Getting away with Murder with Lynda La Plante CBE.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Holiday: from page to screen by T M Logan

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

And then lockdown happened.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Zaffre signs global crime-writing phenomenon Lars Kepler

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Author photo credit: Ewa-Marie Rundquist

Claire Gradidge on the Inspiration for Treachery at Hursley Park House

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Threat from Within by Mara Timon

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

But trust is a commodity you can’t afford.

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

Resistance by Mara Timon (Bonnier Zaffre) Out Now.

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

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

A Q & A with David Fennell

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Ayo:- How did the lockdown affect your writing?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

It was. Well, kind of. 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Information about Mara Timon can be found on her website.

You can also follow her on Twitter @maratimon.

The Syndicate by G J Minett

It’s when a character begins to tug at my mental sleeve and won’t let go that I know I’m ready to start a new novel. It’s never a plot . . . always a character. I’m rarely stuck for ideas - avenues that might be ripe for exploration tend to creep into my thoughts on a daily basis, but as a rule they vanish just as quickly. If I were to write a novel about each and every one that occurs to me, I’d make L. Ron Hubbard’s output look pretty ordinary. But some characters come back for more than one visit and eventually one of them will sneak through my defences so often that I can’t resist the siren call any longer. I know I’m going to write about them. The plot? Well, that comes later. My first priority is to spend a month or two getting to know my central character until it’s pretty clear what her/his achilles heel is going to be. Once I know that, the role of the plot is to put that weakness under pressure and that’s how the story emerges. It doesn’t dictate – it serves.

I’ve no idea where Jon Kavanagh came from. I know his fictional biography of course, because I created it – born in Bristol in the 1950s, deeply affected by a family tragedy at the age of nine, scarred and almost blinded by a bomb blast while serving in Northern Ireland, turbulent years working as an enforcer for a major crime syndicate in London, major fall from grace because of a deliberate breach of protocol which meant leaving a potential witness alive, then twenty uneventful years running his own bookshop in Dorset, with time to mull over things he’s done that he knows he cannot justify to himself. This biography remained more or less constant once I had the character nailed down but quite why Kavanagh himself popped into my head in the first place, I have no idea. If I did, life as a writer would be so much easier.

The Syndicate is a novel which I hope cuts across several genres. It is a crime novel of course because in order to understand Kavanagh as he is now, we need to see the events that have shaped him, the decisions he’s taken and the vagaries of fate that lie beyond his control. But I’d like to think it’s more than that. If asked to summarise it in two words, I’d choose the phrase redemption novel. Jon Kavanagh, even while working for the syndicate, is aware of a need to follow some sort of moral imperative. If he is to be responsible for someone’s death, he has to be able to convince himself that there was no other course open to him, that the world is a better place once the victim has been removed and his actions have been for the greater good. It is the realisation however that he has been manipulated by people he respected that causes him to walk away from that life.

His one trump card, that has effectively kept the syndicate from coming after him for twenty

years, is the threat that if anything happens to him, it will trigger the automatic release of a series of recordings and documents that will do significant damage to its operations. It’s a ‘nuclear pact’ that has held until now - leave me alone and you’ve nothing to fear. But events have moved on in London and policy is now being shaped by a man who has his own reasons for viewing Kavanagh’s defection as a dangerous precedent which does nothing to discourage others from trying to do the same.  The syndicate has always known where Kavanagh is. And now they’re coming after him.

This provides the backdrop for Kavanagh’s bid for redemption. With time running out, in more than one sense, all roads lead back to that fateful night when he went against established protocol. He can’t undo the past . . . but he knows what he needs to do with the time he has left if he is to achieve redemption.

Most of the action is set in Dorset, in and around Wareham, taking in landmarks which may be familiar to readers such as Lulworth Cove, Durdle Door and the amazingly atmospheric ghost village of Tyneham. In the latter stages of the novel  however, the scene changes to the resort of Praia D’El Rey on Portugal’s Silver Coast, which is almost certainly less well-known. I feel the need to end by singing the resort’s praises and emphasising that during two wonderful stays there I never once saw anything to suggest that it might be linked to the nefarious behaviour described in the closing chapters. I’d happily recommend it.

The Syndicate by GJ Minett Published by Zaffre Books 9^th July 2020 Paperback Original and eBook £8.99

Twenty years ago, Jon Kavanagh worked for a crime syndicate. Then one night he made a mistake. He left a witness at a crime scene. Alive. Now, he is haunted by the memories of that young girl. Her face a constant reminder of the life he chose to leave behind. Time has passed and now he wants answers: What ever happened to her? Anna Hill is an aspiring singer, but the bars and clubs she works in are far from exciting. When she is given the opportunity to work in Portugal, she takes it. This is her chance to finally kick-start her career. But the job offer comes at a price; one that will endanger the lives of those she knows, and those she doesn't. Becoming involved with the Syndicate is risky, and Anna will need her instincts to work out who to trust - and who not to . . .

