Episode 41: Jane Austen Murder Mysteries with Author Tirzah Price

In this episode I am sitting down with author Tirzah Price to discuss her upcoming book Manslaughter Park, which is the 3rd book in her Jane Austen murder master series including Pride and Premeditation and Sense and Second Degree Murder.

It was so wonderful to chat to Tirzah about her love of Jane Austen, how the series came about and her writing experience as she captures the essence of Jane Austen characters, but gives them a wonderful Agatha Christie twist.

Manslaughter park is available for pre-order!

Buy Tirzah's books: https://uk.bookshop.org/lists/episode-mentions
Out in the US 27th June and 31st August in the UK.

Thanks again to our sponsor Haus of Bennet: https://hausofbennet.com/ Use code whatthediscount at the checkout for 15% off! and you will also be supporting the Podcast 🤍

This podcast is about Janeites coming together, discussing Jane Austen's work, and having a few laughs along the way. 

We really enjoyed making this episode and we hope you like it! 

Please follow and subscribe to keep up with all the upcoming episodes.

Where can you find Tirzah? 
Instagram: @tirzah.price
Website: https://tirzahprice.com/ 

Transcript

Izzy (00:13.336)
Hi, Janeites and welcome back to the What the Austen? podcast. I have an exciting guest with me today and that is the author of the Jane Austin Murder Mystery series, Tirzah Price. So, Terza currently has two books out, Pride and Premeditation and Sense and Second Degree Murder and is soon to be releasing her third book in the series, which is Manslaughter Park. So, in celebration of the new book, we thought we'd jump on the podcast and have a chat about the series. So, welcome Terza. It's so wonderful to have you with me.

Tirzah Price (00:43.158)
Thank you so much for having me. I'm so excited to be here.

Izzy (00:46.796)
Yes, absolutely, I'm super excited about this. And the first question that I ask all my guests is, what got you into Jane Austen originally?

Tirzah Price (00:56.649)
Originally, what got me into Jane Austen was probably all of the...

Tirzah Price (01:03.67)
adaptations, like movie and TV show adaptations that were out there. So I grew up in like the 90s and early 2000s. So the BBC version of Pride and Prejudice, I remember watching that. I remember I got the VHS tapes from the library. So it was like a very big commitment of like you. I'm not even sure I could get them all out at once. Like I probably had to like watch the first tape and then bring it back and go get the other one. And then the Emma movie adaptation with Gwyneth Pell.

Tirzah Price (01:34.865)
All of those, mostly like the BBC versions, were what got me into Jane Austen originally because I was, you know, watching those at like middle school slumber parties and when I was pretty young before I was actually reading the books. And that-

Tirzah Price (01:51.858)
just sort of sparked my love for the time period because I've always loved historical fiction. But also the stories and the romance and the humor. And so it was, you know, I probably watched an adaptation before I actually read any of the original books. And of course I love the books as well. But that was what really got me into it.

Izzy (02:10.78)
I love that. And so when was it that you kind of picked up the books then? Did you watch quite a few of the adaptations? Then you were like, I think it's time for the books or was it... yeah.

Tirzah Price (02:18.242)
Yes. So I think, I mean, I do remember watching the, yeah, like the BBC version of Pride and Prejudice and I know I saw the...

Tirzah Price (02:32.886)
the Sense and Sensibility movie, because I think that came out like in the late 90s or mid 90s, and Emma. Emma was like a big favorite in like my middle school slumber party roster of movies that we would always watch. But my first Austin that I actually read, I was probably 14 or 15 and I read Pride and Prejudice. And I remember not loving it at first because I thought like this is really boring compared to, you know, watching these movies and you know, because it's, you know, they were written 200 years previously.

Tirzah Price (03:02.86)
and it was just not necessarily, you know, the snappy, exciting, sweeping romance that I was expecting. But then, and then I read Sense and Sensibility and Emma in high school as well. And then when I went to college, I was an English major in college. And so of course we studied Austin. And that's when I read Austin, I started to like really be like, no, this is actually good. I have a greater appreciation for, you know, just the style of the writing and also like the depths of the novels that.

Tirzah Price (03:32.694)
you know, as good as any adaptations are, you can't like completely dig into everything that the book has and contains because there are so many, you know, subplots and nuances. So I would say that I didn't love the books right away, but I obviously liked them all enough that I kept reading Austin, even if I wasn't immediately, you know, swept away by the pros.

Izzy (03:53.832)
I love that though, and you know what? Slow burn love, it's okay, we're here for it, you know? Ha ha ha! Ha ha ha! Amazing, that's so funny. So, out of the three books, obviously you gave me access to all three, including the one that is yet to come out, so thank you for that. I loved them all, they were all fantastic. But something that stood out straight away to me is Jane Austen is not your only inspirational influence, so you're a big fan of Agatha Christie as well.

Tirzah Price (03:57.77)
Yes, I do love a good slow bird.

Tirzah Price (04:09.728)
Yay!

Tirzah Price (04:20.602)
Yes, oh my goodness, yes. And so where, you know, I would read Austin because I was the type of, you know, teenager and kid that was very into classics and into reading and I wanted people to think that I was smart because that's just the kind of, you know, overachiever kid that I was. So I would read these classics because I felt like, you know, that's what you want to do if you love books and you love reading. And I did, you know, enjoy a lot of them, but it wasn't like a, you

Tirzah Price (04:50.508)
But when I was a teenager, oh my goodness, I blew through Agatha Christie books. And partly just because the writing felt a little bit more accessible, but also, I mean, I was... I was a teenager.

Tirzah Price (05:01.926)
maybe I was like just a very gullible kid but like reading mysteries always like blew me away because I'm like oh my gosh I didn't see that coming and oh my goodness I can't believe that twist. So I really love Agatha Christie and plus you know her books they're not especially you know long like they you know they're pretty straightforward the pacing is pretty quick so I would just read a ton of them. I remember my grandmother had a whole shelf of Agatha Christie mysteries and I would just pick them up and go on my way and then you know return.

Tirzah Price (05:32.202)
and get another one out. It was like my own little library.

Izzy (05:35.972)
Oh my gosh, I love that. You know, it's funny, I've never been, I've never got massively into Agatha Christie. I think I need to sit down and just like, do a binge read of like all of her works. I do love watching like the film versions in, when Priory was on telly, I used to watch that and stuff. But yeah, I definitely need to set some time aside for Christie, I think.

Tirzah Price (05:52.11)
Yes.

Tirzah Price (05:57.718)
Yeah, she's good and I do, I mean, sometimes people don't really like the new Kenneth Branagh versions of...

Tirzah Price (06:06.982)
of the Pharaoh and yeah, but I really like them. I like how stylish they are. I like the way that, you know, the producers sort of slightly update some of the stories. I've enjoyed them as well. So they're, yeah, and there are so many great Agatha Christie adaptations out there right now. Like, I feel like we're living in a nice little golden age of retellings and adaptations of her work.

