In The Spotlight - Will Dean

Name:-  Will Dean

Job:- Author

Website:-  https://oneworld-publications.com/will-dean.html

Twitter:- @willrdean

Introduction

Will Dean is the author of currently two books in the Dark Pines series which have been optioned for a television series.  His debut novel Dark Pines was selected by Val McDermid for her New Blood Panel at the Harrogate Crime Writing Festival. Dark Pines was also shortlisted for Not The Booker Prize and was the Daily Telegraph Book of the Year.  Dark Pines was also selected by Selected for ITV's Zoe Ball Book Club. The next book in the Dark Pines series is Snake River that is due to be published in January 2020.

Current Book

I read Mystic River by Dennis Lehane the week before starting draft 1 of Tuva Moodyson book 4. It was a big mistake. I wouldn’t recommend reading anything that brilliant immediately before writing something new. It’s not great for your confidence.  I have a copy of My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite on my desk for when I finish this damn draft.

Favourite Book

The Road by Cormac McCarthy. I re-read it every year. A masterpiece.

Which two characters would you invite to dinner and why?

Merricat Blackwood (We Have Always Lived in the Castle) and Hannibal Lecter (The Silence of The Lambs). I’d like to watch them eat. Listen to them talk. Observe them.

How do you relax?

Reading and chopping wood.

What book do you wish you’d written and why?

The Driver’s Seat by Muriel Spark. Because it’s so bloody good. So unsettling.

What would you say to your younger self if you were just starting out as a writer?

Be patient. Read even more than you already do. Read more diverse books. Don’t eat the lounge food at Gothenburg Airport in February 2018.

How would you describe your series character?

Tuva Moodyson is young, deaf, ambitious, city-loving, acidic, complex, fiercely loyal, and terrified of the great outdoors. 

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Red Snowby Will Dean (Published by Point Blank)

Two bodies. One suicide. One cold-blooded murder. Are they connected? And who's really pulling the strings in the small Swedish town of Gavrik?  Two coins. Black Grimberg liquorice coins cover the murdered man's eyes. The hashtag #Ferryman starts to trend as local people stock up on ammunition.  Two weeks. Tuva Moodyson, deaf reporter at the local paper, has a fortnight to investigate the deaths before she starts her new job in the south. A blizzard moves in. Residents, already terrified, feel increasingly cut-off. Tuva must go deep inside the Grimberg factory to stop the killer before she leaves town for good. But who's to say the Ferryman will let her go?

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Snake River by Will Dean (Published by Point Blank, January 2020)

Snake River is the third thriller in the Tuva Moodyson series, featuring deaf reporter Tuva Moodyson. After living clean in southern Sweden for several months, Tuva receives a life-changing phone call – her best friend Tammy has gone missing and police fear she’s been kidnapped – and Tuva must return to her home town to help the investigation.

 Information about 2019 St Hilda's College Crime Fiction Weekend and how to book tickets can be found here.