Facebook Live! Lynda La Plante discusses Buried

EXCLUSIVE OPPORTUNITY TO JOIN AWARD-WINNING AUTHOR LYNDA LA PLANTE FOR A FACEBOOK LIVE TO DISCUSS HER BRAND NEW NOVEL BURIED

Lynda La Plante has decided to reach out to her readers and invite them to a Facebook Live with her at 6 pm on Thursday 2nd April to share a G&T and chat all things Buried.

 Lynda will be reading from the novel and answering questions (submitted in advance) through her Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/LyndaLaPlanteCBE/

If you would like to submit a question for Lynda please email lynda.laplante@myreadersclub.co.uk ahead of the Live.

If you would like to join in with us this Thursday- please share the image at the top of this email on your social media pages.

If you haven't read Buried yet, but would like to read and review, please click on the link to read on Netgalley: https://www.netgalley.co.uk/widget/228193/redeem/5f258430efbedaba1633f491140681ab9421d3f0f3d129adab781f428e54d77c

We look forward to seeing you all there and sharing a drink and a chat with the fabulous Lynda La Plante.

Books to Look Forward to from Bonnier Zaffre

January 2020

Hitler’s Secret is by Rory Clements.  The war is going badly for Britain and its allies. If Hitler is to be stopped, a new weapon is desperately needed. In Cambridge, professor Tom Wilde is approached by an American intelligence officer who claims to know of such a weapon - one so secret even Hitler himself isn't aware of its existence. If Wilde can smuggle the package out of Germany, the Third Reich will surely fall. But it is only when he is deep behind enemy lines that Wilde discovers why the Nazis are so desperate to prevent the 'package' falling into Allied hands. And as ruthless killers hunt him through Europe, a treacherous question hangs over the mission: if Hitler's secret will win them the war, why is Wilde convinced it must remain hidden?

Stasi Winter is by David Young.   In 1978 East Germany, nothing is at it seems. The state's power is absolute, history is re-written, and the 'truth' is whatever the Stasi say it is. So when a woman's murder is officially labelled 'accidental death', Major Karin Muller of the People's Police is faced with a dilemma. To solve the crime, she must disregard the official version of events. But defying the Stasi means putting her own life - and the lives of her young family - in danger. As the worst winter in living memory holds Germany in its freeze, Muller must untangle a web of state secrets and make a choice: between truth and lies, justice and injustice, and, ultimately, life and death.

 

February 2020

The Oath is by Klaus-Peter Wolf. If the system can't make them pay, then he will . . . Former chief of police, Ubbo Heide, is enjoying a peaceful seaside retirement - until a gruesome package containing a severed head turns up on his doorstep and catapults him back into a world he left behind. When a torso is found on the local beach, it's assumed it's from the same victim. That is until a second head turns up. As the investigation reaches fever pitch, Chief Inspector Ann Kathrin Klaasen, now assigned to the case, realises that the two victims are connected. Soon it's clear that this quiet coastal community is facing a brutal serial killer. One who is taking justice into his own hands.

March 2020 

You don't know who they are. You don't know why they're hunting her. But you know she's in danger. What do you do? When teacher Jenni Wales sees 15-year-old Destiny's black eye, she's immediately worried. Destiny isn't your average student: she's smart, genius IQ smart, and she's in care. But concern turns to fear when Jenni witnesses an attempt to abduct Jenni from school. Who are these men and what can Destiny know to make them hunt her? With those around her not taking the threat seriously, Jenni does the only thing she can think of to keep Destiny safe: she takes her.  To Keep You Safe is by Kate Bradley.

April 2020

DC Jack Warr and his girlfriend Maggie have just moved to London to start a new life together. Though charming, Jack can't seem to find his place in the world - until he's drawn into an investigation that turns his life upside down. In the aftermath of a fire at an isolated cottage, a badly charred body is discovered, along with the burnt remains of millions of stolen, untraceable bank notes. Jack's search leads him deep into a murky criminal underworld - a world he finds himself surprisingly good at navigating. But as the line of the law becomes blurred, how far will Jack go to find the answers - and what will it cost him!  Buried is by Lynda La Plante.

No Going Back is by Sheena Kamal.  Nora Watts is being hunted . . . When Nora Watts is approached by a man claiming to know her late father, she is thrown into turmoil. Struggling with the imminent death, from cancer, of her friend and mentor Sebastian Crow, she is unprepared for the memories that this encounter brings back. What happened to her father that made him kill himself and abandon Nora and her sister? Heading to Detroit to try and find some answers about his life there, Nora expects to discover a reason behind his suicide. Instead, she finds more questions than answers. But trouble always follows Nora, and it's found her in Detroit, a city that is as broken as she is.

