Drama, Conflict, and Cruelty, The Real Appeal of Reality TV.

In the basement of the psychology department at Sheffield University, where I studied for my degree, there was a nursery school in which one whole wall was a two-sided mirror. Students such as myself would file in to a thin dark room on the other side of that wall and watch. It was a sneak peek into how kids behave when they think no-one can see them. And we saw some fascinating things – like the boy behind the bookcase who hit three or four children as they were sent to fetch a book, only to then join them crying at the teacher’s table. A sign of intellect or criminal prowess? Only time would tell.

This was way before I had ideas of being a crime thriller writer, I just wanted to study people and find out what makes them tick. And TV was about to help out with that, big style, because a few years later, in July 2000, Big Brother launched and a new era of Reality TV was born. Here was the chance for all of us to stand on the other side of that two way mirror and see how real people behave in the real world. 

But no one could have anticipated the fame and shame consequences that would befall Reality TVs participants. We came to love them or we loved to hate them. And there was no going back. Ever since, the nation has tuned in to watch everything from people competing for a job on The Apprentice, to looking for love on First Dates and Married at First Sight. We’ve rooted for our favourites on The Hunted, revelled in the drama of Made in Chelsea and relished secrets and lies in The Traitors. A recent survey of 2000 people in the UK by ONEPOLL found that nearly 40% of us watch some kind of reality TV every week, and this rises to 50% for under 35s and 48% for females.* 

Why do we love it so much? Some psychologists believe it is all to do with Social Comparison Theory. We enjoy watching confrontations, people making a fool of themselves, or doing anything to entertain us, because it makes us feel better about ourselves. Others believe the shows we choose say something about our individual motivations: some of us are looking for companionship, some are looking for escapism and the competitive amongst us are enjoying taking sides. 

The truth is we love human drama in all its forms – from the books we read to the movies and TV shows we watch. But Reality TV provides something more on top. Dr Carol Lieberman, a psychiatrist who works on reality shows says, “We love reality TV because it allows us to live vicariously through the show participants without being publicly humiliated ourselves.” Many reality TV shows now employ psychologists to help them to pick the right ‘characters’ and much time is spent on designing the best scenarios to elicit an emotional reaction. So if the scenes are staged and the characters hand-picked, what is real? It turns out this question is what many people have come to most enjoy about such shows. We have to figure out what part of the show is Reality and what part is Television, so we become ever more engaged in the experience. We become part of the game.**

And so, it turns out the two-sided mirror is not enough. What we really want is to watch real people in extreme situations, and we don’t mind if this has to be stage managed. We might have been happy to watch the best of the best compete to be Sir Alan Sugar’s apprentice back in 2005, but by the time he was Lord Sugar it was more interesting to watch the egotistical being put in their place, or the whole team imploding in conflict. Perhaps this is why in 2019 the New York Times branded British Reality TV a ‘Theatre of Cruelty.’ ***

All this got me thinking, if Reality TV shows have to keep evolving to apply ever more pressure on participants so that they react in ways that keep us interested and entertained, how far would they go?

And if someone making such a show really hated the genre and the kinds of people who chose to participate - people they see as fame hungry, shallow, attention seekers – what then? What dire situation would they be willing to put people in to grab attention and make the public watch. This is the premise of The Escape Room. A reality TV show to end all Reality TV shows.

I decided that an escape room was the perfect vehicle to explore a reality TV show gone dark, because people readily volunteer to be locked inside such places to experience the thrill of being trapped. And so, my protagonist Bonnie and seven other contestants are taken to The Fortress, a three story cylindrical, concrete sea fort off the coast of Portsmouth. They arrive feeling confident that they can solve the puzzles and break free, but what they soon come to realise is that when you’re trapped inside a structure built to keep the enemy out, it can easily keep you in. 

And when one contestant’s failure on a challenge leads to his death everything changes. It’s not about fun anymore, it’s about survival. 

