In The St Hilda's Spotlight - Anna Mazzola

 Name:- Anna Mazzola (aka Anna Sharpe)

Job:- Author and Consultant Solicitor

Website:- https://annamazzola.com

Facebook:- AnnaMazzolaWriter

X @anna_mazz

Instagram:- @annamazzolawriter

Introduction

Anna Mazzola is the author of as well as being a human rights and criminal justice Solicitor. Her debut novel, The Unseeing, won an Edgar Allan Poe award. Her fourth novel, The House of Whispers, set in 1930s Rome, won a Fingerprint Award for Best Historical Crime novel. Her bestselling third novel, The Clockwork Girl, was shortlisted for the Gold Dagger and the Historical Dagger for the 2023 awards. It was also nominated for the Dublin Literary award. Her fifth novel, The Book of Secrets, is based on a real case from 17th century Rome and was a Times Historical Novel of the Month and has been shortlisted for the 2025 Gold Dagger and Historical Dagger. Her first legal thriller under the name of Anna Sharpe Notes on a Drowning, was published earlier this year.

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

Reading: I’m on a Tana French binge. I’m reading The Wych Elm at the moment. Her writing is pin-sharp and her characters are so flawed, complex and plausible. Her most Gothic novel is probably Broken Harbour, which, unsurprisingly, is my favourite.

Writing: I’ve just handed in my second Anna Sharpe book, a courtroom thriller called Lie For Your Life, and am now waiting for my editor to give me the verdict.

Has any gothic book spooked you and if so which one and why?

Little Sister Death by William Gay. It’s in the Southern Gothic tradition and inspired by the 19th Century Bell Witch haunting of Tennessee. I’m not easily scared by books, but this one sure got me. I dare you all to read it.

Which two gothic writers would you invite to dinner and why?

Shirley Jackson, because she was sharp, witty and imposing, and Mary Shelley, as she was rebellious and super-smart. I think they’d make for an interesting evening, though they might of course have a fight.

How do you relax?

Running, writing, reading, swimming, listening to music, ritual sacrifice.

Which gothic book do you wish you had written and why?

Rebecca by Du Maurier. A Gothic classic and a huge bestseller which very much gave the finger to the critics who said that Du Maurier was just a mediocre romance writer.

If you were to write a gothic book where would you set it and why?

I’d like to set a story on Poveglia Island, located near Venice. It’s supposedly one of the most haunted places in the world, with a very dark history involving plague quarantines and a lunatic asylum. You’re not officially allowed to go to the island, but that just makes it more appealing.

How would you describe your latest published book?

My most recently published novel, Notes on a Drowning, isn’t a Gothic one – it’s a legal/political thriller about two determined women on the trail of a scandal involving death, corruption and misogyny. But it has jokes. My most recent historical novel is The Book of Secrets, which is a tale of sorcery and survival based on a real ring of women accused of making and selling poison in 17th century Rome.

With Detecting the Gothic: Tales from the Dark Heart of Crime Fiction the theme at St Hilda's this year, which are you three favourite gothic authors or books

My top three Gothic gems are:

We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson

Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier (or is My Cousin Rachel better??)

Perfume by Patrick Süskind

Which 3 gothic films would you rewatch and why.

Pan’s Labyrinth, my favourite Guillermo Del Torro film – I love its dark, fairytale-like quality. Picnic at Hanging Rock, as it had a strong impression on me and I think is part of the reason I ended up writing Gothic fiction. The bigger reason, though, was David Lynch’s Twin Peaks, the series as well as the film. Bob continues to stalk my dreams.

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

The play! I’m not sure what my role is yet, but I hope it will require me to wear a wig.

Notes on a Drowning by Anna Sharpe (Orion) Out Now

Alex knows she risks getting fired from her law firm if she takes on another unpaid case, but when she hears Rosa's desperate voice at the other end of the phone, she knows she has to help: the body of Rosa's shy teenage sister, Natalia, has been dragged, lifeless, from the Thames. Alex can't help but think of her own missing little sister. She knows how a lack of answers can eat you alive. Kat has worked hard to become Special Adviser to the Home Secretary, and is eager to finally put the dark and tragic part of her past behind her. But when she discovers a series of cover-ups, she begins to wonder whether her seemingly perfect new boss could be involved. Then she's shocked to discover a letter that raises worrying questions about a girl found drowned in London... Natalia. There are complex and painful reasons for Alex and Kat not to work together, but when it becomes clear that there are powerful people involved in Natalia's death, and that other girls are at risk, Alex and Kat must overcome their differences to find answers. Will they save the girls and discover the truth? Or will the high-powered players in this game stop Alex and Kat for good?

