How to Survive in The Woods - Q & A with Kat Rosenfield

Ayo:- How to Survive in the Woods is as much as about the wilderness as it is about control betrayal and survival. What sparked the idea for the story.

Kat:- I love the wilderness as a setting for two reasons: first and foremost and very pragmatically, it's an elegant solution to the thriller writer's most annoying challenge, which is putting your characters into situations where they can't ruin the story by pulling out an iPhone. (After 6 books, the amount of time I've spent trying to figure out ways to separate fictional characters from their devices probably adds up to months at this point.) But the wilderness is also a character unto itself: a place where pretense falls away, where things come to the surface that you might have been able to keep hidden in more civilised circumstances. Which is to say, if you want someone to show you who they are? Take them camping.

Ayo:- What actually does it mean to be a survivor? 

Kat:- I'm very interested in, among other things, how social media has caused "survivor" to become not just a descriptive noun but a personal brand — and an identity you can opt into because you like how it looks on you. It's central to the conflict between these three characters that each one is a survivor, but not necessarily the same kind.

Ayo:- One of the central questions in the novel is how difficult is it to decide what one would sacrifice to stay alive. If you had to, what would you sacrifice?

Kat:- When I was about 12 years old, I read a short story by Stephen King called "Survivor Type"; without going into detail, it involves a surgeon who ends up shipwrecked on a desert island where there's nothing to eat except his own body, and, well, you can probably guess the rest. I think about that story whenever someone asks me about extreme survival scenarios: would I cut my leg off to survive? Yes, but I think I'd draw the line at eating it. (Of course, this is easy for me to say now.)

Ayo:- Unreliable narrators also play a big and important part. Do you have any favourite unreliable narrators?

Kat:- The nameless narrator from Fight Club, Amy Dunne from Gone Girl, and Humbert Humbert from Lolita. 

Ayo:- There is a great sense of place in How To Survive in the Woods and the Appalachian Trail play a big part. Do you think that the story would have worked if they were not in such a rural place?

Kat:- The central premise of How to Survive in the Woods is a riff on the setup of a certain mid-century French film (I won't name it here for the sake of spoilers, but anyone who's seen it will know exactly what I'm talking about) — and I have no doubt that the drama between these characters could have played out just as well in a different setting. But that would have been a different story; for me, for this book, I always knew it would happen in the woods. 

Ayo:- How important is research and did you have to do much for How to Survive in the Woods?

Kat:- This book was born in the wilderness— I had the initial idea for the story while hiking to the very same pond where Emma, Logan, and Taylor spend their first night in the woods — and while I ultimately fudged some details of the trail here and there to better fit the story, it was very important to me that the setting and stakes feel real, especially to anyone who's spent time in the North Woods in Maine. So I did spend a lot of time hiking for this book, especially on and around the section of the Appalachian Trail where it takes place. I also had some subject matter experts for things I couldn't or didn't want to do myself, like apocalypse prepping, or mountaineering, or (most extreme of all) sleeping in a tent outside.

Ayo:- The book touches on themes focusing on emotional endurance, the morality of survival, and the dangers of toxic, controlling relationships. Was there a deliberate message that you were trying to convey about the characters' moral compasses?

Kat:- I think the great thing about fiction, apart from its entertainment value, is that it provides a place to ask questions about what it means to be human — who we are, what we do to each other — without needing to answer them fully or even necessarily at all. I'm draw to stories where some characters are more morally centered than others, but nobody is purely good or bad, and everyone is sympathetic — which is to say, you may not like what this person is doing, but you understand why they're doing it. I would say that How to Survive in the Woods is a place to explore these ideas and draw your own conclusions about them, if you're so inclined, but I would never tell anyone what those conclusions ought to be! 

Ayo:- What are you working on next?

Kat:- I'm at work on my next novel, which I'm trying to peck away at in between promoting this book and my work as a culture writer. I'd rather not share many more details this early in the process, but will say I'm looking forward to doing on-site research in a place where there is a zero percent chance of being attacked by a bear!

How to Survive in the Woods by Kat Rosenfield (Zaffre) Published on 25th June 2026

Emma Sharp knows the rules of survival. From being raised by a doomsday-fearing father and hardened by the startup world, she has learned how to endure - especially in her marriage to Logan Grant, a charismatic tyrant who keeps her under tight control. To Emma, her marriage is a cage: it keeps you in, but it also keeps you safe. Until it doesn't. When Emma forms an unexpected bond with Logan's former girlfriend, the two women form a plan to help Emma reclaim her life. Destination: the punishing final stretch of the Appalachian Trail. After all, bad things happen in the woods all the time. As the three venture deeper into Maine's backcountry, desire and dread curdle into something unpredictable, dark and deadly. Someone is lying. Someone is watching. And in the remote heart of the forest, someone is about to be lost . . . or found.

More information about Kat Rosenfield can be found on her website. You can also find her on Substack and on X @katrosenfield

Forthcoming books from Bonnier Zaffre

 May 2026

House of Two Pharaohs is by Wilbur Smith. Hidden in the shadows, an evil will rise . . .Piay, appointed Nomarch of Memphis by the God-Pharoah Rameses, has transformed his city, rebuilding the famous white walls, feeding the once starving citizens and returning the wealth plundered by the barbarian Hyksos. But when a murdered scribe is found sealed inside the city's newly-constructed vault - with the mark of Anubis, god of death, scrawled next to him in blood - panic tears through the people. Piay calls on the only man in Egypt he knows can discover the truth: his mentor, the great sage Taita. But soon after Taita's arrival in Memphis, the bloody mark of Anubis appears again.Taita and Piay are pitted against a criminal mastermind turned warlord. The pair's adversary has a simple, brutal aim: restore the Red Pretender's kingdom - and obliterate Rameses's forces. Drawn into a desperate battle of wits, can Taita and Piay finally reunite the two kingdoms? Or will the shadow of the Red Pretender tear Egypt apart once again? Who will survive the battle in the house of the two pharaohs?