The death of a contestant seemed like a logical step in the dark evolution of such shows. We have all heard of the deaths sadly associated with reality TV, but thus far all have occurred outside of the show. In The Escape Room the contestants are unsure if the death is accidental or intentional. What they are sure of is that to escape they only have one option: to win. 

The Escape Room by L.D. Smithson is published by Bantam (£14.99).

Everything is a clue. Bonnie arrives on a remote sea fort off the coast of England to take part in a mysterious reality TV show. Competing against seven strangers, she must solve a series of puzzles to win the prize money, but this is no game - and the consequences of failure are deadly. No one leaves. Under scrutiny from the watching public, the contestants quickly turn on one another. Who will sacrifice the most for wealth and fame? And why can't Bonnie shake the creeping sense that they are not alone? The only way out is to win. When the first contestant is found dead, Bonnie begins to understand the dark truth at the heart of this twisted competition: there's a killer inside the fort, and anyone could be next. If Bonnie wants to escape, she needs to win... Are you ready to play?

L D Smithson can be found on “X” @LeonaDeakin1

* OnePoll (2016) The reality TV habit 

** Rose, R.L, & Wood, S. L. (2005) Paradox and the consumption of authenticity through reality television.

*** The New York Times (2019) British Reality Television Is A Theatre of Cruelty

Murder on the Menu by Orlando Murrin

© Matt Austin

Having enjoyed a career editing food magazines and writing cookbooks, I imagined that making the transition to writing culinary cosy crime would be a snap. How wrong I was.

Now that Knife Skills For Beginners is finally out – it’s been a long time coming – I’m enjoying a short pause to look back over the experience. Which, in the manner of all good meals, has been a succession of delicious surprises. 

Amuse-bouche

When I was growing up, the family hero was my maternal grandfather, William Skardon, who started life as a copper on the streets of Pimlico, later becoming a detective then crack MI5 interrogator. Among his celebrated successes, he caught and arrested Lord Haw-Haw in Germany, exposed the Portland Spy Ring and extracted a confession from atomic spy Klaus Fuchs. After defecting to Moscow, Philby declared, ‘The only man I feared was Skardon’. The Daily Express called him ‘England’s Most Famous Pipe-Smoker’ and the Sunday Times spent years stalking him in Torquay, in a vain attempt to get him to ditch the dirt on an ex-boss at MI5.

Granddad was forbidden to talk about his exploits as a spycatcher, so he used instead to regale us with stories of gruesome murder cases from his detective years, and the clues and tells that enable him to solve them. Ever since I’ve found whodunits and murder mysteries fascinating and dreamed of writing one of my own.

Starter

I left it late to write my first novel – in my early 60s – but that’s because I was doing other things. I’ve had several careers – restaurant pianist, advertising copywriter, features writer, magazine editor, cookery writer, chef, hotelier – and threw myself into all of them; there simply wasn’t time.

A few years ago, I decided the moment had come and booked myself on an Arvon course taught by Andrew Taylor and Laura Wilson; they were so inspiring. Another turning point was being asked to write a column for Waitrose Weekend newspaper, through which I polished my style and learnt how to make readers laugh. (I hope.)

Main course

Three years ago, I wrote a half novel, then another full one, at which point disaster struck. I’d assumed I’d be spared the horror of the slush pile because I already an agent (for my cookbooks). Imagine my dismay when she announced that for conflict-of-interest reasons, she couldn’t represent my fiction.

I stuck a note on my computer - I AM IN DEADLY EARNEST - then spent fifty days and nights in submission hell, waiting for agents to respond. Finally, I had a glimmer of interest from a couple, followed by a send me the whole manuscript from the most covetable of all, top crime agent Oli Munson at AM Heath. Knife Skills For Beginners is the result.

It’s a culinary cosy crime story set in a posh but shabby-round-the-edges London cookery school, where our hapless hero, Paul, is summoned to teach a course at short notice.

There’s something a bit rum about its proprietor, Rose, to say nothing of the eight eccentric students who gather to learn the finer points of haute cuisine. On the first night something terrible happens, and Paul finds himself embroiled in a grisly crime.

