In The St Hilda's Spotlight Olivia Isaac-Henry

Name:- Olivia Isaac Henry

Job:- Author

Instagram: @OliviaIsaacHenryAuthor

Facebook: @oisaachenry

X: @oisaachenry

Introduction: 

Olivia Isaac-Henry is the author of 4 books. Her most recent book due out in September is Hallow Hill. She is also the occasional keyboard player in experimental electronic band.

Current book? 

The Changeling, Victor LaValle. Apollo Kagwa believes his wife is suffering from post-natal depression when she declares their son is ‘not a baby’. Tragedy ensues, and in his quest to find the truth, Apollo discovers places and people no one knew existed in New York. Partly a musing on fatherhood, this novel also delves into ancient lore and fairytale, in a world where witches and changelings definitely do exist. 

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

The Woman in Black by Susan Hill. The whole atmosphere of Eel Marsh House leaves you shivering and checking for The Woman in Black out of the corner of your eye. 

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

Mary Shelley and Edgar Allan Poe. Not only were they fabulous writers, but they led fascinating, if tragic, lives. 

How do you relax?

I’m addicted to streaming dramas, especially anything crime or horror related. Currently I’m watching Finnish detective series Arctic Circle, the scenery is stunning and the plot goes off in a completely unexpected direction. 

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

Jamaica Inn by Daphne du Maurier. I read this when I was about eleven or twelve. At the time I was down in Cornwall on a camping holiday with my family. We bought the book at the actual Jamaica Inn. I read it in a day and I thought it was the most exciting novel ever. The final reveal stunned me. One day I’d love one of my books to have the same effect on a reader as that one had on me. 

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

Two of my novels lean toward the gothic: Sorrow Spring, which is already published, and Hallows Hill, which comes out in September. Both are set in Worcestershire, where I grew up. It’s a beautiful county with plenty of legends and folklore to use as inspiration. Also, because it’s not as well known as counties like Cornwell and Yorkshire, people come to it with fewer expectations. 

How would you describe your latest published book?

Sorrow Spring is a folk horror novel with a crime-mystery element. In the present day a woman attempts to discover what happened to her aunt, last seen in the village of Sorrow Spring in 1978. The novel goes back and forth in time to unravel her fate, which is linked to the ancient customs and beliefs of the village. 

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

Melmoth - Sarah Perry

We Have Always Lived in the Castle - Shirley Jackson

The Night Film - Marisha Pessl

Which 3 gothic films would you rewatch and why?

Let the Right One In – This Swedish film is disturbing on multiple levels, not least because it reminds you that humans far exceed vampires in their vice and savagery.

Angel Heart – Just mesmerizing. It has fantastic performances by Mickey Rourke and Robert de Niro and one of the all time greatest twists. A couple of watches are required to spot all the clues. 

Sinners – I’ve only just seen this one at the cinema, and I haven’t had a chance for a rewatch, but this film definitely requires one, as there’s so much to unpack. Again, it’s not just about vampires but the society that spawns them. It’s visually stunning with great performances and a stomping soundtrack. 

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

I’m looking forward to chatting with the other authors. Some I know already. Others I’m keen to meet. 

Hallows Hill by Olivia Isaac-Henry (Harper Collins Publishers) Out in September.

Have they stirred an ancient evil…or is there a killer in their midst? Twenty years ago, on Halloween night, a group of teenagers performed a summoning ritual on Hallows Hill. The next day, one of them was dead. Mia has never forgotten the chilling vision she saw that night, and which she believes foretold the death. Now the remaining friends gather for Halloween again. But when another death occurs, Mia starts to doubt everything around her. Is there a malevolent supernatural force that means them harm, or is human evil at play? Mia must take a long, hard look at her friends, herself and the folklore of Hallows Hill. Can she find the answers before all of them are dead?

