Q & A Carolyn Summer Quinn "Mystery from Way Back When"

What first inspired you to write Mystery From Way Back When at this point in your life? Was there a moment, memory, or personal reflection that made you feel now was the time to bring this story to the page?

I always loved listening to the hilarious stories my father told me about when he was growing up during the Great Depression and World War II in the Irish Catholic enclave of Keighry Head, Elizabeth.  So many funny characters apparently lived there, right on his street, and it sounded like he had a wonderful childhood.  After my dad passed away, I wanted to write a book that would convey the spirit of that neighborhood, time, and place, so that it would never be lost.  So I came up with the idea of a mystery about an abandoned baby to tie it all together.

The Finnegan brothers—and the other characters as well—feel remarkably alive on the page. How did you capture that authenticity? Were you hoping to stir a particular mix of emotions in readers as they experienced the story through them?

I think the secret to that was in the depiction of the characters’ personalities.  The Finnegan children, in particular, were raised in a setting where morality counted as a good thing.  A large part of the world may have been in turmoil, but those three boys are as steadfast as three children can be.

Your book captures both the warmth of community life and the weight of uncertainty during wartime. How did you strike that balance between hope and hardship?

People who lived through it told me that’s exactly the way it was on the American home front during World War II, hope on the one hand, and not knowing what tomorrow might bring on the other.  There was a lot of optimism, pride in our country, and enormous support for our troops, yet at the same time, the outcome of the war remained uncertain until it was over, like a cloud hanging over everyone’s head.  In addition, there was also the possibility that a lot of our boys were not going to make it home.  I tried to think of what it would have been like to live in the middle of that and just started writing.

At its heart, this is more than a mystery—it’s about roots, belonging, and identity. What message did you most want readers to carry with them?

That it’s always possible to do the right thing, even if in some instances it happens belatedly.  It’s also a story about finding answers, and second chances, since quite a few of the characters are delighted to get one.

Writing historical fiction often requires extensive research. What discoveries surprised you most as you dug into the time period?

Oh, that’s an easy question!  I was so happy to learn more about how the Catholic Church was involved in helping the Resistance during the Second World War.  I knew many of the clergy helped to hide Jewish children, in fact I once met a lovely elderly lady here in New York who had been hidden by nuns, but I hadn’t known too much about what else the church did.  When I found out so much more, I thought I have to put a little of this in the book – it’s fabulous!

Your book feels so vivid, it almost seems drawn from real-life experiences. If that’s the case, how difficult was it for you to decide what to include—and equally, what to leave out?

Oh, it wasn’t difficult to write this particular book.  It was an absolute joy to put it together!  I incorporated a few of my father’s stories, including my favorite one of all time, about the delighted comments of the neighborhood butcher, late of Europe, when the man hears the Allies have landed in Normandy.  It’s currently about fifty years after I first heard the story of what that butcher said, and would you believe this?  It still makes me laugh out loud.  Of course I had to put that in the book!

Many readers were deeply moved by the grown-up baby tracing her roots. What did writing her journey teach you about family, loss, or resilience?

Never give up on trying to find answers, for one thing.  I’ve always been sympathetic to adopted people whose roots were traditionally withheld from them by adoption agencies, but this situation is even more extreme than that.  This baby is abandoned on the steps of the church, and nobody knows where she originated.  Later, as an adult, she has an urgent reason for finding her relatives.  Now that’s another situation combining both hope and uncertainty!   

The children’s innocence and compassion drive the story in such a unique way. What drew you to tell a mystery through their eyes?

The character of Benny draws the readers into the story.  He and his little brother find the abandoned baby and rush her home to their mother because they just don’t know what the heck else they should do with her.  But Benny doesn’t stop there.  At the ripe old age of twelve, the boy wants to solve the mystery of where that baby came from.

Your book has been described as a “mystery with heart.” How important was it for you to infuse emotion and soul into a genre that sometimes leans heavily on plot twists?

It’s so nice of you to say that!  I guess I really did this story justice!  To begin with, you see, I wanted to write the book as a little valentine to the Irish Catholic neighborhood in New Jersey where my father grew up.  So many good people I’ve known grew up there, and so it deserved a small spotlight to finally be shone upon it.

The title Mystery From Way Back When feels so fitting—it captures the spirit of an earlier time, and it was a phrase often heard years ago. Was there something from your own life or childhood memories that inspired you to choose that saying as the title?

The title just popped into my head, right after I started to write the book.  It’s really funny how that happens sometimes.  I thought it worked, so I decided to use it.  The book begins in the 1980s, when the grown-up baby is looking for her family, and she made her big “debut” in 1944 –  so that was “way back when.”

Every book teaches its author something in the process of writing. What did Mystery From Way Back When teach you—about yourself, your craft, or even the story you set out to tell?

The more I learn about the time period of the 1940s, the more intrigued I get.  Most of the characters are good-living people.  A few are rather sketchy, and it was interesting to see how the morality of the time affected their actions.

Since publishing, has any reader response—encouraging, surprising, or deeply personal—touched you in a lasting way?

Yes, quite a lot of them have told me they absolutely love this book!

What’s next for you as an author, are there new stories or projects you’re working on that readers can look forward to?

Always.  I seem to have the opposite of writer’s block since I’m usually working on two or three projects at a time.  I’m working on a mystery set in 1917 - involving suffragettes!

Short Bio:

CAROLYN SUMMER QUINN grew up loving show tunes in Roselle and Scotch Plains, NJ, a member of an outrageous and rollicking extended family. She later made her merry escape from the suburbs and has lived in New York City for nearly four wonderful decades. Carolyn is the Author of several books featuring compelling characters, 20 so far, for which she has won a multitude of awards and honors - and she says she's just getting started!