Eloriah is my first ever graphic novel and original story, which I created for my Degree’s third year Final Major Project (Illustration and Amination BA – where I received a First Class!). The tradition of whodunnit murder mystery novels is long and varied. Eloriah is based and inspired by this concept of armchair detectives popularised by writers such as Agatha Christie, where the style of misdirection and puzzle-solving made crime writing popular for over a century.

I created Eloriah using traditional crime writing techniques and elements of fantasy and history. I wanted the main character and detective to be a young woman, as they aren’t common in famous detective novels. Through research, I discovered that in the Victorian era, before divorces were readily available, there were ‘divorce detectives’, primarily women, who went undercover to find evidence of affairs, so couples could be granted a divorce. I thought this concept would be a great opening for my character to become a crime detective in a Victorian inspired world where women had fewer freedoms.