Information on how to buy online tickets can be found here. The programme can be found here.

Thriller Awards 2025

 

The International Thriller Writers Organization (ITW) announced the winners of the Thriller Awards on Saturday 21 June 2025 during ThrillerFest. 

BEST SHORT STORY

Jackrabbit Skin by Ivy Pochoda

BEST FIRST NOVEL

Deadly Animal by Marie Tierney

BEST YOUNG ADULT NOVEL

Darkly by Marisha Pessl

BEST AUDIOBOOK

No One Can No by Kate Alice Marshall (Narrated by Karissa Vacker)

BEST STANDALONE MYSTERY NOVEL

Missing White Woman by Kellye Garrett

BEST STANDALONE THRILLER NOVEL

The Last One at the Wedding by Jason Rekulak 

BEST SERIES NOVEL

To Die For by David Baldacci

Congratulations to all the winners and the nominated authors.

In The St Hilda's Spotlight - Stuart Neville

Name:- Stuart Neville

Job:- Author

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

Facebook:- https://www.facebook.com/stuartneville

X @stuartneville

Introduction:-

Stuart Neville is a Northern Irish author whose novel The Twelve (aka The Ghosts of Belfast) won the Mystery/Thriller category of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize in 2010. It also won the 2010 Spinetingler New Voice Category Award. It was also nominated for the 2010 Dilys, Anthony, Barry and Macavity awards.  It was also on the list of best novels in 2009 by both The New York and Los Angeles Times. He has also been shortlisted for an Edgar Award, CWA Dagger, Theakstons Old Peculier Novel of the Year as well as the Irish Book Awards Crime Novel of the Year.

He has published eleven novels (two under the pen name Haylen Beck) and a collection of short stories. The French-edition of The Twelve or The Ghosts-of-Belfast- Les Fantômes-de Belfast, won L- Prix Mystère de-la Critique du Meilleur Roman Étranger and The Grand Prix du Roman Noir Étranger. His first standalone novel Ratlines was shortlisted for the CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger.  His novel Blood Like Mine has been shortlisted for the CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger. Blood Like Ours which is the sequel, is due out in August 2025. Stuart Neville is also a member of the Fun Lovin’ Crime Writers where he plays the guitar as well as being a vocalist.

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

Blood Like Mine out now in paperback, Blood Like Ours coming late August.

Has any gothic book spooked you and if so which one and why

More modern horror than gothic, but Stephen King’s Pet Sematary scared me when I read it around the age of thirteen or fourteen.

Which two gothic writers would you invite to dinner and why?

Bram Stoker and J S Le Fanu so they could fight over who invented the vampire novel.

How do you relax?

Playing and making guitars. I’m just about to build a Telecaster for myself.

Which gothic book do you wish you had written and why?

We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson is so thick with atmosphere and character, and it’s written with such a singular voice. It’s the kind of writing that makes me want to try harder.

If you were to write a gothic book where would you set it and why?

I have an unfinished book that I want to return to. It’s set in rural Northern Ireland at the end of the Second World War and it’s about a soldier who returns from the front having been severely wounded and finds his home village has transformed into something rather sinister.

How would you describe your latest published book?

Blood Like Mine is a slightly different take on the vampire novel. It asks the question, if vampirism was a real thing in our world, what would that be like? There are no magical powers, no fangs, just a mother and daughter caught in a horrific situation.

With Detecting the Gothic: tales from the Dark Heart of Crime Fiction the theme at St Hilda's this year, which are you three favourite gothic authors or books

The aforementioned We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson. The Private Memoir and Confessions of a Justified Sinner by James Hogg is an extraordinary work for its time. I’ll always have a soft spot for Stoker’s Dracula because I read it over and over as a kid.

Which 3 gothic films would you rewatch and why.

I saw David Eggers’ Nosferatu in the cinema and thought it was brilliantly fresh take on a story that’s been told so often. Freaks, directed by Tod Browning, is nearly a century old but is still a disturbing watch. Guillermo del Toro’s The Devil’s Backbone is a wonderful ghost story set against the Spanish Civil War whose most grotesque horrors are the living adults.

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

I’m looking forward to seeing some of my writer friends, and visiting Oxford for the first time.