Dark Horse is by Felix Francis. Imogen Duffy is a young Irish jockey, whose fledgling career is given a huge boost when she wins a prestigious horse race at the Cheltenham Steeplechasing Festival. But all is not well in her life. She has a violent and controlling boyfriend, also a jockey, and he becomes increasingly jealous of her success. As a result, she tries to break off their relationship, but he won't take 'no' for an answer. He attacks her, and claims that he'd rather kill her than allow her to leave him. Imogen flees her home in Ireland, coming to England to get away from him, and to continue her riding career at a racing stable in Lambourn, where she finds increasing success. But the abusive boyfriend follows her across the Irish Sea, stalks her, steals from her, attacks her again, and then tries to ruin both her career and her reputation. Imogen's desperate father turns to Sid Halley for help, and Sid reluctantly agrees to investigate, but then finds that he is also being stalked and threatened. Can Sid find out what the hell is going on, and before it is too late?

1829. Mahikeng Mission Station. Highveld, Southern Africa. The warrior king is dead. Ralph Courtney and Ann Waite have escaped. From the chaos and bloodshed that consumed the Zulu nation after the murder of King Shaka. From Ralph's enemies. From the man who would have enslaved Ann and sold her to the highest bidder. Now Ralph and Ann, and their son Harry, are safe. Rescued by the missionaries at Mahikeng, they can finally dream of a new life. Or can they . . . ? For what awaits them is a journey of unimaginable horrors, that will take Ralph from the bandit outposts on the border of Cape Colony, across oceans, and into the dark heart of the brutal system by which the British Crown imposes obedience on its subjects, while Ann is drawn inexorably back into her old life in Zululand. Can Ralph finally lay to rest the ghosts that haunt him? Can Ann overcome the enemy she believed they'd escaped forever? Can Harry make his peace with the secrets and lies that have shaped his life? On a blood-soaked battlefield, as a new nation is forged in violence and slaughter, all three will be given a choice - to succumb to the past, or to stand and fight for their family's future. Vengeance is by Wilbur Smith and Tom Harper.

June 2026

Never Be Found is by Jo Spain. She helped him disappear. She'll wish she hadn't . . .  There is a chilling phenomenon in Japan known as Johatsu - people who vanish voluntarily from their lives. It's said 100,000 people per year are Johatsu, and an entire industry has sprung up to support those who choose to. Life is hard. For some people, it's just too much. That's what I thought when I brought the concept to England. People will disappear anyway. What if I could help them? So I pack their belongings discreetly, create new identities, forge documents, give directions to the cities and towns where the 'night-mover' can live anonymously. It's just a business. I never saw it as a shameful act. I've helped people flee from abusive relationships, from work pressure, from debt, from unfulfilled lives. People in need. I consider what I do to be honourable. Until now that is. Because I've just learned that I'm not absent of responsibility. That I am capable of doing a terrible thing. That it's not just a business. I helped somebody flee from a crime. From the police. I evaporated a murderer. And if I don't find him, I can't live with what he might do next.

Eight months after helping to prevent a devastating attack on Britain's nuclear deterrent, ex-SAS hero David Hawkins is down on his luck. But when an act of reckless violence costs him his job, Hawkins is recruited by MI6 for a highly sensitive mission. The job: infiltrate a gang of cut-throat mercenaries led by a notorious former Regiment officer. Six believes this team is planning a once-in-a-century heist. Now they want Hawkins to find out who else is involved - and why. But as he gets closer to the target, Hawkins uncovers an even more deadly plot. One that threatens to upend the world order and trigger a terrifying new conflict between East and West . . . Breakout is by Chris Ryan.

Blood Root is by Jill Johnson. Lies are poison . . . but so is the truth. Professor Eustacia Rose has been arrested. Her charge: possession of poisonous plants without the appropriate licence. But behind the scenes, ulterior motives are at play... Locked in a windowless cell, Eustacia begins to uncover memories she didn't know she had. Her father's work on a mysterious academic paper. The night he was arrested, accused of murder. And a woman with long black hair that Eustacia does not recognise. Linking all the memories is Marcus Smith, her father's unscrupulous assistant, a man she thought was long dead. Marcus ruined her father's career, stole his research and vanished after a heated confrontation. But the past never stays buried, as Eustacia knows all too well. With the help of DCI Roberts and determined allies, Eustacia races against time to expose the deceptions of the past and solve a fresh murder before it's too late. This is her only chance to clear her father's name and settle a decades-old score, but the truth can be a bitter pill to swallow...

Jane Hepburn is still recovering from solving the murder at last year's Killer Lines festival when she is dragged into another very bookish murder. When a young editorial assistant is found dead at her friend's launch in a famous Cecil Court bookshop, Jane must use all her knowledge and experience as a writer of crime fiction to solve the mystery. A Killer Plot is by E C Nevin.

A Girl's Girl is by Emma Robertson. You've got everything she ever wanted... At school, Darcy Starr was the girl everyone wanted to be - effortlessly beautiful, confident and most importantly, popular. Two decades later, she still appears to have the perfect life: a devoted husband, a beautiful daughter and a picture-perfect suburban home, until her old school friend Alex Rigby reappears. Newly divorced, post-glow-up and harbouring a mysterious vendetta, Alex is about to turn Darcy's world upside down. On a group holiday to celebrate a friend's wedding, secrets, lies and old rivalries bubble to the surface, threatening to change everything Darcy thought she knew about her past. . . and herself.

