Granada And Cordoba In Andalusia, Spain With Historical Thriller Author, David Penny

Andalucia brings to mind balmy evenings with the scent of oranges in the air, the sounds of flamenco guitar, and the exotic architecture of the Moorish Alhambra. In this podcast interview, I talk to David Penny, author of The Thomas Berrington Historical Mysteries, which are set in medieval Spain. You can listen above or on iTunes or your favorite podcast app, read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and full transcript below. Show Notes * The inspiration for David’s detective novels set in Moorish Spain * Writing about an ancient place from modern time * Weaving religion into historical fiction * Finding an authentic flamenco experience in Spain * Recommendations for local food and drink * Getting used to local customs, like shop closure times * Adjusting to the slower pace of life in Spain You can find David Penny at DavidPennyWriting.com and on Twitter @davidpenny_ Transcript of Interview with David Penny Joanna: David Penny is the author of The Thomas Berrington Historical Mysteries, set in Moorish Spain. Today, we’re talking about how his love of Spain features in his books. Welcome, David. David: Hi Joanna. Thank you for having me. Joanna: It’s great to have you on the show. First up, where are you in the world right now? And what is outside your window? David: I am actually in Spain at the moment. A couple of years ago we bought a small house in Spain. So, we come out here when the weather in England is too bad. At the moment outside my window is lots of olive groves, almonds just coming into blossom, and it’s about 19 degrees C. Joanna: That’s very pleasant. I’m in England, and, of course, it’s a bit chilly right now, but that’s awesome. Tell us a bit more about how you fell in love with Spain, because you’re obviously British. Why did you decide to set your books there? David: Spain was a very late discovery for me. I visited the Alhambra at 16 years old, on a school trip, and I think we had three days or three afternoons when we actually got off the boat, which was not much fun. I distinctly remember travelling in a coach through what, at the time, looked like desert landscape for hours, and we got to the Alhambra Palace. I do have pictures of it, and I do vaguely remember it. But my abiding memory of that trip is, you could go into a bar when you were 16 years old, and 15, and you’d order a beer, and they’d serve you. And it was brilliant. Joanna: Perfect. David: But then we never visited Spain for another 40 years. And, in fact, the ideas for the books I write came before we came back to Spain. I’m not sure what was happening. I was sitting at home with the kids and my wife, and for some reason, I said, ‘Do you think anybody’s ever written a detective novel set at the end of Moorish Spain?’ And they gave me this weird look, and they said, ‘Why?’ I said, ‘Well, I just got an idea for a 10-book series, and it seems like a nice idea. Somebody must have come up with it before.’ I took a look around, and nobody has. I couldn’t believe it because it is such a fascinating period in history and such an amazing place to write about. So that was the initial idea. I thought about it a little bit more, and then we booked a flight and we came out. And I think we spent a week, maybe a little longer in Spain, in Barcelona, and Granada, and Córdoba, and visited the Alhambra. And I thought, ‘This is going to work.’ That’s where it came from really. And the love of Spain was almost immediately as a result of that. We’d done Italy and France and the usual places,