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

In The St Hilda's Spotlight - Stuart Turton

Name: - Stuart Turton 

Job: - author and journalist

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

Instagram @stuturton

X @stu_turton

Introduction

Stuart Turton is the bestselling author of The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle (aka 7 ½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle) which won the 2018 Costa Book Award for First Novel, Best Novel in the 2018 Books Are My Bag Readers Award and was also shortlisted for the Debut book of the Year at the Specsavers National Book Awards and longlisted for both the CWA New Blood Dagger  and the Gold Dagger at the  CWA dagger awards. In 2019 it was shortlisted again for the Best Debut Novel at the Strand Magazine Critics’ Awards and longlisted for the Glass Bell Award. The Japanese edition of the book was shortlisted in 2019 For the Best Honkaku Mystery Novel translated into Japanese in the last decade. 

His second book, The Devil and the Dark Water won the 2020 Books Are My Bag Fiction Award and was shortlisted for the CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger and the Japanese version was nominated for the 2023 Mystery Writers of Japan Award for Mystery Fiction in Translation.

His most recent book is The Last Murder at the End of the World and was longlisted for the 2025 Theakstons Crime Novel of the Year

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

I’m currently reading the North Woods by Daniel Mason and it’s so astonishingly good that I want to quit reading, sulk, and then immediately try to replicate its ambition and beauty. It’s wondrous, expanding the scope of what a novel can be while telling a great story. God, I’m depressed again now.

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

I’m not easily spooked, unfortunately. Typically, I find gothic novels so daft that I end up laughing rather than trembling. This is sort of what I’ll be talking about at the festival, actually.

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

The Bronte sisters. I reckon they’d drive each other absolutely nuts and it would be fun to watch.

How do you relax?

Relax? I could do my job in a bed with no material difference to the outcome. Honestly, there’s nothing hard about it. Relaxing is for people with work to do. 

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

I’m good on that front. If I’d written Dracula or Frankenstein, I’d be long dead, and would have spent my entire life without the internet. No thanks!

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

There’s always a bit of gothic in my novels, so I’ve sort of covered what I wanted to do. My first novel was set in a creepy old house with secrets in every corner, and my second was set on a haunted boat. I feel like I’ve got my gothic fix.

How would you describe your latest published book?

Agatha Christie does Lost. Except weirder.

Which 3 gothic films would you rewatch and why.

Oh god, I don’t really watch many movies. Can I pass?

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

I really like being let out of my office and chatting with people with similar interests. It’s a lovely way to spend an afternoon.

 

The Last Murder at the End of the World by Stuart Turton (Bloomsbury Publishing)

Abi keeps them safe. One hundred and twenty-two islanders and their three beloved scientists live in harmony, kept safe from a poisonous security barrier with the help of Abi's instructions. Niema keeps the islanders occupied. Niema is one of the scientists who remembers what life was like before the fog. She ensures that all of the islanders have a job to do, and everyone loves her. Almost everyone. Emory can't stop asking questions.

But then one of the scientists is found dead, and their murder triggers the dropping of the security barrier. The only way to reinstate it is to find the killer. But can Emory ask the right questions? They have 107 hours to solve the murder before the fog sweeps in. Can they stop the end of their world?

 

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

To Morrow-on-Sea: Setting Dead As Gold on the Coast

      Morrow is not a glamorous place, and as                 Ophelia reaches the high street, she begins to skirt takeaway bins that have been raided by foxes. Between the pound shop and the shuttered nail bar is a homeless man who has given up asking for change and stares dully at his feet. 

Ophelia has been told that, in summer, tourists return Morrow to something of its former splendour. There are artists, pop-ups, concerts, hash-tags and social media presence. She has been promised it is the next Margate by loyal middle-class locals and she suspects there is a grain of truth in it; the town has declined substantially since her childhood visits, but there are still the bijou spots[…] 

My second crime novel, Dead As Gold, is set in fictional Morrow-on-Sea: a place we have all been, at one time or another. It is the rundown, out-of-season seaside town that everyone has spent a wet and windy day enjoying. In my childhood, this was Weston-super-Mare on the Somerset coast. Usually grey, haunted by shrieking gulls, sandy and uncomfortable; indefinably magical and intrinsically gothic. It stuck in my subconscious and stayed there like the sand carried home in socks. How easy and natural to set a crime novel there.

