In The St Hilda's Spotlight - Natasha Cooper

Name:- Natasha Cooper

Job:- Author and journalist

Introduction:-

Natasha Cooper is the author of several different series, but she is mostly known for her Willow King series, Trish Maguire Series, and Karen Taylor series. A former chair of Crime Writers Association. She has also chaired the Theakston’s Crime Writing Festival. Her 2012 novel Vengeance in Mind was longlisted for the CWA Gold  Dagger.

Current book? (This can either be the current book that you are reading or writing or both)

Many years after retiring from writing fiction, there is a novel battering away at the inside of my brain and I think I will write it.  But it’s too new to say much about it, except that in a way it’s about a lost boy, who may or may not be an anti-hero.

Why do you think anti-heroes are so interesting readers?

I think a great many of us worry about the hidden nastinesses in ourselves and so it’s a wonderful refreshment to become lost in a story about someone who just doesn’t care about the nastinesses in themselves, hidden or otherwise.

Which two anti-heroes or enemies would you invite to dinner and why?

This is a very difficult one for me to answer because my invitations to dinner are hugely selective and include only those of unimpeachable respectability, genius-level intelligence, Venus-de-Milo levels of beauty (but with more arms), and an ability to leave in order to let me get back to whatever book I’m reading in bed by 10.30.  Also, I don’t allow smoking in my house and so Jackson Lamb would never be invited.

How do you relax?

 Always with a book, usually in a deep hot bath, sometimes with an icy gin and tonic by my side.

Which anti hero would you like to be on your side in a difficult situation.

I think I would probably go for Lalla Rook from A Sociopath’s Guide to Successful Marriage, who would neatly kill anyone who was annoying me.

If you were to write a book involving an anti-hero, where would you set it and why?

If I write the one battering the inside of my brain, it will be set partly in a small pretty town in Hampshire, partly in the grim raininess of North Wales, and partly in glorious Oxford. 

How would you describe your latest published book?

Gold-Dagger-shortlisted Vengeance in Mind opens with the naked corpse of a rich man, skewered to his wooden kitchen table with large chef’s knives through his wrists and ankles.  Bits of him are in the kitchen bin.  Naturally the obvious suspect is….

With Bad Apples: crime fiction’s enemies and anti-hero’s theme at St Hilda's this year, who are you three favourite anti-heroes

These are all very difficult questions.  I like Lalla Rook, as above; I very much like Roddy Ho, but he’s perhaps a little too sad and lacking in power to be a real anti-hero.  But his boss Jackson Lamb is right up there.

Which 3 films or television series featuring anti-heroes would you rewatch and why.

If only I had some bit of Apple kit, I could sign up to Apple television and watch and rewatch The Slow Horses.  But I haven’t, so I don’t.

What are you looking forward to at St Hilda's?

It must be nearly a decade since I was at a St Hilda’s crime weekend and I have the happiest memories of nearly twenty years of such weekends, which I always enjoyed.  I like the time given to the speakers’ papers and the way no one at St Hilda’s is selling themselves or their books.  Instead, they are all sharing their love of the genre and their knowledge of its most fascinating byways.

Vengeance in Mind by N J Cooper (Simon & Schuster)

Sir Dan Blackwater, well known businessman and philanthropist is found dead one morning in his home on the Isle of Wight. Pinned to the kitchen table with butcher's knives, he has been castrated in what looks like a gruesome act of revenge.
The only other person on the scene is his own PA, Sheena. But when DCI Charlie Trench brings her in for questioning, he discovers that she can't remember a thing about the events of last night - the shock seems to have caused her to lose her memory.
Unsure whether to believe Sheena's story, Trench calls in forensic psychologist Karen Taylor to help unblock Sheena's memory. But as Karen begins her investigation, she will discover there is much more to the Blackwaters than ever met the public eye. And as she lifts the lid on a truly scandalous history, she will put herself in more danger than she could possibly imagine.

Information as to how to buy online tickets can be found here.