 

Frommer's Toronto 2010

 

[becke_davis]

DESTINATION UNKNOWN

By Hilary Davidson

I didn’t pick up my first Agatha Christie novel because I was a mystery fan. When I was 12, I came across a dog-eared paperback titled Destination Unknown at my school’s library. I was drawn to it for the flimsiest of reasons: the main character and I shared the same first name.

This connection will baffle readers with names like Anna, or Elizabeth, or Rebecca. Girls with pretty, feminine names like those never had trouble finding a mug or a keychain or anything else with their moniker printed on it. Hilary, on the other hand, was a distinctly unpopular name in the 1980s. In Canada, where I grew up, it was, if anything, considered a boy’s name (which it originally was, just like Ashley and Leslie). When I lived in Toronto, I often received mail addressed to “Mr. Hilary Davidson.” Sadly, it wasn’t all junk mail, either.

So, when I came across Destination Unknown, I got a distinct thrill from finding that the main character’s name was Hilary Craven… Mrs. Hilary Craven, as a matter of fact. I checked the book out of the library, opened it up, and began an amazing adventure.

Destination Unknown is one of Christie’s standalone thrillers, and perhaps the most striking thing about it is the incredibly emotional journey it takes its heroine on, in addition to the physical and puzzle-solving ones. When the book begins, Hilary Craven is fleeing England on a plane, and it’s not immediately clear what she’s running from. The answer is a personal tragedy: her only child has died, and her faithless husband has divorced her to marry another woman.

When her flight to Paris is diverted because of bad weather, she misses her connection to Morocco. Later, when she learns that the plane she missed crashed, she’s devastated because she wishes her own life was over. By the time she arrives in Casablanca, she has decided to commit suicide, and she goes from pharmacy to pharmacy, collecting enough sleeping pills to end her life. But a British security agent spots her and interrupts her in her hotel room. He’s not trying to save her life; instead, he offers her another way to die. “There’s just a hundred to one chance that you mightn’t die. But I don’t believe under the circumstances, that you’d really object,” he tells her.

It’s a grim beginning to a thrilling tale. Feeling that she has nothing to lose, Hilary decides to die by serving her country instead. A scientist named Thomas Betterton seems to have disappeared behind the Iron Curtain — by choice or force, no one knows — and the British agent suspects his wife was on her way to join him. Mrs. Betterton was on the plane that crashed. Hilary doesn’t look like the wife, except for her impressive head of flame-red hair, but she follows Mrs. Betterson’s itinerary and impersonates her, fully expecting to be killed when the fraud is discovered.

Destination Unknown is an exciting book, and the layer after layer of deception that Hilary discovers as she travels across Morocco makes for a memorable plot (especially when you find out what really happened to Thomas Betterton). But the most striking thing about the book is Hilary herself, and how the tension of the situation rouses her from her depression and brings her back to life. She’s impulsive and emotional, seemingly the polar opposite of Christie’s most famous series sleuths, Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot, but she shares their determination and tenacity. When I finished the novel, I was disappointed to learn that it was Christie’s only book featuring Hilary Craven.

When I was writing my own first novel, The Damage Done, Hilary was in the back of my mind. Not because there are parallels in the plot, but because I loved how Agatha Christie was able to balance the deep, raw emotions of the main character with a swiftly paced plot. In The Damage Done, the main character, Lily Moore, is called home to New York when she’s told that her sister, Claudia, has died. Instead, Lily quickly discovers that the corpse belongs to a woman who’d stolen her sister’s identity, and that Claudia is missing.

Lily is torn between relief at the fact that it’s not her sister in the morgue, and fear that her sister had something to do with putting the other woman there. It’s a tricky thing, balancing the emotional life of a character with the swift current of the story, but seeing it done so memorably by Christie was an inspiration to me.

[becke_davis]

Destination Unknown 

Synopsis

American scientist Thomas Betterton has disappeared form a conference in Paris--only the latest in a series of notable men to vanish into thin air. Equally strange is the death of his new bride in Casablanca. To discover the secret she took to her grave, British Intelligence enlists the aide of an unlikely secret agent--an enigmatic young woman with nothing left to lose. The proposal for Hilary Craven? Impersonate the late Mrs. Betterton. But the masquerade means embarking on an unknown escapade, hiding from an unknown enemy, and retracing a stranger's steps to an unavoidable death...