Izzy (06:29.996)
Yeah, it's so true. And I feel like that's the same with just like Austin's work as well, if you think about it, you know, the BBC adaptations always have the time to go into like detail because they always make it a series. And so they can really hone into like the book aspect, but you know, I always love like the, you know, the Hollywood eyes version as well, which is, you know, a little bit more glamorous.

Tirzah Price (06:51.571)
Yeah, it's fun to see how different directors and whatnot interpret the stories and how they bring them to the screen. And I mean, and it's fun too, because even though I'll be watching it and I know what happens, because I've read the book, it's fun to just see how they structure it and how certain interpretations make me think one thing about the characters where others make me think something else. So I'm here for it all.

Izzy (07:19.964)
Yeah, I know what's love with those as well is even though you know what's come in is still enjoyable to watch and I I just love that

Tirzah Price (07:24.906)
Yes. Yes. And I feel like that is, especially as I've gotten older because I'm no longer quite as gullible when it comes to reading murder mysteries. Like I will.

Tirzah Price (07:35.566)
start to pick up on things. And as somebody who writes murder mysteries, I also, you know, I'm thinking kind of from the author's side of like, okay, if I'm writing this, like, you know, what would I want the reader to think or how would I want to structure this? And so I've gotten to the point where, you know, there's a lot of mysteries that I read, even just new novels and whatnot, that I'm usually able to kind of see through, like, okay, this is probably what's happening. I'm not always, right, but I'm, I'm right more often than not. And, you know, I was

Tirzah Price (08:05.22)
if you know what's gonna happen. But for me, reading a mystery and enjoying a mystery, it's about the journey, not necessarily the big twist or how we get there at the end, like, okay, this is the reveal. If I'm enjoying myself every step of the way, I don't care if I've guessed the ending.

Izzy (08:21.088)
Yeah, I'm totally the same actually. He must drive, he honestly drives my boyfriend up the wall. Like when we're watching stuff, I'm like, he's like, oh my God, you like guessed it like right off the bat. I'm really bad with things like Luther. I guess those ones all the way through. I really like true crime though. And so I'm always just like, I'm in this guy's head. I know what's going on. But yeah, I do feel for him when he watches them with me. I'm like, like 10 minutes in and I'm like, I know what's gonna happen.

Tirzah Price (08:38.59)
Yes, I know.

Tirzah Price (08:48.322)
Yes, oh my goodness. I mean, I'm the same way too. My partner, we were watching something, they'd seen it before and I had not seen it and they were like, I wanted to see how long it's gonna take you to like guess who the murderer is. And like one episode in I'm like, I'm pretty sure it's that person. They're like, how? And I'm like, let's keep watching. I want to see how it all comes out, whether I'm right or not. Like, this is fun.

Izzy (09:08.485)
Yeah, there's almost something more fun if you figure it out before it's actually being revealed.

Tirzah Price (09:14.358)
Yes, because then you can kind of see how they build and scaffold the mystery from there. And that is, to my writer brain, I'm like, that's even more exciting. Like, how did you build it out?

Izzy (09:23.824)
Yeah, I feel that for sure. So when I was reading the series, I started with Pride and Premeditation and I'm gonna try and summarise this. I'm terrible at book summaries so everyone forgive me. Everyone's just like, why are you going on for ages? But basically, the Bennets live in London. Mr. Bennett is a barrister at Longbourn and Sons. Elizabeth is very keen to follow in her father's footsteps and wants to kind of be his apprentice but she has to prove to him that she's

Tirzah Price (09:33.774)
I'm going to go to bed. Bye.

Izzy (09:52.032)
worthy of the role and also because obviously it wasn't common for women to have these positions in society so she really has to go out there to to prove that it's the right fit for her and she comes across an exciting murder that of Mr. Hurst and then um, yeah, she is kind of trying to figure that out trying to be the lawyer for um Mr. Bingley kind of but also trying to figure out the murder at the same time and um, she's not the only one

Izzy (10:20.396)
who is trying to prove themselves in the world. Mr. Darcy's also out there and he has the benefit of being male, which back then, you know, that was a benefit, unfortunately. So yeah, is that a good, do you think that's a good summary? I hope so.

Tirzah Price (10:33.326)
That is a good summary. Yes, yes, it is a good summary. Ha ha.

Izzy (10:38.284)
Fab, good, I'm glad. But something that really stuck out to me when I first started the series was, obviously with Pride and Prejudice, there's so much movement, there's so much travel in that novel. But obviously for your books, you tried to condense that down so much more and you wanted the location to be set in London. Was that kind of a specific choice because you knew it was gonna be a murder mystery? You went for kind of more of a Christy, a Cluedo board style where you framed it.

Tirzah Price (11:04.078)
Yeah, it was kind of also just like travel back then took so long to get between place to place and the timeline that I was envisioning was going to be a lot tighter than, you know, okay now we spent like three days traveling here and then we spent like two days coming back here. I was like it's just gonna slow things down way too much so I was like if they are already in London and they are already here then they're just running around the city which is still a lot of

Tirzah Price (11:33.538)
but then you're not having three days on the coach. So that was kind of like from a practical pacing standpoint, it was that, but then also there was just, when I was researching, I was able to find out just a little bit more about like crime in that time period with London as kind of the central focus and so it just kind of made sense to just sort of shift the story there.

Tirzah Price (11:59.998)
Plus there's a lot of really great landmarks and exciting things that I could explore through reading other things that I knew was happening in London at the time. And I was just like, you know, I'm just going to research this and put it here and set it in the city. So it was partly that. And then the other aspect too was the desire to kind of try to not write necessarily a story in which it's all white people.

Tirzah Price (12:30.242)
doing things and that, you know, and I say this is, I'm white, so obviously, you know, I'm writing from my own perspective as a white person, but I also know that London in this time period was not completely white, and sometimes period literature does tend to whitewash that a little bit, and so setting something in London, not to say that there weren't people of color living outside of London during this time period, but it was kind of a way to sort of tap into exploring war.

Tirzah Price (12:58.398)
of the diversity of the time period as well. So yeah, it was kind of all sort of going around in my mind as I was deciding where to set the.

Izzy (13:07.284)
No, I love that. And yeah, absolutely. I think it's really good to tap into the diversity of the time period as well, because you're so right. There's so many, particularly Regency.

Izzy (13:16.756)
like period dramas where they often do feel very whitewashed. And that just wasn't necessarily the case. It doesn't necessarily really flex the history at the time. Like you said, London, there was diversity in London at the time and probably outside of London as well. And so yeah, I really love that you chose to do that. And I liked that it was all in London to be fair as well. I think it was kind of exciting because obviously your books, they have the essence of the originals like Austin's original works, but.

Tirzah Price (13:24.855)
Yes.

