Creating Characters by Karen Hamilton

The initial idea for my books starts with the hint of a character who gradually develops, both consciously and subconsciously. I try to create protagonists who are very morally complex. They make poor decisions and then continue to justify their questionable behaviour via their internal thoughts as they attempt to justify their actions. They all pass a point where it becomes easier for them to continue along a certain path rather than to back down and admit they may have made a mistake. I personally love writing in the first person. I like the immediacy of working through my characters’ warped thought processes; it’s worryingly good fun.

For every book, I go to ‘therapy’ in character. (A service called Characters on the Couch). I find the insight gained into the backgrounds I have created for each character an invaluable tool of reference whilst building their worlds and figuring out how they would authentically react in various scenarios. 

The character spark for my first novel, The Perfect Girlfriend, came about when I was working as cabin crew. I was changing out of uniform one day at Heathrow before travelling home on public transport. Whilst doing so, I experienced this strong sense of returning to anonymity as I changed into my jeans and t-shirt and it made me think about our work personas. With the protagonist, Juliette, I wanted to create someone who wasn’t merely hiding her true self at work, she was doing so in all areas of her life.

My second novel, The Last Wife, tells the story of Marie, a troubled and envious woman, prone to lying, who takes over the life of her dead best friend, Nina, only to discover that she didn’t know her friend quite as well as she thought. The character spark came about when I was setting up a book group in my local village. While researching the type of books commonly read at book clubs, I was very surprised to stumble across online stories of book groups which didn’t seem as friendly or inclusive. It got me thinking about Marie’s character, how she could try and shoehorn herself into Nina’s old life, by joining the village book group Nina had created and taking over the running of it. 

My third novel, The Ex-Husband, is about Charlotte, a former con artist who finds the roles are reversed when a former victim seeks revenge. The character spark was something quite different: towel art. My husband used to work away on ships and on one trip, one of the housekeeper’s was fantastic at creating unique towel art. My husband would send me photos and this made me think (not sure what this says about me or my mind) what if, instead of the towel art being a welcome sight on your bed each night, what if it was something sinister? Something which made a character fearful and if so, why such a thing would happen. In The Ex-Husband, whilst Charlotte is trapped onboard a superyacht in the middle of the Caribbean Sea, she finds towel art shaped into a skull with dark seashells for eyes and teeth on her cabin bed.

In my fourth, as yet untitled novel, the protagonist, Florence, is struggling with identity and her true place in the world. The spark for this idea loosely came about not long after someone close to me received a dementia diagnosis. It brought about a strong desire in me to look back on my own childhood and maybe consider the impact living in different countries had on my love of travel and writing. 

I’m sometimes asked if any of my characters are based on real people and although the answer is no, life experiences of my own naturally do creep in. Juliette in The Perfect Girlfriend is a flight attendant. The Last Wife is set in New Forest, an area I know well. I loved the idea of the vast, stunning forest as a setting. Marie is a photographer and I spent time with a local photographer, learning the basics. The Ex-Husband was written during lockdown, so I’m sure it was definitely wishful thinking to set the book in the Caribbean! The research I did into scams and con artists was another fascinating world to explore.

One theme I recently noticed is that all my female protagonists’ names end in ‘e.’ Juliette, Marie, Charlotte and Florence. It wasn’t done consciously but I quite like that this link occurred, despite the books all being stand-alones. 

The Ex-Husband by Karen Hamilton (Wildfire, £16.99) Out Now

Charlotte and Sam were partners. In life, and in crime. They never stole from anyone who couldn't afford it. Wealthy clients, luxury cruise ships. It was easy money, and harmless. At least, that's what Charlotte told herself, until the world caved in on her. But now, years after she tried to put that past life behind her, it comes rushing back when her estranged ex-husband Sam suddenly goes missing - and someone threatens to expose what they did. Desperate to escape whoever is tormenting her, Charlotte takes a job as events planner for an engagement party onboard a superyacht in the Caribbean. For a while, her plan seems to have worked, nothing but open ocean and clear skies ahead. Until it becomes clear that she's no longer a thousand miles away from harm. Because whoever is behind it all is onboard too. And now there's nowhere left to run.

More information about Karen Hamilton and her books can be found on her website.  You can also find her on Twitter @kJHAuthor

Bloody Scotland 2021 Programme Revealed!

BLOODY SCOTLAND REVEALS THE LINE UP FOR HYBRID FESTIVAL

17-19 SEPTEMBER 2021 

 

Bloody Scotland is absolutely delighted to reveal its most ambitious programme yet. A hybrid festival which gives festival goers in Stirling the full-on festival experience while allowing authors and readers who can’t be there in person the opportunity to join in the fun on our website: www.bloodyscotland.com

The 2021 Festival will feature huge names including Stephen King, Kathy Reichs, Karin Slaughter, Lee Child, Jeanine Cummins, Linwood Barclay and Robert Peston beamed into the Albert Halls where live interviewers will question them in front of a live and digital audience.