[becke_davis]

Chapter One

The man behind the desk moved a heavy glass paper weight four inches to the right. His face was not so much thoughtful or abstracted as expressionless. He had the pate complexion that comes from living most of the day in artificial light. This man, you felt, was an indoor man. A man of desks and files. The fact that to reach his office you had to walk through long twisting underground corridors was somehow strangely appropriate. It would have been difficult to guess his age. He looked neither old nor young. His face was smooth and unwrinkled, and in his eyes was a great tiredness.

The other man in the room was older. He was dark with a small military moustache. There was about him an alert nervous energy. Even now, unable to sit still, he was pacing up and down, from time to time throwing off a remark in a jerky manner.

"Reports!" he said explosively. "Reports, reports and more reports, and none of them any damn good!"

The man at the desk looked down at the papers in front of him. On top was an official card headed, "Betterton, Thomas Charles." After the name was an interrogation mark. The man at the desk nodded thoughtfully. He said,

"You've followed up these reports and none of them any good?"

The other shrugged his shoulders.

"How can one tell?" he asked.

The man behind the desk sighed.

"Yes," he said, "there is that. One can't tell really."

The older man went on with a kind of machine gun volley abruptness,

"Reports from Rome; reports from Touraine; seen on the Riviera; noticed in Antwerp; definitely identified in Oslo; positively seen in Biarritz; observed behavingsuspiciously in Strasburg; seen on the beach at Ostend with a glamorous blonde; noticed walking in the streets in Brussels with a greyhound! Hasn't been seen yet in the Zoo with his arm round a zebra, but I daresay that will come!"

"You've no particular fancy yourself, Wharton? Personally I had hopes of the Antwerp report, but it hasn't led to anything. Of course by now . . . " the young man stopped speaking and seemed to go into a coma. Presently he came out of it again and said cryptically, "Yes, probably . . . and yet--I wonder?"

Colonel Wharton sat down abruptly on the arm of a chair.

"But we've got to find out," he said insistently. "We've got to break the back of all this how and why and where? You can't lose a tame scientist every month or so and have no idea how they go or why they go or where! Is it where we think--or isn't it? We've always taken it for granted that it is, but now I'm not so sure. You've read all the last dope on Betterton from America?"

The man behind the desk nodded.

"Usual Left Wing tendencies at the period when everyone had them. Nothing of a lasting or permanent nature as far as can be found out. Did sound work before the war though nothing spectacular. When Mannheim escaped from Germany Betterton was assigned as Assistant to him, and ended by marrying Mannheim's daughter. After Mannheim's death he carried on, on his own, and did brilliant work. He leaped into fame with the startling discovery of ZE Fission. ZE Fission was a brilliant and absolutely revolutionary discovery. It put Betterton absolutely tops. He was all set for a brilliant career over there, but his wife had died soon after their marriage and he was all broken up over it. He came to England. He has been at Harwell for the last eighteen months. Just six months ago he married again."

"Anything there?" asked Wharton sharply.

The other shook his head.

Not that we can find out. She's the daughter of a local solicitor. Worked in an insurance office before her marriage. No violent political affinities so far as we've been able to discover."

"ZE Fission," said Colonel Wharton gloomily, with distaste. "What they mean by all these terms beats me. I'm old fashioned. I never really even visualised a molecule, but here they are nowadays splitting up the universe! Atom bombs, Nuclear fission, ZE fission, and all the rest of it. And Betterton was one of the splitters in chief! What do they say of him at Harwell?"

"Quite a pleasant personality. As to his work, nothing outstanding or spectacular. just variations on the practical applications of ZEF"

Both men were silent for a moment. Their conversation had been desultory, almost automatic. The security reports lay in a pile on the desk and the security reports had had nothing of value to tell.

"He was thoroughly screened on arrival here, of course," said Wharton.

"Yes, everything was quite satisfactory."

"Eighteen months ago," said Wharton thoughtfully. "It gets 'em down, you know. Security precautions. The feeling of being perpetually under the microscope, the cloistered life. They get nervy, queer. I've seen it often enough. They begin to dream of an ideal world. Freedom and brotherhood, and pool-all-secrets and work for the good of humanity! That's exactly the moment when someone who's more or less the dregs of humanity, sees his chance and takes it!" He rubbed his nose. "Nobody's so gullible as the scientist," he said. "All the phony mediums say so. Can't quite see why."

