In The Lyme Crime Spotlight: Amanda Jennings

 Name:- Amanda Jennings

Job:- Author

Website:- https://www.amandajennings.co.uk

Twitter:- @MandaJennings

Introduction:-

Amanda Jennings is the author of 5 standalone novels. The most recent being The Haven. She is a regular guest on BBC Berkshire’s Book Club, and is a judge for the annual Henley Youth Festival writing competition. 

Current book?

The Gone and The Forgotten by Clare Whitfield

Favourite book

The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver

Which two characters would you invite to dinner and why? 

I would invite Romeo and Juliet to dinner and beg them not to muck about with deadly poisons. This is a tragedy that might have been avoided if only they’d thought through a better plan. After coming for dinner I would urge them to pack a small bag and disappear together and live happily ever after away from their meddling families. 

How do you relax?

I do a lot of walking with my dogs. I also look after ponies and chickens. I play tennis if I can. And get up into the mountains or to the sea for holidays. Getting outdoors and into nature is a natural valium. 

What book do you wish you had written and why?

I would have loved to have written The Beach. It’s everything I would love to create. Page-turning, with strong characters, a vibrant and evocative setting, growing tension and darkness, moments of shock, and - oh - the way Alex Garland writes the beach and the sea and those scenes of communal bliss. I think it was quite influential for me when writing The Haven. A utopian idyll gone awry.

What would you say to your younger self if you were just starting out as an author?

“Dear Amanda, I know, it’s bonkers, but you’re going to actually get published. I know! Not only that but you’ll see your books translated into other languages and see them on supermarket shelves. There’ll be times when it feels bleak, a total waste of time, but soon the rejections will be a think of the past. Keep going!”

Why do you prefer to write standalone books as opposed to a series and would you consider writing a series.

My stories are centred around the personal journeys of my characters and are very much concerned with a path to some sort of resolution. Once the story has come to its end, there is no more drama there in my mind. Life returns from the extraordinary to some semblance of normality. It becomes time - as tough as it sometimes feels - to bid fond farewell to these people I know like family. Though I can clearly picture them existing beyond the final page, their lives into become mostly unremarkable. (Which is probably a great relief for them given the trauma I put them through…) 

What are you looking forward to at Lyme Crime?

Getting back to live events following the pandemic and lockdowns feels like a real privilege. I can’t wait to be with other authors and readers, and come together to indulge our common love of books. And what joy to be beside the sea as well. Books, readers, and the sea. How perfect!

The Haven by Amanda Jennings (HarperCollins Publishers)

It was meant to be paradise...Winterfall Farm, spectacular and remote, stands over Bodmin Moor. Wanting an escape from the constraints of conventional life, Kit and Tara move to the isolated smallholding with their daughter, Skye, and a group of friends. Living off-grid and working the land, they soon begin to enjoy the fruits of their labour amid the breathtaking beauty and freedom of the moor. At first this new way of life seems too good to be true, but when their charismatic leader, Jeremy, returns from a mysterious trip to the city with Dani, a young runaway, fractures begin to appear. As winter approaches, and with it cold weather and dark nights, Jeremy's behaviour becomes increasingly erratic. Rules are imposed, the outside world is shunned, and when he brings a second girl back to the farm, tensions quickly reach breaking point with devastating consequences...

You can also find her on Instagram @amanda_jennings1 and on FaceBook.

Tickets can be bought here:- https://www.lymecrime.co.uk/tickets--contact.html

In The Lyme Crime Spotlight: Jack Jordan

 Name:- Jack Jordan

Job:- Author and Tutor

Twitter:- @JackJordanBooks

Introduction:-

Jack Jordan is the author of five books and one novella. He is also a self-confessed bibliomaniac. He tutors at The Novelry. 

Current book?

I’m currently reading Sarah Pearse’s next blockbuster thriller, The Retreat! Those who loved The Sanatorium will absolutely love this.

Favourite book:-

Such a tough one! I’d have to say Fingersmith by Sarah Waters. Waters perfectly blends commercial fiction with literary flair, combining a whiplash-invoking pace of plot with deep character exploration. The twisting, deceptive narrative is practically impossible to predict, throwing off even the most practised sleuth!

Which two characters would you invite to dinner and why?