Meanwhile pacing the boards in Stirling itself will be the great and the good of the Scottish crime scene including Val Mcdermid, Ian Rankin, Denise Mina, Chris Brookmyre, Marisa Haetzman, Lin Anderson, Abir Mukherjee, Craig Robertson, Alan Parks, Morgan Cry, Russell and Stuart McBride. Plus some big names from outside Scotland: Paula Hawkins, Luca Veste, Mark Billingham, Mick Herron, S J Watson, Lisa Jewell, Stuart Neville, Kia Abdullah, E S Thomson and Louise Candlish.

Bloody Scotland has long been praised for going beyond the usual remit of a literary festival and this year is no different with old favourites Pitch Perfect and Crime in the Spotlight, a performance by the Fun Lovin’ Crime Writers and a cabaret twist on the normal Quiz which will see each quizzer (Val McDermid, Chris Brookmyre, Doug Johnston, Mark Billingham, Luca Veste and Stuart Neville) performing a musical number.

Up the road at The Golden Lion panels will be recorded in front of a live audience and broadcast 24 hours later. Hosts of The Red Hot Chilli Writers, Vaseem Khan and Abir Mukherjee will be on stage with a live version of their popular crime podcast. There is a discount for local residents and we continue to improve disabled access with a taxi between venues for those that need it.

Following last year’s digital first with The Never-Ending panel featuring 27 Scottish writers from home and abroad, this year’s marathon digital only event will be an A-Z of Crime starting with Megan Abbott and concluding with Anne Zouroudi hosted by the crime writers on the Bloody Scotland board. The global element continues with Around the World in 80 Deaths featuring authors from Argentina, the Sicangu Lakota Nation, Russia and Nigeria chaired by Craig Sisterson.

Festival Director, Bob McDevitt said: 'It's going to be a Bloody Scotland like no other but we do love a challenge and I can’t wait to see all of our authors, and crime fans back together in real life while extending our global reach as we beam the festival all over the world.'

Stirling Council Leader, Councillor Scott Farmer said: ‘I’m delighted to welcome back Bloody Scotland to Stirling. The return of this famous event, which showcases the best in Scottish crime writing, is a significant boost for tourism as well as Stirling’s wider economic recovery from the pandemic. Stirling is without doubt an excellent destination for world class events and the hosting of Bloody Scotland does justice to our reputation for hosting further events of this nature.’

Deputy Leader, Councillor, Chris Kane said ‘It’s truly wonderful to be able to welcome some of the finest crime writers to Stirling for one of the country’s significant literary festivals which attracts international attention. Our recovery from the pandemic is helped enormously by being able to host the Bloody Scotland International Crime Festival and highlights our historic city as a hub for culture and arts for visitors around the world.’

Browse the full programme here.

Read more about the programme and its hybrid nature and how to buy tickets here.

Q & A With Silvia Moreno-Garcia

 

Ayo:- Would you like to tell us a bit about yourself?

Silvia M-G:- I’ve been a writer for about 15 years. I started writing short stories in fanzines and semi-pro zines, then eventually published my first novel in 2015. I’ve written seven novels so far, including Mexican Gothic and Gods of Jade and Shadow.

Ayo:- Who or what made you want to be a writer?

Silvia M-G:- I said I would be a writer since I was a kid. I loved books and movies rather than people. I wasn’t social at all. 

Ayo:- Who or what was the inspiration for Velvet Was The Night?

Silvia M-G:- A real incident. In 1971, the Mexican government sent a paramilitary group to attack and kill students who were marching down a large avenue. It was a peaceful protest but the government was intent on sowing fear. 

Ayo:- Loneliness is a big thread that is running through this book what made you decide to do this as it could equally have worked solely as a historical political thriller.

Silvia M-G:- I wrote this as a noir and my go-to definition of noir comes from Nino Frank who says noirs are "essentially psychological narratives with the action—however violent or fast-paced—less significant than faces, gestures, words—than the truth of the characters.” You have to dig into the minds of the characters, it’s not about the action. 

Ayo:- Why is music also so important in Velvet Was the Night?

Silvia M-G:- Political repression was taking place in Mexico in conjunction with musical repression.

Ayo:- Is there any true life element to your book.

Silvia M-G:- The whole political background of it. My mother remembers the opening incident of the novel. She remembers gunfire and having to hide for hours in a loading dock. 

Ayo:- How much were Elvis and Maite based on real people?

Silvia M-G:- I don’t carbon copy people. Elvis is dyslexic and I’m dyslexic. I read comic books when I was a kid, like Maite does, albeit I read horror ones. But neither one of them is templated after a particular person. 

Ayo:- Book titles are always very important how and why did you decide on Velvet Was The Night? Was this the only title you had for the book?

Silvia M-G:- It was called A Dangerous Eagerness originally, which was a phrase I got from some declassified government documents where functionaries discussed the incident. But my publisher didn’t really like that and pushed me to look for something else and I picked a line from “Blue Velvet.”

Ayo:- How important is politics to you in your writing?

Silvia M-G:- The Dirty War had a profound effect on Mexico and Mexicans and the aftermath is still being felt to this day. 

Ayo:- Can you talk about the significance of The Dirty War?