Blood Like Ours by Stuart Neville (Simon & Schuster) Published August 2025

You would do anything for your family . . . even if they are monsters. Rebecca Carter is back from the dead. Lost and terrified, she is gripped by two desperate urges ''' to find her daughter, and to sate her ravenous hunger. Alone in the wild, Monica Carter survives on whatever small prey she can hunt down. But she needs more. One night, drawn by the maddening scent of human blood, she encounters two young brothers, who call to her as Moonflower and tell her that if she comes with them, they will keep her safe. But Jacob and Willard Hendry are not what they seem. They know all about dying and disappearing – after all, it’s been almost three decades since they did the same. Rebecca’s hope for a reunion with her daughter turns to terror when she realizes that the brothers aren’t like Moonflower – they chose to be what they are, relishing the slaughter, and they are leaving an increasingly bloody trail in their wake. But as she chases them west, she isn’t alone on the road. FBI agent Sarah McGrath, haunted by the death of her partner Marc Donner moments after he killed Rebecca, is hot on her tail. McGrath wants answers, and she will stop at nothing to get them. But she never expected them to come from a shadowy figure within the Bureau . . .

Blood Like Mine by Stuart Neville (Simon & Schuster) Out now

You'd do anything to protect your child. Even if she's a monster... On a snowy December night, single mother Rebecca Carter drives her van into a snowbank to avoid hitting an elk on a desolate mountain highway. She is at the end of her rope, out of money and food. Still, she refuses help from a man in a pickup truck—Rebecca’s adolescent daughter, Moonflower, is on the run from a grisly secret, and the last thing they can afford is to be remembered by anyone they meet. Meanwhile, Special Agent Marc Donner of the FBI has spent the better part of two years hunting down a gruesome serial killer who drains victims of blood before severing their spinal cords, leaving a trail of bodies across the country. As Agent Donner’s investigation brings him closer and closer to where Rebecca and Moonflower are hiding out, in the foothills of Colorado, the life that Rebecca has fought so hard to hold together for her daughter becomes increasingly imperiled.

 

Information on how to buy online tickets can be found here. The programme can be found here.

Macavity Award Nominations 2025

 

The Macavity Award nominations are for (for works published in 2024)

The Macavity Award is named after Macavity: The Mystery Cat, in T.S. Eliot's Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats! 

The Macavity Awards are nominated and voted on by members of Mystery Readers International, subscribers to Mystery Readers Journal, and friends of MRI. 

Best Mystery Novel

Hall of Mirrors by John Copenhaver (Pegasus Crime)

Served Cold by James L’Etoile (Level Best Books)

The God of the Woods by Liz Moore (Riverhead)

California Bear by Duane Swierczynski (Mulholland)

The In Crowd by Charlotte Vassell (Doubleday)

All the Colors of the Dark by Chris Whitaker (Crown)

Best First Mystery

Outraged by Brian Copeland (Dutton)

A Reluctant Spy by David Goodman (Headline)

Ghosts of Waikiki by Jennifer K. Morita (Crooked Lane)

You Know What You Did by K.T. Nguyen (Dutton)

The Expat by Hansen Shi (Pegasus Crime)

Holy City by Henry Wise (Atlantic Monthly Press)

Best Mystery Short Story

“Home Game” by Craig Faustus Buck (in Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, July/August 2024)

“The Postman Always Flirts Twice” by Barb Goffman (in Agatha and Derringer Get Cozy)

“Curse of the Super Taster” by Leslie Karst (in Black Cat Weekly, Feb 23, 2024)

“Two for One” by Art Taylor (in Murder, Neat)

“Satan’s Spit” by Gabriel Valjan (in Tales of Music, Murder, and Mayhem)

“Reynisfjara” by Kristopher Zgorski (in Mystery Most International)

Best Historical Mystery

The Wharton Plot by Mariah Fredericks (Minotaur)

An Art Lover’s Guide to Paris and Murder by Dianne Freeman (Kensington)

Fog City by Claire Johnson (Level Best Books)

The Murder of Mr. Ma by John Shen Yen Nee and S.J. Rozan (Soho Crime)

The Bootlegger’s Daughter by Nadine Nettmann (Lake Union)

A Grave Robbery by Deanna Raybourn (Berkley)

Best Nonfiction/Critical

Writing the Cozy Mystery: Authors’ Perspectives on Their Craft edited by Phyllis M. Betz (McFarland)

Some of My Best Friends Are Murderers: Critiquing the Columbo Killers by Chris Chan (Level Best Books)

Witch of New York: The Trials of Polly Bodine and the Cursed Birth of Tabloid Justice by Alex Hortis (Pegasus Crime)

The Infernal Machine: A True Story of Dynamite, Terror, and the Rise of the Modern Detective by Steven Johnson  (Crown)

On Edge: Gender and Genre in the Work of Shirley Jackson, Patricia Highsmith, and Leigh Brackett by Ashley Lawson  (Ohio State University Press)

Abingdon’s Boardinghouse Murder by Greg Lilly (History Press)

Congratulations to all!

