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Tricia Ford: Hello, everyone. This is Tricia Ford, fiction editor here at Audible. And with me today is Lucy Foley, contemporary British mystery writer, who's here to talk about her latest novel, The Paris Apartment. Welcome, Lucy. Thank you for being here.
Lucy Foley: Hi, thank you for having me.
TF: Now, The Paris Apartment has certain things kind of similar to your past books, like The Guest List, which was a huge hit back in 2020, The Hunting Party, and even The Book of Lost and Found. One thing that rings through many of your books, including The Paris Apartment, is this whole idea of a locked room mystery.
This one is set amongst a group of residents of a Paris apartment building. The story opens with Ben, who is a Brit living in Paris in his apartment, awaiting the arrival of his sister, Jess, who's coming from England, and he clearly has mixed feelings about her showing up. So right from the get-go, there's this very Parisian atmosphere. Paris is set up perfectly, then you arrive at this building’s creepy courtyard and that atmosphere all becomes central to the story. What draws you to this idea of a locked room mystery, of keeping everything kind of contained within this apartment building?
LF: Great question. I love putting my characters under a microscope, taking away their creature comforts, and putting them somewhere sort of unfamiliar to them. I would say that's something that's common across all three thrillers. And I really wanted to do something a little bit different and Gothic with this apartment building. I wanted it to feel sort of like a character in itself in the novel.
"I love putting my characters under a microscope, taking away their creature comforts and putting them somewhere sort of unfamiliar to them."
TF: I felt like I was in that courtyard in that opening scene. What brought you to Paris in particular?
LF: I've always wanted to set a book in Paris. Actually I set a little bit of my first book, The Book of Lost and Found, there, but I really wanted to set a whole novel there at some point. I hadn't consciously decided to set my third thriller there. But I was working on the final draft for The Guest List, my previous book, and what I love to do is rent a cheap Airbnb somewhere, kind of away from home and its distractions so I can really just focus on the writing. And that's what I'd done with this draft of The Guest List.
I was staying in this creepy old Parisian apartment building. It was beautiful. It felt like nothing had been changed for half a century in this apartment. I was working at all hours of the night. And I could hear these really strange sounds coming from the apartment above me, sounds of something heavy being dragged across the floor. So of course, the thriller writer in me thought, “There's a story going on here and I want to write it.”
TF: Very interesting. The other through line in some of your books is that we have these British characters, but the story doesn't take place in England. Is that for a similar reason, getting outside of what's comfortable?
LF: Totally. If you look at The Hunting Party and The Guest List, there are these rather entitled characters and I'm putting them somewhere kind of foreign to them, and it forces them to look too closely at themselves and each other. And it's a really uncomfortable experience.
With The Paris Apartment, I suppose there's a kind of added layer to it. It is literally foreign. Jess doesn't actually speak the language. She's sort of privy to the conversations that are going on around her and she's also not able to articulate herself fully. And that sort of adds another layer of separation and isolation, I think.
It was inspired by a book called The Wheel Spins (or The Lady Vanishes), in which this British character on a train is sort of passing through Europe, trying to make herself understood. Trying to explain that someone on the train has disappeared, but no one will believe her. I just think that's such a great premise for a thriller.
TF: I love that. It's perfectly cozy and that Gothic edge makes it a little grittier. You talk about Jess and Ben, your central characters. It was surprising and very welcome to see a brother-sister combo as your central characters, especially with a Paris setting. You kind of assume there's gonna be a romantic tie. What made you choose to go this direction with Jess and Ben?
LF: I'm not sure if it was ever a conscious decision. Those characters came to me kinda fully formed, and I'm always fascinated by sibling relationships. I was very conscious that I wanted this to be a missing boy narrative rather than a missing girl narrative, 'cause we've had a lot of those.
If it's the sister looking for the brother, how does that change the way people respond? There's this scene where she goes to the police station, even though she's not particularly trusting of the police. But she goes to them and they just don't take it seriously. I just wonder if that would've been the same if it had been Jess that was missing and Ben looking for her. I'm fascinated in that.