Emma Sharp knows the rules of survival. From being raised by a doomsday-fearing father and hardened by the startup world, she has learned how to endure - especially in her marriage to Logan Grant, a charismatic tyrant who keeps her under tight control. To Emma, her marriage is a cage: it keeps you in, but it also keeps you safe. Until it doesn't. When Emma forms an unexpected bond with Logan's former girlfriend, the two women form a plan to help Emma reclaim her life. Destination: the punishing final stretch of the Appalachian Trail. After all, bad things happen in the woods all the time. As the three venture deeper into Maine's backcountry, desire and dread curdle into something unpredictable, dark and deadly. Someone is lying. Someone is watching. And in the remote heart of the forest, someone is about to be lost . . . or found. How to Survive in the Woods is by Kat Rosenfield.

July 2026

The Kill Switch is by Robert Peston. Journalist Gil Peck is back; in therapy, married to Jess - now editor of the Financial Chronicle - and still driven by the need to prove a point that he can't quite identify. Yet all is not well at home. Jess is fed up with Gil's obsession with his job, and she's kicked him out of their home.  But Gil has never let anything get in the way of a scoop. He and Jess have landed the interview of a lifetime with the Prime Minister, Stella Barnsbury, for the podcast they co-host, and Gil has no intention of missing it. During the interview, Barnsbury begins to pale, her coughing intensifying before she finally collapses. Within 48 hours, the Prime Minister is dead. Gil is used to landing the biggest stories. But as the last person to see the PM alive, he's now a main character. And when foul play is confirmed, he's also a prime suspect . . .

It's 1961 and the Queen is planning her state visit to Italy aboard Britannia. But before she goes, an unreliable witness claims to have seen a brutal murder from the royal train. Did it really happen, and could the victim be a missing friend of Princess Margaret's new husband, Tony Armstrong Jones? The Queen and her assistant private secretary, Joan McGraw, get to work on their second joint investigation, little imagining that this time it will take them all the way to Venice in a tale of spies, lies and Cold War skulduggery. The Queen Who Came in From The Cold is by Sophia Bennett.

The Woman Who Wasn't There is by William Hussey. Bestselling crime author Marian Lane is surrounded by adoring readers when she learns that her husband Dane is dead. Marian returns home in shock to discover a stranger on her doorstep. A woman who not only claims she's Marian's biggest fan but says that she comforted Dane in his final moments. At first, this woman, Mary, is a source of comfort. Until she admits Dane confessed a secret. One she can't quite remember; one Marian is desperate to learn. But Mary is a storyteller too. And though Marian knows every twist in the genre, she won't see this one coming . ..

Their dream holiday is about to turn into a nightmare...When upscale travel agent Allegra is offered a complimentary stay for her extended family at a new, high-end woodland retreat, she's delighted to discover it has everything you could ask for: luxury tree house accommodation, activities for the kids, spa treatments, fine dining - what could be more relaxing? But relationships within the group are fraught, and an impromptu family celebration seems only to worsen matters. Frustrated with her family, and taken for granted by her husband for years, Allegra forms an unexpected bond with someone new, and things begin to go wrong... Resentments grow and tensions rise, it seems the family's problems might run deeper than anyone suspected. When the warning signs become dangerous, the family realise they haven't been asking the right questions: how did they really come to be here? And which of them won't be going home? The Family Break is by Ruth Irons

August 2026

Flashpoint is by Wilbur Smith and David Churchill. 1943, America SOE's Saffron Courtney is back in New York, but even as she recovers from her mission to Washington, events on the other side of the Atlantic are making her return to England inevitable. The War Office need someone to extract an asset - a Jewish scientist, Caleb Ezra, a man vital to the war effort - from his hideaway on the besieged island of Leros. But first there is a debt to settle, and the mob do not wait - even for a decorated war hero . . .  1946, Kenya. Back in her beloved homeland, and reunited with her lover-now-husband Gerhard von Meerbach, Saffron thinks that she might finally have found the peace that she craves. The war is over. But when she's paid a visit by an English operative who blackmails her with accusations of Gerhard's involvement in Nazi atrocities, Saffron has no choice but to return to the US at his bidding. With not only her life, but her family at stake, Saffron must track down Ezra once more - before it's too late . . .

October 2026 

It's 1966 and Queen Elizabeth II is touring the Caribbean aboard the Royal Yacht Britannia. Her schedule is measured in ten-minute increments for five weeks, and nothing can afford to go wrong. But something does. Early in the trip, the Queen's new diary secretary, Pamela Sinclair, is found dead in her cabin. Rumours abound about how she died, but the truth is, nobody really knows. However, this time, suspicion falls on the Queen's longstanding confidante, Joan McGraw. The royal yacht is a busy, working ship, from the admiral at the bridge to the chefs in the galleys and the engineers attending to the turbines. It houses a crew of hundreds. Is one of them a murderer? The Queen and Joan must use every skill and trick to solve the mystery while seeming to glide, unflustered, from one be-hatted engagement to the next, as the multi-island visit unfolds with the whole world watching. Death on the Royal Yacht is by S J Bennett.

Getting away with Murder with Lynda La Plante CBE.

Monday 3^rd September saw a good number of guests join Lynda La Plante CBE at a star studded launch of her memoir Getting Away With Murder at the Balcony Bar at the (British Film Institute) BFI. Crime Fiction attendees including Maxim Jakubowski, Barry Forshaw, Megan Davis, Fidelis Morgan, Mark Sanderson and myself.

Also in attendance was Celia Imrie who is soon to be seen in Richard Osman's The Thursday Club Murder. Richard E Grant, Glynis Barber and Michael Brandon of Dempsey and Makepeace fame, Twiggy, television presenter Penny Smith and a vast number of others from the world of film and television.