Ooooh! I would invite Katniss Everdeen from The Hunger Games to find out how her life has been after her battles in the Games. I would then ask Harry Cane from Patrick Gale’s A Place Called Winter to hear his spellbinding story from his own lips.

How do you relax?

Sugary food and reality TV! I am a sucker for The Real Housewives. Although I’d say I only really relax one week of the year when I go on holiday abroad. I love nothing more than lying in the sun with a good book!

What book do you wish you had written and why?

The Girls by Emma Cline. Cline takes the infamous story of the Mason Murders and injects life into the characters in ways that had been saturated from the legend, particularly Manson’s Girls, revealing the innocence deep within the monsters they ultimately became. I am so in love with it that I can’t bring myself to write a cult-themed novel because I know that it would never be able to live up to my appreciation of The Girls!

What would you say to your younger self if you were just starting out as an author?

My journey as a writer has been filled with many ups and downs, including many points where it might have been more logical to quit rather than continue with my dogged perseverance! So, I would tell my younger self to persevere with the knowledge that all of my dreams will come true and allow myself to sleep more soundly!

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

The ideas for my books always tend to be rather different to each of their respective predecessors, so it’s always made more sense to have them separate from one another. I like the freedom of not knowing where I might explore next! I also put my characters through hell in my books, so if I were to carry a character through a series, putting them through hellish situation after hellish situation, I fear I’d have readers writing in to ask me to cut my poor characters some slack!

What are you looking forward to at Lyme Crime?

Getting to meet the readers and sign copies of Do No Harm! I’m also really looking forward to visiting Lyme Regis for the first time. I’d go as far as to say that Lyme Crime wins for best crime festival location in the UK events circuit! Who doesn’t love their crime with a sea view?!

Do No Harm by Jack Jordan (Simon and Schuster) 

My child has been taken. And I've been given a choice - kill a patient on the operating table, or never see my son again. The man lies on the table in front of me. As a surgeon, it's my job to save him. As a mother, I know I must kill him. You might think that I'm a monster. But there really is only one choice. I must get away with murder. Or I will never see my son again. I've saved many lives. Would you trust me with yours?

You can also find Jack Jordan on TikTok – jackjordan_author and on Instagram @jackjordan_author and on Facebook

Tickets can be bought here:- https://www.lymecrime.co.uk/tickets--contact.html

In the Lyme Crime Spotlight: William Shaw

Name:- William Shaw

Job: Journalist and Author

Website:- http://williamshaw.com

Twitter: @William1shaw

Introduction:-

William Shaw is the author of two different series. The DS Alex Cupidi series which is set in Dungerness where DS Cupidi works in the Kent Serious Crime Squad, and The Breen and Tozer series which is set in 1968/69 London. He is also the author of the standlone novels The Birdwatcher written as William Shaw and Dead Rich written as G W Shaw.

Current book?

Dead Rich, which is set aboard a Russian billionaire’s super yacht in the Caribbean. When I wrote it I had no idea it would be so topical. The book closes at the point that the awful war in Ukraine starts. I grew up loving the classic adventure thrillers by people like Neville Shute and Alistair MacLean. It was probably something to do with having been through lockdown, but I wanted to write a book which had some of that big screen romantic sense of adventure in it. 

Favourite book

That changes all the time. Graham Greene’s The Quiet American still stands up. I love the way it exposes the way our will to do good in politics is often not as innocent as we think it is. 

Which two characters would you invite to dinner and why? 

I was thinking that maybe inviting Elly Griffiths’s character Nelson and putting him in the same room as M.W. Craven’s Washington Poe, but I’ve a feeling neither would talk at all. It would probably be much more fun to put the deeply eccentric and self-absorbed Tilly Bradshaw and the more empathetic Ruth Galloway together and watch the fall-out from two of my favourite crime fiction intellectuals.

How do you relax?

I help run something called Brighton Ceilidh Collective. We put on dances every month in Brighton. Playing low-level folk tunes is a) very different from writing and b) very good for the neurones.

What book do you wish you had written and why? 

Again, that changes all the time. The last book I read with some jealously was Mark Billingham’s Rabbit Hole which was a great example of how crime fiction can do very serious stuff – and it’s also very darkly funny.

What would you say to your younger self if you were just starting out as an author?

Keep it simple. I have been writing fiction constantly since I was in my twenties. Though I won some couple of prizes with short stories, it took me until my bloody fifties to get a novel published. Lack of self-confidence which I had in spades makes you over-reach. When the light bulb came on I found how keeping things simple gave me much more power.