Adam Conlan, the protagonist of Dead As Gold, has moved his goldsmith’s workshop to Morrow after fathering a child on a one-night stand. Seven years later, his life is calmer, and he has found a measure of peace in co-parenting his son. Yet, by the sea, he still feels alone. Then, damaged writer Ophelia Richards arrives at his door and wants to sell her mother’s gold. Adam receives an animal heart in the post, his studio is robbed, strange faces appear at his window. A body is washed in on the tide. 

Like so many British coastal towns, Weston’s (and Morrow’s) heyday was during the nineteenth- and early-twentieth-centuries, as tourists flocked to the fresh air and the sea. As holidaying abroad became more affordable, fortunes dwindled, and so began a slow decline into seasonal work, poverty, poor infrastructure, and blossoming drugs trades. And so, the juxtapositions of Weston and Morrow breathe crime. 

A place that is meant to embody pleasure and fun is also grimy and decaying. What is an escape from everyday life for some is a place where others endure poverty and harsh winters. These are habitations positioned at the edge of the world, liminal, between land and sea. Just the presence of the water lends life-giving and life-taking opportunities. Who hasn’t stood at the tideline and felt the instability of the sand being sucked from under their feet? That half-second panic that we will be pulled away and drowned? The sea has a violence and strength that renders us powerless and echoes the dynamics of a murder. Without spoilers (perhaps just a light tease…), some of the most dramatic moments in Dead As Gold occur next to, or in, the water.

To Morrow-on-Sea, to Morrow-on-Sea

To the gulls with their cries, and the wind whistling free.

The seaside is also the writer’s friend because it is intrinsically sensory and evocative. Everyone can imagine the sounds (gulls, waves, wind, children) and smells (salt, seaweed, chip fat) and touch (gritty sand, cold water, harsh wind) of it. It’s a place that the reader can feel and therefore become immersed in. Ophelia herself is a writer, returning to Morrow to make sense of traumatic events she experienced there as a child, to draw a ‘portrait’ of the place through its characters, folktales, and animals. She can feel Morrow in the way the reader can, and like many readers, it is a repository for her childhood, and all the complex associations that can bring.

The late morning sky is low and heavy, resting its leaden belly on the clifftop where Ophelia walks. The wind is urgent, and she errs away from the edge, where thrift and grass cling on in clumps. From the path, she can still see the sea, making dark laps at itself and the beach, ceaseless, restless, like it had been in her childhood. She thinks of Adam Conlan, living at the edge of the world.

The natural co-existence of murder, mystery, and the sea is demonstrated by the sheer number and quality of classic crime novels you’ll find set on the coast. Consider Poirot’s various adventures (Peril At End House, Evil Under the Sun) or Daphne du Maurier’s OG gothic thriller Rebecca. More recently, Tom Mead’s The House at Devil’s Neck and Louise Minchin’s Isolation Island testify to the enduring appeal of the seaside as a setting for murder; a place where the writer can draw from its drama and power and contrast. And like the tide rolling back in, the more readers return to the setting, the more commissioning editors will keep snapping these books up.

Long live crime novels, and long live the great British seaside

Dead as Gold by Bonnie Burke-Patel (Bedford Square Publishers) Out Now

Adam Conlan has made a new life for himself in Morrow-on-Sea. After a wild youth, the goldsmith had settled down, determined to be around for his young son. But now Ophelia Richards appears at his studio door, asking if he will buy her gold. The writer entices and unsettles him; he sees she is adrift in the same cold pain and loneliness as he is. At the same time, faces begin appearing at the studio window, an unwelcome gift arrives in the post, gold goes missing. Then comes death, then comes Detective Inspector William Kent. Woven through with Morrow’s fairy tales, Dead as Gold is a modern gothic crime novel veined with love, violence, family, and desire. Humans still use fairy tales to explore their deepest truths. So who is a wolf, and who is a sparrow?