Silvia M-G:- In general, the USA intervened throughout Latin America, sponsoring and backing coups and destabilizing countries in an effort to impede communist activities. The result is the region that was shredded to pieces. All the undocumented immigrants from Central America who try to make their way north are doing that because their countries were destroyed with the aid of American forces.

Ayo:- What was your research process like?

Silvia M-G:- Secondary sources are relatively easier to obtain in Canada, but primary sources are a pickle. I can’t just walk to an archive and get newspapers from 1971 with any ease. It’s a lot of making do and seeing what I can scrounge. For this, I actually do have a lot of photocopies of newspapers and magazines of the time period. 

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

Silvia M-G:- I think characters are the backbone of noirs, but it depends on the genre. 

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

Silvia M-G:- I had a calendar of the month of June that I used to determine what happened in each chapter. 

Ayo:- Is there anything you found out whilst writing the book that surprised you?

Silvia M-G:- Some details about the music scene. I hadn’t realised the level of censorship there was. 

Ayo:- Is there anything you wish you hadn't found out? 

Silvia M-G:- No, although it’s never pleasant to look at photos of people who died in a conflict like this. 

Ayo:- Mexican Gothic is about gothic horror. This is a total departure from what you usually write. What made you want to write a noir novel.

Silvia M-G:- I switch between genres. Last year saw the release of two books. The more famous one is Mexican Gothic, but I wrote a noir called Untamed Shore which is very different from this book. There we have a sleepy, coastal village. 

Ayo:- You are also well known for writing short fiction. Which do you prefer?

Silvia M-G:- Novels these days. They pay more, for one. 

Ayo:- Writing is very solitary. How do you maintain that creative process and what advice would you give someone thinking of becoming a writer?

Silvia M.G:- I like being alone. Writing is freelancing, so you need to know there are years of plenty and of famine, and plan accordingly. Most writers have multiple income streams. Don’t expect to live off only one book and one advance check. Learn about the industry, including contracts and taxes. 

Ayo:- Do you have any favourite noir books or films and also historical books. If so which ones are they and why?

Silvia M-G:- I wrote a piece for the Criterion Channel about Le Samourai, which is a magnificent, restrained, French Western with one of the coolest assassins on film. 

Ayo:- Your earlier books have tended more towards Science Fiction and Fantasy this is a dramatic departure. Will you continue to write similar books?

Silvia M-G:- I don’t want to be beholden to one genre. 

Ayo:- What are you working on at the moment?

Silvia M-G:- I have a new novel out next year called The Daughter of Doctor Moreau.

Velvet is the Night by Silvia Moreno-Garcia (Quercus Publishing) Out Now

1970s Mexico City: while student protests and political unrest consume the city, Maite escapes from her humdrum life in the stories of passion and danger that fill the latest issue of Secret Romance. She is deeply envious of her neighbour, Leonora, a beautiful art student who lives the life of excitement and intrigue Maite craves - so when she disappears under suspicious circumstances, Maite jumps at the chance to uncover Leonora's secrets. Maite is not the only one searching for the missing girl. Elvis, a goon-for-hire who is longing to escape his violent life, has been assigned to find the student. Like Maite, he loves old movies, comics and rock 'n' roll . . . and he's beginning to be interested in the mousy secretary who is fast becoming involved in a world of political intrigue. As Maite and Elvis follow Leonora's trail, they journey deeper into a world of student radicals, hitmen, government agents and Russian spies, who are all determined to unearth Leonora's secrets – at gunpoint.

More information about Silvia Moreno-Garcia and her work can be found on her website. You can also find her on Twitter @silviamg and on Facebook.

Cinematic Bond at 60: National and International Perspectives - Call For Papers

 

A History Research Group Symposium

Bournemouth University (Online), 4 March 2022

Keynote Speaker: Professor Andrew Spicer (University of the West of England)

In 1962 the first James Bond film, Dr No (Terence Young) was released. The film was a huge financial success for EON productions, catapulted Sean Connery to lifelong stardom and started a period of Bondmania that lasted for most of the 1960s. As a cultural icon and cultural phenomenon, James Bond and the Bond film have become a globally recognised brand.

The films have been widely analysed for their spectacle, their often problematic engagement with masculinity, gender relations and cultural appropriation as well as the ideological implications of how they engage with their backdrop of social and geopolitical change across the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. 

With 2022 marking 60 years of the cinematic Bond and the latest instalment, No Time to Die (Cary Fukunaga), due (allegedly) for release in October 2021, critical reflections on this ongoing franchise are relevant and timely.

This one-day online symposium, hosted by the History Research Group at Bournemouth University, will offer delegates the opportunity to discuss and interrogate the Bond franchise across diverse concepts. We are especially keen for scholars from outside of the United Kingdom to bring international and transnational perspectives to the character of Bond and the films. Likely topics include but are not restricted to:

• Gender
• Class
• Race and ethnicity
• Imperialism and post-imperialism
• Colonialism and post-colonialism
• Cold War and/or Cold War I
• Stars and stardom
• Fashion/style/aesthetics
• Music and/or sound design
• Adaptation/adoption/appropriation
• Fans and fandom
• Audiences
• Reviews and reception
• Marketing and merchandise

Delegates will be invited to submit their papers for an intended edited collection to be published in the Routledge Studies of Espionage and Culture series.

