Let's Do Lunch! Interview with Sheila Lowe

I've been more than a bit fascinated with all things British since I discovered the Beatles when I was in about the 3rd grade - I have very little recall from that point in time, but I do remember a few years later being able to mimic a British accent pretty well by the time I hit 6th grade, thanks to John, Paul, George and Ringo, and a Monkee named Davy Jones.

Not that that has anything to do with anything, but my Lunch Room guest today is a native Brit - a transplant to the States some years ago, she still has that token British charm, and I know you'll enjoy getting to know her as much as I have. She's a delightful lady and a pretty darn good writer to boot.

Sheila Lowe is a court-qualified handwriting expert who testifies in forensic cases. She has more than thirty years experience in the field of handwriting analysis and holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology. The author of Handwriting of the Famous & Infamous and The Complete Idiot's Guide to Handwriting Analysis, her analyses of celebrity handwritings have appeared in Time, Teen People, and Mademoiselle. Her articles on "Personality Profiling and Handwriting Analysis for the Attorney" have been published in several bar association magazines.

Sheila's clientele includes a wide spectrum of corporate clients, mental health professionals, attorneys, private investigators and staffing agencies, among others. Her award-winning Handwriting Analyzer software is used around the world, and her profiles help uncover important information in background checks and pre-employment screening. She enjoys analyzing handwriting for individuals, too, helping them understand themselves and others better.

I invited Sheila to the Lunch Room to talk about her foray into fiction with the first book in her Claudia Rose series, Poison Pen, and its follow-up, Written in Blood, due out in September, as well as her fascinating career as a handwriting analyst, and as we got to chatting I discovered a lot more about this very entertaining and interesting lady ...

JB: You have something like 40 years experience in handwriting analysis. How did you get started?

SL: Back in the Dark Ages, when I was in high school, my then-boyfriend's mother analyzed my handwriting — she'd read a book about it. I was astonished by what she told me about my personality, so when I saw a 25-cent Dell pocket book on handwriting analysis at the supermarket, I bought it and immediately immersed myself in my studies. Okay, so there wasn't much immersion to be had in those few pages, but it did get me started checking out library books on the subject. Suddenly, I was sought after at parties — all the girls wanted their boyfriends' handwritings analyzed.

JB: You've had the opportunity to analyze over 10,000 handwriting samples over the years. Can you explain to our readers what role your analysis plays in the different spheres in which you work (i.e., legal, medical, mental health)?

SL: The biggest part of my practice is my work with employers who are hiring. They send me their top applicants' handwriting, along with a job description, and I focus the report on how the applicant stacks up personality-wise with their requirements. I don't have to recommend whether or not to hire the person (thank heavens!), but just provide an objective personality profile. On the legal side, I analyze handwriting for authenticity. In other words, did Mr. X sign this will, or was it really the bimbo stepmother who wanted her kids to get all his money and cut his kids out? I also analyze couples for compatibility, to help them understand what motivates them and how they might head off potential problems. Stuff like that.

JB: You mentioned to me that you often speak in interviews about your daughter - would you mind sharing your story with us?

SL: No, I don't mind at all. Jennifer was 26 in 1999 when she met and fell madly in love with Tom. He worked as a special agent for the Immigration and Naturalization Service, teaching border patrol agents hand-to-hand combat, etc. He wanted me to analyze his handwriting, which I found contained some alarming red flags. I saw in the handwriting a controlling person with the potential for explosive behavior. There were also indications of possible head trauma. When I asked if he'd had a head injury, Tom said that he had suffered a blow to the head on the job, which resulted in violent headaches. We discussed the problems the two of them might encounter in a relationship — Jen was headstrong and would not allow him to control her. I hoped she would pay attention. Okay, she'd never listened to me before, so why would I expect her to now? Tom moved in with her shortly after they met. Less than a year later, Jen was dead, the victim in a murder/suicide. So, while I was able to see the potential for problems, I was unable to prevent a tragic end to her story.

JB: I really admire how you've accepted what happened and are so willing to talk about it. Did that experience have any impact on your decision to write your series? Does it continue to influence your writing?

SL: I had begun writing Poison Pen long before Jennifer's death, but until then, just meandered along. It seemed as if what happened to her impelled me to get it finished and start sending it out. Maybe I needed something to concentrate on that would take the focus off the waking nightmare of her death. As far as the experience influencing my writing, the character of fourteen-year-old Annabelle in my second Claudia Rose story, Written in Blood, is in some ways a lot like Jen, to whom I've dedicated the book.

JB: That's so touching. Now, you also have two sons, right?

SL: Yes. Erik is 33, a tattoo artist, and Ben is 30. He was a Chippendale's-type dancer, but he's just changed jobs and is now a bartender at Universal Studios. They're both 6'3" with shaved heads. I'm 5'6" and feel dwarfed between them.

JB: I have that same problem with my kids. Let's talk about Claudia - she's a great character, not too flawed, not too perfect, and very easy to like. Other than your profession, what do you and she have in common?

SL: Um ... lessee ... we're both handwriting analysts, both bull-headed, independent women who often do things that are probably not in their best interests. But on the other hand, Claudia is far braver than I am, and she likes coffee. I'm glad you find her easy to like.

JB: Do you often get the same kinds of skeptical reactions in your line of work that Claudia does in Poison Pen?

SL: Skeptical reactions are less common now than when I started analyzing handwriting in 1967, but occasionally people ask do me to read their palms, or they'll ask if I'm going to give them their horoscope, which is really annoying! An example: I worked at a San Francisco medical convention, analyzing the handwritings of hundreds of doctors (no, it's not true that all doctors have bad handwriting). [She's right - I used to work for doctors, and one of them had the most beautiful writing I've ever seen!] Most were stunned at what their analysis revealed, but one doctor made a comment about it being "quasi science." I guess I gave him an earful, as he said, "I think I've offended you." I suggested he download the Annotated Bibliography of peer-reviewed handwriting research from my web site, after which he apologized. Okay, so it was defensive of me, but most people don't have to explain why their career is not part of the occult sciences (she said, leading with her chin).