Getting Away With Murder is Lynda La Plante's long awaited memoir which many of us have been looking forward to for quite sometime. Lynda has had a long career and whilst she is best known for introducing us to Helen Mirren in Prime Suspect, she has also been involved in other crime related programmes such as Z-Cars,

The Sweeney, The Professionals, The Governor, Trial & Retribution and Bergerac to name a few. She also wrote the six part robbery series The Widows in 1983. Widows was remade in 2018 as a US set film and was directed by Steve McQueen. Lynda is currently the author of over 50 novels the most recent being Whole Life Sentence in 2024.

Lynda La Plante has been given a vast number of awards and they include a CBE in 2008,. an Edgar Award in 1993, two Emmy Awards in 1993 and 1994. The Dennis Potter BAFTA Award for Screen Writing in 2001. In 2009 she was inducted into the Crime Thriller Awards Hall of Fame . In 2013 she was awarded an Honorary Fellowship with the Forensic Science Society (FSSoc), and most recently in 2024 she was awarded the CWA Diamond Dagger.

Getting Away With Murder: My Unexpected Life on Page, Stage and Screen by Lynda La Plante (Bonnier Zaffre) Out Now

Lynda La Plante has lived an illustrious life and has the stories to prove it. From her early days in Liverpool to her unexpected acceptance into RADA, joining peers Anthony Hopkins, John Hurt and Ian McShane; from beginning her scriptwriting career with Widows and Prime Suspect and becoming a BAFTA award-winning writer and producer, Lynda's tales of stage and screen will have you gasping in shock as well as laughing in the aisles.  Lynda has an important story to tell, one of breaking down stereotypes and blazing a trail for others along the way. Starting her writing career in the eighties, an era of entrenched gender inequality both in front of and behind the camera, Lynda faced innumerable obstacles to her vision.  Getting Away with Murder shows how she overcame them to create generation-defining television and become a multi-million-copy Sunday Times bestselling author. Still at the very top of her game, Lynda shares her story on her own terms, in a way that's guaranteed to make you laugh, cry and be inspired to live a life without limits.

The Holiday: from page to screen by T M Logan

A friend and fellow author once offered me two pieces of received wisdom about having your book optioned for film or TV.

The first thing – obviously – is that it’s a huge buzz. Time to pat yourself on the back, indulge in a little fantasy casting of lead roles while quaffing that prosecco. Getting optioned is a cause for celebration in itself: someone out there likes your book enough to want to bring it to life in a whole new medium. Enjoy it!

The second thing? The road from page to screen is a long and tricky one.

Which is to say, even when a lot of smart people put a lot of hard work into a project, even with the expansion of TV choices out there, the competition is still fierce. The odds are tough. To a certain extent, all the stars need to align to get your project to the finish line. 

This particular piece of received wisdom was confirmed by my first two books, Lies and 29 Seconds, both of which were optioned for the screen after they came out in paperback. So when my third novel, The Holiday, was also optioned for TV I was delighted – even if I had learned to temper my expectations a little. But I loved the drive and vision of Projector, the production company that had taken the option, and I felt they would give it the best chance of getting it onto the screen.

And maybe that third novel was third time lucky… because The Holiday has now been made into a television drama starring Jill Halfpenny, for the primetime slot on Channel 5 (March 1st-4th 2022). 

For me, it all started in the summer of 2017. I had just taken voluntary redundancy from my day job at the University of Nottingham and was mulling over options for a third book: I had this vague idea for a story about four women who go away on holiday together and even though they’ve been friends for years, something happens which fractures that relationship – forever. The story would be set in the south of France, in Autignac, a charming little village we’d visited for our family holiday a few years previously.

My (not very inspired) working title was Four Friends. 

I submitted the first draft in summer 2018 and worked on edits through the autumn. After some discussion with my publisher, Bonnier, the suggestion was made that The Holiday might be a better title. It did exactly what it said on the tin, as they say. Fair enough. 

The novel, when it was published in July 2019, had the extra boost of being picked as a Richard & Judy Book Club selection. Without a doubt, that helped to lift it into the Sunday Times paperback bestsellers list and keep it there for ten straight weeks. And perhaps it also helped draw the attention of production companies interested in talking about a TV adaptation.

With Projector onboard early in 2020, the project began to take shape. In February, I had an initial conversation with the brilliant screenwriter, Michael Crompton, about his thoughts and ideas on translating the story for the screen. This was all brand new for me, talking about scripts and characters and maybe even the prospect of filming later that year – it was all incredibly exciting.

And then lockdown happened.

With everything up in the air due to the pandemic, I assumed development would be put on hold for the foreseeable future. And so it was with a sense of disbelief, at the end of 2020, that I received the news that the project had been greenlit for production. Somehow, despite the difficulties of that first lockdown year, the stars had aligned – and I realised this was actually going to happen.

By March 2021 it had been cast, with Jill Halfpenny and Owen McDonnell leading a great line-up of actors. I had the memorable – if slightly surreal – experience of sitting in on a full cast read-through of the first two episodes, on Zoom. The following month they were off to Malta for a seven-week shoot at the most amazing villa and other fantastic locations on the island. Covid quarantine rules meant I wasn’t able to make it out there during the shoot, but I had online access to the daily rushes and could watch along as each episode took shape.

I love how it’s turned out. To be honest, I’m still pinching myself that my little book has spawned a four-part TV drama and a write-up in the Radio Times that my mum’s going to frame. I still can’t watch the Channel 5 trailer without a huge grin on my face. 

