Susan Juby is the award-winning, bestselling author of Mindful of Murder, which was nominated for the Leacock Medal for Humour. She has also written Republic of Dirt, Getting the Girl, and The Woefield Poultry Collective, as well as the bestselling Alice series. A third book about Helen Thorpe, Contemplation of a Crime, will be out in 2025.
In A Meditation on Murder, Butler-detective Helen Thorpe returns to help a wannabe influencer get her life in order—and solve the murders of her fellow content creators—in this hilarious sequel to Mindful of Murder
Interviewed by Jann Everard
Jann Everard (JE): In A Meditation on Murder – a sequel to your 2022 novel A Mindful of Murder – we see the return of Helen Thorpe, a former Buddhist nun turned professional butler, whose calm, observant nature makes her the perfect detective to solve murder mysteries. Helen is asked by her employers to work for a spoiled young content creator whose “influence” would be considered unhealthy by many people concerned by social media. How did you research the world of social media influencers? Do you think they can have a positive role in society?
Susan Juby (SJ): I have used various social media platforms and so have at least some firsthand experience of promoting one’s work online. For example, I’ve used Facebook and Instagram for years and sometimes overused them, particularly Facebook. Social media has been a fun way to connect with friends and readers and other writers, but it has always been a huge distraction and sometimes so conflict-ridden it’s stressful. I follow various TikTok creators, mostly comedians, and lately I’m very into food and art videos. That content seems very wholesome until you realize that you haven’t done any of your own work because you’ve been watching reels or TikToks for an hour or two.
I used Twitter enough to see several public pile-ons happen and I learned more about online mobs from Jon Ronson’s book, So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed, and from watching what’s known as YA Twitter turn toxic over and over because of some real or imagined offense on the part of children’s writers.
There have been a number of excellent podcasts and features on influencer culture that helped me understand how the algorithm rewards outrage. One was “All My Pets” on the podcast Reply All (#125), which was about a so-called Pet Tuber on YouTube. There is a lot of information available about the business of influencing in media outlets like The New Yorker and The New York Times. To learn more about what the internet and social media are doing to our brains and attention spans I read Stolen Focus: Why You Can’t Pay Attention by Johann Hari and The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains by Nicholas Carr. Both books are very accessible and a bit terrifying.
To return to the question of whether influencers can have a positive role in society, the answer is sort of. Some provide information, entertainment, inspiration, parasocial relationships for lonely people, but they do so on platforms that are terrible for our focus, self-esteem, social fabric, and ability to connect in person. A huge number of influencers and content creators promote some of the most vapid and destructive aspects of our culture: unfettered greed, overconsumption, unattainable beauty standards and so on. Thank goodness for the ones who make us laugh and want to be better people and who teach us to do art.
JE: You said in another interview that you came up with Helen at a silent meditation retreat. How does having a meditation practice assist you as a writer?
SJ: My meditation practice fluctuates a lot. For months I meditate every day and then life takes over and my practice gets less consistent. That’s when I need a Helen-style reset in the form of a retreat. My focus deepened as soon as I started meditating regularly, but I don’t think people should meditate for any reason other than to get to know yourself in a deeper way and to find some stillness in a frenetic world. In other words, I wouldn’t suggest meditation to start writing or to make writing easier. I meditate so I don’t spend my entire life lost in thoughts of the past and the future and so my entire existence isn’t a buzz of mental activity.
JE: In the book you write: “Life, on the internet or off, was often overwhelming if you got too caught up in the web of your own story or other people’s.” That’s a powerful statement. Can you elaborate based on your own life experiences?
SJ: We walk around with some compelling and often unexamined stories in our heads and a lot of us try to understand our experiences through the lens of those stories. Let’s say someone is wearing a shirt advertising a comedian or musician I really find offensive. My brain might fill in all sorts of information about that person. I might make assumptions about their politics, their character, their background and write them off. But maybe they picked up that shirt at a thrift store and don’t know anything about the comedian/musician. In that case, my story led me astray. Ask yourself what you assume when someone is late. What about if a person is chronically late? People who live on the internet know how to curate their self-presentation to trigger these kinds of stories where we fill in a lot of blanks. If you want to understand your stories about yourself, consider your “I am” statements. For example, if you tell yourself and others that “I am deeply into jazz fusion,” what does that mean? Is it part of your identity? How is the person who is into jazz fusion different than the person who is into electronic dance music? You can also play around with recasting I am statements for emotional states. Instead of “I am angry”, I like trying the more Buddhist (but awkward) “Anger is happening”. I am not anger. It’s a temporary state. The idea is to learn our stories and hold them lightly.
JE: The Helen Thorpe mysteries are humorous, even as they explore ways to solve injustices in the world. When you write, are you consciously trying to respond to your readers’ need for escapism in an increasingly chaotic world?
SJ: Absolutely. The current appetite for cozy or at least cozy-ish mysteries has a lot to do with the fact that the world feels a little out-of-control. In a cozy mystery, there is generally a manageably small setting, the crime is clear, and justice prevails. If only the world offered up such clear-cut problems!
JE: There’s a meditative pacing to this story. Was that intentional?
SJ: The pacing of a mystery should match the deliberative style of the investigator, the atmosphere of the story, and the questions posed by the narrative. It’s a trick to figure out how to create a page-turner that is also contemplative.
JE: You’ve also said publicly that you are “obsessed with butlers.” Why? Did you have any qualms about choosing a main character in a profession most people never encounter?
SJ: I have zero qualms about Helen’s career as a butler. I have been entranced with butlers since I met P.G. Wodehouse’s Jeeves. I got a kick out of the idea that a person who might be seen as having less power than his gormless employer was actually running his life. Also, I can think of few things more appealing than having someone take care of all the little details to make life run more smoothly. (I’m aware this craving suggests that there is more work to do before I achieve enlightenment!) I’m never going to have such a person, but I can dream. Because we have such extreme income inequality right now and so many new super rich individuals and families, butlers are back in style. These days they tend to be very well-educated professionals who are handsomely compensated. Some of them have backgrounds in finance or art or security. My dream butler would have a background in spiritual pursuits, hence, Helen! The whole thing continues to fascinate me.
JE: Has your approach to writing changed as you’re met and engaged with your ever-growing reading audience at events such as the VFA?
SJ: I started out writing in the morning before work. Even when I was writing full-time, I kept the same schedule, though I added an afternoon writing shift. Now I am a professor of creative writing and I’m still writing five or six days a week, first thing in the morning.
JE: What’s the biggest chance you’ve taken as a writer?
SJ: Writing is such a physically safe pursuit, wrist and shoulder health aside, that it feels a bit unseemly to talk about chances. From a career perspective it was probably a risk to decide to try writing in all the genres I like to read. I’m working on a thriller right now. One day I’d like to tackle a horror. The only constant in my books is humour. Oh, and there’s the chance that the humour might offend people, but I’ve been taking that chance since Alice, I Think was published in 2000.
JE: What’s one question you’ve never been asked in an interview that you wish people would ask and why?
SJ: I feel like I’ve been asked every conceivable question in interviews!