The Vampire Knitting Club: Your questions answered!

Hello! Nancy Warren here, answering all your questions about the Vampire Knitting Club series of paranormal cozy mystery books.

If there's anything here that I haven't answered, do contact me!

Who is this series for?

The Vampire Knitting Club is suitable for anyone who enjoys cozy mysteries. There’s no sex, swearing or gore. There is nearly always at least one murder in the books but it’s usually off the page. The puzzle is in figuring out who did the terrible deed and why. Young teens to centenarians will enjoy solving crimes in Oxford. At heart these are classic cozy mysteries. Think Miss Marple. And the vampires help solve crimes.

Vampires who knit???

My theory about your modern vampire is that they don’t have to hunt for food anymore. Everything from private blood banks to the tainted blood that hospitals can’t use give them sustenance. They are mostly pretty old so they’ve had centuries to amass wealth. They don’t need to work. They don’t need a great deal of sleep. Their biggest problem? Boredom! So, they knit, and they help solve crimes. I think of the vampires as being a bit like Sherlock Holmes’s Baker Street Irregulars. They are out in the night, with excellent hearing, and they tend to pick up useful information and clues that help solve the crimes.

Why Oxford?

I had the pleasure of living in Oxford and, in fact, it was here that I plotted the first few books at the Eagle and Child pub (affectionately known as The Bird and Baby). It was there that JRR Tolkein, CS Lewis and the other Inklings used to get together and I imagined their spirits were there helping me plot my stories. I lived in a flat on Walton Street that was above a pottery shop and they had a black and white cat that used to curl up inside a big pottery bowl in the window.

Is Cardinal Woolsey’s based on a real shop?

Kind of. The Oxford Yarn Store is a wonderful shop that sells the most beautiful yarns, knitting kits, books and so on, They also give classes. After I started the series the store sold to a young blond woman about Lucy’s age. You can’t make this stuff up! If you pop in, do say hello from me.

Is there a book of patterns?

No. At the moment there isn’t. I would love to make one, but I can’t knit never mind design a pattern. If you’ve got any ideas, drop me a line at Nancy@nancywarrenauthor.com

It’s been quite a few books now, shouldn’t Lucy be a better knitter?

Honestly, I base Lucy’s knitting on my own. I try and try and I never seem to get better. I think, too, that she gets so much sneaky help from the vampires who are all brilliant and very fast knitters that she doesn’t have as much motivation as she should.

Do I have to read the books in order?

I think it’s nice to read them in order. The books themselves are standalone novels, but there’s a story arc with Lucy gaining strength in her magic and developing relationships with other characters so I would read them in order if possible.

Click here for the series reading order

Would you speak at my book club?

Yes, I’d be delighted to. So long as we can work out the time zone, I’m happy to speak to your book club or knitting group online. If I’m in the area, I will come in person and talk to you. I’ve had some lovely chats with people while they were knitting or crocheting away.

I’d love to write a cozy mystery. Do you have any tips?

I actually teach writing the cozy if you ever want me to speak at your writing group or at a conference. The most basic advice I have is to read widely. You should love reading mysteries, but read other things too. In my opinion, the heart of a mystery novel is usually the sleuth. Who are they? What makes them tick? Are they quirky? Interesting? Do they have special talents that make them a good detective? You want someone memorable and that you like enough to spend a lot of time with as most mystery readers like series. They’re usually larger than life. Poirot has his little grey cells and an appealing egotism. Miss Marple is easy to overlook as she sits in the corner knitting taking in everything around her with her sharp eyes and ears. The Thursday Murder Club is a quartet of old folks in a home, but each of them is a brilliant part of a team.

How did you come up with the idea for The Vampire Knitting Club?

Some years ago now, it was fashionable to write mash-ups where you took two wildly different genres and mashed them together in one novel. The most famous is Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. Some writer friends and I were sitting around in the bar one night and all started dreaming up ideas for a mash up. At the time the Friday Night Knitting Club was a massive hit and the Twilight novels were blockbusters. I came up with The Vampire Knitting Club. I shelved the idea because I was busy writing other things, but I couldn’t stop thinking about this idea. I thought, I really have to write it. And so I did 😊

Can I join the Vampire Knitting Club?

To chat with other knitters and fans of the book, join me in my private readers' Facebook Group, Nancy Warren's Knitwits.

Join the Knitwits

See the books:

Lucy inherits an Oxford knitting shop...And so much more...

A paranormal cozy mystery series.

There's no sex, swearing or gore, but plenty of quirky characters, fun, and a murder mystery to solve. Join the Vampire Knitting Club today. Being undead not required.