While the police investigate, the students are told to stay on the premises, and Rose - anything rather than offer refunds - insists Paul continue teaching. He uses lessons in bread, pastry and sauce making as covert operations, watching the students for clues whodunit, unaware that meanwhile someone is framing him for murder…

In classic cosy crime tradition, clues and red herrings abound, including six ‘killer’ recipes, which provide hints to the killer’s identity. I should add that these are real recipes, which combine to form a sophisticated dinner party menu. My dearest wish is that a fan somewhere will throw a Knife Skills For Beginners dinner party – minus, of course, the dastardly crime.

Side dish

I’ve heard the publisher-author relationship can be a tricky one, but I have no complaints – quite the opposite. We’re all on the same side: trying to sell books.

Initially I was shocked by the amount of re-writing I was asked to do, and I recall a somewhat embarrassing meltdown when my third set of structural edits came in (I didn’t realise this was normal). I’m now at work on a second Knife Skills Mystery and there’s no question that, with each draft, the book gets better. I’m in total awe of my editor – Finn Cotton at Transworld – who in an odd way reminds me of my grandfather: courteous, patient and charming, but with a deadly eye for detail.

Dessert

My cookbooks have always been well publicised and marketed, but working with Transworld has been whole different experience. A lot of activity seems to happen as if by magic, with no effort on my part, but there’s still social media to manage, proofs to drop, enjoyable articles (such as this) to write, booksellers and reviewers to schmooze, events to be confirmed and diarised… to say nothing of keeping my orlandomurrin.com website up-to-date (with the help of the world’s best web manager, Heather Brown) and begging everyone I know to post reviews on Amazon. True, most of this is optional, but with my publisher evidently pulling out all the stops, I feel I must as well.

This means that – like a Victorian lady – I find the first hour or two of the day is spent answering messages and dealing with ‘stuff.’ I tell myself this is a warm-up exercise before the actual writing of the day begins, but if it expands much further, I will need a personal assistant. (Just joking). 

Petits-fours

The surprises keep on coming, even after launch…

·         How peculiar to find my favourite fountain pen – which has autographed countless cookbooks over the years – can’t be used to sign a novel because the ink runs. (Oh, the days of glossy paper.)

·         How touching to hear my words brought to life as an audiobook. (Warm thanks to Sebastian Humphreys, the man of a thousand voices.)

·         The most amazing thing of all, however, is discussing your story with someone and discovering that it no longer belongs to you – it’s out in the world. (‘You just don’t understand her,’ a fellow author told me about one of my more dislikeable characters; ‘She’s got a heart of gold.’)

Despite everything, I am beyond thrilled to have written something from my imagination which gives people pleasure… If it sounds your sort of thing, I hope you’ll give it a go, and that it will make you SMILE, SALIVATE and SHIVER.

 

Knife Skills for Beginners by Orlando Murrin (Transworld Publishers) Out Now

A recipe for disaster. When chef Paul Delamare takes a job teaching at an exclusive residential cookery school in Belgravia, the only thing he expects his students to murder is his taste buds. But on the first night, the unthinkable happens: someone turns up dead... The school rests on a knife-edge. The police are convinced Paul is the culprit. After all, he’s good with a blade, was first on the scene – and everyone knows it doesn’t take much to push a chef over the edge. To prove his innocence, he must find the killer. Could it be one of his students? Or the owner of the school – a woman with secrets and a murky past? It all boils down to murder. If Paul can’t solve the mystery fast – as well as teach his students how to make a perfect hollandaise sauce – he’ll be next to get the chop.

More information about the author can be found on his website. You can also follow him on X @orlandomurrin on Instagram @orlandomurrinauthor and on Facebook.

