Spy mum Carol Hedges prepares for signings in Watford

5:10pm Thursday 15th May 2008

HARPENDEN writer Carol Hedges is a formidable woman to interview. Like her tell-it-like-it-is children's spy series, Carol comes across as very focused and exactly what you'd expect from an A-Level English tutor who previously worked as a children's librarian in Camden.

Carol was born in Welwyn Garden City, grew up in Watford and now lives in Harpenden. She attended Hatfield Girls Grammar in the 60s and ran her own clothes business for a while before retraining as a teacher 12 years ago. Her first book was published in her early 40s.

I was the fat kid with glasses and braces on my teeth sitting at the back imagining I’d save people when the school burnt down

Carol Hedges

"You just caught me," says Carol with the air of someone timing me by the second. "I was just on my way to a tutoring session. It keeps me informed on what teens do and what their lives are like."

As I ask the questions, Carol is making coffee with one hand and firing back answers at an alarming rate. Still, as the interview progresses, I realise that the successful author of seven books for children and teenagers is really driven, but still able to laugh about the image she projects.

She adds: "I'm about to start invigilating on exams, so I'll be doing that scary door supervisor act a lot of time, standing there with my arms crossed."

Now with her fourth book in the Spy Girl series, Spy Girl: Dead Man Talking just out, Carol's writing has received much critical acclaim. Her novel, Jigsaw, was shortlisted for the Angus Book Award and longlisted for the Carnegie Medal.

For her latest novel, Carol spent some time in Venice, where the opening scene of the book is set, as well as extensively researching crime procedures.

"People are very knowledgeable about crime processes, so if you're talking about robotics you've got to get your facts right. The first book in the series was set in Prague, so I did lots of tramping round streets and looking at micro-surgery.

"Recently I've been looking into embryonic hybrids, so thank God for the internet. I went to Venice to do the first little section of this book and now I'm working on a skateboarding scene for the next book, so I'm asking the boy who lives next door what is this called and what's that move, because you have to get it absolutely right."

In Dead Man Talking, spy girl Jazmin Dawson and her secret-agent mum Assia are taking some time out in Venice. But they swiftly discover that behind the tourist charm there's a dark underworld, which provides the missing link between stolen religious antiques and a body found hanging from Blackfriars Bridge in London.

In reality, the roles are reversed as Carol's daughter Hannah is a real-life detective currently working in Afghanistan. Hannah was born in Watford General and went to Watford Fields Nursery and Infant school. Hannah and her dad are both avid Watford fans. Carol tells me her daughter has had a season ticket since the age of four.

I ask Carol if her relationship with Hannah has informed her work over the years. "Immensely. It's very interesting, as so many of my books revolve around the mother-daughter axis. It underpins everything I've written but then you write about what you know and mother-daughter is such a consuming relationship. When my daughter read Red Velvet, she said That sounds just like you and me'. She has been very inspirational and she's grown up with the books."

Carol also grew up on a diet of crime novels. She lists Malcolm Saville's The Lone Pine Club series and The Penny' books by A Stephen Tring (pseudonym of Laurence Meynell, who incidentally went to school in Hertfordshire) as her major influences.

Carol says the main inspiration for the character of Jazmin came from her own childhood - she always wanted to be a superhero. "It was wish fulfilment. I was the fat kid with glasses and braces on my teeth sitting at the back imagining I'd save people when the school burnt down."

Carol will be signing her latest book at Waterstone's in The Harlequin Shopping Centre, Watford from noon on Saturday and at Borders, Waterfields Retail Park, Watford from noon on Tuesday, May 27.

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