We seek proposals for 20-minute papers, or for pre-constituted panels of three or four papers, that engage with any aspects of the above topic. 

Abstracts of no more than 300 words, along with a short biographical note, should be submitted for peer review to:

Dr Laura Crossley: lcrossley@bournemouth.ac.uk by 29^th October 2021.

Nicci French at Write Festival 2021

 

Bestselling crime author Nicci French will be at The Word and will be discussing their career and their new thriller The Unheard, coming this September.

Nicci French will be interviewed by Doctor Rosie White from Northumbria University.

Please follow any Covid guidelines in place at the time of the event.

Full details and tickets here.

The Unheard by Nicci French (Simon & Schuster) published September 2021.

'He did kill. Kill and kill and kill.'Tess's number one priority has always been her three-year-old daughter Poppy. But splitting up with Poppy's father Jason means that she cannot always be there to keep her daughter safe. When she finds a disturbing drawing, dark and menacing, among her daughter's brightly coloured paintings, Tess is convinced that Poppy has witnessed something terrible. Something that her young mind is struggling to put into words. But no one will listen. It's only a child's drawing, isn't it? Tess will protect Poppy, whatever the price. But when she doesn't know what, or who, she is protecting her from, how can she possibly know who to trust ...?

The Olympics and me…in with the new by Abi Silver

As the Tokyo Olympics draws to a close, I can only reflect on how, quite apart from entertaining me every evening between 7.30 and 9, it’s provided much food for thought where my writing is concerned.

First, members of a fictional Olympic Committee feature in my latest book, The Midas Game. They’re mulling over whether to include online gaming (or ‘Esports’ to give it its shiny, new and more respectable title) in future Olympic Games. And their decision has to be taken against the background of the trial of a young celebrity gamer, JD Dodds, accused of raping and murdering Dr Liz Sullivan, a psychiatrist who treated patients with severe addiction to online gaming.

Of course, I didn’t pluck my idea from the air. Esports is striving to achieve legitimacy in the real world and it certainly has oodles of supporters. Its tournaments, with their million dollar rewards, already attract enormous audiences and, although the Olympic Committee has refused to give it the nod, so far, that hasn’t stopped its inclusion in the 2022 Asian Olympics or a half-way house ‘Virtual Olympic Series’ having taken place earlier this year. 

One of the hurdles gaming has to overcome (and this, I believe, is where chess failed, despite valiant efforts) is that the Olympics is all about achieving excellence in sport and (excuse the pedantry) a sport, in my book, must involve physical exertion, in addition to skill. It’s no coincidence then that David Beckham (and other sports personalities) have been welcomed in, to share their expertise and set up gaming academies, where players’ regimes include physical training to prepare them for the stamina required for competitive gaming. 

But the parallels with the Olympic Games run much deeper than the plot of my most recent offering. The five new sports introduced this year; skateboarding, surfing, climbing, softball/baseball and karate have been largely well received. Their inclusion came after much lobbying and a nail-biting decision made in Rio in 2016, with the aim of bringing the Games to a younger generation and generally broadening its appeal. 

Of course, many sports have been eased out over the years; rope climbing, poodle clipping (a ‘test event’ in 1900 Paris), fire-fighting, live pigeon shooting and tug of war, to name but a few. In this sense, at least, the Games holds a mirror up to the old adage – out with the old, in with the new.

This is also the thread linking my Burton & Lamb stories; courtroom dramas based on topical, controversial themes; lie detecting software, robots dispensing medicine, driverless cars, cameras in our courts and now, the thrills and spills of online gaming. Why follow old-fashioned tried and tested processes, when a faster, slicker way of doing things is available? Even if it might involve the odd sacrificial lamb along the way.

Then there was the BBC’s choice of presenters for its Olympic coverage this time around; the facts at her fingertips, highly experienced Clare Balding and enthusiastic, relative newbie Alex Scott. What a sublime pairing! When Alex described the skateboarding action as ‘sick’ and announced ‘let’s get down with the kids’ and Clare replied ‘I don’t know that means’ I knew I had found two perfect candidates to play the roles of Judith and Constance (my equal but opposite legal eagles and main protagonists) in a future TV series. 

And last but not least, the evolution of the Olympic Games is a neat metaphor for the crime fiction genre as a whole. Just like the Olympics, it’s moved with the times, maintaining and developing the traditional police procedural/detective yarns we grew up on, and adding in spy novels, domestic noir, cosies, unreliable narrators and psychological thrillers, political and technology-based stories and more period, historical crime. And those solving the crimes now come from a range of backgrounds: police, private investigators, secret services, lawyers, forensic pathologists, journalists, amateur sleuths and savvy members of the public. Certainly in crime fiction, this expansion is welcome and has made it the best selling fiction genre of recent years, helping to raise the bar on the quality of writing to truly Olympic Record heights. I have no doubt that the inevitable inclusion of Esports in future Games will make it more popular. Whether it will allow the Games to sustain the level of excellence it strives to stand for, is yet to be seen.

