Artist penned murder mystery in lockdown

DURING the covid lockdowns, some people baked sourdough, others took to knitting.

Henley artist Si Sapsford gave herself some even greater challenges — writing her first novel and competing in Sky Arts’ Portrait Artist of the Year competition.

Although she didn’t reach the final of the TV contest, she won her heat and also completed her book, a sort of whodunit which has now been published under her nom de plume, Si Harvey.

Si, 57, who lives with her partner Guy Harvey, 14-year-old daughter Maude and cavapoo Bobby in Chiltern Close, was inspired to put pen to paper by a friend’s husband who had written a detective novel.

She says: “His wife was chatting to me and I thought, ‘It’s lockdown, why don’t I have a go?’ and we both decided to.”

While Si’s friend is still working on her manuscript, she completed her story in about eight months.

“It was something nice to do when I was walking the dog,” she says. “It really kept me busy.”

The resulting book is Murder at Meadowfields, a mystery for young adults but which will appeal to people of all ages.

Set in rural Essex, the story follows amateur sleuth Lewis who teams up with treasure hunter Gracie to investigate the goings-on at Meadowfields Hall, a rather grand house. Needless to say, this involves a body, hidden treasure and a criminal gang.

The writer used friends as guinea pigs to test her manuscripts.

Si, who works as a university lecturer, says: “They said, ‘Oh, you’ve left too much hanging’ as I was thinking about a follow-up book.

“I had to rewrite the last few chapters after that but it was worth it. Sometimes you read it and reread and think, ‘Got it right’ but you do need other people to have a look at it and make sure it makes sense.”

This isn’t the first time Si has tried a new venture for she has had an eclectic career.

After graduating from university with a science degree, she worked as a sailor for seven years. She crossed the Atlantic six times and the Pacific once, visited many countries and took part in several races.

Si was at sea in January 1990 when she had a dramatic encounter that she was later to channel into her art, almost subconsciously.

She explains: “I was in Panama about two weeks after the Americans had invaded and it was a really dangerous situation but we didn’t quite realise it. We hadn’t even realised the Americans had invaded as we’d been sailing.

“All the crew went ashore to do our food shopping and we got chased by this mob of Panamanians, who thought we were American.

“We went into the cathedral to seek refuge and thought we’d be safe once we got inside but they followed us. We had to be rescued by the priest and a bunch of cleaners with brooms.

“I’m sure they could have got us if they had wanted to but they didn’t want to cross the priest — they were all quite religious.”

Ever since then, Si has had a fear of crowds of people.

Her resulting artwork was a mechanical furniture sculpture, called Civil Unrest, a whole room filled with chairs. Si has taken this installation to London and as far as Rio, where it exemplified the divide between rich and poor.

She says: “The piece was shown in the really rich area of Rio, the business district, and it was just after some landslides.

“The chairs are confronting the viewer and it’s about being on different sides of the divide.”

When the piece was shown in London, it also had meaning.

Si says: “It was about immigration and people’s fear of migrants coming across the border — it’s trying to sort both sides of it, the situations and unknowns.

“It was only afterwards that I reflected on it and I realised it went back to [Panama].”

Si’s sailing career ended when she returned to the UK as her grandfather was ill and she wanted to spend more time with her family.

She worked for engineering company Bechtel, co-ordinating sea and air freight to and from Kuwait for firefighting and rebuilding during the Gulf War.

Si decided to take out a mortgage on a flat and then quit her job to got to art school. Since 2000, she has been a lecturer in fine art at the University of East London.

She took part in Portrait Artist of the Year in 2020 and won heat 7 with a painting of Jordan Stephens of hip-hop duo Rizzle Kicks.

The pressure of having to paint his portrait in just three hours in front of the cameras was tempered by the fact that the musician had brought along his dog, a collie retriever called Spike.

Si recalls: “They say you’ve got three hours but they’re interrupting you every 10 minutes, so it’s really quite stressful. No sooner are you trying to judge whether you have got his eye in the right place than somebody stops you for a chat.

“Then you’ve got to try to get back to where you were in your thinking.

“I don’t think anyone would have finished in that heat if we hadn’t worked through lunch.”

And the dog?

“It just came in, laid down and didn’t move,” she says. “I’ve got a dog and I thought, ‘I wish my dog was quite as peaceful’. It was really nice.”

When the painting session had ended, the dog came over to her “maybe because I smelt of dog”.

Jordan’s mother was so pleased with the painting of her son that Si gave it to her to keep.

Si has now started work on a second book about two friends, a man and a woman, who have known each other since childhood.

When the man goes missing, it’s up to the woman, reflecting on their shared childhood experiences, to step in and solve the mystery.

Si says: “I’ll do 10-minute writing sessions and see what just pops out of my head.

“It’s usually by pages 10 to 15, when I’m writing something up, that I finally start getting an idea of where the plot’s going.

“I know where this story is going but not the ending and that’s the fun bit as you’re walking along trying to think about different things.

“It is a mystery. There is death in it and there are criminals but it’s not quite linear.”

• Murder at Meadowfields is available to buy from the Bell Bookshop in Henley, priced at £7.99.
www.bellbookshop.co.uk