Featured Interview With J.G. Harlond
Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
Secret agents, skulduggery, and romance that crosses continents . . .
I’m an award-winning, full-time author of page-turning historical crime novels that weave fictional characters into real events. As I’m particularly interested in aspects of power and downright wickedness, international intrigue and domestic politics are significant elements in most of my stories. I grew up in the West of England, by the beach, studied Drama, Education then Politics in the UK and the USA – then travelled widely in Europe and elsewhere. I have visited or lived in most of the locations in my novels. Nowadays, I’m settled in a rural area of Andalucía, southern Spain. We have a large family living in diverse parts of Europe and the USA.
As to pets, I have had four generations of horses – only one old boy left now, though.
At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
As a child I read anything I could get my hands on – just about every genre – which I still do. I
started writing my own stories in school exercise books at young age, but was forced to stop when my school teachers accused me of copying these ‘English compositions’.
Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
I have a broad taste in fiction – from biographical historicals and quirky pastorals to fast-paced crime thrillers. My favourite author, though, has to be the late, great Dorothy Dunnett. Her House of Niccolò series has certainly influenced my recent Ludo da Portovenere stories (The Chosen Man Trilogy).
Tell us a little about your latest book?
My latest novel is ‘By Force of Circumstance’, Book 3 in The Chosen Man Trilogy. This book brings the story of the 17th century Genoese merchant and all round rogue Ludo da Portovenere to a close. (Although he may appear again in a book featuring his strong-willed daughters, who will very likely follow in his scandalous footsteps and deserve a story of their own.)
The Chosen Man Trilogy has taken me many years to complete, largely because there was so much research and background reading to be done. Many of the details I uncovered had to be double-checked because they took quite some believing. Ludo, the main character is not to be trusted, but he’s acting as a secret agent for real people who were mostly amoral, or up to no good themselves. What happens in each of the stories is based on real events – even the dubious selling of the English Crown Jewels.
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