More about Titles: Introducing DEATH OF A SCHOOLGIRL

This week the committee met at Berkley to discuss cover ideas and titles for my newest series featuring Jane Eyre and her husband Edward Rochester as amateur sleuths.  My new editor Shannon Vazquez Jamieson was kind enough to ask for my input. I brainstormed a few titles and book cover ideas.

In the end, the title that everyone loved was...Death of a Schoolgirl: The Jane Eyre Chronicles. Or maybe The Jane Eyre Chronicles: Death of a Schoolgirl. The order is yet to be determined, but either way, the series will be "The Jane Eyre Chronicles." I'm thrilled! My agent Paige Wheeler of Folio Literary Management was also pleased.

All the books will be a variation of "Death of a..." As a reader, I love titles that have some sort of cohesion. As an author, the subtitle with its lead-in also helps me focus on the upcoming narratives. In fact, my sister Jane (!) and I sat around last night talking plot points for the second book in the Jane Eyre series. Jane's a keen reader. Her insight really helped me think through my characters, their motivation, and the themes that I plan to use as the underpinnings of Book #2. Jane helped me go past the obvious and add real depth to my characters by making their motivations more complex. We got some great work done--and had fun, too!

As for cover images, I sent Shannon photos of the famous "Nursemaid's Tunnel" in London. When I began my Jane Eyre book, I didn't know this tunnel existed. While researching the neighborhoods around The Regent's Park, the tunnel turned up.  And yes, the tunnel figures into the mystery. See, that's one of the coolest parts of writing. There's a serendipity at work that you can't predict. I mean, who knew?

Here's another shocker: While we lived in England, David and I were invited to dinner at a private home near the area that I'm writing about. So when I looked up floor plans for houses circa 1850, I quickly recognized they were similar to the house we'd visited. That made visualizing the action much easier.

I mention those happy coincidences in part because many would-be writers think they need to know everything before they sit down to write. WRONG. The unexpected discoveries along the way make writing fun! I have three sparkling characters who just "showed up" when I was at work on the book. One wasn't even invited.

Here's my question: Remembering that my books will be set in the 1850s, whom should I kill off? In other words, help me fill in the blanks: Death of a____________.