A.A. Chaudhuri on the evolution of the “Whodunnit”

My new thriller, The School Gates, centres on the murder of single mum, Lola Martinez, whose body is found on the riverbank the morning after a primary school parent Christmas social. Suspicion soon falls on Lola’s mum friends, but it’s also clear that someone from Lola’s past may have wanted her dead and that a friend Lola confides in online might have the answers. The story is told through the eyes of the investigating police officer as he interviews the various suspects in the present day, and from Lola’s perspective in a series of flashbacks starting from when her son joined the school up until her death. 

It is, of course, a classic domestic suspense thriller being set against the very relatable backdrop of a local primary school where the tricky interpersonal relationships between a diverse range of morally grey characters are explored in a tense, claustrophobic atmosphere, each of them hiding dark secrets which are gradually unveiled as the action progresses. However, with my main protagonist, Lola, murdered in Chapter One, and half the ensuing story told through the eyes of the investigating officer, DI Banner, The School Gates is also a whodunnit, making it a particularly stimulating, fascinating novel to write. And hopefully, to read! 

This isn’t the first time I’ve ventured into the intriguing, ever popular world of ‘whodunnits’ as far as my psychological thrillers are concerned. My third foray into the genre, The Final Party, centres around three couples who spend a week together in Italy to celebrate a fortieth birthday party. In the Prologue, the reader learns that one of the party is dead, and they are then taken on a complex, twisty journey back in time to discover who the victim is and how they met their unfortunate demise. The School Gates, however, is more of a classic whodunnit, in that we know Lola is the victim from the outset, and we follow Banner’s chain of enquiries as he interviews various suspects in Lola’s immediate parent circle, each of whom have a credible motive to have wanted her dead. 

Whodunnits remain a much beloved variety of crime fiction for a whole host of reasons. For readers, they offer the tantalising challenge of trying to solve a puzzle by making deductions from a series of clues the author will drop into the narrative, only to be thrown off track by a surprising twist or clever red herring which brings them back to square one. Whodunnit fans love nothing better than being taken on a rollercoaster ride of twists and turns before having the wind knocked out of their sails by a final revelation that leaves them open-mouthed. That being so, it takes great skill to craft a story in such a way as to ensure that happens, with the reader left satisfied rather than short-changed. 

Trying to discern the killer from a varied range of credible suspects (as my detective tries to do in The School Gates) is a simple concept all things considered, but the crime writer will make it more compelling, suspenseful and difficult for the reader to solve through strong character development, the exploration of complex motives, and intricate backstory, all of which will hopefully keep them guessing and turning the pages and, even better, will mess with our minds!

Domestic suspense is, of course, a type of ‘psychological thriller’, and in recent years classic whodunnits have adopted more of a ‘psychological’ spin due to the former’s popularity since the release of Gone Girl. The focus isn’t just on the puzzle, clues and final reveal, i.e., the who, anymore, but each character’s inner monologue and what’s driving their actions, i.e. the why. They are still mysteries, of course, but they now tend to explore the psychology of the various suspects more deeply, thereby, in my view, enriching the story. Being a psychological thriller author, I really enjoyed exploring this combination in The School Gates, the school setting providing for a hotbed of simmering tension, poisonous mind games and deep discontent and in turn, ramping up the suspense in the reader’s mind. Likewise, rather than making him a gritty tough-talking detective, I purposely gave my investigating officer a much softer side, giving the reader an insight into his own inner struggles, attempting to show how the case affects him deeply having a young son himself, along with the stress and frustration he feels while investigating Lola’s murder and coming up against dead ends. 

In short, whodunnits are no longer confined to locked-room puzzles and smart deductions leading to the capture of a killer. They are now much darker and more complex, delving more deeply into the protagonists’ psychologies with reference to wider societal and social issues. This is turn makes them more relatable, with none of us being infallible human beings, but prone to the darker traits of human nature and susceptible to taking a self-destructive path. 

In The School Gates, while the reader follows Banner’s chain of enquiries which eventually lead him to unearthing Lola’s killer in the style of the classic “whodunnit”, we’re also offered an in-depth insight into events leading up to her death through Lola’s eyes; not just her own mindset and motivations, but that of other parents, thereby ramping up the suspense and uncertainty in readers’ minds, a device which hopefully keeps them guessing until the end! 