And needless to say, I’ll be keeping everything crossed for my brand new thriller, The Curfew…

TM Logan’s new thriller, The Curfew, is published by Bonnier Zaffre on 17th March 2022

Do you know where your kids are? I should have known something was wrong. I should have sensed it. Felt it in the air, like the build-up of pressure before a thunderstorm, that heavy, loaded calm. The curfew. Andy and Laura are good parents. They tell their son Connor that he can go out with friends to celebrate completing his exams, but he must be home by midnight. The lie. When Connor misses his curfew, it sets off a series of events that will change the lives of five families forever. The truth? Because five teenagers went into the woods that night, but only four came out. And telling the truth might mean losing everything... what would you do?

More information about T M Logan and his books can be found on his website. You can also follow him on Twitter @TMLoganAuthor. You can also find him on Facebook.

Zaffre signs global crime-writing phenomenon Lars Kepler

 Zaffre, the flagship fiction imprint of Bonnier Books UK, has acquired The Mirror Man and two further ‘Joona Linna’ titles from global writing phenomenon Lars Kepler. 

Kate Parkin, M.D. of Adult Trade Publishing for Bonnier Books UK and Ben Willis, Publishing Director at Zaffre, acquired UK and Commonwealth rights from Niclas Salomonsson at Salomonsson Agency. 

Lars Kepler is the pseudonym for the critically acclaimed husband and wife team Alexandra Coelho Ahndoril and Alexander Ahndoril, authors of the number one internationally bestselling Joona Linna series, which has sold over 250,000 copies in the UK (TCM). With over 15 million copies sold worldwide and outstanding reviews from Time magazine, New York Times, Sunday Times, The Times, Daily Mail and more, this is a major acquisition for the Zaffre imprint. 

The first publication from Lars Kepler will be The Mirror Man, which follows a detective on the trail of a kidnapper who makes his victims’ worst nightmares a reality. This is a dark, compulsive thriller set at a breakneck pace with writing that delves into the depths of the human psyche. The Mirror Man will be one of Zaffre’s lead crime titles for 2022. 

Lars Kepler said: ‘We have only positive things to say about our former English publisher, but when we met the Zaffre team it was just like when you meet someone for the first time and feel in your heart that you will become good friends. The conversations were filled with energy, laughter and plans for the future. We are convinced that this is not only the beginning of a long friendship, but also something great for our books and our readers.’

Niclas Salomonsson said: ‘I couldn’t be more excited about collaborating with Bonnier Books UK

and the Zaffre team on Lars Kepler’s brilliant authorship. I feel very confident with Perminder Mann and her outstanding team and am thrilled to see The Mirror Man and the following Joona Linna novels be published by them.’’

Managing Director Kate Parkin said: ‘Like millions of other fans round the world, Lars Kepler’s dark, pitch perfect crime novels have kept me on the edge of my seat long into the night. We are enormously proud to be bringing the most compelling crime thriller voice of a generation to Bonnier Books UK and we can’t wait to introduce his latest novel The Mirror Man to readers and listeners. I can promise them the thrill ride of their life…’

Publishing Director Ben Willis said: ‘I still remember the visceral terror I experienced when reading Richard and Judy pick The Hypnotist a decade ago, and The Mirror Man is every bit as brilliant. Kepler does something unique: creates disturbing, chilling, gripping crime stories that are also beautifully written. I can’t wait to work with Alexandra and Alexander to bring their sales to the next level.’

The Mirror Man will be published in the UK and Ireland 23rd June 2022 in hardback, audio, and eBook.

Author photo credit: Ewa-Marie Rundquist

Claire Gradidge on the Inspiration for Treachery at Hursley Park House

 

Inspiration strikes at strange times – and in strange ways. For Treachery at Hursley Park House, the second novel in my WWII series of crime novels set in and around the small market town of Romsey, it came as a vivid image of the opening scene. A party is being held in a stately home on the longest night of the year. Music, laughter, voices drift out into the frosty park where a young man lies drowned, a fragment of paper clutched in his hand. 

I’ve always loved the austere glamour of a winter landscape. Though I had no idea where the image had sprung from, I had already decided on a winter setting for the book – specifically 1942/3, when the tide of war was beginning to turn in Britain’s favour. A further influence may have been my fascination with the idea of the outsider – in this book, it’s not only the dead boy who is left out in the cold. 

I knew I needed to find a setting for the story that would take my readers further afield than Romsey. While my first novel, The Unexpected Return of Josephine Fox, (published as a result of winning the 2019 Richard and Judy Search for a Bestseller) had been set almost entirely in the town where I was born and brought up, for the second novel, I wanted to stretch my characters’ wings – and their roles. But the rest, at this stage, was still a mystery. What had happened, and how would my investigators, Jo (Josephine) Fox and coroner Bram Nash get involved?

Then came the part of writing that seduces me every time – researching the history, locality and real-life accounts I needed to provide the background for my story. 

Hursley Park House – approximately six miles from Romsey – had been requisitioned late in 1940 by the Ministry of Aircraft Production following the air raids of September that year which had effectively destroyed the Woolston and Itchen works in Southampton where the Spitfire was designed and manufactured. Production of the aircraft was moved into innumerable small factories and works throughout the region, while the design and management team of Supermarine were relocated to Hursley. This real-life history provided me with the perfect location for my opening scene: a Victorian sunken garden with a central pool. 

In my story, Jo is recruited to work undercover, investigating the leak of secrets from Hursley Park. Meanwhile, Bram becomes involved in finding out more about the young man’s death: not an accidental drowning as originally ruled, but a murder. Though their investigations begin separately, they soon interconnect, each discovering vital elements of the evidence they need to identify and track down the traitor – and killer.

