We interviewed author Hannah Tunnicliffe and illustrator Erica Harrison about the process of creating Detective Stanley and what it’s like working as a team.

Hannah and Erica, you’re a creative dream team. How did you meet and decide to begin working together?

Our kids go to the same primary – we met at the school gate! We live by the sea in Auckland, New Zealand in a small place named Stanley Bay. It didn’t take long to realise that one of us was a writer and the other an illustrator / designer. While working together on a school fundraising project we figured out we had lots in common. We both absolutely love kids books, good design, chats and cups of tea. 

How did the idea for Detective Stanley come about? We’d love to hear about the overall story and format, as well as character development.

Detective Stanley is named after the place we live, Stanley Bay. We worked together on a fundraising project for our local primary school which we named The Great Devonport History Mystery. It is a family trail and activity book leading folks around the historical sites of our local village. Erica had the brilliant idea to include a detective dog in her design and illustrations and voila, Stanley was created!

We had so much fun working together on The Great Devonport History Mystery we were keen to find another collaborative project. Between us we have experience working with activity books and picture books and share a keen eye for great design and engaging kids books. We decided to create “Detective Stanley and the Mystery at the Museum” as an interactive activity book which we pitched to Flying Eye. We both admired the quality of Flying Eye books, their eye for great design and original titles. Flying Eye replied to our proposal and were keen on Stanley but not so keen on an activity book. We had some work to do. Several short weeks later we had the story and several illustrated pages for a graphic reader featuring our favourite sleuthhound and the rest, as they say, is history. 

Tell us about the process of working as a team. E.g. Does all the writing come first (from Hannah), or do Erica’s illustrations sometimes inform the story? We’d love to hear about how you collaborate.

Because we are both driven, energetic and nosy we tend to collaborate a lot, from start to finish. In saying that, we completely trust and respect each other’s talents and do not interfere while the other is doing their thing. Is it too much to say it is the perfect partnership? ;-)

Practically speaking, this is how the process goes: together we discuss the concept and ideas for the story. Then, Hannah goes away and produces a first draft of the plot, dialogue and illustration notes for each page. After that we get together and dissect and discuss. The Flying Eye team adds their thoughts and the story is adjusted until everyone is happy with the outcome. Then, Erica takes over and starts producing black and white drafts for the pages. There is more consultation and discussion and usually a lot of squealing and giggling at this point, watching the story and characters coming to life! The final stages include colouring the draft illustrations and double checking every shade, character eyebrow, speech bubble and tiny detail. This is the longest part of the process. During this stage, Erica works incredibly hard and we catch up over cups of tea to edit, edit, edit until we are all thrilled with the final product. 

What do you love best about each other’s work and process? How do you inspire each other?

Hannah: I am in awe of Erica. She is so talented, focused and efficient. Meeting her at the school gate and getting to work with her on Detective Stanley is better than winning the lottery in my opinion. I have the easy job: dreaming up characters and story and sitting back and watching it become reality! Aside from her illustration and design talent, Erica is practical, sees possibilities and knows exactly what makes a book work or not. She’s so astute and experienced, she inspires me all the time. 

Erica: Without Hannah there would be no story, just Detective Stanley standing there scratching his head! She is an absolute word whizz, devising clever plots and funny characters. When I read Hannah’s first draft I was blown away by its simple brilliance. From the very start, I was imagining how it would unfold in terms of the pictures. The narrative is perfectly on point with its jokes and references to Sherlock Holmes and classic detective stories, and I thought the final twist was genius. Hannah usually has ideas about what she imagines the animal to be for each character, but I love surprising her in crowd scenes with a big goofy gorilla prison guard, or a snake driving a car! Hannah’s delighted reactions to my silly drawings keeps me going during the sketching process.

What’s the most surprising thing about working in close collaboration with a creative partner?

Hannah: How much fun it is. We both deeply respect one another’s talents and rarely battle over creative direction. When we are together I am constantly clapping my hands with glee and delight (yes, really, I am a big kid) at Erica’s work and we laugh a lot. It’s such a joy to create Detective Stanley with Erica.

Erica: I was surprised about how much more efficient and organised it makes me. Working with someone else helps me to set goals and be super motivated to make things happen. It also means that everything gets two sets of eyes, so ideas can get bounced about a bit, meaning a visual joke might be embellished to be even funnier, or a storyline might get one last tweak to work even better. Two pairs of hands are always better than one, right? Most importantly of all, it makes work twice as fun! I love working with Hannah, she’s funny, ambitious and super smart. The perfect creative partner in crime.

And finally, which is your favourite part of Detective Stanley and the Mystery at the Museum?

We love it all! If we have to choose our favourite part is probably the characters within the story. Detective Shiro, who is a pompous rhinoceros, ubiquitous Pidge the pigeon, the onlookers eating popcorn while the crime is being solved, our treacherous villain and, of course, lovable, thoughtful, clever Detective Stanley! He is the best, if we do say so ourselves. 

Thank you, Hannah and Erica!

Chaos at the Narlybone Museum, can Detective Stanley solve the case?

A highly illustrated animal detective mystery for young readers. Detective Stanley has barely sat down for his breakfast pancakes when he receives an invitation he cannot refuse. The Narlybone Museum has been raided on the opening day of the Bleat Mondrian show and Stan has been called to investigate. The most perplexing thing about the case: Nothing has been stolen! But now Stanley finds himself in a tight spot even his powers of deduction could not detect. Can he get himself out of trouble and can he solve the mystery of the Narlybone Museum?

Get your copy HERE