You can find Bonnie Burke-Patel on Instagram @bonnieburkepatel

In The St Hilda's Spotlight - Ruth Ware

 Name:- Ruth Ware

Job: Author

Website: https://ruthware.com

Facebook: @Ruthwarewriter

Instagram: @Ruthwarewriter

Introduction

Ruth Ware has written 10 psychological thrillers and is an award nominated author. Her novel One by One was shortlisted for the Ian Fleming Steel Dagger in 2020. Her novel The Woman in Cabin 10 is to become a Netflix film later on this year. Her novels in A Dark Dark Wood and The Lying Game are in development and her writing style being compared to that of Agatha Christie. Her most recent novel is The Woman in Suite 11

Current book? 

I never like talking about the book I’m working on, but I will say it has some very strong gothic elements!

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

The book that I remain most haunted by is probably The Yellow Wallpaper, which I think qualifies as Gothic with a twist, in that the madwoman in the attic is the protagonist of the story, and we see her unravelling in front of us. It’s short (it’s really a longish short story) but truly terrifying.

But I also find myself thinking very often about Wide Sargasso Sea, Jean Rhys’s extraordinary prequel to / rebuttal of Jane Eyre. You need a huge amount of chutzpah to reimagine a book like Jane Eyre, but Rhys does it with huge anger and confidence, and the result is mesmerising. It is haunting in a very different way to The Yellow Wallpaper but in some ways equally chilling, not least because you read it knowing where poor Antoinette will end up.

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

Bram Stoker and Daphne du Maurier. Daphne du Maurier because she’s one of my favourite novelists and I would love to have heard her speak in person. Bram Stoker because I adore Dracula but he also sounds like a very interesting person. He was a theatre agent for most of his life and met a huge number of the great and good of his day.

How do you relax? 

I wish I had a fancy hobby to put here, but the truth is I read, watch TV, walk and cook. If I am feeling particularly stressed for some reason, my greatest treat is a spa massage. There’s something about being cared for and pummelled that helps my brain switch off! 

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

My Cousin Rachel. I think it’s a masterpiece. 

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

I have actually written a couple so I guess, I have to answer about those! The Death of Mrs Westaway is set in a Mandalay-ish crumbling country house in Cornwall, and The Turn of the Key (which, as you can probably guess, is a riff on Henry James) is set in a smart house in Scotland with an eerie poison garden. I love an evocative setting – one that’s just as much a character as the people in the book. 

How would you describe your latest published book? 

It’s a follow up / companion volume to The Woman in Cabin 10 and has some very Gothic themes – sinister, controlling husbands, terrified women, and a fight to be believed. It was great fun to write!

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? 

Probably… Rebecca, My Cousin Rachel and Dracula. If I can count Daphne du Maurier as one, then I’d add in The Secret History which stretches the definition a little, but probably counts as modern Gothic.

Which 3 gothic films would you rewatch and why? 

Probably… Rebecca, the Laurence Olivier version, even though it completely changes the key revelation of the book, and makes it much less daring than the novel. It’s so stylishly filmed, you forgive the transgressions. Gaslight, for obvious reasons – I actually drew on that film for The Turn of the Key and it’s so cleverly done. And I’ve actually never seen it, but I’ve always wanted to watch Rosemary’s Baby. I’ve read the book, but never seen the film. I was on the fence about whether to count that as Gothic, since it’s more usually categorised as horror, but the novel has some strong Gothic elements so I think it qualifies. 

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

Well obviously the other speakers – it’s a stunning line up and the talks sound fascinating. But I am particularly looking forward to the play which I apparently get to act in. I love a murder mystery!