A play, Howard Brenton’s The Shadow Factory – and a Heritage Open Day at Hursley Park House (now the HQ of IBM) played an important part in the development of the story, giving me fresh insights into the history of Supermarine’s occupation of Hursley House. I was lucky that both came before the first Covid lockdown was imposed – while the ‘Stay at home’ message was good for my writing output, it did put a hitch in some of the research. Like the protagonists of my story, I had to ask myself ‘Is your journey really necessary?’ Instead of travelling, I was able to find out about patterns of habitation and trace the byways that connected the various village settings of the story by studying old maps (courtesy of the National Library of Scotland), an unexpected pleasure for someone with relatively little sense of direction! 

My first book had been written as part of a PhD thesis, and I’d had the luxury of a relaxed academic deadline in which to write – and rewrite – the novel. Winning the Richard & Judy prize – and getting the book ready for commercial publication – introduced me to the keener pressures of real-life publishing deadlines. I was hugely supported by my agent Rowan Lawton and then editor Katherine Armstrong in what felt like a whirlwind of edits and page proofs. It turned out to be good practice for what lay ahead. While I had always planned The Unexpected Return to be the first of a series, it wasn’t until June 2020 that my publisher, Bonnier, confirmed they wanted a further two books featuring Bram and Jo. With a deadline for the ms of Treachery at Hursley Park House set for the end of 2020, it was as well my inciting image – that drowned boy in a winter garden – proved such a strong foundation to build on.

I’m currently working on the third novel in the series, set around D Day. In this, the action of the book is once again focused on Romsey. Jo will have some huge challenges, both personal and professional, to overcome if she is to bring a killer to justice once more. 

Treachery at Hursley Park House by Claire Gradidge (Bonnier Zaffre) Out Now DECEMBER 1942. As the war rages on, the accidental death of a young man is almost unremarkable. Except this young man was patrolling the grounds of Hursley Park House, where teams are designing crucial modifications to the Spitfire - and he was found clutching part of a blueprint. JANUARY 1943. Josephine Fox is given a code name and a mission as she is seconded to Hursley: uncover the network responsible for information leaks to the enemy. And when the dead man's father visits Bram Nash convinced that his son was innocent of espionage and the victim of murder, her friend is also drawn into the investigation. But as Jo and Bram circle closer to the truth, danger is closing in around them...

The Threat from Within by Mara Timon

 

A man enters a café with his right hand dug deep into his trouser pocket. It’s the way my first book, City of Spies begins and the way that during WW2, a Special Operations Executive agent would silently let his contacts know that the Germans were onto him. They had turned the agent into an unwilling trap, waiting to see who would approach him, widening their net before making arrests.

On 27 August 1942, SOE agent Peter Churchill (code-name “Raoul”) was parachuted into the south of France to organise the “Spindle" network. It began to attract other Resistance members and SOE agents. In early spring ’43, SOE agent Francis Cammaerts (code-name “Roger”) briefly visited and assessed the network as likely to be penetrated by the Germans. He was right, as the network soon found out.

Churchill’s courier, Odette Sansom (code-name “Lise”) was approached by a man who called himself Henri. Over a civilised cup of acorn coffee, he pleasantly explained that he was working for the Abwehr, German military intelligence, but claimed he was disillusioned. He said he was working with a contact she had, André Marsac, and although Marsac had been arrested they were trying to bring about the end of the war. He even showed her a letter where Marsac seemingly urged her to work with him.

Sensing something was off, Odette politely declined Henri/Bardet’s offer, informed SOE headquarters on Baker Street.

She was right about that. Hugo Bleicher, a senior non-commissioned officer in the Abwehr had feigned disillusionment to get close to Marsac and Marsac’s associate Roger Bardet. Bleicher arrested Marsac and persuaded Bardet to work for him as a double agent (Henri).

Here Odette made a very brave but very large error: she disobeyed SOE’s orders to flee. Instead, she remained and waited for Churchill. Bleicher arrested them and both were tortured before being sent to concentration camps, Odette to Ravenbruck and Churchill to Sachsenhausen.

Bardet didn’t stop there. He betrayed the Inventor network, leading to the arrests in late ‘43 of its organiser, wireless operator, and courier (all of whom were executed), resulting in the collapse of the network. In ’44, betrayed the head of the Donkeyman circuit, whom Bleicher also arrested, and subsequently executed.

It might read like an espionage thriller, but this was a true story; one with tragic consequences.

Who can you trust, when you’re behind enemy lines?

This is the strapline for my second book, Resistance, which has an element of betrayal from within the Resistance. While the Germans might not have been effective with their agents sent to Britain (all were captured, some turned to work for the Allies), but German Intelligence networks were incredibly effective within France.

In City of Spies as well as Resistance, double agents infiltrated Resistance networks. While the people I described in my books were fiction, unfortunately people like Bardet who were willing to betray their country and their comrades were all too real.

And if a SOE agent or Resistance fighter couldn’t be turned into a willing double-agent through money or threats, they could be used as a trap to attract others. 

Or they could be tortured and perhaps give up a name of someone else.

Knowledge of the location of an allied drop, could result not only in arrests and executions, as well as the Germans taking custody of the goods or personnel involved in that drop.

So, imagine it’s 1943 and you’re a new agent for Special Operations Executive. Maybe you were recruited because you spoke French, or maybe you volunteered. On Day 1 of your training, you are told that only half of you are expected to survive. You look at the men and women around you. You’re apprehensive but remain in place. 

You spend the next months training. You learn weaponry and weaponless combat. You learn to blow things up, how to follow someone and how to hide in plain sight. You learn a number of skills that you never dreamed of, and then you’re sent behind enemy lines.

Maybe you went by ship, maybe you parachuted out of a plane, or maybe you landed in a Lysander or some other small aircraft. Regardless, you hope that the reception committee hasn’t been compromised. 