Izzy (13:45.676)
They also have, you know, changes as well. There are different storylines in the grand scheme of things. For one, obviously there's murders involved, which we don't quite get in Austen's work. So, yeah, I thought it was a great decision to change that. And it was good to see more of London because you don't see that much of London in Austen's work a lot of the time. So it was good. I thought that was nice, a nice location twist.

Tirzah Price (13:51.64)
Yes.

Tirzah Price (14:05.742)
Thanks, yeah. And it was also just kind of, you know, I know a lot of people sort of tend to think of Jane Austen's time period as like, you know, upper society, nobility, and you know, one thing that has always struck me about Austen's work is like they're often really interesting sort of ruminations on class because not every Austen heroine has money or comes from money.

Tirzah Price (14:33.91)
and they're kind of like rubbing shoulders, rubbing elbows with that world, but a lot of her characters are firmly middle class and have these, you know, worries about money and, you know, being able to kind of explore that in London too is also exciting to me. Like, I read a lot of Regency romances with, you know, dukes and earls and all that, and that's fun escapism and fantasy, but it was also fun to explore the Regency period that was, you know, more of the middle.

Tirzah Price (15:03.483)
time period.

Izzy (15:05.292)
Yeah, no, I can totally get that. And also I really liked as well that you kind of showcased more of the kind of lower class as well in like terms of like servants or people who were just helping out and things. I really appreciated that because sometimes you don't get it but sometimes some of the best characters are those like on the sidelines. Like I always remember Hill in the like, in the 1995 one, Mrs. Bennet's running around and she's like, Hill, Hill, where is Hill?

Tirzah Price (15:30.13)
Yes. Yeah, those people, you know, they tend to just kind of get shoved off to the side of the story. And I'm like, no, imagine, imagine working in the Bennett household, even if you were in Longburn, and just like, you know, being the like having this front row seat to all this drama, but like, you're not really a part of it as well. So that's always been very interesting to me.

Izzy (15:53.184)
Yeah, no, absolutely. And something that I also really liked, like a change that you made is, I felt like it was less focused on the romance in the series, well, series so far, and more focused on like what their passions, like personal passions were, and like potential occupations could be. So obviously we see that with Lizzie, is she's like trying to follow in her father's footsteps. But one of my favorite ones was in Sense and Second Degree Murder and Eleanor's passion towards chemistry and science and-

Izzy (16:23.088)
I just loved that, I thought that was so fitting and yeah, I'd love to talk about like how you came up with what roles would best suit the characters.

Tirzah Price (16:31.598)
Thank you. Yeah, I mean with Lizzie and Darcy in Pride and Premeditation, I knew that it was going to have to be something to do with the justice system just because I knew that there's going to be an accusation of murder. And obviously, I mean, how murders were dealt with in-

Tirzah Price (16:52.438)
You know, the early 19th century was very different from even what I know about watching crime TV. And of course, the legal system in the UK is different from the US, which is, again, where I'm from, so I'm a little bit more familiar with that. So I was doing just a lot of research and I was like, well, you know, something to do with lawyers and the law because there was not as much, there wasn't as rigorous of a

Tirzah Price (17:18.53)
like law enforcement system in that time period. So that was kind of, it kind of came a little bit more naturally of like, okay, they'll probably be interested in the law if they are interested in justice. And then kind of pitting them against each other as sort of rival rising lawyers in their field was kind of fun too, because of course they would disagree. You have to give Lizzie Darcy reasons to butt heads, of course. And then with...

Tirzah Price (17:47.806)
Eleanor and Marianne, that was kind of was born out of, you know, of course I wanted to give every character in this series something that they're passionate about, something that they want to do that's, you know, beyond.

Tirzah Price (18:03.906)
finding a husband or securing a lifestyle. I mean, in the early 1800s, of course, it's totally reasonable that that is what the women would want, and that's what they would work towards because there were not as many opportunities for women. And women really...

Tirzah Price (18:21.91)
you know, their only job security, or their only security really, was to find a husband or have money. So I knew I needed to give them all something, and so from that I was just kind of thinking like, okay, what would the crimes be? What would the murders be and what could they do or how could they be predisposed to, you know, solving or investigating them? So...

Tirzah Price (18:47.41)
in my mind, Marianne is a bit more of a hothead. She will march up to somebody in a ball and be like, how dare you not talk to me for weeks? So I thought of her as somebody who would be kind of a gung-ho investigator.

Tirzah Price (19:04.23)
And then Eleanor is much more reserved, so she would do something that would, you know, not necessarily be putting her in front of people. And then when I was also thinking about, like the method of murder, I was really intrigued by the idea of poisons, like especially this is like going back to Agatha Christie, because Agatha Christie, lots of poisoning in her books. And that's in part because, you know, she, she...

Tirzah Price (19:30.046)
trained, I believe she worked in a pharmacy during World War I, so she saw firsthand the effects of various medicines and chemicals and that gave her a lot of inspiration for her books. So I was thought, you know, be fun to bring in poison in one of these books. And so with Sense and Second Degree Murder,

Tirzah Price (19:51.026)
to do poison and then I was like well somebody needs to be able to investigate a poisoning so therefore Eleanor should be scientifically inclined. So that was kind of how it all sort of organically played out. As far as Manslaughter Park, that was you know my editor and I were going back and forth with like okay what's the deal with Mansfield Park because it's you know out in the country and we need a reason for things to be happening and for people to be coming here

Tirzah Price (20:20.88)
well she's just throwing me all these ideas and we were talking and she said something about fine art and I was like oh I am so fascinated by fine like the fine art life and like also um the people who who collect art versus like the people who are artists and then also forgeries because there's a lot of very interesting fine arts games out there I've watched a lot of documentaries and so I was

Tirzah Price (20:50.88)
around that. So it kind of was an organic process of deciding, you know, what could the the girls be into, but then also how could it help them solve the murders, what would the murders and the crimes actually look like.

Izzy (21:04.92)
That's so interesting. It's interesting to see how you kind of came to the- for the first two books It was kind of thinking backwards like what is the crime and then who can investigate that crime Whereas Mansour Park was a little bit more of a brainstorming thing, but that yeah, that's really interesting and I loved it

Izzy (21:21.172)
sense in second degree murder that the like the three dashed with sisters were kind of like the A team. Like I just loved that like Eleanor was like, you know, the scientist, Marianne's an investigator and then I loved that Margaret was like a true like a crime buff. She just loved crime fiction and like writing crime fiction. I was like, I just loved that element and it was good to see more of her because I think she's such a fun character.

Tirzah Price (21:43.374)
She is, I feel like she really stole the show as I was writing it and I would be like, oh yeah, I remember Margaret exists. And then she would just like pop right up and be like, hey, don't leave me out of this. I wanna be with you. And they're constantly, poor Margaret. I mean, they're constantly pushing her off to the side. In part because she's only 11 and they don't want her to get hurt. But also she's very, very much like, no, I could be a part of this. Just give me a chance.

