From Shakespeare to St Ouen’s Bay, a retired teacher has swapped school plays for sleuthing – and found literary success by setting his debut detective novel in the island he grew up in.
Former Victoria College student Stephan Le Marchand, now living in Worcester, used his memories of school productions, childhood beach trips and local landmarks as inspiration for An Untimely Frost – a “cosy crime” novel set in present-day Jersey, which follows a fictional investigation into a death during a performance of Romeo and Juliet at his old school.
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After retiring from a 35-year teaching career, Mr Le Marquand said his journey to becoming a published writer was never planned.
Having completed an English degree and spent a stint as a professional actor, Mr Le Marchand was driven to want to write his own.
“I remember the first September after I’d retired, I sat in front of my laptop, and I started typing,” he said. “I never really aspired to be a writer. I never really thought that I could do it, but actually, if you sit down and type away, things start to happen.”
His latest novel, ‘An Untimely Frost’, which was published by The Book Guild last month, follows Jersey Police’s Detective Inspector Theresa Heppolette as she tries to solve a tragic death that takes place during a school production of ‘Romeo and Juliet’ at Victoria College.
The multi-layered cosy crime novel takes readers to various island landmarks, including the General Hospital, St Mary’s Church, St Ouen’s Bay, and even the Royal Square’s Cock and Bottle pub. As she delves into the case, DI Heppolette uncovers a world that mirrors the dark themes of Shakespeare’s famous play, uncovering old demons and introducing unexpected love interests.
Describing his desire to use his childhood home as the location for the novel, Mr Le Marchand said: “There are so many lovely places in Jersey that are excellent material.
“Victoria College was a place that I remember in quite a lot of detail, so it was natural to include that. I had a great time at school, and it had a very lasting impression on me.”
He added that he had frequented St Mary’s Church, which sets the scene for the final moment in the novel, for various family events as well as St Ouen’s Bay, which has featured “so heavily” in his life.
“As a very young child, my mother used to take us to La Pulente,” he said. “And then when we were a bit older, we used to go to the beach at Le Braye, which I’ve gone back to as an adult on holidays with my family.
“St Ouen’s Bay means a lot,” he added. “The whole three and a half miles of the five-mile road are meaningful to me.”
Now living in Worcester with his wife, who has also become a Jersey-influenced writer in retirement, Stephan said writing about his childhood home was “incredibly enjoyable.”
Having left Jersey for university and then drama school, he then spent over three decades at a Worcester secondary school teaching Shakespeare’s classics and directing school plays, which he said influenced his story.
“I hadn’t actually done any creative writing since O Level back in the early 70s, until I retired in 2019,” he said. “I said to myself, I’ve got to do something with retirement, so I’m going to try to write.”
He continued: “I found it so exciting because you have so much power [when writing]. You decide exactly what happens, what everyone says, and what everyone looks like.”
Wanting to write what he likes to read, Stephan explained that crime was an “immediate appeal.”
“When I was an English teacher, I had to teach all the classics and then rip them apart. School plays were also fantastically exciting and exhilarating. But when I wasn’t doing that, I quite liked reading things that were very light, and therefore crime had some immediate appeal.”
His interest in Jersey-based crime stories goes further back, having once auditioned for a part in the original Bergerac series with John Nettles. But tapping into his childhood memories made the process of writing “very enjoyable”, he said.
“Being able to take myself back to places that I have fond memories of was part of the enjoyment.”
The novel’s title, ‘An Untimely Frost,’ is taken from a line in the famed love tragedy the story follows. Mr Le Marchand reflected that his love for stories and the wisdom they share are “a great way to learn” about life.
“One of the most enjoyable things about my teaching career was reading these texts, these fictional texts, which just have so much wisdom in them.
“It’s a cliché, but the line ‘All the world’s a stage and all the men and women merely players’ is true. We are all playing some sort of role.”
And the role Stephan has taken on as a writer of two novels in retirement seems to be taking shape.
Already working on a sequel to Detective Inspector Heppolette’s adventures, Mr Le Marchand is keen to keep his story rooted in Jersey.
He said: “I like to think that Heppolette is an interesting character in that she’s young, efficient, and compassionate. She’s ambitious, but she’s got her demons as well, so there’s room for development of her in future novels.”
To order a copy of ‘An Untimely Frost’, click here.
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