If you survive getting to France, you might start forging links with other members of the Resistance. Some you tentatively begin to trust.

But trust is a commodity you can’t afford.

Because who can you trust, when you’re behind enemy lines, and not all your enemies are German?

Resistance by Mara Timon (Bonnier Zaffre) Out Now.

Three women. One mission. Enemies everywhere. May 1944. When spy Elisabeth de Mornay, code name Cecile, notices a coded transmission from an agent in the field does not bear his usual signature, she suspects his cover has been blown - something that is happening with increasing frequency. With the situation in Occupied France worsening and growing fears that the Resistance has been compromised, Cecile is ordered behind enemy lines. Having rendezvoused with her fellow agents, Leonie and Dominique, together they have one mission: help the Resistance destabilise German operations to pave the way for the Normandy landings. But the life of a spy is never straightforward, and the in-fighting within the Resistance makes knowing who to trust ever more difficult. With their lives on the line, all three women will have to make decisions that could cost them everything - for not all their enemies are German.

More information about Mara Timon can be found o her website. You can also follow her on Twitter @MaraTimon and on Facebook.

A Q & A with David Fennell

 

Ayo:- The Art of Death is your first foray into adult fiction as you have written a number of Young Adult books. What made you decide to leave YA behind and write a police procedural featuring a serial killer and will you ever go back to writing YA books?

David:- Good question. I had written crime before I started writing YA, however, I hadn’t quite found my feet there and abandoned what I was working on. SLEEPER is my first published novel, a YA historical urban fantasy story, which I never thought would ever get picked up. The sequel is set two years later, when the protagonists are entering adulthood, and there is a recent published short story set ten years on from that. I’m proud of the SLEEPER series. They cross genres and follow the lives of the protagonists from the age sixteen through to adulthood. Both novels were shortlisted for awards, including the Wilbur Smith Prize, but neither sold very well. That said, I’m not ready to leave that world just yet and will revisit it one day. To answer the first part of your question, returning to crime was always on the cards. I was waiting for the right time and the right concept, and so THE ART OF DEATH was born.

Ayo:- Who or what was the inspiration for The Art of Death?

David:- Two inspirations: My partner, David, and a 1972 Spanish horror film called La Cabina. If you’ve seen the movie and read THE ART OF DEATH, you will understand what I mean. 

Ayo:- How did you go about doing your research for The Art of Death? 

David:- The main areas for research were around policing, forensics and murder. I read a lot of books, manuals and articles related to these subjects whilst being mindful that this book should not be bogged down with technical jargon or police protocol. Character and story are, and remain, my key focus. I write books to entertain people and perhaps terrify them too.

Ayo:- How do you write? Do you prefer writing in silence or do you have music on in the background? If you do have music on what type of music does it tend to be?

David:- I do listen to music and this is always movie soundtracks or classical. I can’t have words singing in my ears. Too distracting, plus I’ll sing along and get nowhere with my writing. 

Ayo:- The Art of Death is about a serial killer have you any favourite fictional serial killers? If so who are they and why?

David:- This question made me smile and raised an eyebrow. I’m picturing a dreamy poster of a serial murderer on my office wall, which is weird, but funny. I’m not a fan boy of serial killers, for obvious reasons. I have a favourite series, which is Thomas Harris’ Hannibal Lecter books, so I suppose Lecter is my poster boy.

Ayo:- Did you have any intention of writing a series? 

David:- Yes. I’m motivated to expand the imaginary world and the characters within it. That is one advantage of writing a series.

Ayo:- What made you decide to write most of it from Grace's point of view?

David:- I’ve always enjoyed reading and watching female leads triumph over adversity in environments that men think they control. Also, a female detective was the right fit for this novel. Pitting her against a savvy serial murderer. I couldn’t resist it.

Ayo:- There is different types of art in The Art of Death but mainly Street Art and Contemporary Art. Do you have a preference when it comes to art? Have you a favourite artist

David:- I like British artist, James Cauty, and have a few of his Stamps of Mass Destruction original prints. I also like a Dutch artist called Handiedan, who designs gorgeous erotic collages in mixed media.

Ayo:- A lot of the book is set in Central London specifically around Covent Garden. Was this deliberate? 

David:- It’s an area that I know very well and love too, so yes. I tried to do my best to bring out the cityscape as I see it and wanted the streets to stand out on the page in all their grandeur and decay.

Ayo:- What is the more important for you characterisation or plot or do you try and have a happy medium between the two?

David:- Character will, or should, always drive plot, so character first with an immense focus on as entertaining and gripping a story as I can write.

Ayo:- Do you plot before hand or do you just let the writing flow?

David:- I usually have a plan and know what direction I’m going, however, this always changes. In truth, the reality is my plan is more a collection of ideas.

Ayo:- How would you like your characters to be remembered?

David:- If readers are touched in anyway by my characters and what happens to them, then that is enough for me. I will have succeeded.

Ayo:- How did the lockdown affect your writing?

David:- At first it didn’t. I was use to working from home so there was no impact. Lockdown 3.0 is a different matter. It’s winter, it’s post-Christmas, the weather is cold, the light gloomy, and like everyone else I am trying to stay COVID free and alive. Productivity is at an all-time low.

Ayo:- You have very strong views about cyber security and it does show in The Art of Death. Do you think that more can be done about it.

David:- The killer in The Art of Death uses social media to catfish and capture his victims. This is a subject I really wanted to explore in this book. Our data is out there for anyone to view. Anyone with a Facebook account can find out a lot about a person by viewing their profile. Data privacy is so VERY important right now. Anyone of us who has social media is surrendering some or all of their private information to be harvested and used by firms such as Facebook, who use it to shape the opinions and emotions of the individual and populations. Without sounding like a conspiracy theorist, there is so much more going on with our personal data than we understand. So yes, there is a lot that can be done, but that’s a whole different discussion. 