Izzy (22:10.284)
Yeah, no, absolutely. And I think you kind of touched on it there about your choice to use poisons. And I found the author's notes in Sense of Second Degree, Murder, really interesting to read as well, because you must have had to do quite a bit of research into like opium and the supply chain of opium and the taking of opium in the 1800s. I knew nothing about this. I was really fascinated by it all.

Tirzah Price (22:33.25)
So much research. Yeah, so when I landed on poison, and then I thought, oh, and then Eleanor can be a chemist, and my editor was like, I love it, I love it so much. And I was like, yay, she loves it. And then I went away from that conversation like, oh no. And now I have to do all the research because it has been a long time since I've taken any sort of chemistry class, and I do not know that much about poisons. So I had to just, by first.

Tirzah Price (22:57.534)
like, Steph was just doing, like, research about poisons and trying to figure out, like, what should the poison be? And, um, and then I realized it was a little lot more complicated than I initially thought because I had to pick something that, you know, could definitely kill a man, but also kill a man in such a way that, um, you know, the doctor would not necessarily think it was poison, but then it had to leave enough of a clue that, um...

Tirzah Price (23:25.078)
the girls could be like, oh no, it's poison and then go off and investigate. And so, actually figuring out that I wanted to use opium was not super difficult because I did a little bit of research and I found out that opium was quite easily gotten in that time period in London. And it was used in just so many different things. Like it is a marvel that humanity has made it to today without killing themselves off because there are so many

Tirzah Price (23:55.372)
that people have inadvertently poisoned themselves throughout the years, just because they don't know that something is poisonous. And so one of the things I learned was, in this time period, so like Regency period, early 19th century, people had a pretty good handle on like the heavy metal poisons. So like they knew that mercury was poisonous. They knew that certain things were toxic and you shouldn't ingest them or be exposed to them. But when it came to organic poisons,

Tirzah Price (24:25.328)
That was just not, you know, they didn't quite know enough about that yet. And so to the point where like people in this time period were like regularly taking opium thinking it was no big deal, not realizing that addiction was a thing and

Tirzah Price (24:43.766)
there was even this like famous French court case in the 1820s where the the prosecutor got so frustrated because he knew through like logic, oh this person was fine one day but then they eat this one thing and then they die like he must have been poisoned and it must have been poisoned by some sort of organic matter but the scientific knowledge wasn't there and like the rest of the world didn't understand that and so people were just getting away with murder left and right and

like, all right, if you poison your brother, you poison your father, you poison your mother, as long as you use a plant poison, you're gonna get away with it, so might as well try. And he was just so frustrated when he said that, but I was like, hmm, that's something for me to work with. So yeah, it was a lot of research, and as I pointed out in my author's note, that I did do a little bit of fudging of the timelines by just probably about 10 years, just to kind of make everything.

Tirzah Price (25:38.946)
fall into place, but hopefully it's still kind of accurate to the time period.

Izzy (25:44.196)
Yeah, gosh, that's so interesting. I'm really interested in foraging. I like to go out in the forest and pick things, different stuff and making herbal remedies and teas and things. But, and so, yeah, I'm obviously interested in what is not edible and what is toxic, what is poisonous. But I feel like that is such a lost art because pre-1800s, earlier...

Izzy (26:09.188)
People were really in tune with that kind of thing, you know, using things, using plant matter as like, you know, medicinal purposes and herbal remedies and things. And then I feel like it's something that got lost with time. And then next thing you know, you know, people don't know what they can eat and what they can't eat. And they're just trusting what people hand them over the counter, so.

Tirzah Price (26:24.183)
Yes.

Tirzah Price (26:28.386)
Yeah, and that's, I mean, mushroom foraging is kind of big in the state that I'm from, and every year I swear the health department is always like...

Tirzah Price (26:40.926)
Remember guys, this is the mushroom that you can't eat. This is the mushroom that you should not even touch. You just let it be. And don't just jump on the bandwagon of everybody getting excited to height because it's morale season. You have to know what you're actually picking. And that is a little bit terrifying to me, especially after reading probably six or seven books about poisonings and the birth of forensic science. Yeah, just be careful out there.

Izzy (27:09.324)
Yeah, absolutely. It's super important for sure. And yeah, it was just fascinating to kind of learn more about that. And I kind of loved that like the Brandon was kind of like a pharmacist as well. And that's how he came into the story. Because sometimes when I'd be reading, I'd be thinking about how are we gonna bring like the heroes into the story? Like at this point, like where are they gonna?

Tirzah Price (27:31.848)
Yeah!

Izzy (27:32.812)
fall into this. So it was always interesting to see like where they would fit, what they were doing and how it would all kind of link together. But yeah, it was, it was really enjoyable to kind of go through that journey. And that's why I loved as well because it wasn't always strict to the like original plot.

Izzy (27:48.164)
There were still surprises, there were still things to uncover, which I thought was really interesting. I am just gonna give people a quick summary of what happens in Sense and Second Degree Murder, because everyone will be like, what about opium poisoning? What goes on? So basically, Eleanor stumbles upon her father who has died. He's in his office. There's no clear signs of struggle or that he's been killed by anybody, but it does spark this investigation by the Dashward Sisters to try and work out-

Izzy (28:15.704)
Howe's died because they are a little suspicious around his death. And obviously as usual, Fanny and John just turn up at the house and take over everything. And that in itself is just so, they're a little bit concerned. And so starts the investigation and they go on this whole journey between Marianne investigating out in London, trying to figure out things, Eleanor going through all the evidence and trying to see what was it that could have killed her father.

Izzy (28:44.796)
and yeah it's just such an exciting journey and there's so many twists and turns and yeah it got it got really crazy like coming to like the wall is the end of the book i was like wow things are like kicking off now it's

Tirzah Price (28:51.243)
Mm-hmm.

Tirzah Price (28:57.758)
Yeah, it's fun to think about those endings of, okay, how can we just have a real banger of an ending where everything comes together and then things get really high stakes and dangerous? That's kind of my favorite part of wrapping up a draft is being like, okay, how can we bring all the characters together and make this really exciting?

Izzy (29:18.664)
I love that for sure. And something about sense sensibility for me that I've always found is there are so many characters in that book. Was that something that you were like, I'm gonna have to cut some people down here.

Tirzah Price (29:29.797)
Oh my gosh, yes, there were, you know, there are so many characters and, you know, it was also sometimes a little bit difficult because, you know, I did this dual timeline thing or dual point of view thing where it's one timeline, but it's, you know, half of it's told in Eleanor's point of view, half of it's told in Mary Ann's point of view. And

Tirzah Price (29:51.734)
On one hand, that was kind of nice because, you know, what one sister sees, the other sister's not necessarily going to be present for, but then it got real confusing at one point. I had to do a chart of like, okay, this chapter's in Eleanor's point of view and this one's in Marianne's, and then the next one, you know, might need to be in Eleanor's again. And yeah, it was a lot to handle. And some of the characters that are a little bit more-

Tirzah Price (30:15.022)
prominent like Sir Middleton in Senses and Sensibility kind of get pushed off to the side a little bit, but it still, it was a lot of fun.