 

Forthcoming Books from Transworld

 January 2024

Argylle is by Elly Conway. A luxury train speeding towards Moscow and a date with destiny. A CIA plane downed in the jungles of the Golden Triangle. A Nazi hoard entombed in the remote mountains of South-West Poland. A missing treasure, the eighth wonder of the world, lost for seven decades. One Russian magnate's dream of restoring a nation to greatness has set in motion a chain of events which will take the world to the brink of chaos. Only Frances Coffey, the CIA's most legendary spymaster, can prevent it. But to do so, she needs someone special. Enter Argylle, a troubled agent with a tarnished past who may just have the skills to take on one of the most powerful men in the world. If only he can save himself first...

Some comebacks can be murder . . . Stella is enjoying life as an almost student, or at least she is until a man falls from the sky right in front of her, leaving a big old hole in the pavement for Manchester Council to fill. The obvious question of how he ended up in the sky in the first place has no obvious answers, which is where The Stranger Times come in. But this isn't just the hunt for another story. Dark powers think Stella might have been involved and the only way she and the team can prove her innocence is to find out what the hell is really going on. And what have dodgy gear, disturbed graves and a decommissioned rock star got to do with all this? Vincent Banecroft has problems of his own in the form of a tall, dark but-definitely-not-handsome man dressed like a funeral who has been sent to make the paper's editor atone for his sins. Once he finds out exactly what that entails, Banecroft is not keen. Being banished to a Hellscape for all eternity looks like being no fun at all, not least because he has that pale Irish skin that burns really easily . . . All that plus territorial ghouls, homicidal felines, eternal (and seemingly unstoppable) gnomes and a celebrity Who's Who that'd put a royal wedding to shame, and you're looking at a wild few days for The Stranger Times. Relight My Fire is by C K McDonnell. 

Maggie Bird is many things. A chicken farmer. A good neighbour. A seemingly average retiree living in the seaside town of Purity. She's also a darned good rifle shot. And she never talks about her past. But when an unidentified body is left on Maggie's driveway, she knows it's a calling card from old times. It's been fifteen years since the failed mission that ended her career as a spy, and cost her far more than her job. Step forward the 'Martini Club' - Maggie's silver-haired book group (to anyone who asks), and a cohort of former spies behind closed doors. With the help of her old friends - and always one step ahead of the persistent local cop - Maggie might still be able to save the life she's built. The Spy Coast is the first novel in the Martini Club series by Tess Gerritsen.

February 2024

Knife Skills for Beginnners is by Orlando Murrin. A recipe for disaster. When chef Paul Delamare takes a job teaching at an exclusive residential cookery school in Belgravia, the only thing he expects his students to murder is his taste buds. But on the first night, the unthinkable happens: someone turns up dead... The school rests on a knife-edge. The police are convinced Paul is the culprit. After all, he’s good with a blade, was first on the scene – and everyone knows it doesn’t take much to push a chef over the edge. To prove his innocence, he must find the killer. Could it be one of his students? Or the owner of the school – a woman with secrets and a murky past? It all boils down to murder. If Paul can’t solve the mystery fast – as well as teach his students how to make a perfect hollandaise sauce – he’ll be next to get the chop.

Everything is a clue. Bonnie arrives on a remote sea fort off the coast of England to take part in a mysterious reality TV show. Competing against seven strangers, she must solve a series of puzzles to win the prize money, but this is no game - and the consequences of failure are deadly. No one leaves. Under scrutiny from the watching public, the contestants quickly turn on one another. Who will sacrifice the most for wealth and fame? And why can't Bonnie shake the creeping sense that they are not alone? The only way out is to win. When the first contestant is found dead, Bonnie begins to understand the dark truth at the heart of this twisted competition: there's a killer inside the fort, and anyone could be next. If Bonnie wants to escape, she needs to win... Are you ready to play? The Escape Room is by L D Smithson.

March 2024

Listen for the Lie is by Amy Tintera. Am I a murderer? You tell me . . . You probably already know about me. Lucy Chase, the woman who doesn’t remember murdering her best friend. You all think I did it. That’s OK, I get it. Being found wandering the streets covered in her blood wasn't a great look. Believe me, I’m as frustrated as you are. I’d love to know if I’m a murderer – it’s the sort of thing you really should know about yourself, isn’t it? And now, thanks to true-crime podcast Listen for the Lie, I finally have the chance to find out. But will I be able to live with myself if it turns out it was me? And if it wasn’t, will digging into the secrets of the night I forgot make me the next target of whoever did?