Ayo:- What are you working on at the moment and can you tell us about it

David:- I’m working on the follow up to The Art of Death. I’d love to tell you more about it, but not right now. Next time. 

The Art of Death by David Fennell (Published by Bonnier Zaffre)

Death is an art, and he is the master . . . Three glass cabinets appear in London's Trafalgar Square containing a gruesome art installation: the floating corpses of three homeless men. Shock turns to horror when it becomes clear that the bodies are real. The cabinets are traced to @nonymous - an underground artist shrouded in mystery who makes a chilling promise: MORE WILL FOLLOW. Eighteen years ago, Detective Inspector Grace Archer escaped a notorious serial killer. Now, she and her caustic DS, Harry Quinn, must hunt down another. As more bodies appear at London landmarks and murders are livestreamed on social media, their search for @nonymous becomes a desperate race against time. But what Archer doesn't know is that the killer is watching their every move - and he has his sights firmly set on her . . . He is creating a masterpiece. And she will be the star of his show.

Espionage and the Real-Life City of Spies by Mara Timon

When I tell people that my debut novel is set in Lisbon during WW2, most people give me a confused look. ‘Why Lisbon?’ they ask. ‘Wasn’t Portugal neutral during the war?’

It was. Well, kind of. 

Officially, Portugal was neutral, with a dictator as opposed to democracy as he was to communism. Dr António de Oliveira Salazar’s policies were conservative, nationalist, and Catholic and while he distanced himself from German fascism/Nazism, he did consider Germany the last bastion against communism, so maintaining any semblance of neutrality was a balancing act that was perhaps necessary for its survival: lean too close to the Allies, and Germany would give Spain the green light to invade. Lean too close to Germany and Portugal could kiss some, if not all of their colonies goodbye (all of which eventually gained their freedom, but that’s a different discussion). 

Wartime Lisbon became a real-life city of spies. It was a magnet for exiled European aristocrats, businessmen hoping to capitalise off the war (from relative safety), desperate refugees fleeing the Nazis (some with help from Portuguese diplomats like Aristides de Sousa Mendes and Carlos Sampaio Garrido), artists, smugglers, diplomats, and of course spies.

The German and British embassies were more-or-less across the street from each other at the time and several real-life spies operated out of Lisbon, or visited the city to meet their handlers. The most famous of which was the charismatic triple agent, Duško Popov, whose lifestyle (and actions) some say was the inspiration for Ian Fleming’s 007. It shouldn’t surprise, then, that Popov’s codename was Tricycle – officially because he was running a trio of double agents, although some claim that it was because he always had a beautiful woman trailing on either side of him. 

He had charm and glamour, as well as a keen eye for intelligence. He was, in fact, a lot more glamourous than the Spaniard, Juan Pujol García, (codename Garbo) who, despite his degree in chicken farming, hated chickens. Garbo was recruited as a double agent in Lisbon to pass on misinformation to the Germans (although operated mostly from the United Kingdom). 

I imagine that someone living in Lisbon during the time could go to the cinema and watch the German newsreels one day, and the next see the British one depict the same event with a different outcome. It must have been a field day for the intelligence communities.

Likewise, there really was a “secret” passageway between Lisbon’s main train station and the Hotel Avenida next door. Imagine how easy this made the process of sneaking into the city for a dodgy meeting, and exiting the country before anyone knew they were in the country!

And let’s pause and talk about the oldest profession. Let’s follow the “what-ifs”. What if, when sailors dock in port they visit a house of ill repute? Maybe after months at sea, and a battle or three, they get far too comfortable in the presence of a local woman.

What if that local woman is passing on any useful information to the Germans. And what if they in turn, pass on news of a potential target to the Luftwaffe base in the South of France? See where I’m going? And what if this wasn’t fiction? 

Sure, it was espionage on Portuguese soil, and Salazar’s surveillance and state defence police, the Polícia de Vigilância e de Defesa do Estado (PVDE), officially maintained a neutral stance towards foreign espionage – as long as it didn’t intervene in Portugal’s internal policies… In June 1943 when the Criminal Code was finally amended to criminalise espionage of foreigners against 3rd parties in Portugal, although in fact, the practice lasted long past ’43.

With all this going on, how could Lisbon not emerge as its own character? 

In City of Spies, my debut thriller, Special Operations Executive agent Elisabeth de Mornay (codename Cécile) had to identify and break a German espionage ring targeting Allied ships before more British servicemen die. Under the guise of Solange Verin, a Frenchwoman of independent means, she gathers intelligence from friend and foe, forging links with the very people who she’s been fighting. The closer she comes to discovering the truth, the greater the risk grows. But in a city where no one is who they claim to be, who can she trust?

City of Spies will be published by Zaffre in September 2020.

LISBON, 1943: When her cover is blown, SOE agent Elisabeth de Mornay flees Paris. Pursued by the Gestapo, she makes her way to neutral Lisbon, where Europe's elite rub shoulders with diplomats, businessmen, smugglers, and spies. There she receives new orders - and a new identity. Posing as wealthy French widow Solange Verin, Elisabeth must infiltrate a German espionage ring targeting Allied ships, before more British servicemen are killed. The closer Elisabeth comes to discovering the truth, the greater the risk grows. With a German officer watching her every step, it will take all of Elisabeth's resourcefulness and determination to complete her mission. But in a city where no one is who they claim to be, who can she trust. 

Information about Mara Timon can be found on her website.

You can also follow her on Twitter @maratimon.