The inspiration behind The Custard Corpses #histfic #mystery #quirky

The inspiration behind my first 1940s historical mystery, The Custard Corpses, is a bit weird, even I admit that

My late father had, for many years, bought and sold antique paraphernalia, mainly maps, but also other items, such as books, stamps, old vellum deeds, and postcards – you get the idea. With the restrictions during Lockdown, he wasn’t able to sell as normal at his antique fairs, and having put off having an online presence, he finally decided to open an eBay shop – but needed tech support. And so, as 'tech support,' he started sending me all sorts of fascinating items to list, but the one that caught my attention were the advertisements that ran in the Picture Post magazines for Bird’s Custard.

The Erdington Mysteries covers

The inspiration - Bird's Custard Adverts

They’re bright, they’re inviting, they are, to put it bluntly, before their time. They have lovely catchphrases, such as ‘every little helps’, which Tesco use now. The black and white images on the coloured background ensure the reader's eye is drawn to the happy child, and they do make you want to eat custard.

I wanted to share them with as many people as possible so that they could catch a glimpse of these old campaigns. There were other advertisements in the magazines as well, such as ones for Pepsi and Shell, to name a few, but it was the Bird’s Custard ones that captured my imagination. But how could I share them with people?

My mind works in strange ways

Well, my mind works in strange ways, and I began to consider a mystery that would somehow be relevant to the advertisements, so it needed to be set during the period the Picture Post magazine was produced from 1938 to the 1950s. And so, The Custard Corpses.

Why during the Second World War?

I set The Custard Corpses during the Second World War, but that was primarily because it aligned with the advertisements I’d seen; the added bonus that I could then utilise the well-known events of the war was a secondary consideration.

Why did I decide upon Erdington, now a suburb of Birmingham, England?

The setting of the book was entirely based on the fact that I had family members who'd lived in Erdington at the time. I was able to pick my Dad's brain for the little details that I didn’t know or couldn’t remember, not that he was born in 1943, but not long after. There is also a 1939 map of Birmingham, readily available on the web, which I used to make sure I was getting as much of the geography correct as I could. My memory couldn't do it all, especially as my memories are from the 1980s and 1990s.

It was all quite random, in the end, and there was a swell of little details I uncovered that just, through pure happenstance, fitted together. It helped that I wanted to try my hand at something more modern than the eleventh century, but still historical. But I’m not an expert on any other period, so I suppose it was an easy choice to decide on a setting that was just within the living memory of some. I couldn’t visit anywhere due to the Lockdown, so familiar was best.

Is this the weirdest reason to have written a book?

You tell me.

Check out The Erdington Mysteries page on the blog or on my website to discover more about the books.

Buy The Custard Corpses here, available in ebook, paperback, hardback and audio. Alternatively, visit the signed editions page to obtain a copy directly from me. However,be sure to check out more of the Bird's Custard adverts from the 1940s-1950s.