Abi’s latest novel, The Midas Game, is published by Eye and Lightning Books in paperback original on 5 August, available to purchase from Eye-Books and Amazon.

When eminent psychiatrist Dr Liz Sullivan is found dead in her bed, suspicion falls on local gamer and YouTube celebrity Jaden 'JD' Dodds. Did he target her because of her anti-gaming views and the work she undertook to expose the dangers of playing online games? And what was her connection with Valiant, an independent game manufacturer about to hit the big time, and its volatile boss? Judith Burton and Constance Lamb team up once more to defend JD when no one else is on his side. But just because he makes a living killing people on screen doesn't mean he'd do it in real life. Or does it?

More about Abi and her writing can be found on her website. you can also find her on Facebook and on Twitter @abisilver16

Excerpt from Hell and High Water by Christian Unger

 

PROLOGUE

THE NOBEL HOSPITAL, STOCKHOLM

Thursday evening, 6.vi

 Monica Carlsson slowly drew the bowl closer and picked out a liquorice monkey. The salty tang right at the back of her palate distracted her for a moment as the 24-hour news played out soundlessly on the screen in front of her. She let her gaze drift from the dead-straight platinum blonde hair of the news anchor to the column of smoke a kilometre away, on which she had been keeping a watchful eye for the last half hour. Her vast office was pleasantly quiet, except for Fredrik’s increasingly agitated telephone voice outside the door.

            On the skyline she spotted two new features on the top of northern Europe’s biggest prestige building project. The hospital roof had been crowned with two helipads. Two! While the budget for the overdue replacement of the plumbing at her own hospital, the Nobel, had been halved.

            For the third time in twenty minutes, Fredrik knocked on the door and looked in.

            “Isn’t it time now?”

            Carlsson pushed her feet into her high-heeled shoes. Straightened the gold pen next to the keyboard.

            “Göran’s rung for the third time. The situation’s chaotic. What shall—”

            “What was the name of the doctor who took care of the stabbing down there?” Carlsson interrupted in a calm voice.

            Her secretary thrust his hand into his pocket, took a piece of paper out of his pocket and read: “Tekla Berg. But . . .”

            Carlsson turned her attention back to the screen. The clock up in the corner showed 21.43.

            She looked out at the city. My God, what was going on? First gang members with drawn weapons in A. & E., and now this. Who on earth would want to be C.E.O. of a hospital?

            She considered her alternatives. Let her fingers play with the gold chain around her neck. The new burns unit had cost the taxpayer 120 million kronor, and yet Uppsala was made the national centre. It was like owning a luxury restaurant with a kitchen full of expensive ingredients and a platoon of celebrity chefs standing around with no guests to cook for. She knew what the solution was, she understood who the key person was, she just did not know how to catch their attention. But she had an idea.

            She took another liquorice monkey and got to her feet. Her knees were hurting, but she was not going to take any more painkillers today. Carlsson adjusted the belt of her trousers and buttoned her jacket. Sauntered to the large oval window. Did it look like an enormous, waking eye to someone in the houses on Ringvägen? One which never blinked?

            Her mobile showed 21.48. Those five additional minutes would surely have meant at least one new patient for the burns unit.

            Carlsson called out:

            “Fredrik, you can sound the major incident alert now. And make sure you put that Tekla Berg woman on it.”

Hell and High Water by Christian Unger (Quercus Publishing) Out Now

With 85% per cent burns to his body and a 115% risk of dying, it's a miracle the patient is still alive.  He only made it this far thanks to Tekla Berg, an emergency physician whose unorthodox methods and photographic memory are often the difference between life and death.  Convinced that the fire was a terrorist attack - and that the patient was involved - the police are determined to question him. Almost as determined as those who would silence him at any cost. And while Tekla battles to keep him breathing, she can't shake the thought that something about him is strangely familiar . . . Tekla has always hidden her remarkable mind from her hospital colleagues, resorting to amphetamines to take the edge off the endless whirl of lucid memories. But now she'll need to call on all her wits as she's drawn into a mystery involving corrupt police, the godfather of the Uzbek mafia, and her beloved but wayward brother.

 

In The Spotlight:- Lucy Atkins

Name: Lucy Atkins

Job:- Author and journalist

Twitter:- @lucyatkins

Website:- https://www.lucyatkins.com

Introduction:

Lucy Atkins is the author of four novels. The most recent one being Magpie Lane. Her third book The Night Visitor has been optioned for television. She also teaches on the Creative Writing Masters degree at the University of Oxford.

Current book? 

I’m currently reading an early proof of Little Wing by my friend Freya North - one of the joys of writer friendships is getting to read novels long before they hit the shelves and being able to support each other in the journey from proof to publication. 

Favourite book? 

This is just about my least favourite question ever as I find it so hard to pin a single book down. I always go back to Jane Eyre which is the book above all others that makes my spine tingle. It’s powerful, and complex and also unsettling – but ultimately heart-warming.

Which two characters would you invite to dinner and why? 