The School Gates by A A Chaudhuri (Canelo Publishing) Out Now

First comes gossip … then comes revenge. When single mum Lola Martinez’s son, Luca, starts school, she feels that she’ll never fit in with the yummy mummies in the playground. Confident, married to wealthy men, with ample free time, they are everything she isn’t. However, Lola is invited into the inner circle, surrounded by seemingly friendly people, even if Lola’s silence about her child’s father puzzles them. Despite herself, Lola quickly becomes involved in playground politics, making as many enemies as friends. But then Lola is brutally murdered, her death rocking the close-knit community. As the police investigate the case, they discover that Lola was hiding many secrets – as are the mums in her new social circle. But who had the most reason to kill her? And who else might unwittingly hold the answers to what happened that night?

More information about the author can be found on her website. She can also be found on X @AAChaudhuri, Facebook, Instagram @a.a.chaudhuri, Tiktok @alexchaudhuri0923 and Blue Sky -  @aachaudhuri.bsky.social

Lee Child to Headline Inaugural Whitby Literature Festival

Lee Child, the author behind the global phenomenon, Jack Reacher, headlines the inaugural Whitby Lit Fest.

Child’s books have been translated in multiple languages, had two Hollywood adaptations starring Tom Cruise, and a hit Amazon Prime series featuring Alan Ritchson, with millions of copies sold worldwide.

The blockbuster author will be in conversation with the TV personality, Rob Rinder.

Lee will be discussing the new Reacher book – Exit Strategy - co-written with his brother, Andrew Child. The 30th title in the Jack Reacher series is published on 4 November.

Child will also discuss his first ever autobiographical collection, The Stories Behind the Stories, which is published this September.

Rinder is a Sunday Times No.1 bestselling author, with a series of novels inspired by his experiences as a barrister: The Trial, The Suspect and The Protest.

Over 40 authors are expected to descend on the coastal town for the inaugural festival, which runs from Thursday 6 to Sunday 9 November.

Alongside bestselling authors, Whitby Lit Fest will champion writers, past and present, who have been inspired by Whitby, and celebrate the coast’s literary heritage.

Whitby is home to one of the world’s most enduring literary legacies: Dracula.

The name Dracula and some of the novel’s most dramatic scenes were inspired by Bram Stoker’s holiday in Whitby in 1890.

The picturesque harbour, abbey ruins, windswept churchyard, and the salty tales he heard from Whitby seafarers all became ingredients in the novel.

Festival Patron, Kate Fenton - the author and former BBC Radio 4 producer - said: “Whitby is
a book lover’s playground. I’ve been known to march protesting family members up the 199 steps at midnight to sit, as Bram Stoker’s silly Lucy does, on a lonely bench in the gale-blasted churchyard, daring a bat to sweep down.

“Strolling along West Cliff, I like to imagine I might bump into Jackson Brodie because I’ve noticed brilliant Kate Atkinson is fond of sending her detective to our town – and I kid myself I’m personally acquainted with the characters in Ben Myers’ The Offing, set just down the coast in Robin Hood’s Bay. I could go on. The place’s clearly an enduring inspiration for writers, and it’s marvellous so many will be gathering here in November, along with us inky-fingered bookworms, young and old. I can hardly wait.”

The anniversary of Bram Stoker’s birthday is on November 8, and the festival has plans to mark the occasion, alongside its links to another literary legend: Charles Dickens, who stayed at the White Horse and Griffin whilst visiting Whitby.

Lois Kirtlan, Committee Chair of the Whitby Lit Fest, said: “We’re thrilled to welcome a literary giant, like Lee Child, to launch a landmark event for readers and writers alike.”

A major theme of the first festival will celebrate Whitby’s dramatic coastline and landscapes, with authors focussing on nature, travel, and the outdoors, as well as a wider look at wellbeing.

Lois said: “The landscape, sea, and dramatic skies offer the perfect setting to discuss the big questions books throw up about life. It’s a chance for readers to go on a literary adventure, to discover new authors alongside established and acclaimed writers, with the remarkable backdrop of Whitby in November, with its quieter coastal paths and dramatic sunsets. Throw in our famous fish and chips, and we think it’s every bookworm’s paradise.”

Other themes include crime fiction, gothic horror, and working-class writing.

The festival will also feature a poetry strand to celebrate established and emerging local poets. A bespoke children’s strand is centred on a writing competition for local schoolchildren delivered in partnership with the National Literacy Trust, to ignite a love of writing and reading in young audiences.

The full programme and ticket sales will be announced later in the year.

The event is an initiative by the Whitby community, with a steering committee of local businesses The Whitby Bookshop and Hetty & Betty, alongside North Yorkshire Council Libraries, Visit North Yorkshire, and English Heritage, who look after Whitby Abbey, with support from Cause UK Public Relations and Hello Technology.