April 2024

Clickbait is by L C North. 'We're not famous anymore. We're notorious.' For over a decade, the Lancasters were celebrity royalty, with millions tuning in every week to watch their reality show, Living with the Lancasters. But then an old video emerges of one of their legendary parties. Suddenly, they're in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons: witnesses swore they'd seen missing teenager Bradley Wilcox leaving the Lancaster family home on the night of the party, but the video tells a different story. Now true crime investigator and YouTuber Tom Isaac is on the case. He's determined to find out what really happened to Bradley - he just needs to read between the Lancasters' lies . . . Because when the cameras are always rolling, it won't be long until someone cracks.

Florence Butterfield has lived an extraordinary life full of travel, passion and adventure. But, at eighty-seven, she suspects there are no more surprises to come her way. Then, one midsummer's night, something terrible happens - so strange and unexpected that Florrie is suspicious. Was this really an accident, or is she living alongside a would-be murderer? The only clue is a magenta envelope, discarded earlier that day. And Florrie - cheerfully independent but often overlooked - is the only person determined to uncover the truth. As she does, Florrie finds herself looking back on her own life . . . and a long-buried secret, traced in faded scars across her knuckles, becomes ever harder to ignore. The Night in Question is by Susan Fletcher. 

The Other Tenant is by Lesley Kara. ‘Dont get too comfortable”. Marlow has always lived in unusual places. But when she accepts a position as a live-in property guardian, she finds herself moving somewhere she swore she’d never return to. Right from the start, she knows it’s a terrible mistake. The elegant Victorian school is due to be turned into luxury apartments, but its eerie, empty corridors are full of Marlow’s worst memories. And now something sinister is happening on the site. One of the other tenants has disappeared without warning, and Marlow suspects that the nine other guardians know far more than they’re letting on. She’s determined to find out what happened to the missing woman – but which of these strangers can she trust? And can she uncover the truth before her own past catches up with her?

May 2024

When we Were Silent is by Fiona McPhillips. Lou Manson is an outsider when she joins the final-year class at Highfield Manor, Dublin’s most exclusive private school. Beyond the granite pillars and the wrought-iron gates is a world of wealth, privilege and potential. But Highfield is also hiding a dark secret – and Lou is here to expose it. When Lou befriends the beautiful and talented Shauna Power, her plans are thrown into turmoil. Speaking out against the school would mean betraying Shauna, and Lou soon discovers that the Highfield elite will go to any lengths to protect their own reputation…even when the consequences are fatal. Thirty years later, Lou is called to testify in a new lawsuit against Highfield. But telling the truth means confronting her past – and there is one story she swore she’d never tell…

2024, and China is massing troops on its coast across the Strait from Taiwan. This time it looks like they're serious about invasion - an act that would result in war between the People's Republic and the US and its allies, including the UK. But Britain's Secret Intelligence Service has an agent in play: someone close to the top of the Chinese Communist Party and who's ready to pass on vital secrets that could defuse the escalating situation. But as the handover takes place in a Hong Kong back street cafe, the agent's MI6 handler is snatched before she can transmit the data back to London and disappears. There are few clues as to who might be responsible. Is it China's infamous state security agency, the MSS? Or has another, less predictable player entered the game? MI6 field operative Luke Carlton is despatched to track down the missing agent. Accompanying him is his Mandarin-speaking colleague, the highly capable Jenny Li. But as they follow a succession of tip-offs that take them from shady Macau casinos to tawdry night clubs, Luke begins to sense that something's not right - that they are being deliberately strung along. As the clock ticks, global tensions heighten and the two SIS operatives have traced their target to Taiwan - a country frantically preparing for imminent invasion. And there, in a remote mountain temple hideaway, Luke and Jenny stumble across what's really going on. But China's People's Liberation Army has already begun to flex its hi-tech muscles, in Taiwan and closer to home, and suddenly the world is holding its breath . . . Invasion is by Frank Gardner.