The Woman in Suite 11 by Ruth Ware (Simon and Schuster)

Lo Blacklock returns to attend the opening of a luxury hotel, only to find herself in a white-knuckled race across Europe. When the invitation to attend the press opening of a luxury Swiss hotel – owned by reclusive billionaire Marcus Leidmann – arrives, it’s like the answer to a prayer. Three years after the birth of her youngest child, Lo Blacklock is ready to re-establish her journalism career, but post-pandemic travel journalism is a very different landscape from the one she left ten years ago. The chateau on the shores of Lake Geneva is everything Lo’s ever dreamed of, and she hopes she can snag an interview with Marcus. Unfortunately, he proves to be even more difficult to pin down than his reputation suggests. When Lo gets a late-night call asking her to come to Marcus’s hotel room, she agrees despite her own misgivings. She’s greeted, however, by a woman claiming to be Marcus’s mistress, and in life-or-death jeopardy. What follows is a thrilling cat-and-mouse pursuit across Europe, forcing Lo to ask herself just how much she’s willing to sacrifice to save this woman…and if she can even trust her?

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

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.

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.

In The St Hilda's Spotlight - Catherine Ryan Howard

Name:- Catherine Ryan Howard

Job:- Author

Website:- https://catherineryanhoward.com

Instagram:- @cathryanhoward

Introduction:-

Catherine Ryan Howard is an award wining author who has been shortlisted for the Mystery Writers of America Edgar Award for Best Novel, the UK Crime Writers Association John Creasey/New Blood and Ian Fleming Steel Dagger Awards, and the An Post Irish Crime Fiction Book of the Year multiple times. 

Her novels have been included in the New York Times Best Thrillers of the Year, the Washington Post’s Best Mysteries and Thrillers of the Year and the Sunday Times Best Thrillers of the Year. A screen adaptation of her fifth novel 56 Days is due to debut exclusively on Amazon Prime in early 2026. 

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

I’m currently reading Author Unknown: Tales of a Literary Detective by Don Foster and writing what will be my ninth thriller. It’s about ‘stigmatized properties’, i.e. houses with horrible pasts. 

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

Despite writing about serial killers for a living, I am a complete coward and so they all do. But I remember very clearly being genuinely disturbed by Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson. To quote Joey from Friends, I had to put the book in the freezer. 

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

Shirley Jackson and Mary Shelley, because I think they’d have a fascinating conversation with each other and I could just sit there and listen. 

How do you relax?

Like many of my crime-writing colleagues, I watch, listen to or read a bit of true crime.

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

I wish I had the brains and imagination to produce something like House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski. 

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

Full disclosure: I had a great answer to this question. I started typing it. I went online to check a few details – and fell down a rabbit hole and discovered loads of new things about the place I had in mind that made me think, hmm, maybe I should set a thriller there. So now I can’t tell you about it, sorry! But it’s amazing place… (I tease, I know.) Let’s say instead a big house out in the middle of nowhere that seems to be made completely of glass. I don’t understand how people live in those kinds of houses. Great during the day, yes, but I wouldn’t be able to stand it at night. 

How would you describe your latest published book?

 It’s a thriller about an inexperienced ghostwriter who’s tasked with helping a man accused of murder tell his story of the story, which according to him is that he’s innocent.

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

Flowers in the Attic by Virginia Andrews, The Shining by Stephen King and Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier aka the classic trio of age-inappropriate childhood reads. 

Which 3 gothic films would you rewatch and why.

The Others (loosely inspired by The Turn of the Screw) and Shutter Island (adapted from Dennis Lehane’s novel) because they both have truly superb twists, and then something lighter like Beetlejuice to calm me down after the trauma of the first two.

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

Me reading the last sentence of my paper, because I’m so nervous about it! But honestly, the whole thing. So many crime writers have told me about their incredible experiences at past weekends and the programme looks absolutely fascinating. I just know it’s going to be a joy. 

Burn After Reading by Catherine Ryan Howard (Transworld Publication) 

A ghostwriter is tasked with capturing the memoirs of a man who might be a murderer and he's ready to confess...The night Jack Smyth ran into flames in a desperate attempt to save his wife from their burning home, he was, tragically, too late - but hailed a hero. Until it emerged that Kate was dead long before the fire began. Suspicion has stalked him ever since. After all, there's no smoke without fire. A year on, he's signed a book deal. He wants to tell his side of the story, to prove his own innocence in print. He just needs someone to help him write it.Emily has never ghostwritten anything before, but she knows what it’s like to live with a guilty secret. And she's about to learn that some stories should never be told .