Why did you initially prefer to write two different series as opposed to a standalone novel and now that you have written a standalone what prompted you to do so? 

I wrote one series, then broke out to do a standalone with my fourth book, The Birdwatcher. I had no intention at all of turning that into a series but somehow the secondary character Alex Cupidi wouldn’t shut up, so she ended up forming the backbone of the second series, set in Kent. A lot of people do standalones now but it had always been my intention to mix them up. I think each form energises the other. 

What are you looking forward to at Lyme Crime?

It’s my first time there. I’m looking forward to everything! I’m from the South West so it feels like home turf – and will hopefully bring a new crowd along to see what a great community crime writers and readers now are. And Paddy Magrane who organised it is one of the loveliest people in crime, so I’m confident it will have a great atmosphere.

Dead Rich by G W Shaw (Riverrun) Published 26 May 2022 

Super yachts are secretive, like their owners. The bigger the richer. Like castles, they are created to inspire awe. Like castles too, they are defended. They are an entire world, separate from the rest of us. Kai, a carefree once-successful musician is invited by his new Russian girlfriend Zina to join her family’s Caribbean holiday. Impulsively accepting he learns that Zina is the daughter of a Russian oligarch, Stepan Pirumov and that the trip is aboard his yacht, the Zinaida, moored in St Thomas in the US Virgin Islands. On arrival Kai discovers that the head of security has been arrested, armed guards are below deck, there’s an onboard panic room and a strong sense of all not being quite right beneath the gleaming surfaces of the Pirumov’s lives. An unnerving presence punctures the atmosphere: a murderous imposter is on board the Zinaida, but who is it?

You can also find him on Facebook.

Tickets can be bought here:- https://www.lymecrime.co.uk/tickets--contact.html

 

In The Lyme Crime Spotlight :- Barbara Nadel

 Name:- Barbara Nadel

Job:- Author

Twitter:- @BarbaraNadel

Introduction:

Barbara Nadel is the author of three different series. The Inspector Çetin Ikmen books which are police procedurals set in Istanbul, Turkey. The Francis Hancock Series featuring a crime-solving undertaker and the Mumtaz Hakim and Lee Arnold Series who have a small detective agency. Deadly Web the seventh book in the Inspector Ikmen series won the CWA Silver Dagger in 2005. In 2006 Last Rites was the winner of the Swedish Jury magazine's Flintyxan ("Flint Axe") award for Best Historical Crime Novel. In 2008 Ashes to Ashes won the London Borough of Redbridge Big Book of the Year Award and in 2010 Sure and Certain Death won the London Borough of Redbridge Crime Fiction Book of the Year Award.

Current book: 

This is called 'Bride Price' and is an Inspector Ikmen mystery.

Favourite Book: 

'The Alexandria Quartet' by Lawrence Durrell.

How do you relax? 

I don't. I appear to be incapable.

Which book do you wish you had written and why:

'Dan Leno and the Limehouse Golem' by Peter Ackroyd. To me this is the epitome of a mysterious London book. And because London is my home and I was brought up with tales of its music halls, magicians and seers, I wish I'd written this.

What would you say to your younger self if you were starting out as an author?

Have confidence in your talent and don't be put off by those who tell you you're bound to fail.

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

I think I have to have my psychologist's hat on here. In series, I like to see how characters develop over time and how they respond to different scenarios and challenges across the courses of their lives. I have many ideas for standalone books and would love to write one or more in the future. Plans are afoot, but not yet come to fruition.

What are you looking forward to at Lyme Crime? 

So much! Seeing so many friends is the big one for me. Also going somewhere I've never been before and, of course, Derek Farrell's 'Noir at the Bar'.

Bride Price by Barbara Nadel (Headline) Out Now

When jeweller Fahrettin Muftugolu is found dead in his apartment in the Istanbul district of Vefa, it looks like suicide. Searching the jeweller's home, Inspector Mehmet Suleyman and his team come across a hoard of extraordinary artefacts including solid gold religious relics and a mummified human head. But are they real and, if so, who owns these priceless possessions? As his colleagues begin their investigation, Suleyman is distracted by troubles of his own. His wedding to Gonca Serekoglu is days away, but when Gonca receives her bridal bedcover from a Roma haberdasher and discovers that it is covered in blood, she sees this as a curse on their marriage. Suleyman asks his old friend Cetin Ikmen to help him uncover the truth, but the task is not that simple... Meanwhile, as the stories swirling around Muftugolu become increasingly sinister, the dead man's wife appears, laying claim to his valuables, and Suleyman is drawn into a dark and dangerous world of smuggling and savagery . . .