Izzy (30:26.056)
Yeah, no, I could definitely see that but I must say that your like transitioning between perspectives was really seamless because It just felt natural like it didn't feel like I was like, well hang on. What's going on here? I'm in a completely different like world something else is happening It just felt like super natural and I felt like it could flow maybe because I'd read sense sensibility so I was expecting the kind of I Don't know like the jewel storyline with the fact that I knew there'd be two sisters as two heroines were going through this story together but

Tirzah Price (30:37.07)
I'm going to go to bed.

Tirzah Price (30:51.138)
Mm-hmm.

Izzy (30:56.084)
Yeah, it definitely felt seamless to me.

Tirzah Price (30:58.863)
Thank you.

Izzy (31:00.276)
I must admit as well, like I really enjoyed Pride and Premeditation and then I read Sense of Second Degree Morja, I loved that even more. And then I got to Manslaughter Park and I was like, you have given me the Mansfield Park I always wanted because I'm going to be totally honest with you, that is not my favourite Austin, like I'm not... but you actually gave... but you gave me the version I've always wanted, honestly, like I totally ship Mary and Fanny so I'm so glad you explored that.

Tirzah Price (31:08.7)
Aw, yeah.

Tirzah Price (31:15.564)
Oh!

Tirzah Price (31:19.807)
It's not my favorite either.

Tirzah Price (31:30.09)
Yay. Thank you for saying that because, you know, with the third book, there have not been a lot of early, like copies going off there and having, you know, so I think you're the first person I've talked to that's actually, you know, like not, you know, my editor or my publishing team who's actually read the book. And so thank you for saying that you enjoyed it because I'm like very anxious, like, oh, I hope people like it because, you know, as of recording this, it's not out yet. But I'm so happy that you said that.

Tirzah Price (31:54.762)
I love the, I think it's 1999 version with Francis O'Connor as Fanny. I don't know if you've seen that Mansfield Park. It's really good because it's a little bit cheeky and there's a lot of breaking of the fourth wall.

Izzy (32:03.552)
I don't think so, no.

Tirzah Price (32:12.63)
which I think really works because you read the book and Fanny is such an interior, internal character. In fact, sometimes you forget that she's the protagonist because you're reading this book and it's all the Bertrams are doing this and the Bertrams are doing that. And then the Crawfords come and there's just a lot of action and then all of a sudden Austin brings you back to Fanny and you're like, oh yeah, like you're supposed to remember that all of this is happening through her eyes. And so with that movie adaptation, I think it's really smart that...

Tirzah Price (32:42.098)
she breaks the fourth wall so many times because it's reminding you that she is the protagonist of the story and you need that reminder. But there's a few scenes in which that Mary and the Mary character and the Fanny character they have such intense chemistry together. In fact the first time because I watched the Mansfield Park movie before I read Mansfield Park I was like are they supposed to be like romantic interests because I like the scene in which they're like you know Fanny's like soaking wet from the

Tirzah Price (33:11.17)
and Mary's like helping get her dry and warm. And there's just this scene where they're like, you know, face to face and they're like a breath away from each other. And I'm like, what is happening right now? I love this, but what is happening? I did not think that this was queer in any way, but I totally think, you know, especially after having read, you know, Mansfield Park, I'm not necessarily certain that Jane Austen was, you know.

Izzy (33:19.332)
Oh my God, tension. Ha ha ha.

Tirzah Price (33:36.366)
consciously exploring like this queer subtext between them, but I definitely see the queer subtext there. So when it came time to write Mansfield Park, I was a little leery because my editor was like, you know, I think this is gonna be great for the next book because there's so many great elements to Mansfield Park that would translate well into a mystery, which is totally true. And so I was excited about that. I was like, does she have to end up with Edmund? Can Mary be like a love interest? And my editor was like, yes. So we just went for it. So it was awesome.

Izzy (34:02.916)
I'm sorry.

Izzy (34:06.484)
Oh my gosh, no, I love that honestly, because I feel like with a partner, it should be someone that makes you feel strong and confident and successful in your own right, and it wants to celebrate your success. In, I swear to God, Edmund always keeps Fanny in the shadows, and you made it perfectly. I picked up this quote that you put in the book, and I was like, this is literally what Edmund does. This is what he thinks of Fanny. It said that he kept a quiet, timid, shy little Fanny.

Izzy (34:33.955)
And I'm like, literally, that's what he does to her. That is literally him. And I just think Mary gives her more confidence. Like there's a great scene in Mansfield Park where they're sat together and Mary notices how awful Mrs. Norris is being. And she doesn't make a big fuss about it like Edmund often does, but she takes Fanny aside and she goes, let us not bother with them. Like let's us talk, you know, about your brother and like what's going on with you. And I'm just like.

Tirzah Price (34:37.046)
Mm-hmm.

Izzy (35:00.248)
That's what you need from a party. Someone who's just got your back, not somebody who's trying to make a fuss. And yeah, you really picked up on that dynamic so well. And I'm here for it. Just like, yes, queer Mansfield Park, that's what we all need in our life. Come on, guys.

Tirzah Price (35:14.87)
Yes, I was I'm so grateful that I got a chance to to queer Jane Austen in this way and especially with this book um, because yeah, I I remember thinking you know, obviously a lot of people assume that Jane Austen is like they they hear Jane Austen They say okay romance like big romantic sweeping storylines, which is true I would argue that that's not all there is to Austen. There's a lot of really great, you know satire and Ruminations on class and there's just so much going on in all of her books

Tirzah Price (35:44.246)
But I think one thing that brings readers back is the romance. And I just do not feel the romance in Mansfield Park. Like literally the last paragraph is like, you know, when, you know, he was ready and not a moment sooner, Edward realized that, or I've been realized that he was in love with Fanny. And you're like, okay, that's romantic. Like, ew, no thanks. It's like he's doing her a favor and I feel like she deserves better.

Izzy (36:04.761)
Yeah.

Izzy (36:11.748)
She does. And to be honest with you, like Edmund is as self-obsessed as the rest of the Bertrands. You know what I mean? That's how I feel about it. And I think he just goes for Fanny in the end because he's just like, oh, well, I'll go for Fanny because that works for me now.

Tirzah Price (36:24.974)
She's there. Yeah.

Izzy (36:25.952)
Yeah, Fanny's there and that works for me and it's like no and I feel like I loved it the start of the book You were like, you know, cuz Fanny like deserved better It's like all the people who believe that that Fanny deserved better and I have gotten a path sometimes where I've really disliked Fanny But I'm starting to realize it's less that I dislike Fanny and more that I just really dislike Edmund

Tirzah Price (36:45.238)
He's the worst, absolute worst. And I mean, we're already kind of getting into spoilers here. So I will say this, when I was trying to figure out who the bad villain person would be, I was like, you know, I wasn't sure because there's so many options in that book. There's so many villains that you can cast in that book. But I was just like, really, who is the worst character in all of Mansfield Park? And there are a lot of them, but I...