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

#HCFW25

Photograph ©Bríd O’Donovan

 

Louise Mumford on how her place within the thriller genre has evolved – from dystopian fiction to locked room mysteries

The great thing about the thriller genre is how wide and welcoming it is, encompassing elements of the domestic, the gothic and the psychological amongst others. I’ve now written four thriller books and in that time I started off in the near-future with my first book Sleepless and ended up in the present day in a festival in mid-Wales in my latest one called The Festival. I’ll try to explain how I navigated that path.

My first thriller Sleepless centres around a desperate insomniac who jumps at the chance to be part of a new sleep technology trial. But once she arrives at the island where the trial is to take place she realises that the technology company don’t want to simply help her sleep, but control it. In this book I’m writing in the near-future – not quite dystopian yet but the world I’m describing is fast speeding towards it! The sleep technology designed to help fix a person’s sleeping patterns does not yet exist, but I’m sure it is only a matter of time.

From there I went into the forest and into a bunker-like house in the woods for my next thriller The Safe House. I’m very inspired by locations – houses or islands like in Sleepless, the island in that inspired by Caldey Island just off the coast of Tenby in Wales. This bunker in the woods – why is it air-tight and sealed off? Who lives there and feels they have to live this way? The inhabitants, Hannah and her severely asthmatic daughter Esther, believe that the world outside is a dangerous place due to, not war or famine, but the air itself – polluted beyond repair. The unravelling of this belief is the driving force behind the rest of the story.

And then that is where I left the near-future and made the leap to write in the here-and-now. My third and fourth thrillers are very location-based, carrying on the inspiration that fuelled my first two books. In The Hotel I wanted to write about a dramatically ruined Gothic hotel on the equally dramatic coastline of West Wales. Essentially trapping my characters within its walls for most of the action (with a little trip to its overgrown maze!) meant I could do what interests thriller writers the most: push ordinary, everyday characters to their limit with their backs against the wall and see how they react. In this case it is four old friends led by my main character Bex who lost one of their group, Leo, on a past trip to explore the ruined hotel and have to team up again a decade on to finally discover what happened to him.

With my fourth book I found myself wanting to continue with that idea of trapping characters somewhere but having the location be more open and chaotic – of course, a big outdoor British music festival fit the bill perfectly. The festival in my book is called Solstice and is entirely imaginary, centred around welcoming the longest day but the inspiration is very much Green Man festival near Crickhowell and, of course, the behemoth that is Glastonbury. My main character Libby wins tickets to it but, once she’s there and her friend disappears, she realises that finding her is going to uncover a very dark side to this sunny festival and put her own life in danger.

Will I stray into the near-future again? Who knows? There’s a real thrill to creating my own idea of what the future has in store for us but, at this moment, I think I can say with confidence that I’m very happy in the present.

 The Festival by Louise Mumford (Harper Collins Publishers) Out Now

Missed out on Glastonbury this year? Solstice Festival promises to be a KILLER weekend…

 Libby can’t believe her luck when she wins two tickets to the biggest event of the summer: Solstice, a music festival celebrating the longest day of the year. Wanting to escape their problems for a few days, Libby, and her best friend Dawn head deep into the Welsh countryside for a weekend of sun, fun and festivities. But what promised to be an exciting trip quickly turns into Libby’s worst nightmare. The scorching heat intensifies, the music becomes wilder, the people more unpredictable. When Dawn goes missing, Libby worries that something sinister has happened to her friend. And as Libby learns more about the festival’s dark origins, she begins to fear that something might happen to her too…

More information about Louise Mumford can be found on her website.  You can also find her on Facebook, follow her on X @louise_mumford and on Instagram @louisemumfordauthor