Tickets can be bought here :- https://www.lymecrime.co.uk/tickets--contact.html

In The Lyme Crime Spotlight: Charlotte Philby

Name: Charlotte Philby

Job: Author

Website: http://www.charlottephilby.com

Twitter: @PhilbyWrites 

Introduction:

Charlotte Philby is a former editor, reporter and columnist. Her grandfather was Kim Philby. Her debut novel Part of the Family was Waterstone's Thriller of the month in May 2020 Her second novel A Double Life was not only one of the New York Post's best book for the summer 2021 but also the Time's book 2020 and The Observer's thriller of the month. The Second Woman, her third book was a Mail on Sunday best new fiction book as well as being a Time's thriller of the month pick. Her most recent book is Edith and Kim. 

Current book? 

An Olive Grove in Ends by Moses McKenzie. It is a powerful, original and beautifully written fictional account of one young man's life growing up in Stapleton Road, in Bristol - it's a debut novel about masculinity, love, friendship, loyalty and betrayal, and it's so impressive I cannot believe the writer is only twenty-three years old.

Favourite book

Too many to choose from but Alex Garland's The Beach is seminal for me because of where I was at in my life when I read it.

Which two characters would you invite to dinner and why?

Edith Tudor-Hart and Kim Philby - the two characters from my novel Edith and Kim, which reimagines the lives of my grandfather (Kim), and the woman who recruited him to the Soviet cause (Edith) - so that I could grill them on all the questions I was trying to answer when writing the book.

How do you relax?

Going for walks with my kids and the dog we share with my mum (although the dog runs off and refuses to come back and the kids generally spend the whole time shouting in glee or protest, so it's rarely very relaxing), More likely, watching television and drinking red wine. My favourite comfort watches include Inspector Morse and Bosch, or if the children are still awake, Brooklyn 99, which is the only thing we all agree on as a family.

What book do you wish you had written and why?

Victoria Selman's forthcoming Truly, Darkly, Deeply because it's a fresh and genius take on the traditional serial killer story. Or The Girls by Emma Cline because I was obsessed with the Mansons as a teenager and love how she managed to bring a well-trodden crime story to life in a new and brilliant way.

What would you say to your younger self if you were just starting out as an author?

Don't rush, you don't have to do everything at once. And never read your reviews.

Why do you prefer to write standalone books as opposed to a series and would you consider writing a series.

I am easily bored so I worry I would tire of writing the same character again and again. But then I do tend to be fascinated by recurring themes - women leading duplicitous lives, familial betrayal, love - and subverting traditionally male stories by placing women at the centre of the narrative. My first three novels are all stand-alone but very much connected, and best read in chronological order!

What are you looking forward to at Lyme Crime?

Seeing some of the best writers in the business descend on my adopted home-city. Watch out now...

Edith and Kim by Charlotte Philby (HarperCollins) Out Now

To betray, you must first belong...In June 1934, Kim Philby met his Soviet handler, the spy Arnold Deutsch. The woman who introduced them was called Edith Tudor-Hart. She changed the course of 20th century history. Then she was written out of it. Drawing on the Secret Intelligence Files on Edith Tudor-Hart, along with the private archive letters of Kim Philby, this finely worked, evocative and beautifully tense novel - by the granddaughter of Kim Philby - tells the story of the woman behind the Third Man.

You can also find Charlotte Philby on Instagram @Charlottte_Philby

Tickets can be bought here :- https://www.lymecrime.co.uk/tickets--contact.html

In The Lyme Crime Spotlight: D V Bishop

 

Name:- D V Bishop

Job:- Lecturer and author 

Website:- https://dvbishop.com

Twitter:- @davidbishop

Introduction:

D V Bishop is the author of the Cesare Aldo series set in Florence. The first book in the series City of Vengeance was shortlisted for the Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing Prize. City of Vengeance has also been longlisted for both the CWA Gold Dagger and Historical Dagger

Current book?

