Q&A with Laurie R. King discussion

I love when Mary and Sherlock have encounters with characters from other books of the period, like Kim (originally Rudyard Kipling's character). Do you have more of those planned? How do / did you choose the other characters for them to meet?The Game

I loved the brief encounter with Lord Peter Wimsey.

I also love the literary nods King gives to other sleuths and authors. My favorites are those encounters (plural) with Lord Peter! I agree that Kim was interesting in The Game. I also really liked the way she used Dashiel Hammett in Locked Rooms.

Laurel wrote: "I loved the brief encounter with Lord Peter Wimsey."

So did I! I'd love to see him again, except I know it would probably involve dealing with the Sayers estate or something.

Jane wrote: Laurie, there have been quite a few discussions about Lord Peter where we've wished you'd gotten to tackle him. Am I right in assuming that the Sayers estate has the copyright locked down?

Anne wrote: how did you decide which of Lord Peter's attributes to use so that we would all recognize him without your saying his name? That was another bit of brilliant writing.

Lord Peter is one of my favorites, how did I miss that? Kim I recognized...

Yes, the Sayers estate was quite generous in permitting me to use him in that scene, but clear that he was not a character for general use. A pity, since he'd be fun to revisit, although I wouldn't want to tackle an entire novel in his voice.

The really fun one was Fernando Pessoa, in Pirate King. Talk about real-life people odder than fiction!

I do love these characters when they pop in. It's made me go read more of the original work.