I would invite Maggie and Tom Tulliver from George Eliot’s Mill on the Floss, as I find them both so appealing and interesting as individuals, but they also really need someone to take them in hand, and help them to iron things out. They are a bit lost, too, and the motherly side of me wants to give them both a good meal and a hug and tell them it’ll all be okay (which is won’t clearly – if you’ve read Mill on the Floss you’ll know why…). 

How do you relax? 

I’ve been doing regular yoga for 11 years, and I walk my dog in the countryside. I also watch an embarrassing number of TV dramas – though in my defence, I’m always trying to find the really brilliant ones, like Succession or Mare of Easttown. 

What book do you wish you had written and why? 

I would have quite liked to have written Notes on a Scandal as so many people have likened Vivian, from my third novel, The Night Visitor, to Barbara Covett. Zoe Heller did something really clever and memorable in that book, and I do wish I’d got there first. 

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

I would tell myself to take a very good creative writing course, and not to doubt my gut instincts about writing fiction. I was held back for decades by a combination of massive self-doubt, and a lack of very basic fiction writing skills. For my fortieth birthday I gave myself a creative writing course, and it changed everything. 

Why do you prefer to write standalone novels as opposed to a series and would you consider writing a series?

I wouldn’t consider writing a series. My last two novels took longer to write and these days, I tend to get very deeply immersed in a character’s inner world. By the time that’s done, I feel I’m ready to let that person go, and move onto someone and somewhere new.

Magpie Lane by Lucy Atkins (Quercus Publishing)

When the eight-year-old daughter of an Oxford College Master vanishes in the middle of the night, police turn to the Scottish nanny, Dee, for answers. As Dee looks back over her time in the Master's Lodging - an eerie and ancient house - a picture of a high achieving but dysfunctional family emerges: Nick, the fiercely intelligent and powerful father; his beautiful Danish wife Mariah, pregnant with their child; and the lost little girl, Felicity, almost mute, seeing ghosts, grieving her dead mother. But is Dee telling the whole story? Is her growing friendship with the eccentric house historian, Linklater, any cause for concern? And most of all, why is Felicity silent?

Announcing SlaughterFest 2021

The programme for SlaughterFest 2021, a crime writing festival curated by internationally 

bestselling author Karin Slaughter has been announced. 

SlaughterFest will be broadcast on the Killer Reads Facebook page on 4th September 2021 and 

you can view the events programme below. Register your interest here.

In The Spotlight: Emma Smith

 Name:- Professor Emma Smith

Job: Professor of Shakespeare Studies and dramatist 

Twitter @OldFortunatus

Introduction:

Professor Emma Smith is Professor of Shakespeare Studies at the University of Oxford, and a Fellow of Hertford College. She has published and lectured widely on Shakespeare and on other early modern dramatists, and worked with numerous theatre companies. She was script adviser on the 2018 Mary Queen of Scots film featuring Saoirse Ronan and Margot Robbie

Current book?

It’s the summer vacation so I have several books on the go. For complete greedy pleasure, Val McDermid’s 1979 – a brilliant evocation of the smoky, blokey newsroom. For savouring more slowly, the Scottish nature writing collected by Kathleen Jamie as Antlers of Water: I’ve just read a wonderful, unexpected piece about watching wasps. And for tussling with, the final volume of Foucault’s History of Sexuality translated by Robert Hurley. I am fascinated to return to this sequence that I first read as an undergraduate. 

Favourite book?

1066 and all That, by Sellars and Yeatman. Always makes me laugh. 

Which two characters would you invite to dinner and why?

Shakespeare’s Ophelia (Hamlet) wants feeding up, and some female company in solidarity. Beatrice (Much Ado about Nothing) would be good on that, and we could have a Bechdel Test evening together. 

How do you relax?

Walking our springer spaniel. 

What book do you wish you had written and why?

I wish I’d finished the book I am writing...it’s been a long haul working on it during lockdown. 

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

It’s going to be ok, and you don’t need to do it on a prodigy timetable.

Your two favourite books on Oxford?

An Instance of the Fingerpost by Iain Pears – a fantastic historical novel that really stays with you - and Real Oxford by Patrick McGuinness, an affectionate look behind the postcard Oxford, with particular emphasis on the towpaths and suburbs that are as much part of my Oxford as the Radcliffe Camera.

This is Shakespeare by Emma Smith (Pelican)

A genius and prophet whose timeless works encapsulate the human condition like no others. A writer who surpassed his contemporaries in vision, originality and literary mastery. Who wrote like an angel, putting it all so much better than anyone else. Is this Shakespeare? Well, sort of. But it doesn't really tell us the whole truth. So much of what we say about Shakespeare is either not true, or just not relevant, deflecting us from investigating the challenges of his inconsistencies and flaws. This electrifying new book thrives on revealing, not resolving, the ambiguities of Shakespeare's plays and their changing topicality. It introduces an intellectually, theatrically and ethically exciting writer who engages with intersectionality as much as with Ovid, with economics as much as poetry: who writes in strikingly modern ways about individual agency, privacy, politics, celebrity and sex. It takes us into a world of politicking and copy-catting, as we watch him emulating the blockbusters of Christopher Marlowe and Thomas Kyd, the Spielberg and Tarantino of their day; flirting with and skirting round the cut-throat issues of succession politics, religious upheaval and technological change. The Shakespeare in this book poses awkward questions rather than offering bland answers, always implicating us in working out what it might mean.  This Is Shakespeare. And he needs your attention.