Tirzah Price (37:14.73)
You know, this is my hot take, Edmund is the worst. So that was an easy choice for me.

Izzy (37:19.652)
Yeah, I love it, honestly, I felt it. In, I mean, yeah, definitely spoilers in this one, I'm gonna put a pre-warning at the start of the episode about it, but yeah, there was just like moments when, at the end especially, when he totally like goes off the rails a little bit and he's talking about like splitting people's throats and all sorts, and I'm just there like, I feel like this is true Edmund coming out. Yeah. Yeah. I was like, this is Edmund revealed.

Tirzah Price (37:39.054)
mask comes off. Yes, the mask comes off. And that was kind of fun. Yeah. Oh, yeah. And that's what's kind of cathartic about writing these books is because I do love the source material so, so much. And I mean, obviously, it's quite an investment of time, you know, writing these books. But I also like to have fun with it. And I mean, J. Knights, I know we all have our very strong opinions about things. And my strong opinion is that Edmund is the worst. So

Tirzah Price (38:08.878)
Fanny and Mary get to have a much happier ending, I hope, and I was like, Manslaughter Parker's going to hopefully write some of the injustices that I believe Jane did to Fanny in the original.

Izzy (38:23.008)
Yeah, and you know, I recently did an episode on the podcast about Mary Crawford because I really love Mary Crawford as a character. I find her fascinating. I don't really see her as a villain personally. And she fits a lot of the characteristics as Austin's heroines that Austin was honest about liking. People like Emma or people like Elizabeth. And yet Fanny is so different. And I just feel like she needed a time to shine. And I feel like she gets that in your book, you know?

Tirzah Price (38:51.546)
And she's not perfect. She sometimes is a little bit too forward or she says things that are a little bit too scandalous. But what strikes me about her too is like she's genuinely kind. Like when Fanny rejects Henry, she's not like upset about it. She's like, oh, it's too bad. Like I would have liked to have you as a sister, but you know, you're probably too good for him. I'm like, she's so nice. So I like her.

Izzy (39:18.872)
Literally, she's always kind to Fanny. This is the point that I made in the podcast. I was like, she's always so kind to Fanny. Like, I just, why weren't they together?

Tirzah Price (39:21.602)
Yeah!

Tirzah Price (39:27.57)
And not in like a, you know, a weird way where you feel like she's being kind because she's obligated to. Like she's just genuinely nice. So, um, it... It... Yeah, it always made me a little bit angry when I would read Mansfield Park and be like, Fanny, like, just, you know, ditch the Bertrams and go hang out with Mary because she's cool.

Izzy (39:33.728)
No. Yeah, she genuinely cares for her. I think you can see that.

Izzy (39:48.864)
Yeah, yeah, and I can see why a lot of people always are like, oh, I wish she'd gone with Henry like not because he's perfect But be just to remove herself from the situation because the birch homes are just like toxic. They just have all the bad vibes

Tirzah Price (40:01.554)
Yeah, although I'm not sure if I could ever have married somebody who was like carrying on an affair with my cousin either. I will just say that, but I do understand where that motivation to just like get out, but I'm like, but Mary, she's right there. Yes. Yes.

Izzy (40:15.732)
Mary's just the perfect choice, let's be honest, okay? Henry, maybe Mary, yes, I think is the key. Yeah, no, I definitely love that aspect of the book. And I thought there was something really peaceful as well. I mean, you were saying with Mansfield Park, it was a little bit easier and I could kind of get that with the sense that the location's already tight.

Izzy (40:39.088)
So it was kind of like a Agatha Christie novel in the sense that everybody's just in this house. How does this all unravel? And so I could kind of feel that. There also felt something kind of a little bit more secretive and kind of closed off in this one as opposed to the other books. But I felt like everything felt always exposed. Whereas I felt more insular, I thought, the third book.

Tirzah Price (40:39.251)
Mm-hmm.

Tirzah Price (40:57.55)
Yes.

Tirzah Price (41:00.298)
Yeah, and that, I mean, I think it has to do too with the fact that Fanny is not somebody who has many confidants. Like she has Edmund, and we know that he's the worst, but she doesn't have any friends really, and Mary's kind of like her first friend, and even then, like in the original, she doesn't fully trust Mary. So it was kind of interesting to try to write this novel where you, you know...

Tirzah Price (41:28.434)
when you're writing a murder mystery and you have a protagonist, like they need some sort of agency, like they need to kind of be pushing themselves to investigate and get out there. Which was part two why I brought Lizzie and Darcy back because Lizzie is like needed to give Fanny the kick of the butt to like actually, you know, investigate because I don't think that like naturally on her own she would have, you know, necessarily gone down that path. But it does kind of, yeah, like that having...

Tirzah Price (41:56.886)
with the estate and the dysfunctional family and the sort of like closed off-ness of the setting. That's very Agatha Christie in my mind. So it was kind of fun to play around with that.

Izzy (42:08.564)
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And you just put up something that I definitely wanna chat about as well. So obviously in this third book, we do see the, you know, reoccurrence of Elizabeth and Darcy. And also I feel like there is a mention of Marianne as well. So is that something that you're gonna continue, do you think, just like bringing the characters back?

Tirzah Price (42:27.266)
I would, yeah, I mean, so I have, yeah, it wasn't something that I planned on actually. When I sort of conceived of this series idea, it was very much like, okay, we have, every book is just gonna be the characters in the book that it's inspired by. But then Pride and Premeditation came out and I heard from so many readers who were like, oh my gosh, I love Lizzie and Darcy. I can't wait to see them in the next book. And I had to be like, oh no.

Izzy (42:29.46)
Maybe.

Tirzah Price (42:54.274)
I'm sorry, they're not in Sensen's Second Degree Murder. It's completely different characters. And people were so upset, and I was truly surprised by this. And so I was chatting about it with my editor, and my editor and I were at that point discussing what should happen in Manslaughter Park. And she was like, well, can you just bring them back? Just bring them back. And I was like, oh.

Tirzah Price (43:17.182)
yeah, I can do that. I can just bring them back. So I'm, you know, grateful for like the readers. So if you love Lizzie and Darcy, the reason they show up in Manslaughter Park is because of you. And, and then, you know, doing that was kind of fun just to kind of have, you know, this like, Austin-esque world where these characters are existing alongside each other, not necessarily always like in contact with each other, but knowing that they are all

Tirzah Price (43:46.178)
like these headstrong young women who were making their way in the world. So it was kind of fun to imagine what that would look like. And yeah, so I brought Lizzie and Darcy back from Anselder Park. There will be two more books. There is going to be a Lizzie, two more Lizzie and Darcy books. They're going to be sequels. So they're going to be original mysteries, not necessarily based off of any of the other Austin plots. And I can confirm that you will see the Dashwood sisters and Fanny Price again.