My latest novel is The Darkest Sin, the second of my Cesare Aldo series set in Renaissance Florence. When a naked man’s corpse is found deep inside a convent, bathed with blood and stabbed 27 times, Aldo battles Church politics and a campaign to silence the woman of Santa Maria Magdalena. Could one of the nuns be the killer and, if so, why? 

Favourite book?

What an impossible question! Ask again tomorrow and my answer would be different. But, for now, I’ll say The World According to Garp by John Irving. It’s a writer’s book about being a writer, but it is also prescient in discussing issues of gender and sexuality. Bonus points: it’s funny, too.

Which two characters would you invite to dinner and why? 

I love Colin Dexter’s Inspector Morse but suspect he would make a dreadful dinner guest. Instead, I’m inviting comics character Devlin Waugh, who’s a gay vampire and freelance exorcist for the 22nd Century Vatican – and Vivian Sternwood from The Big Sleep. A camp vamp and a femme fatale, that should make the evening go with a swing!

How do you relax?

I am developing an expensive vinyl LPs habit. If I’m home on Sunday I’ll put on a record before lunch and read for an hour.

What book do you wish you had written and why? 

The Collector Collector by Tibor Fischer is so inventive and irreverent. It is narrated by a 3000-year-old plate, and is funny, thoughtful, wry and moving. I could never imagine such a novel, let alone pull it off.

What would you say to your younger self if you were just starting out as an author?

Be patient; writing is a marathon, not a sprint – especially novel writing. Tell the stories you’d want to find in a bookshop and never stop reading.

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

I was a series reader first, so was always going to write series fiction. It’s like being in a long-term relationship, you slowly discover more about your characters over time. They grow and evolve yet still surprise you. Plus writing a series means you can build on what is already there, rather than having to start from scratch all over again with each new novel.

I certainly would consider writing a standalone novel, even if it might seem like having a one-night stand with some saucy new characters that caught my eye. My worry is I’d fall in love with those new characters and want to bring them back for another story, and another. Then I’m writing two series at once! But Ann Cleeves does that wonderfully well with Vera and her Matthew Venn novels, so never say never.

What are you looking forward to at Lyme Crime?

New Blood panels are always a great place to discover fresh voices, and this year’s festival has three crackers being interviewed by Jack Jordan. I’ve already got the first two novels by Tariq Ashkanani on my Everest-like TBR pile, but I’ve yet to encounter Sarah Bonner and Sarah Pearse so am eager to hear them speak. 

I’ve never been to Lyme Regis before, but studied The French Lieutenant’s Woman at school and loved it when Inspector Morse visited the area in The Way Through the Woods. I’m hoping to get out on the cob and channel my inner Meryl Streep.

The Darkest Sin by D V Bishop (Pan Macmillan) Out Now

Florence. Spring, 1537. When Cesare Aldo investigates a report of intruders at a convent in the Renaissance city's northern quarter, he enters a community divided by bitter rivalries and harbouring dark secrets. His case becomes far more complicated when a man's body is found deep inside the convent, stabbed more than two dozen times. Unthinkable as it seems, all the evidence suggests one of the nuns must be the killer. Meanwhile, Constable Carlo Strocchi finds human remains pulled from the Arno that belong to an officer of the law missing since winter. The dead man had many enemies, but who would dare kill an official of the city's most feared criminal court? As Aldo and Strocchi close in on the truth, identifying the killers will prove more treacherous than either of them could ever have imagined...

More information about D V Bishop can be found on his website.

You can buy tickets for Lyme Crime here:- https://www.lymecrime.co.uk/tickets--contact.html

Being by the seaside at Lyme Crime!

 

What do Barbara Nadel, Amanda Jennings, Charlotte Philby, DV Bishop and William Shaw all have in common? 

Aside from the fact that they are all great authors, they are all due to be at Lyme Crime taking part in various panels and they have all agreed to respond to some questions from me. So look out for some mini interviews from them on the Shotsblog. 

Up first will be D V Bishop who is the author of the brilliant Cesare Aldo historical mysteries set in Renaissance Florence.

Tickets and information can be found here.

Line-up for Lyme Crime announced

The line-up for Lyme Crime has been announced and there is a wealth of authors attending. It is going to be a wonderful event and I shall be moderating a panel.

Come and spend a murderously good weekend by the sea in sunny Dorset, so do not miss out. Early bird tickets go on sale from March!

https://www.lymecrime.co.uk