Information about 2021 St Hilda's Crime Fiction Weekend can be found here.

Books to Look Forward to From No Exit Press and Verve Books

 August 2021

Deep Cover is by Leigh Russell. When a sex worker dies in suspicious circumstances in York, Detective Inspector Geraldine Steel struggles to remain focused on the murder investigation: she is distracted by her worries about her colleague and life partner, Ian Peterson, who has disappeared. As Geraldine becomes close to her new DS, Matthew, she is unaware that Ian is working undercover in London, trying to identify a criminal gang who have been targeting her. As a second victim is discovered in York, and Ian's life is threatened by a psychopath the tension mounts. If he fails in his mission, both he and Geraldine may die...

October 2021

On The Edge is by Jane Jesmond. Jen Shaw has climbed all her life: daring ascents of sheer rock faces, crumbling buildings, cranes the riskier the better. Both her work and personal life revolved around it. Until she went too far and hurt the people she cares about. So she gave it all up and checked into rehab. Then Jen awakens to find herself drugged and dangling off the local lighthouse during a wild storm, and must battle her way to safety. Once safe, Jen has face her troubled past in order to figure out whether something triggered a relapse, or if there is a more sinister explanation.

November 2021

The Lost Girls is by Heather Young. In 1935, six-year-old Emily Evans vanishes from her family's vacation home on a remote Minnesota lake. Her father commits suicide, and her mother and two older sisters spend the rest of their lives at the lake house, keeping a decades-long vigil. Sixty years later, Lucy, the middle sister, lives in the lake house alone. Before her death, she writes the story of that summer in a notebook that she leaves, along with the house, to her grandniece, Justine. For Justine, the lake house offers an escape from her manipulative boyfriend and gives her daughters the home she never had. But the lake is isolated and eerie. Her only neighbour is a strange old man who seems to know more about the summer of 1935 than he's telling. Soon Justine's troubled oldest daughter becomes obsessed with Emily's disappearance, her mother arrives to steal her inheritance, and the man she left launches a dangerous plan to get her back.

The Killing Hills, is a compelling, propulsive thriller in which a suspicious death exposes the loyalties and rivalries of a deep-rooted and fiercely private community in the Kentucky backwoods. Mick Hardin, a combat veteran now working as an Army CID agent, is home on a leave that is almost done. His wife is about to give birth, but they aren't getting along. His sister, newly risen to sheriff, has just landed her first murder case, and local politicians are pushing for city police or the FBI to take the case. Are they convinced she can't handle it, or is there something else at work? She calls on Mick who, with his homicide investigation experience and familiarity with the terrain, is well-suited to staying under the radar. As he delves into the investigation, he dodges his commanding officer's increasingly urgent calls while attempting to head off further murders. And he needs to talk to his wife. The Killing Hills is by Chris Offutt and is a novel of betrayal - sexual, personal, within and between the clans that populate the hollers - and the way it so often shades into violence.

December 2021

THE WESTERN FRONT, JULY 1918. Gregor Reinhardt is a young lieutenant in a stormtrooper battalion on the Western Front when one of his subordinates is accused of murdering a group of officers, and then subsequently trying to take his own life. Not wanting to believe his friend could have done what he is accused of, Reinhardt begins to investigate. He starts to uncover the outline of a conspiracy at the heart of the German army, a conspiracy aimed at ending the war on the terms of those who have a vested interest in a future for Germany that resembles her past. The investigation takes him from the devastated front lines of the war, to the rarefied heights of Berlin society, and into the hospitals that treat those men who have been shattered by the stress and strain of the war. Along the way, Reinhardt comes to an awakening of the man he might be. A man freed of dogma, whose eyes have been painfully opened to the corruption and callousness all around him. A man to whom calls to duty, to devotion to the Fatherland and to the Kaiser, ring increasingly hollow... Where God Does Not Walk is by Luke McCallin.

Robert B Parker's Payback is by Mike Lupica. In her latest thrilling adventure, PI Sunny Randall takes on two serpentine cases that converge into one deadly mystery. PI Sunny Randall has often relied on the help of her best friend Spike in times of need. When Spike's restaurant is taken over under a predatory loan agreement, Sunny has a chance to return the favor. She begins digging into the life of the hedge fund manager who screwed Spike over - surely a guy that smarmy has a skeleton or two in his closet - and soon finds this new enemy may have the backing of even badder criminals. At the same time, Sunny's cop contact Lee Farrell asks her to intervene with his niece, a college student who reported being the victim of a crime but seems to know more than she's telling police. As the uncooperative young woman becomes outright hostile, Sunny runs up against a wall that she's only more determined to scale. Then, what appear to be two disparate cases are united by a common factor, and the picture becomes even more muddled. But one thing is clear: Sunny has been poking a hornet's nest from two sides, and all hell is about to break loose.