Izzy (44:16.856)
Yes! Oh my gosh, this sounds so good. So you think that's that's the direction you're going to go in now kind of creating original, totally original stories as opposed to carrying on with the Austin series?

Tirzah Price (44:27.446)
Yes, so I just turned in the first Lizzie and Darcy sequel to my editor and yes, it's a completely new mystery. It takes place in London, you'll see the Dashwood sisters, I won't say much more. And then the next one will also be a Lizzie and Darcy original mystery. I mean I would definitely be open to continuing to write these Austen retellings.

Izzy (44:42.508)
Nose.

Tirzah Price (44:55.41)
I want to do a Northanger Abbey one just because I have the perfect title, Northanger Alibi. It's like so good and I want to write that book but unfortunately at this point it is up to my publisher whether or not they will actually publish it so we'll see what happens. But I also think it would be fun to rewrite Emma and I... yes... right? It really is like a clue board, oh my goodness. And um...

Izzy (45:13.444)
Yeah, Emma, good setting, good setting, like a Cluedo board. ..

Tirzah Price (45:22.302)
And I even think a persuasion would be fun because that would be another fun one to try to queer a little bit. So yeah, I have thoughts, but we'll see if they actually come to fruition.

Izzy (45:34.7)
I'm excited. Look, I'm here for all of them because it was super enjoyable to read this whole series. And like I said, I mean, I just got more and more excited. I actually read Manslaughter Park in one sitting. We have a coffee shop just down the road and I got there at like 12 o'clock and I just sat and read the whole thing through. I was like, I'll just order more food here. I was like, thank you. I'm not leaving till I'm finished.

Tirzah Price (45:36.226)
I'm gonna go.

Tirzah Price (45:57.36)
Oh, that makes me so happy to hear it, thank you.

Izzy (45:59.38)
Yeah, no, absolutely, totally recommend picking this one up guys. I mean pick up the whole series for sure Um, and yeah, there's there's one one question I really want to ask you as well one question like i've not asked you a hundred questions already um, but this is Is there any particular character that you found the hardest to kind of capture the essence of when you were writing?

Tirzah Price (46:08.81)
So yes. I'm open.

Tirzah Price (46:19.79)
oh Fanny for sure because she's she's very interior like I said and I guess you know and I was reading Mansfield Park I'm gonna constantly confuse the titles as I was reading Mansfield Park um like I again I felt like sometimes Fanny sometimes got lost in the narrative a little bit because like we're hearing about all these things and then like I'd be like where's Fanny and all this and then at the end of the chapter Fanny would sort of be brought

Tirzah Price (46:45.758)
And so it was a little bit difficult to sometimes get like a feel for who she was and who her character was. And I think the reason why people do like Fanny is because, you know, even though she's quiet, she's not blind to everything that's going on around her, and she has like strong values, and she is not going to capitulate. Like even if her future is like as this penniless companion to her aunts who don't care about her one bit.

Tirzah Price (47:16.062)
She's not going to compromise her values just to like be married and escape that sort of situation. And I think that, especially in that time period, that takes a lot of guts, it takes a lot of courage. And so I do admire that about Fanny, but she is more of a passive character. And unfortunately you can't have a really passive character in a murder mystery because they need to be solving the mystery. So I know the first draft I came up with, my editor was like...

Tirzah Price (47:42.742)
we really need her to be doing a little bit more. And I was like, you're right. I just, that first draft was really difficult because I was still trying to figure out who she was and I didn't want to sacrifice the elements that make her Fanny and that make, you know, J-Nights love Fanny. But then at the same time, you know, you do have to make her a little bit more active. So I hope it was a good balance of, you know, she's a bit more timid, she's a bit shy. She does not want to solve a murder mystery, guys. Like she's just, she just wants people to leave her alone so she can paint and...

Tirzah Price (48:12.646)
and be happy in nature and unfortunately she has to solve the murder mystery. So she does so somewhat unwillingly, but she does do it.

Izzy (48:23.42)
Yeah, I think there was a few things you really did capture with Fanny that I think are more nuanced So I can see why it would be difficult to pull them out but one of them I think is her loyalty to the Bertrams because the way that the reason that she's so adamant to solve them the the mystery is you know, because she she cares about, you know, the family and she's like even though they're awful to her She's like, you know, this is important to me. Like I need to I need justice like this this matters to me um, and then there was the other thing that I thought you really pulled out as well is

Tirzah Price (48:47.235)
Mm-hmm.

Izzy (48:53.08)
Fanny is not angelic. Loads of people think she's really angelic. I'm like, Fanny has flaws. Her jealousy is probably her number one flaw. She really struggles with her jealousy and you really pick that up and I was like, yes. Like, she...

Tirzah Price (49:00.567)
Yes.

Tirzah Price (49:05.77)
And she's a little bit judgmental too. I mean, there were times when I'm reading it and I'm like, okay Fanny, I appreciate that you have your values. You could maybe dial it back a little bit and just be a little bit more open-minded. But I mean, haven't we all felt like that at times though? So hopefully that is relatable. But I'm so glad you said that because yeah, I sometimes worry about Fanny because I think, you know, Marianne and Eleanor and Lizzie, they are all such iconic characters

Tirzah Price (49:34.586)
even if you haven't read the book in years you can kind of sum up their personality in a few words because they stand out so well. And Fanny's a little bit more tricky but um I hope that yeah hope that people like her even though she's okay good. Oh thank you. Thank you.

Izzy (49:47.804)
yeah well I did yeah I mean I don't usually lie Mansfield Park and I love this one so that's obviously gonna be a good sign oh dear so I mean that was like my my main like final question I had on my list you know like thoughts that I wanted to discuss but um is there anything else that you want to chat about with the books any anything from like a reader's perspective you want to chat to me about like if you thought I had any thoughts on anything

Tirzah Price (50:10.603)
Oh.

Tirzah Price (50:17.194)
I'm just like so relieved that she liked Mansfield Park because I, you know, I was very fortunate in that Pride and Pre-Meditation and Census Second Degree Murder. They had a lot of early copies that went out to like a lot of bloggers and people and people were like, oh my gosh, you know, they're sharing their thoughts and I was like, okay, a few people, at least somebody likes it. And I always, yeah, I send a book out to, you know, the publisher once it goes to, you know, production and, you know, there's no taking anything back.

Tirzah Price (50:46.27)
I always have this mental breakdown of like, is my editor just being nice to me? Is it really good? Do people really like it? So it's nice to hear that. Thank you for satisfying my sad desire to, you know, be liked through my books. So thank you.

Izzy (51:02.444)
No, honestly, and I was like, messaged my friends and I was like, friends, I didn't tell them what happened, but I was like, there's a book coming out and this is curing us all, okay? We're getting the Mansfield Park we all need, so.