It's 1951 and the forces of Joseph Stalin are closing in on a brave band of resistance fighters holding out in the dark forests of Lithuania. One must escape the net: Greta, best and bravest of the partisans. Her mission is to cross the Iron Curtain and find new allies in the fight against Soviet rule. But the West is full of thieves and killers too, and they are harder to spot... The Exile (aka The Stiletto Artist) is by Patrick Worrall. 

June 2024

Someone In The Attic is by Andrea Mara. You thought you were home alone. Think again... It could happen to you.  Anya is enjoying a relaxing bath when she hears a noise in the roof. Through the open bathroom door, she sees the attic hatch swing open, and a masked figure drops to the floor. Thirty seconds later, Anya is dead. Even in a wealthy neighbourhood like this.  Across town, Anya's old school friend, Julia, sees an online video of a masked figure climbing out of an attic. She suddenly realises why the footage is eerily familiar: it was filmed inside her house in a luxury gated community, designed to keep intruders out. Even with friends like these. Why would a stranger target Julia? Unless of course, it's not a stranger at all.

Lynch arrives in London, looking over his shoulder for a past he cannot escape. His phone is dead, he has no money, no contacts. He is alone. Until he runs into a wealthy young woman, Bobbie Pierce, who mistakes him for her brother, Heydon, who disappeared 5 years ago without a trace. The resemblance is striking. Or so she says. At her suggestion, Lynch goes to the luxurious Pierce family home, posing as Heydon to try and con some money out of them. But far from succeeding, his subterfuge is instantly discovered, forcing him into a devil’s bargain – their silence for his cooperation in finding out what really happened to Heydon. But Lynch’s investigation goes too deep and soon reveals the dark world in which Heydon Pierce was immersed - and the dangerous and powerful people who hunt there. It seems that everyone has good reasons to keep Heydon buried in the past. In such a conspiracy of mirrors, just one thing is certain: the only person he can trust is himself. Imposter's Syndrome is by Joseph Knox.

The Estate is by Denzil Meyrick. Every family has a secret. The mega-rich Pallander family are used to luxury – a castle in the Scottish Highlands, a villa in Tuscany, a billion-dollar fortune and an island in the Caribbean – but their perfect life is about to be shattered. Every father has a favourite. Sebastian Pallander dies, leaving a pitiful amount of money to his wife and children. His family fight over the scraps as old rivalries and bitter jealousies come to the surface. And when Pallander’s son is killed in mysterious circumstances, everyone suspects foul play. Every killer has a motive. After a desperate race for survival, the relatives gather at their estate to weather the storm. They all begin to wonder: who will be next? Where has all their money gone? And will any of them get what they truly deserve?

Shari Lapena on Everyone Here is Lying

In Everyone Here is Lying, I began with the idea of a difficult child. I imagined a child pushing her father’s buttons to the point where he struck her, shocking them both. I knew the child would disappear, but that’s all I knew. I wanted to explore family dysfunction (a favourite theme of mine) but this time I wanted to look at parents who had struggled to parent a particularly challenging child and what it had done to each of them and to their marriage. It’s a complex issue. Every family has its problems but this one—parents divided on how to manage their troubled child—was very interesting to me. It gave me scope to explore all sorts of things, and to dive deep into my conflicted characters. The father is also having an affair. But all sorts of people are involved in the disappearance of this child in unexpected ways. I had a lot of fun writing this one.

