Métro Boulot Dodo
Cher Amis
I’ve been so thrilled with the feedback so far for ‘Sept Jours,’ the first Coco Brunhild mystery. It was a bit of a difficult decision to start a whole new series of books because the Hugo books already have their own readers and while Coco is still essentially a murder investigator she is, let’s be honest, a little different to Hugo. I swear I don’t know where half the things she says or does come from until I see them appear on the screen in front of me, and that’s the truth! But then I thought about it, and asked myself - is she really so different to Hugo? Like him she’s loyal, she’s a dogged police officer who is determined and when called for, can be ferocious. Over eleven books we’ve seen the same from Hugo more or less. They can be the same and also at the same time very different (Hugo would and does in ‘Les Mauvais Garçons’ blush quite often in her presence!) however writing her has proven to be just as easy. You may also notice the Coco books are shorter than the Hugo ones - a fact both my husband and editor appear to be very grateful of… The reason for that is simple, although it was not planned. After writing the first chapter, I realised that for the character of Coco, and to make her books a little different to Hugo’s, it made sense that if each chapter was led by and driven by Coco. There would be no offshoot chapters dipping into the lives of the other characters. The idea intrigued me and I wondered whether I could actually do it because it would limit the way in which the story could be told, but with a little perseverance I made my way through it and it is quite interesting to see the story unfold in front of us and see it at the same time as Coco.
The Coco books are designed to be read in any order, though I realise in reality that it is a little difficult. Each book by necessity has to move Coco on in her timeline, but I wanted it to be less obvious than the Hugo books, I.e. no cliffhangers or ongoing arcs so that if someone wants to pick up a particular book they can without worrying that they have to read nine books before it to catch up!
‘Métro Boulot Dodo’ is going to be the second Coco book. Its appearance was a little odd because I had planned an altogether different story. The truth was that during one of my Skype French lessons, the phrase ‘Métro Boulot Dodo’ came up in one of the lessons. It caught my attention because I had never seen it before and I liked the rhythmic tone of it. The phrase is somewhat like the English phrase about the rat race, or the daily grind, that sort of thing. The French equivalent is a little more poetic (bien sûr!) and is more about the concept of a repeated day - the daily commute (métro), the daily grind (boulot) and then back home for the daily sleep (dodo). I don’t know where it came from, but I told my teacher Bastien straight away that it sounded like the title of a Coco book. He laughed at me (he does that a lot, he’s very patient with a terrible French student like me) and I went away and that afternoon I sat down and after an hour or so I had the whole idea plotted in my Coco bible (yes, like Hugo she now has her own ‘bible’ - really just a moleskin notebook adorned with stickers and which contain all the things I need to remember (birth dates, character traits etc.) and where I plot out each book and assemble the cast of characters. The plan was simple. Over a period of three days, a murder (more than one in the end) would encroach on Coco’s very own daily grind. And that’s how it started. Coco tries to find a seat on an overcrowded métro train and of course, she just happens to end up sitting next to an elderly gentleman with a rather large knife wound in his chest…
I’m sure you’ll agree it was an odd way for a book to come about, but it appears that is how all of the books I write come about.
Anyway, back to Hugo news next blog where we’ll talk about the first prequel (the first of a trilogy, but shh, don’t tell anyone that yet). It’s a sad tale though, so get the hankies ready.
Sending you massive (socially distanced) hugs.
GX
PS Oh, and if anyone guesses the inspiration for the final line in the book comes from, you’re not only amazing (and a bit sad like me) but I’ll give you a special gift for being so clever! Write to me when you read it.