Lois added: “This is a festival rooted in place and community. We want to create something that’s not only world-class in literary programming, but also deeply connected to the people and stories of Whitby. It’s about celebrating creativity and heritage, and bringing people together through the joy of books.”

Whitby Lit Fest is being established as a charity. Ticket prices will be affordable and accessible. The committee welcomes sponsorship and volunteer support. If interested, and to receive other festival updates please contact the festival team via the website: www.whitbylitfest.org.uk

Shamus Award Nominees 2025: Private Eye Writers of America

The Private Eye Writers of America announced the nominees for the coveted Shamus Awards. Winners will be announced at the 2025 Bouchercon Opening Ceremonies on Thursday September 4 2025 in New Orleans, Louisiana.

 BEST PI HARDCOVER

Kingpin by Mike Lawson 

The Hollow Tree by Phillip Miller

Farewell, Amethystine by Walter Mosley

Trouble in Queenstown by Delia Pitts 

Death and Glory by Will Thomas 

BEST ORGINAL PAPERBACK P.I. NOVEL

Geisha Confidential by Mark Coggins 

Quarry’s Return by Max Allan Collins 

Not Born of Woman by Teel James Glenn

Bless Our Sleep by Neil S. Plakcy 

Call of the Void by J.T. Siemens 

The Big Lie by Gabriel Valjan 

BEST FIRST P.I. NOVEL

Twice the Trouble by Ash Clifton 

The Devil’s Daughter by Gordon Greisman 

Fog City by Claire M. Johnson

The Road to Heaven by Alexis Stefanovich-Thomson

Holy City by Henry Wise 

BEST P.I. SHORT STORY

“Deadhead” by Tom Andes (Fall 2024, Cowboy Jamboree Magazine)

“Alibi in Ice” by Libby Cudmore (July/August 2024, AHMM)

“Drop Dead Gorgeous” by M.E. Proctor (Janie’s Got a Gun: Crime Fiction Inspired by the Music of Aerosmith)

“Under Hard Rock” by Ed Teja (October 2024, Black Cat Weekly #164)

“The Five Cent Detective” by S.B. Watson (November 2024, Crimeucopia)

Congratulations too all the winners. and  nominated authors

Wedding Thrills by A.E. Gauntlett

I’m forever struck by an old YouTube video I once saw in which some clever editor had taken the much-beloved Mary Poppins and created a new, truly 21st Century trailer. The result was strange, uncanny. Gone was the whimsical and heart-warming movie we all know and love – umbrellas in flight, an emotionally buttoned-up father driven back into the loving arms of his family, furious spit-spotting down bannisters in the wrapper of a feel-good sing-a-long for all ages – and in its place, dark and twisted, was what would previously have seemed impossible: a horror film. Mary’s gentle lullabies were now the songs of a demonic spirit, luring little children to their windows, and her fanciful magic now the torturous gifts of a punitive, child-hating entity who arrives on the wind one day and steals all joy from the world.

What this brilliant bit of editing demonstrates is just how fragile the boundaries of genre are. Ancillary tropes that we take for granted as emblematic of specific genres are slippery and open to manipulation and reinvention. Put simply: one slight turn of the dial can transform a technicolour dream into a Ken Russell-esque nightmare. 

Two genres that have always seemed to me natural bedfellows under the right conditions are thrillers and romances – for a hungry, lustful relationship can so easily turn toxic, and what thriller is complete without the promise (or threat) of a romantic connection made (or broken)?

We're all familiar with the wedding as a backdrop to a rom-com - the final act; the joyful destination after a long, troubled-journey; an event to wash out the old and welcome the new; the fresh start; the happily-ever-after. It is the pinnacle of the rising tension, a restoration of equilibrium, the moment of arrival. Indeed, Hollywood's idea of the wedding has become so ingrained in us that, for the past half-decade, life has grown to imitate art. Weddings have become more lavish affairs, more choreographed, more pressured. And so, fiction has birthed reality. 

The union of two families bound by the ultimate expression of an enduring love mark weddings as quintessentially joyful, supposedly harmonious, occasions. But one upending of a familiar trope, and we're in very different territory. The bridal expectation can soon turn to dread, the coming together of the tribes can give rise to friction, long-buried secrets can bubble to the surface, and any last-minute doubts can cast a heavy pall across the entire occasion. Harried brides, nervous groomsmen, fractious families, and emotional guests. In many ways, the wedding is the perfect setting for a thriller.