I like to have unexpected twists in my books, and this one is no different. I like to upset expectations and turn things on their head. Of course, I can’t give anything away here, but there’s a gasp-out-loud moment. There are also some sympathetic characters in this one, characters who you really feel for. Life can be very difficult, and sometimes things are out of your hands, and I explore that—that lack of control, and how it feels. But sometimes people make bad decisions and that’s what I find drives my plots. I like to watch the train wreck that follows from those bad decisions, but I want the reader to understand why the character has done what he or she has done, and to see how it could believably happen. People aren’t all bad or all good; they’re complicated and often irrational, especially when under pressure. I like to get caught up in their emotional crises, complicate things, raise the stakes and see what they do and where their actions take them. Plot and character are so closely intertwined. The character acts, and that’s what drives the plot. But the characters have to act authentically—the characters generate the plot for me. I never adapt a character to suit the plot.

This is why I like to write from multiple points of view—I get right inside the various characters’ heads and experience what they’re experiencing, so it drives what happens next, and makes for a rather emotional experience—both for me writing the book and for those reading my books. 

I also like to raise a lot of questions in my books, questions that the reader wants answered. People are naturally curious, and they will read to find out what they’re dying to know. When I wrote my first thriller, The Couple Next Door, I set out to write a page turner. And that’s what I try to do every time. I love it when readers tell me they couldn’t put my books down.

Everyone is Dying by Shari Lapena (Transworld) Out Now.

Welcome to Stanhope - a safe neighbourhood. A place for families. William Wooler is a family man, on the surface. But he's been having an affair, an affair that ended horribly this afternoon at a motel up the road. So when he returns to his house, devastated and angry, to find his difficult nine-year-old daughter Avery unexpectedly home from school, William loses his temper. Hours later, Avery's family declares her missing. Suddenly Stanhope doesn't feel so safe. And William isn't the only one on his street who's hiding a lie. As witnesses come forward with information that may or may not be true, Avery's neighbours become increasingly unhinged. Who took Avery Wooler? Nothing will prepare you for the truth.

More information about Shari Lapena can be found on her website. You can also find her on Twitter @sharilapena and on Facebook and also on Instagram @sharilapena

In The St Hilda's Spotlight - Anna Bailey

 

Name:- Anna Bailey

Job:- Author

Twitter:- @annafbailey

Introduction:-

Tall Bones is Anna Bailey's debut novel which was inspired by her experience of small town America. It has been shortlisted for the Goldsboro Glass Bell Award. Tall Bones was published in the US under the title Where he Truth Lies. Anna Bailey was a Theakston's New Blood author in 2021. It was also longlisted for the Theakston Crime novel of the Year Award in 2021. it was also a Sunday Time's Bestseller.

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

I’m currently reading Dalva by American author Jim Harrison, which follows a woman returning home to rural Nebraska in search of the son she once gave up for adoption. I only recently discovered his work, but he’s already become a favourite – there’s so much passion and fondness in the way he writes about the wild landscapes of the US.

Favourite book?

The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry has been one of my firm favourites ever since I reread it as an adult several years ago. I don’t have anything very clever to say about it, except that I think it’s the loveliest book I’ve ever read. But in terms of books I can just jump back into and reread bits and pieces of over and over again, Annie Proulx’s collection of short stories, Close Range, is one I’m always returning to. Her writing is just astounding, her sense of humour brutal and brilliant, and much like Jim Harrison, I love the way she writes about landscapes.

Which two characters would you invite to dinner and why? 

Lady Catherine de Bourgh from Pride and Prejudice and Dorian Gray. I’d like to see them eviscerate each other.

How do you relax?

I watch the most awful, low budget 2000s-era horror films and drink cheap prosecco.

Which book do you wish you had written and why? 

We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson. It’s like a perfect crisp autumn day condensed into a novella, and I love it when female characters get to be genuinely, delightfully unhinged.

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

“Stock up on toilet paper, there’s going to be a global pandemic next year.” I don’t know actually, I feel very disconnected from myself in the past – I think I’d just tell them to keep going, and that the feeling of holding their completed novel in their hands is absolutely worth all the blood, sweat and tears they poured into it.

How would you describe your latest published book?

When a teenage girl disappears from a small town deep in the Rocky Mountains, the ensuing investigation unearths terrible secrets about her very religious, very isolated community.