January 2022

After Agatha: Women Write Crime is the first book to examine how British, American and Canadian female crime writers pursue their craft and what they think about crime writing. Hundreds of women who identified as lesbian, bisexual, heterosexual, able-bodied, disabled, feminist, left or right wing, who were black or white, who had experienced violence, sexism, homophobia or racism and who came from big cities or small country villages had one thing in common: they read crime novels. The book explores why so many women who face fear and violence in their daily lives, should be so addicted to crime fiction, many of which feature extreme violence. The book analyses why criminal justice professionals including police officers, forensic scientists, probation officers and lawyers have joined traditional detective writers in writing crime. It examines the explosions of crime writing by women between 1930 and today. It highlights the UK Golden Age women writers, the 1950s American women novelists, the 80s experimental trio, Marcia Muller, Sara Paretsky, and Sue Grafton, who created the first female American private Investigators and the important emergence of female police protagonists, as well as those central characters who for the first time were lesbian, disabled, black or ethnic minority. After Agatha also examines the significant explosions of domestic noir thrillers and forensic science writers. Most have taken to crime in order to reflect and comment on the social and political landscape around them. Many are creatively exploring the significant issues facing women today. After Agatha: Women Write Crime Fiction is by Sally Cline.

Guilt Edged is by Leigh Russell. An inoffensive man is murdered in a seemingly motiveless attack. Detective Inspector Geraldine Steel and her team are baffled, until DNA from an apparent stranger is discovered on the victim's body. Geraldine is not convinced the suspect is guilty. When a witness comes forward to offer the suspect an alibi, Geraldine lets him go. That night, a second murder is committed. The evidence points to the suspect who has just been released. As Geraldine attempts to make sense of the suspect's complex history, he goes on the run. Even his wife appears to condemn him. Only Geraldine still doubts that he is to blame for the murders, but is she prompted by her own guilt for having released him to kill again? As the story races towards a breathtaking twist, Geraldine is tormented by self-doubt, and struggles to focus all her attention on the case. Someone is lying and the police must uncover the truth before anyone else is killed.

March 2022

The author of Get Carter returns to his greatest invention, a smooth-operating hardcase named Jack Carter, who is about to burn a city down in order to silence an informant... London. The late 1960s. It's Christmastime and Jack Carter is the top man in a crime syndicate headed by two brothers, Gerald and Les Fletcher. He's also a worried man. The fact that he's sleeping with Gerald's wife, Audrey, and that they plan on someday running away together with a lot of the brothers' money, doesn't have Jack concerned. Instead it's an informant - one of his own men - that has him losing sleep. The grass has enough knowledge about the firm to not only bring down Gerald and Les but Jack as well. Jack doesn't like his name in the mouth of that sort. In Jack Carter's Law Ted Lewis returned to the character that launched his career and once again delivered a hardboiled masterpiece. Jack Carter is the ideal tour guide to a bygone London underworld. In his quest to dismantle the opposition, he peels back the veneer of English society and offers a hard look at a gritty world of pool halls, strip clubs and the red lights of Soho nightlife. Jack Carter's Law is by Ted Lewis.

Billy Rags is by Ted Lewis. A fascinating window in on life in a British maximum security prison, Billy Rags-by the author of Get Carter - is crime fiction at its best: lean, mean, and full of startling psychological depth. It's the 1960s and Billy Cracken is a hard man to keep locked up. An austere and troubled childhood has given way to life as a hardened criminal and now status as one of the most feared prisoners in England. He has been moved from one maximum security prison to the next. Guards and inmates alike fear and begrudgingly respect the powerfully-built Cracken. But a life doing his porridge, even if as a minor celebrity, isn't the one he wants. A girlfriend and a child await Cracken on the outside and he'll stop at nothing to get to them. While plotting his escape he crosses a powerful mobster who vows to make Cracken's life hell, and if nothing else succeeds at making his escape all the more difficult, something the ever-rebellious Cracken defiantly relishes. The follow-up novel to the wildly successful Get Carter, Billy Rags is a fascinating look into the lives of British inmates serving time in a maximum security prison. Lewis manages once again to tell an exciting, action-filled story with a soul - demonstrated most clearly in a series of brilliant flashbacks to Billy's childhood and in the end conjures a character that will remind readers of both Tom Hardy in Bronson and Lee Marvin in Point Blank.

April 2022

When a burnt body is identified as local math teacher Adam Merkel, a small Nevada town is rocked to its core. In the seven months he worked at Lovelock's middle school, the quiet and seemingly unremarkable Adam Merkel had formed a bond with just one of his students: Sal Prentiss, a lonely sixth grader who lives with his uncles on a desolate ranch in the hills. It is Sal who finds Adam's body, charred almost beyond recognition, half a mile from his uncles compound. Nora Wheaton, the school's social studies teacher, sensed a kindred spirit in Adam. After his death, she delves into his past for clues to who killed him. Yet, the truth about Adam's murder may lie closer to home. The Distant Dead is by Heather Young.