Tirzah Price (51:17.031)
Yeah, and it is a big relief because I think out of all of the books, I mean, they're all, let's be real, they're murder mystery retellings. They're kind of silly when you think about it, but they're, I think, hopefully a fun type of silly. And I had a lot of fun writing them and I love all three of the books that I've read. But I think Mansfield Park or Manslaughter Park is like the biggest departure in terms of like characters and you know, who ends up with whom. And in some of like...

Tirzah Price (51:43.518)
you know, just the ending notes and the characteristics. So I worry that people will be like, well, this doesn't feel like Mansfield Park. So thank you.

Izzy (51:52.984)
No, honestly, I loved it. So yeah, I usually trust it. And you know, I loved the whole series. And I'm excited that you've got more books coming out because yeah, I'm not finished with this yet. I need to know more. I need to know other crime situations that go on. Yeah.

Tirzah Price (52:00.942)
Yeah!

Tirzah Price (52:09.198)
At least two more under contract. So the next Lizzie and Darcy book should be out next fall, I believe. I don't have an exact date on that, but yes, definitely stay tuned.

Izzy (52:24.404)
amazing! I love that so much. So, um, new book coming out 27th of June, is that correct?

Tirzah Price (52:31.494)
Yes, and I think it comes out in the UK in August. I don't know the exact date.

Izzy (52:35.384)
Oh, in the UK in August! Okay, so everybody in the, I'm guessing like US, can get it on the 27th of June and then August for anyone in the UK.

Tirzah Price (52:41.28)
Yes.

Tirzah Price (52:43.799)
Yes.

Izzy (52:45.248)
I'll be sharing it on my Instagram. I'll give you all updates because definitely gotta get hold of this. And guys, you know what? If you're in the UK, you've got plenty of time to read the other two. And if you're in the US, you could definitely get through them still. You've still got time. I mean, look at me. I did one in one sitting, so you'll be fine. That's amazing. But thank you so much for coming on, Tiazo. I've had such a good time with you and...

Tirzah Price (52:55.554)
Yes!

Tirzah Price (52:58.66)
Yes.

Tirzah Price (53:02.681)
Yay! Thank you.

Izzy (53:11.34)
Would you like to let people know, obviously apart from the book, can they find you on Instagram and keep up to date with your books?

Tirzah Price (53:17.154)
Yes, yes, I hang out at at Tiers of Price. It's T-I-R-Z-A-H-P-R-I-C-E. I am on Twitter for now. Who knows how long Twitter will be around. You can find me there sometimes. But Instagram is my main hangout spot. And then my website, tiersofprice.com, has all of the updated info about books and upcoming releases. So you can also find me there.

Izzy (53:43.136)
I love that. And as always guys, you can find me on Instagram at what the Austin. I share all of the updates about the podcast over there. And if you want to, you could always join the Patreon, the J night tribe. We always have fun discussions over there. We are starting a book club, which is gonna be super cool. So yeah, check that out if you can. Otherwise that's everything from me and I will see you in another episode. Great, yay. I just wanna like go through my notes to make sure there wasn't anything extra I wanted. That went so quickly. Oh my gosh, I can't believe how quickly it went.

Tirzah Price (53:58.218)
Ooh.

Tirzah Price (54:04.75)
Thank you. Yeah, absolutely. Oh, I know. I'm like, oh yeah, we've been recording for 54 minutes. Holy cow.

Izzy (54:17.368)
I'm literally just like, I can't believe I'm under... I have like so many like questions and ideas, I just want to make sure I didn't miss anything that I wanted to and... You were totally okay with some of this, I knew there were spoilers, um... Is that okay?

Tirzah Price (54:24.402)
Absolutely. Yeah.

Tirzah Price (54:29.634)
That's fine. I mean, that's totally fine. I've been telling, you know, it's funny because I've been, you know, my, my publisher did not initially want to put in any of the jacket copy or marketing that Fanny is queer in this one. And I was kind of annoyed about that because I was like, I feel like that's a selling point. Like that's to me, that's exciting. This is new. It's queer Mansfield Park.

Tirzah Price (54:52.994)
and they didn't want to do that because they were afraid that it was a spoiler. And I was like, well, I don't think anybody's identity is a spoiler, so I think we should put it in there. And they finally did agree, and they updated it and they changed it. So I'm, at this point, I'm just like, who knows what people think will be a spoiler or not? So it's totally fine if it's spoilery.

Izzy (55:13.196)
Oh, that's okay then. And you know what? I don't think it takes away from, like, intrigue to want to read the book, because like, for me I'd be like, the Mansfield Park I've been looking for? Hell yeah, I'm gonna pick that up. So that's really good. And do you feel like we got enough of the other two books as well? I just want to make sure that you've... Is that okay for you? Great.

Tirzah Price (55:19.682)
Right?

Tirzah Price (55:23.536)
Yes. Thank you.

Tirzah Price (55:31.602)
Oh yeah, yeah. Oh, totally. Yeah, no, it's fine. And I felt like we've got to touch on all three really well, which is fun.

Izzy (55:41.136)
Awesome. Oh, that's so great. You know what? I'm honestly so chuffed that we got to do this together because I was actually, you were on my list of people I wanted to reach out to, I just didn't know how to do it because sometimes I get dead nervous reaching out to people but then when your team reached out to me, I was like manifesting.

Tirzah Price (55:55.966)
Yay, I'm so glad. Well, and it's been kind of my goal because I'm like, I podcast, I have a podcast that I'm a co-host on. And so I'm like, I have the setup, I have the equipment. I do a lot of this. I would like to be on more podcasts and I know that there's so many Jane awesome podcasts out there. So I just sent my publicist a list and I was like, can you reach out to these people? Because I also feel like, how do I reach out to people? This is awkward. And I'm like.

Tirzah Price (56:23.742)
I'm a publicist for this. So I'm so glad that she did and that made it work. So.

Izzy (56:28.908)
No, absolutely. And I already spoke to them and I will definitely, this will come out before it comes out in, well, before the book comes out in the US. So it's gonna come out in June is my plan. Probably the 18th of June is when the episode will come out. But yeah, basically I'll let you know over Instagram anyway and also I'll set up a promotion post and make you a collaborator on it. And as long as you keep that up for 24 hours, we should be good, reach a lot of people.

Tirzah Price (56:41.838)
Okay.

Tirzah Price (56:44.883)
Okay. Awesome.

Tirzah Price (56:56.362)
Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, thank you so much for this. I appreciate it.

Izzy (56:57.292)
Yeah, I'm so excited for people to tune in.

Izzy (57:03.52)
No, of course, it's been a lot of fun. I'll let you get on with the rest of your day though, I know you've had a busy one already.

Tirzah Price (57:08.458)
Yes. All right. Well, thank you again. Take care.

Izzy (57:11.58)
No problem, I'll speak to you soon, bye!