The other smiled, a very tired smile.

"Oh, yes," he said, "it would be so. They think they know, you see. That's always dangerous. Now, our kind are different. We're humble minded men. We don't expect to save the world, only pick up one or two broken pieces and remove a monkey wrench or two when it's jamming up the works." He tapped thoughtfully on the table with his finger. "If I only knew a little more about Betterton," he said.

[TiggerBear]

Thank you Ms. Davidson for an interesting article!

[Fricka]

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TiggerBear wrote:

Thank you Ms. Davidson for an interesting article!

---

Hear, Hear! It's great to hear about one of Christie's stand-alone novels. Thank you for reminding us that those were as well crafted as her novels featuring her more famous detectives, like Poirot and Marple. I have to confess, I don't think I have read this book before, Hilary, but I intend to rectify that very quickly. Now I can't wait to get my hands on a copy of that!

[becke_davis]

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Fricka wrote:

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TiggerBear wrote:

Thank you Ms. Davidson for an interesting article!

---

Hear, Hear! It's great to hear about one of Christie's stand-alone novels. Thank you for reminding us that those were as well crafted as her novels featuring her more famous detectives, like Poirot and Marple. I have to confess, I don't think I have read this book before, Hilary, but I intend to rectify that very quickly. Now I can't wait to get my hands on a copy of that!

---

Fricka - I left the topics open so our guest bloggers could write about whatever they wanted. Would you all have liked it better if we focused on a different book every day? I don't know if anyone will be up for this next year, but that would be a possibility.

One thing that surprised me - no one blogged about Agatha's disappearance. If anyone viewing this is interesting in writing about that, let me know. I could post it on Friday.

In the meantime, I was thrilled with Hilary's topic because this was one of the Christie books I re-read during this celebration. I'd forgotten how good it was - in fact, I had confused the plot with THEY CAME TO BAGHDAD, which is also a good one.

I thought Hilary Craven (love the name connection with our guest blogger!) was one of Christie's more inspired heroines. I wish she'd written more books with non-series detectives!

[becke_davis]

Hilary - what are your favorite Agatha Christie books? Do you have a favorite detective (or team of detectives)?

[hdNYC]

Thanks, TiggerBear! I'm glad you enjoyed it — it was a lot of fun to write! 

All the best,

Hilary

Hilary Davidson

Author, The Damage Done 

[hdNYC]

Fricka, I'm so thrilled that my post made you interested in picking up the novel! It's one that somehow gets overlooked (though maybe that's not a surprise, given how many great novels Agatha Christie wrote). I really think you'll enjoy it — it's such a well-crafted book, and that other Hilary is a very memorable character!

All the best,

Hilary

Hilary Davidson

Author, The Damage Done 

[becke_davis]

By the way, Hilary, HAPPY RELEASE DAY (a little late!).

[hdNYC]

Becke, first I have to say a huge thank you for inviting me to blog here today! It's an honor to be here and I hope that my post will make some readers pick up DESTINATION UNKNOWN. It's such a terrific book, and I wish it were better known.

You asked about my favorite Christie books. AND THEN THERE WERE NONE is definitely on that list. To my mind, it's one of the all-time greatest mysteries ever written. MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS is another truly great book. I'm also very fond of MURDER IS EASY and THE MIRROR CRACK'D.

It's hard for me to pick a favorite among her detectives, though I have to say that I do love Miss Marple. I also adore Tommy and Tuppence — maybe because they started out as blackmailers who later became detectives! 

All the best,

Hilary

Hilary Davidson

Author, The Damage Done 

[maxcat]

Hi, Hilary, Destination Unknown is one of the few books I haven't read by Agatha Christie. But the synopsis sounds great and your blog has me intrigued to buy the book. Thanks for stopping by.

[becke_davis]

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hdNYC wrote:

Becke, first I have to say a huge thank you for inviting me to blog here today! It's an honor to be here and I hope that my post will make some readers pick up DESTINATION UNKNOWN. It's such a terrific book, and I wish it were better known.