"I was very conscious that I wanted this to be a missing boy narrative rather than a missing girl narrative, 'cause we've had a lot of those."
TF: What did also strike me in their relationship is Jess is kind of the one who's messed up in the past and Ben is Mr. Perfect, and how she's the one who saves him. And then just the certain buttons being pushed that only a brother or sister could. That came through really strongly.
LF: Oh, fantastic. At the same time, I'm fascinated by the idea of adult siblings who have lived in different cities, even different countries. How well do you actually know your grown-up siblings if you live these very different lives from each other? And I think that's the mystery that she has to unpack: it's not just what has happened to Ben, but who is Ben really? Does she actually really know her own brother at all?
TF: Now, they are the heart of the story, Jess and Ben. And you have this brilliant multi-cast of narrators. Multiple different voices are led by Clare Corbett, who many listeners will be familiar with from books like Girl on the Train. She's really taken on the genre by storm. In addition to that, we have newer voices to the Audible listener, and that lovely mix of Parisian sophistication and added British charm. They all bring a new perspective to this mystery and all offer that one more key to solving things. Do you have a favorite among them for the supporting cast?
LF: I think they're all brilliant. It's so exciting as the author and as a big audiobook fan hearing those characters brought to life. So I don't think I can pick, but I do love Ben. I think the actor that is reading Ben absolutely nails his voice. And I love the concierge as well because she was such a great character to write and she's got a lot of mystique around her.
TF: Yes, I loved the concierge right away as well. A lot of characters can be described as unlikable. And that certainly is the case with many of these people. They're horrible, but they're obviously characters playing a role and they have to be the way they are for the mystery to unfold in the right way. They're definitely people that you think of fondly after the book, despite knowing that they're not all good people.
In terms of your writing process, I know that this was written during a very particular time in your life.
LF: Yes, I suppose one of the big things that was going on was literally global. So I came to sit down and write my Parisian set murder mystery in the middle of lockdown, unable to kinda travel anywhere. In a way, it was wonderful being able to escape into this world.
I think that's something that we as writers and as readers are really kind of privileged to have. We can disappear into these fictional worlds and “travel on the page” as it were. And luckily enough, I was able to go back when things opened up a bit more and check the things I needed to check in Paris.
And then the other thing that was going on in my life was I was pregnant. So I had to kind of sit on the book for six months while I took maternity leave. In a way, I think that was the best thing I could have done for this book.
It was so exciting coming back to it after six months away from my desk. I felt like some of the characters' voices have come to me even more clearly. So Jess, for example, I almost completely rewrote her because I had a much stronger idea of who she was and certain elements of the mystery just kind of solved themselves. And so it was just a really fun ride to get back to my computer and start writing again. Maybe I should do that every time, just take six months off and put it in a drawer and come back to it.
TF: That does bring me to my next question. We're coming to expect a Lucy Foley novel every year or two. Is that something that you're planning? What are you working on right now?
LF: That's the plan. I am working on the next murder mystery right now; again, trying to kind of find a new slant in the genre, having a lot of fun with it. And there is some The Wicker Man sort of influences in this one, some small village outsider things going on.
TF: Wow. Paris is a very well known city, as we know. And one thing that struck me when listening to your description of Paris is that, as beautiful as it is, it has some grit to it. And that grit shines through here and is something that makes this book different from your previous books. Can you talk a little bit more about how the city itself and this grittiness inspired you to locate your novel here?
LF: This book is a love letter to Paris. I wanted to get in that glamour, that beauty and that kind of romance. But at the same time, I wanted to have an exploration beneath the surface of things, because I think Paris is so perfectly preserved. It wasn't bombed like London was. It can feel almost like a stage set, but there is some seedy, nasty, weird stuff going on under the surface like there is in any city, and obviously as a thriller writer, that's what interests me. So hopefully I've managed to do both.
TF: Thank you so much, Lucy. It was so much fun talking to you.
LF: Thank you so much for having me. Honored to have been here, and it's such fun talking about the book.
TF: Thank you. We've been talking to Lucy Foley, author of The Paris Apartment, available now on audible.com.
