Finding comfort in murder mystery...!

Alison Weatherby answers some questions about her Middle Grade murder mystery, discover more about the importance of the title, setting and crimes involved in the first story of a promised series...

First, the title. Did you intend it to be alliterative & do titles come easily to you?

Titles are so hard! My editor and I went back and forth on titles for ages. I think I suggested maybe 20 different ones! We wanted the title to have something to do with death and murder, of course, but it needed to be quirky and fun, like the book. Because Mae is so prone to getting in trouble, I loved the idea of acknowledging her on the cover. The alliteration was a bonus.

Why is the club ‘common’? Is there a specific reference here or was it just a fun name? I’d like to think they’re making a reference to themselves as “common criminals” because they’re doing something kind of against the rules – sneaking out of their dorms at night to watch Netflix using a password that Beck “borrowed.” None of what the kids do is really a crime, but the whole clandestine nature of sneaking out and watching movies is appealing. Plus, they’re a misfit crew and don’t exactly fit in so having a secret, cool getaway just for them is the best.

It’s a boarding school book, did you attend one or are you simply a fan of the setting? I was not a boarding school kid but I loved reading boarding school books – who doesn’t? The gang’s school – Our Lady of the Sacred Heart -- was based on Kylemore Abbey, which is a gorgeous castle-like residence in the middle of nowhere Ireland that was a boarding school for a while.

Even better, a boarding school is a mostly closed environment and also is very controlled. Both of these things are fabulous for murder mysteries as you keep a specific group of people/suspects in one place for most of the book, without a lot of outsiders.

From the start the story is funny, honest, approachable. Is this your natural writing style? This is my first time writing humour and I had so much fun. My first book is YA historical fiction set during WW2, so the language in that book is more formal and serious. When I wrote Death Before Detention, I’d challenged myself to try to write humour. Once I found Mae’s voice, I can’t imagine the book any other way. I was inspired by Derry Girls, Kate Weston’s fab YA comedy mystery, Murder on a School Night and the quirkiness of the Knives Out movies.

In reality how common (word use intended) do you think it is for people to find bodies – plural? I don’t know a single person that has come across a dead body. Ever. It is always one of the questions in the back of my mind when I read a cosy crime or watch detective shows. What are the odds that one village has so many deaths? I do address this a little bit in book 2, School Trip Survival, because I can’t imagine the gang themselves not being shocked to find another body. 

Mae has an impressive number of detentions! Is this your way of showing solidarity with your readers? I think it’s more a way of relating to today’s kids. None of us are perfect, yet often in books we don’t see the main characters racking up detentions for being messy or losing their school uniforms every other day. I’ll be honest, my own house is messy a lot of times. Just like Mae, I get distracted or busy and don’t have time to worry about the laundry. But hopefully it doesn’t make me (or Mae) less of a good person. If anything, we have to question people like Shonda who can’t leave a place without tidying!

The narrative is unconventional, keeping readers on their toes, was it intentional? It really is. I do a lot of workshops with teen and tween kids and they’re very clever. I never want to underestimate their ability to unravel a mystery so I have to make sure the plots are tight and complex and full of twists and turns.  

Your home is in Ireland how easy is it to convey Ireland & the Irish in a story? It wasn’t hard at all once I found Mae’s voice. I wanted to make this story real for kids in Ireland, which is why I have a diverse gang of kids at the boarding school. I definitely didn’t want to make this stereotypical “Irish” or folksy. It was important to reflect how teens talk today. Honestly, I do a lot of listening when I’m with teens and learn new slang every week!

Would you have liked to have been at a school just like Our Lady of the Sacred Heart? Maybe? I don’t know if I’d do well in the middle of nowhere – I’m a bit of a city girl myself – but I’m envious of the club that Mae, Shonda, Aoife and Beck have where they can be themselves. I relate to each of the Common Criminals in different ways but was very much a nerdy misfit like them when I was in secondary school. Having something like the Common Criminals’ Club at that age would’ve been a dream!

Why did you decide to include an American character with Shonda? I wanted diversity, for sure, because Ireland is a very diverse country these days. I visit Irish schools that have kids from Australian, America, Brazil, China, Poland, Ukraine – everywhere really. Also, I grew up in the US, so her voice was easy. She’s a fabulously self-confident character.

As a reader what is your top choice of story to get lost in? I love murder mysteries (obviously), and my comfort book is a good cosy crime or a detective novel. But I also love dystopian and wish there were more YA dystopian novels in the world.

Finally, can we look forward to more adventures with the Common Criminals Club? Absolutely! In February 2027, the second adventure – School Trip Survival - will be published. This time the gang goes to the Connemara Survival Centre for a weekend retreat only to be trapped by a red weather warning. Even worse, they’re joined by a boys’ school, a few of whom are part of a local citizen detective group who dig up cold cases. The kids learn there’s a cold case at the survival centre which they discover might not be so cold after all when Mae stumbles onto a dead body in the bog, leaving the Common Criminals’ Club no choice by to investigate again!

You can find Common Criminals Club in all good bookshops. My thanks to Alison for the wonderful answers and to Alice James at Macmillan Children's Books for suggesting this Q&A feature for the Blog!