It was no accident, then, that I chose a wedding as the focal point of my thriller, The Stranger at the Wedding. The book starts with a wedding, and it ends with one, though the two occasions are worlds apart and troubled for very different reasons. In our main event, we meet our mild-mannered, diffident protagonist, Annie, who is about to marry Mark, a surgeon, following a whirlwind romance. As they’re about to cement their love before a throng of well-wishers, Annie spots a face in the crowd she doesn’t recognise: a man, she suspects, who has come to raze to the ground all that she has built with Mark.

Who can say, hand on heart, that we have known every single person at our own weddings? Those we don’t recognise, we trust, were invited by our partners – work colleagues, distant relatives, rekindled friends, perhaps. Weddings have far too many moving parts for any one person to keep on top of every detail; I guess that’s why so many of us turn to wedding planners. Such occasions, fraught with both anxiety, excitement and doubt, allow the unexpected to rear its ugly head. Therein lies the potential for drama, both quiet- and explosive.

In The Stranger at the Wedding, though, it is not the uninvited guest who initially throws the event into crisis, but the groom himself, who turns to Annie, our not-so-blushing bride, and delivers the hammer blow at the end of the opening Act: we need to talk. But this comes as no great surprise to Annie; she had been expecting this. Both parties, it seems, have been concealing, and it is the public spectacle of the wedding itself that has forced them out of hiding. 

A writer is a little like a conductor, deciding which bits of the orchestra to dial up, and which to dial down at any given moment. A wedding – this wedding – could have gone one of two ways. I chose to dial up the tension, the element of the unknown, the fear of losing someone close to you. In another world, I could have foregrounded the couples’ love, their complete and utter joy, their journey off into the sunset, and that – much like a re-cut Mary Poppins trailer – would have told a very different story.

The Stranger at The Wedding by A E Gauntlett. (Bloomsbury Publishing) Out Now Annie never believed in true love. Not until she met Mark. It’s a whirlwind romance and Annie has never felt surer about anything in her life. But as she stands at the altar, she spots an unknown face in the crowd. Who is the stranger at the wedding? What really happened to Mark’s first wife? And is Annie really the person she says she is? The stranger at the wedding: whose side are you on?

The author can be found on X @albioneye

Peter Swanson says “Kill Your Darlings”

 

Here at Shots Magazine we’ve followed the work of Peter Swanson eagerly from his 2014 debut novel ‘The Girl with a Clock for a Heart’ right up to his latest, ‘Kill Your Darlings’ which is released on 3^rd July 2025 – a date to mark boldly in your diary.

We wrote about Swanson’s latest novel –

“Thom Graves is a tenured English Professor in his mid-fifties. His wife Wendy also works in academia, and was a published poet in her youth. She considers that her husband drinks too much, has a wandering eye and worryingly has started writing a novel – a murder mystery. Wendy can tolerate his drinking and even his flings with younger women at the University – but what she cannot accept is his writing.

At a dinner party she ponders what her life would be like without him so she decides to murder him.”

‘Kill Your Darlings’ is a difficult book to review without revealing spoilers, as the narrative unspools in reverse. I pondered upon Søren Kierkegaard’s assertion that “Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.”

“I sat in silence when I put the book down, and have been pondering the narrative as Kill your Darlings provokes deep thought – contemplation of fate intertwined with free-will to form our lives and our deaths and that of others that we interact with.”

Read the full review [free from spoilers] HERE

So after putting down “Kill Your Darlings” I had a few questions for the author, which Peter kindly answered and which we now present for our readers -

Ali: Welcome to Shots Magazine

Peter: Hey, great to be here

AK: We were floored by your latest novel KILL YOUR DARLINGS so could you let us know where the kernel for this novel’s idea came from?

PS: It came from two places. One was the desire to write a novel in reverse. So much of crime fiction is about how the bad deeds of the past effect the present, so I wanted to explore that by going backwards. The second spark for this novel was really thinking about what would happen if the adulterous couple in Double Indemnity or Body Heat, or really any story in which a married woman talks her lover into killing her husband, got away with it. What would their lives look like in thirty years?

AK: I find your female characters so very intriguing and perhaps the adage that “the female of the species is deadlier than the male” to be especially applicable in your work, including in your latest – would you care to discuss?

PS: Maybe it’s because historically men are more violent than women that killer female characters are so interesting. They have to overcome their natures in order to kill, unlike men, who are overcoming their natures in order to not kill. I’m sure that’s reductive, but I think there is some truth in it. Anyway, I enjoy writing deadly females probably for the same reason people like to read about them.  

AK: There is complexity in your work, but it’s deft [in so far as the narrative appears effortlessly constructed to the reader]. So are you a plotter or do you just follow the muse and hope everything will turn out fine?

