Sunday 7 July 2024

In The St Hilda's Spotlight - Lucie Whitehouse

 Name:- Lucie Whitehouse

Job:- Author 

Facebook: Lucie Whitehouse

X:- LWhitehouse5

Instagram:- lwhitehouse5

Introduction:-

Lucie Whitehouse is the author of seven novels which include the Robin Lyons series of which Risk of Harm was a Sunday Times Crime Novel of the Month. Her psychological novel Before We Met was not only a Richard and Judy Summer Book Club pick but also a ITV Crime Thriller Book Club selection. Her most recent book is Last Witness.

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

I’m currently reading my way through Rosalie Knecht’s excellent Vera Kelly series. Set in the late Sixties in New York and South America, these remind me of both Mad Men and Graham Greene, and in my book, there’s not much higher praise than that. 

Favourite book

Just one? Too hard. Can I do a top three? The Heart of the Matter by Graham Greene, Beyond Black by Hilary Mantel and The Dead Hour by Denise Mina.

Which two musicians would you invite to dinner and why?

Tracy Chapman and Bruce Springsteen because they’re both top-five favourites of mine and they’re both excellent storytellers.

How do you relax?

Dinner and drinks with friends and family.

Which book do you wish you had written and why?

Beyond Black by Hilary Mantel because it’s a work of genius.

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

Don’t try and make your first draft perfect (because, I hate to tell you, Lucie, you will never shake this habit and it’s terrible). Also, do NOT under any circumstances learn to play Sudoku. 

How would you describe your latest published book?

In Last Witness, DCI Robin Lyons is plunged into one of Birmingham’s most contentious recent cases when eighteen-year-old Ben Renshaw is found dead in city woodland. Renshaw had been a key witness in the rape trial of Alistair Heywood, son of a rich and influential local family, and the Heywoods had promised revenge but as Robin discovers, the truth is much more complicated than that.

With A Dance to the Music of Crime: The Artful Crime to Murder being the theme at St Hilda's this year, which are you three favourite albums?

Tracy Chapman’s eponymous album, Ryan Adams’s Gold, Cowboy JunkiesThe Trinity Sessions

If you were given the ability to join a band which would it be and why? 

The Cure because I love them and I’m one hundred percent up for Robert Smith’s aesthetic.

If you were to re-attend a concert which would it be and why

The White Stripes at Brixton Academy, 2003. Phenomenal. Jack White is a genius. 

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

Seeing friends and making new ones, and learning more about this fabulous genre of ours.


The Last Witness by Lucie Whitehouse (Orion Publishing)

When 18-year-old Ben Renshaw is found dead in city woodland, DCI Robin Lyons is plunged into one of Birmingham's most controversial cases.  Months earlier, Ben and his best friend gave testimony that sent a former classmate, Alistair Heywood, to prison for a vicious sexual assault. Before the trial, the boys and their families endured months of brutal witness intimidation, for which the Heywoods, a privileged and influential local family, faced no legal repercussions. Instead, they vowed revenge. Is Ben's murder the fulfilment of that vow, the beginning of a bloody new chapter that will go on claim lives on all sides? Or is the truth - as the Heywoods claim - something entirely different?To solve the case, Robin has to negotiate the city's networks of power while walking a dangerous line: her own daughter, Lennie, has a secret that could threaten her liberty - and, if it comes out, Robin's, too. Before long, Robin comes to question whether she knows what justice is at all.


Information about 2024 St Hilda's College Crime Fiction Weekend and how to book online tickets can be found here

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