The Call of the Raven  is by Wilbur Smith and Corban Addision.  'The right of the cat over the mouse, of the strong over the weak. The natural law of existence.' Mungo St John, A Falcon Flies The son of a wealthy plantation owner and a doting mother, Mungo St John is accustomed to the wealth and luxuries his privilege has afforded him. That is until he returns from university to discover his family ruined, his inheritance stolen and his childhood sweetheart, Camilla, taken by the conniving Chester Marion. Fuelled by anger, and love, Mungo swears vengeance and devotes his life to saving Camilla - and destroying Chester. Camilla, trapped in New Orleans, powerless to her position as a kept slave and suffering at the hands of Chester's brutish behaviour, must learn to do whatever it takes to survive. As Mungo battles his own fate and misfortune to achieve the revenge that drives him, and regain his power in the world, he must question what it takes for a man to survive when he has nothing, and what he is willing to do in order to get what he wants.

We Begin at the End is by Chris Whitaker and is a powerful novel about absolute love and the lengths we will go to keep our family safe. This is a story about good and evil and how life is lived somewhere in between. 'You can't save someone that doesn't want to be saved . . .' For some people, trouble just finds them. Thirty years ago, Vincent King became a killer. Now, he's been released from prison and is back in his hometown of Cape Haven, California. Not everyone is pleased to see him. Like Star Radley, his ex-girlfriend, and sister of the girl he killed. Duchess Radley, Star's thirteen-year-old daughter, is part-carer, part-protector to her younger brother, Robin - and to her deeply troubled mother. But in trying to protect Star, Duchess inadvertently sets off a chain of events that will have tragic consequences not only for her family, but also the whole town. Murder, revenge, retribution. How far can we run from the past when the past seems doomed to repeat itself?

May 2020

Seven housemates. Seven lies. Would you join . . . The House Share? Immi thought she had found the perfect new home in central London: a shared warehouse with luxury accommodation, a rooftop terrace and daily yoga, all with a surprisingly affordable price tag. The Dye Factory is a 'co-living' community, designed to combat the loneliness of big city life. But soon after she moves into her new haven, Immi realises that it's not quite as idyllic as it appears. No one seems to know who is behind this multi-million pound urban experiment. And her housemates may be hiding a dangerous secret . . . Then, as a series of pranks escalates into something much darker, Immi is left questioning whether, in this group of strangers, she can ever really be safe. And when you're sharing a house, you can't always lock the danger out.   The House Share is by Kate Helm.

June 2020

The Catch is by T M Logan.  He is not what he seems . . . Ed is delighted to meet his twenty-three year old daughter's fiance for the first time. Abbey is head-over-heels in love with her new man. Smart, successful and handsome, Ryan appears to be the perfect future son-in-law. There's just one problem. There's something off about Ryan. Something hidden in the shadows behind his eyes. And it seems that only Ed can see it. Terrified that his daughter is being drawn in by a psychopath, Ed sets out to uncover her fiance's dark past - while keeping his own concealed. But no-one believes him. And the more he digs, the more he alienates her and the rest of the family who are convinced that Ryan is 'the one'. Ed knows different. For reasons of his own, he knows a monster when he sees one...

The Return is by Harry Sidebottom.  He came home a hero. But death isn't finished with him yet . . . 145BC - CALABRIA, ANCIENT ROME. Gaius Furius Paullus has returned home after years of spilling blood for Rome. One of the lucky few to survive a lifetime of brutal battle, he intends to spend his remaining days working quietly on the family farm. But it seems death has stalked Paullus from the battlefield. Just days after his arrival, bodies start appearing - murdered and mutilated. And as the deaths stack up, and panic spreads, the war hero becomes the prime suspect. After all, Paullus has killed countless enemies on the battlefield - could he have brought his habit home with him? With the psychological effects of combat clouding every thought, Paullus must use all his soldier's instincts to hunt the real killer. Because if they are not brought to justice soon, he may become the next victim. 

Rogue is by James Swallow.  All spooks know that, in modern espionage, every action has a reaction. One wrong move could sink an entire region into turmoil - even war. Former MI6 operative Marc Dane understands this better than anyone. Dedicating your life to protecting the country means collecting enemies, and a lot of them. But for those hellbent on bringing the West to its knees, each failed plot has one thing in common: private intelligence agency The Rubicon Group, and Dane's employer. Only if Rubicon crumbles will their path truly be clear. With the clock ticking, Dane must unpick a monstrous and deadly conspiracy that stretches from the corridors of Westminster to the mountains of Mozambique. One that threatens not only Rubicon, but the lives of millions of civilians. And time is fast running out.

Someone Knows the Truth (Shed No Tears) is by Caz Frear. Four victims. Killer caught. Case closed . . . Or is it? Christopher Masters, known as 'The Roommate Killer', strangled three women over a two-week period in a London house in November 2012. Holly Kemp, his fourth victim, was never found. Until now. Her remains have been unearthed in a field in Cambridgeshire and DC Cat Kinsella and the major investigation team are called in, but immediately there are questions surrounding the manner of her death. And with Masters now dead, no one to answer them. DCI Tessa Dyer, the lead on the 2012 case, lends the team a hand, as does DCI Steele's old boss and mentor, the now retired Detective Chief Superintendent Oliver Cairns. With Masters dead, Cat and the team have to investigate every lead again. But if you’d got away with murder, what would you do when the case is re-opened?