PS: In general, I’m a muse-follower, hoping for the best. However, in writing Kill Your Darlings I had to, by necessity, do a little more classic plotting. I needed to know what happened in the past, of course, in order to explore how these characters were acting in the present. That said, I never did an outline for this book, and there are some elements to the story that I discovered in the course of writing.

AK: The subtle details embedded in the narrative of KILL YOUR DARLINGS added nuance making it [deliciously] thought provoking. The mention / references of a poem by Edgar Allan Poe, Herge’s Tintin in Tibet, William Peter Blatty…..even the title of Wendy’s debut poetry collection…….   Did you plan these [and others] or did they appear naturally?

PS: A lot of the references appear naturally, in the sense that when I am working on a novel my mind is filled with favourite books and poems and movies that might have some relevance to what I’m working on. But, of course, there’s some manipulation. Once I knew that Jason, Thom and Wendy’s son, was a Tintin reader, it made sense for the story for him to be carrying around Tintin in Tibet, the book that Herge claimed originated from his middle-aged dreams of dying.

AK: Which of your previous novels did you enjoy writing the most and why?

PS: Well, it wasn’t Kill Your Darlings, which got very tricky to write for a period of time, so much so that I almost abandoned it. The book I loved writing was The Rules for Perfect Murders (Eight Perfect Murders in the States), mostly because I could spend so much time exploring the plots and intricacies of some of my favourite crime novels. As you’ve already mentioned I do love references, and I didn’t need to hold back with this particular book.

AK: I find your later novels to be particularly memorable especially, RULES FOR PERFECT MURDERS , A TALENT FOR MURDER and NINE LIVES as I still think about them from time to time. Do you find the writing process to have gotten easier than when you started over a decade ago or has each novel gotten harder to shape?

PS: All novels are hard to write, and it doesn’t get any easier. I do think that now that I have written a dozen novels maybe I’m allowing a little more quirk and personality into my stories than I did when I first started out. Maybe I trust my instincts (for better or worse) more than when I was a younger writer.

AK: I found your novella THE CHRISTMAS GUEST to be very dark, but told in an engaging manner – will we ever see a collection of shorter work from you?

PS: I think I have enough stories right now to be a collection, but I’m not sure they are good enough. However, I’d like to come out with a short story collection one day but maybe there would be only one. I find short stories really hard to write, and I’ve yet to write one that I am a hundred percent pleased with. I think I would be more likely to come out with a novella collection, since that is a length I am very comfortable working in.

AK: And any more information about film rights to your work as we heard Julia Roberts has expressed interest in KILL YOUR DARLINGS?

PS: She brought on James Gray to write the script and direct the film, if it gets made. That’s pretty much all I know. I suspect that the next element will be finding a male lead. They really keep the writers in the dark about this whole process, or maybe they just keep me in the dark. Regardless, it’s an exciting possibility, one I have very little to do with.

AK: And what Books and Films have you enjoyed recently?

PS: I liked Steven Soderbergh’s film Black Bag. It sold itself as a spy thriller but it was much more of a kind of classic who-dunit, a chamber piece book-ended by two dinner parties. I really loved Janice Hallett’s next book, Killer Question, all about a murder wrapped into a weekly pub quiz. Very clever. And I also loved William Boyd’s new book, Gabriel’s Moon, about a travel writer in the 1960s who gets recruited by the secret service.

AK: And would you care to share what are you working on currently?

PS: I’ve written another Christmas novella, and that will be coming out in the autumn of 2026. And now I’m getting ready to start a new novel that would come out in 2027.

AK: Thank you for your time to speak with our British readers.

PS: My pleasure, Ali.

Shots Magazine would like to thanks Sopha Cerullo and Angus Cargill of Faber and Faber [London] for their help in facilitating this interview with Peter Swanson.

If you’ve not read Peter Swanson, where’ve you been?

Bibliography

Henry Kimball / Lily Kintner Novels

The Kind Worth Killing (2015)      

The Kind Worth Saving (2023)     

A Talent for Murder (2024)

Standalone Novels

The Girl with a Clock for a Heart (2014)  

Her Every Fear (2017)        

All the Beautiful Lies (2018)         

Before She Knew Him (2019)      

Rules for Perfect Murders aka Eight Perfect Murders (2020) 

Every Vow You Break (2021)       

Nine Lives (2022)   

Kill Your Darlings (2025)   

Short Stories/Novellas

The Christmas Guest (2023)         

The Honeymoon Trap (2022)       

More information available > https://www.peter-swanson.com and HERE