You asked about my favorite Christie books. AND THEN THERE WERE NONE is definitely on that list. To my mind, it's one of the all-time greatest mysteries ever written. MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS is another truly great book. I'm also very fond of MURDER IS EASY and THE MIRROR CRACK'D.

It's hard for me to pick a favorite among her detectives, though I have to say that I do love Miss Marple. I also adore Tommy and Tuppence — maybe because they started out as blackmailers who later became detectives! 

All the best,

Hilary

Hilary Davidson

Author, The Damage Done 

---

Hilary - a surprising number of our guest bloggers put Tuppence and Tommy right up there with Miss Marple and Poirot. My favorite book of theirs is N OR M?

What's up next for you? I'm assuming since your book just came out that you already have a second book in the pipeline. Can you tell us anything about it, or is it too early to say?

[hdNYC]

Thanks for dropping in, Maxcat! I know so many Agatha Christie fans who've read all of her Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot books, but who haven't read DESTINATION UNKNOWN. I'd blame it on the book being a standalone mystery, but so is AND THEN THERE WERE NONE, and everyone reads that!

I'm so glad that my post made you want to read about Hilary Craven's adventures. I'd love to know what you and Fricka and others think of it. Maybe Becke can arrange for us all to meet up here at some point in the future to talk!

All the best,

Hilary

Hilary Davidson

Author, The Damage Done 

[hdNYC]

Hi Becke,

I'd noticed that many of the guest bloggers loved that pair, too! Tommy & Tuppence have this wonderful repartee and rapport that reminds me a little bit of the Thin Man movies with William Powell and Myrna Loy. But there's something even sweeter about the way the Tommy & Tuppence books show them at different times in their lives, and let them grow older together.

Also, I agree with you about N OR M? — that book is absolutely delightful!

All the best,

Hilary

Hilary Davidson

Author, The Damage Done 

[becke_davis]

Why Didn't They Ask Evans? 

Tommy & Tuppence: Partners in Crime Set 2 

---

hdNYC wrote:

Hi Becke,

I'd noticed that many of the guest bloggers loved that pair, too! Tommy & Tuppence have this wonderful repartee and rapport that reminds me a little bit of the Thin Man movies with William Powell and Myrna Loy. But there's something even sweeter about the way the Tommy & Tuppence books show them at different times in their lives, and let them grow older together.

Also, I agree with you about N OR M? — that book is absolutely delightful!

All the best,

Hilary

Hilary Davidson

Author, The Damage Done 

---

I even liked the film versions of the Tuppence and Tommy books. The same actor and actress duo also starred in WHY DIDN'T THEY ASK EVANS?, with Francesca Annis as Frankie Derwent.

Agatha Christie's Partners in Crime, Set 1: Tommy

 

[hdNYC]

Becke was thoughtful enough to ask about what I'm working on now. As she mentioned in her wonderful introduction, my debut novel came out yesterday.  

Damage Done. I'm touring extensively to talk about the book. This Saturday (Oct. 2nd), I'll be doing a "Coffee & Crime" breakfast at Mystery Lovers Bookshop in Pittsburgh. After that, I have some events in Boston and New York, and then I'll be heading to San Francisco for Bouchercon. I'll be speaking on two panels there, and I'm looking forward to meeting in person with many people in the mystery community that I've gotten to know online! After that, I'll be in Los Angeles, Houston, Scottsdale, Philadelphia, Toronto... it's a pretty long list of places, and it's still growing. If you'd like to see my tour schedule, this has the latest information:

http://www.hilarydavidson.com/Events.html

For the past several months, I've been working on my second novel. I'm still revising it, but I can tell you that it's called THE NEXT ONE TO FALL, and that it will be published by Forge in October 2011. It's a sequel to THE DAMAGE DONE, and it's set in Peru. Lily, who's a travel writer, is visiting the country with her best friend, Jesse, a photographer. While they're at Machu Picchu, a woman falls down a long Inca staircase and dies. The authorities don't find anything criminal about it — witnesses make it clear that no one pushed the woman, she simply fell. But Lily's suspicions are aroused by the strange behavior of the three men the woman was traveling with, and she decides that if the police won't find out what really happened, she will.

Thanks so much for asking about that!

All the best

Hilary 

Hilary Davidson

Author, The Damage Done