Q&A With Phillip Wray 

I am delighted to be doing this Q&A with author Phillip Wray. Phillip is the author of The Pontcourt Murders, Murder In The Marais & The Rosy Cross Murders which are all a part of the Charles de la Foret Mystery series. 

Q: Phillip, would you please give a brief description of each of your books starting with the first novel in the series The Pontcourt Murders? 

A: Thanks for asking me to do this Q&A. I appreciate it.

My books are set in France, and primarily Paris, in the late 1630’s. Charles de la Foret is an undersized teenaged cadet in the King’s Musketeers. He is the third son of an impoverished noble and has been sent to make his own way in the world. He begins the series fairly insecure and would like nothing better than to be a good musketeer. 

In the first book, The Pontcourt Murders, Charles is sent to a small town to escort a tax collector charged with murdering a family to Paris for trial. In the town, Charles finds the locals have decided the man’s guilt and are determined to meet their own justice. As Charles learns the facts of the killings, he begins to suspect someone else is the killer and the townspeople are threatening to kill an innocent man. He must find the truth behind the killings before justice descends into mob rule.

Book 2 begins with Charles having secured his place in the musketeers and no longer a cadet. In Murder In The Marais Charles is assigned to investigate the murder of a marquis. Despite the rivalry between the King’s Musketeers and Cardinal Richelieu’s guardsmen, Charles is ordered to work with a guardsman to find the killer. The two men have to set aside their differences to solve the killing. As they seek to uncover the killer’s identity, they learn that they too are being hunted.

In Book 3, The Rosy Cross Murders, a series of brutal murders has rocked Paris. Charles is ordered to put a stop to the killings, and he races to catch the killer as the body count rises. His efforts occur against the backdrop of scientific debates roiling Paris and the rise of a secret society that may have a connection to the murders. 

Not sure if that’s short enough for you!

Q: Are you writing book 4 in your Charles de la Foret Mystery Series, a spin off series, a new series or a standalone novel with a different story and characters? 

A: Book 4, tentatively titled Murder in the Famille, has completed the copyediting stage and my proofreader has completed her first pass of the manuscript. Hopefully, it will be out before the end of October.

Over the course of the books, Charles meets and falls in love with an apothecary’s assistant, Gabrielle. To Charles’s consternation, she inserts herself at times into his investigations. Realistically, given the practicalities and the mores of the times, she would not be able to involve herself in official missions or those outside of Paris. Readers asked for more of her so I’ve published one novella, The Dressmaker Murder, in which she investigates a murder in her neighborhood. The second novella in which she solves another mystery is currently in the editing phase and I hope to have it out by Christmas.  

Q: I enjoy reading mysteries and obviously you enjoy writing them. What made you want to write in the mystery genre? In your opinion, for would be mystery authors, what makes the perfect mystery story?

A: I love the older mysteries such as those by Agatha Christie, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and Edgar Allen Poe. I also love French novelists from the 19th century, especially Alexander Dumas, author of the Three Musketeers and its sequels. Several years ago, I was thinking about putting together a literary tour of sites from the musketeers’ books and had done a lot of research. COVID sidelined that project, and I was left with stacks of research and no idea when travel would return to normal. I decided to do something with the research and decided to see if I could write the kind of mystery I like to read using my knowledge of the musketeers and Paris.

There are so many types of mysteries but, for me, the perfect mystery is one in which the author leaves clues that the reader can pick up on along the way. That way, the reader has a chance to figure out the mystery along with the sleuth or, if not, at the end of the story will be able to say “I should have picked up on that.” 

Q: You’ve studied in Paris & visited France and went on a honeymoon to Paris. France is one of many places I would love to see, especially Paris for the art, food and being a devout Catholic that I am at the religious sites too! What are your favorite places in France? Would you also say that your time studying in Paris helped in writing the series?

A: My favorite place in France is Paris, hands down. It is a very walkable city and almost everywhere you go, there is a famous museum, monument, church, cathedral, or building. In addition to the history, the architecture, food, and shopping are great as well! I was familiar with the Parisian neighborhoods that played a large part in Dumas’ stories, but I just returned from a trip to Paris where my wife and I walked the tour I had envisioned. We saw the houses and buildings where the fictionalized musketeers lived and worked as well as the historical location where the musketeer’s headquarters was located. It was particularly interesting seeing the address where d’Artagnan from Dumas’ books lived and then, not too far away, the address where the real d’Artagnan lived.

Q: If/when your series becomes a movie or a television series, who would be your dream cast to play the characters you created? The entertainment industry needs original content again.

A:  I had always seen my protagonist, Charles, as a mix of Tom Holland and French fencer Romain Canone. But if I was going for someone closer in age to my character, I’d probably go with Brandon Spink. For Charles’ love interest, Gabrielle, Millie Bobby Brown has the right mix of intelligence and feistiness.

Thanks again for letting me talk about mysteries and musketeers!