JB: Good for you! There's a darker element at the heart of this otherwise seemingly cozy mystery. Was that your intention when you started writing it?

SL: Actually, I never intended to write something cozy, so I'm glad the darkness shone through ... in a manner of speaking. But I did want the story to have a meaningful theme, and what emerged dealt with childhood sexual abuse and Claudia's evolving view of a woman she had strongly disliked. As she uncovers some of the experiences that molded this woman into who she became, the message hits home for Claudia that behind every handwriting is a human being.

JB: Talk a little about Written in Blood. What do we see Claudia up to next? Are we going to see more of the sexy Detective Jovanic?

SL: Jovanic is definitely back in Written in Blood. He and Claudia butt heads again (and other parts) when she becomes involved in the life of Annabelle Giordano, who is a student at a girls' school run by Claudia's client, Paige Sorensen. Annabelle comes on scene already having been in trouble with the law. She's lost her mother at a young age and has a distant father, and has recently attempted suicide. Claudia, who is unable to have children of her own, reaches out to Annabelle and loses her heart to this prickly kid. Written in Blood really is Annabelle's story, but it also centers around Paige, the trophy wife of a much older man who has died. His children have accused her of forging their father's name on his will, giving most of his estate to Paige, and that's how Claudia enters the story.

JB: Okay, let's switch gears a bit. How long have you lived in the States, and how difficult was it for you to adjust after moving here from England? How often are you able to visit your hometown of London?

SL: I was fourteen when my family came to the U.S. to stay. At that age it was a tough adjustment, leaving my grandparents, school friends, and everything familiar. But I got by with a little help from the Beatles, who showed up on the Ed Sullivan Show shortly after we arrived in Los Angeles. We all know what happened next — anything British was "in." It just so happened I'd brought the first two Beatles albums over from England, so I was now in big demand at Fremont Junior High. My fishnet tights were a big hit, too. In the more than forty years (Yikes! can it be that long?) since then, I've gone home only three times, most recently in May of this year, when I was invited to lecture to handwriting analysts in London. While we were there, I visited the ancient church in Somerset where my ancestors got married about 250 years ago — fab!

JB: Fab, indeed. What's your favorite thing to eat when you go home that you can't get here?

SL: Scones with clotted cream and jam. They're just not the same here. On this last trip, we ate our way across England, so I got to taste all my favorites — bangers and mash, steak pie, and my old favorite sweets, Smarties (which are like M&M's, but not quite). The sticky toffee pudding with Bird's Custard was also memorable, and spotted dick, and ... I think I'd better stop here, I'm getting carried away.

JB: By all means, carry away! After all, this is an eatery. You're making me hungry, and I've had to get clarification on what half the stuff is you're talking about - certainly not anything you could get in the Lunch Room without special ordering it! ;) For those of you not familiar, here's a rundown of what all these delightful dishes she's talking about are, straight from the source:

SL: Clotted cream is like a cross between cream and butter. It has an indescribably wonderful flavor, and when you put it on a scone with raspberry jam - okay, I'm drooling. I don't think there is an equivalent here. It's also called Devon cream. I guess that's where it comes from.
Bangers and mash - bangers are large pork sausage links that have a lot of breadcrumbs in them. Mash is mashed potatoes. You have them with onion gravy or Bisto (a gravy brand that everyone uses there) and peas.
Smarties look just like M&Ms, but the shell is a bit more delicate and the chocolate has a different taste.
Sticky toffee pudding - Dessert in general is referred to as pudding. Sticky toffee pudding is a pie-like dessert. Also, steamed pudding could be any number of things. A steak and kidney pudding, for instance, is like a stew with a steamed pudding on top - like spotted dick, only savory instead of sweet. It's always made with suet, which is probably equivalent to Crisco or could be beef suet (suet being fat). Yes, kidney really means the organ - ugh! Spotted dick is a [sweet] steamed pudding. The way my nanny (grandmother) made it was a steamed very moist suet cake with raisins (that's the spots). The batter is put into a heavy mixing bowl with muslin tied over the top, and that's put on a double boiler until it's cooked - if I remember correctly, that could be a couple of hours. It's then served with a creamy pudding called custard. It's also known as spotted dog.

JB: Yummmmm ... argh! Where is that no-account kitchen help?? Ahem. Okay, moving on. I love Flare, Claudia's neighbor's German Shepherd, and the part she plays in Poison Pen. Are you a pet person?

SL: Flare was a real dog belonging to my first husband's family (the husband who gave me the "Lowe" name). She was a fierce guard dog, but she tolerated me, even though I'm really a cat person. As for my own pets, one day, I came home to find two tiny kittens playing on the stairs in my apartment. One had a light brown back and pure white tummy, with blue, blue eyes. The other was grey all over. Jen had brought them home knowing there was no way I would make her take them back. Sugar, the brown and white one, who was as sweet as her name, lived for fifteen years. Fritz will turn 18 in July and is still going strong.

JB: How sweet! Thank you so much, Sheila, for dropping by the Lunch Room - it's been a pleasure having you!

SL: Thank you, JB, I love an excuse to go out to lunch, and the chance to combine it with such good company makes it a true pleasure.

JB: Aw, thanks.

To learn more about Sheila and her books, visit her professional website at www.sheilalowe.com and her Claudia Rose series website at www.claudiaroseseries.com. Written in Blood will be released in September, and Poison Pen is now available in paperback from your favorite bookseller.