With Town and Country: Green Lanes to Mean Streets being the theme at St Hilda's this year, Where is your favourite town and where is your favourite country? Why have you chosen these?

There’s a little town called Mont Dore in the mountains of central France which I want to say is my favourite. My partner is French and for the past three years we’ve taken our vacation there every summer – we hike and read and write and eat well, it’s so relaxing, and the surrounding country is my favourite kind: great forests of pine trees and waterfalls and rugged mountains, on one of which my partner proposed to me, so it has a very special place in my heart.

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

It’s a genuine honour to have been invited to St Hilda’s and I’m really looking forward to meeting the other brilliant speakers, as well as getting to spend time in Oxford, which I haven’t visited post-lockdown, so it’ll be lovely to be back.

Tall Bones by Anna Bailey (Transworld) Out Now

When Emma leaves her friend Abi at a party in the woods, she believes that their lives are just beginning. Many things will happen that night, beneath the stark beauty of the stars, but Emma will never see her friend again. But what happens next in Whistling Ridge is so much more than the story of a missing girl. It's a spellbinding story that will keep you guessing, a story of surprises and secrets, regrets and rage, love and lies. Abi's disappearance cracks open the façade of this small town, peeling away the layers of its past. Even within Abi's own family there are questions to be asked - of the older brother whom Abi betrayed, of the shining younger sibling who hides his wounds, of her mother and her father - both in thrall to the fiery preacher who has an unsettling grasp on the whole town. And then there is Rat, the outsider, whose exciting presence is a catalyst for change. Anything could happen in a tinder-box like Whistling Ridge. All it will take is just one spark...the truth of what happened that night at the Tall Bones.

Information about 2022 St Hilda's College Crime Fiction Weekend and how to book tickets can be found here.

Winners of the Bloody Scotland International Crime Fiction Prizes revealed!!

BLOODY SCOTLAND INTERNATIONAL CRIME FESTIVAL REVEALS THE WINNERS OF THE BLOODY SCOTLAND DEBUT PRIZE AND THE McILVANNEY PRIZE 2020 TO BE TWO DEBUT WOMEN WRITERS

Sponsored by The Glencairn Glass with match funding from Culture & Business Fund Scotland

It has been a rollercoaster year for debut writers. Closed bookshops meant that they could have sunk without trace but reviewers, innovative booksellers, established authors and the media have been incredibly supportive and at Bloody Scotland we have been hugely grateful for the enthusiasm shown for the finalists in our second Bloody Scotland Debut Prize – Francine Toon, Deborah Masson, Stephen O’Rourke and Marion Todd.

The prize was judged by Lin Anderson, author and co-founder of Bloody Scotland, Ewan Wilson from Waterstones and Kenny Tweedale from sponsors the Glencairn Glass, who at the opening of the Bloody Scotland International Crime Writing Festival on Friday evening revealed the winner of the Debut Prize to be Deborah Masson with Hold Your Tongue.

The judges described Hold Your Tongue as a 'well written, fast paced and gritty thriller with a strong female protagonist, who will stop at nothing to find the killer'.

The finalists of the prestigious McIlvanney Prize included established names Ambrose Parry and Doug Johnstone (both of whom were finalists last year) alongside relative newcomer Andrew James Greig and debut author Francine Toon who had also featured on the Bloody Scotland Debut shortlist.

Judges Karen Robinson (Times Crime Club) and James Crawford (author, TV presenter and chair of Publishing Scotland) were chaired by writer and broadcaster Stuart Cosgrove who revealed the winner of the McIlvanney Prize 2020 to be Francine Toon with Pine.

He described her book as‘an extraordinary novel which stood out because of the sheer quality of the writing and the dark brooding atmosphere of the remote rural Scottish village in which it is set. The book merges the supernatural with real crime in a very memorable way and brings an exciting new talent to Scottish crime writing.’            

Both winners are debuts. Both are published by Transworld, who coincidentally also published last year’s winner Manda Scott. It is the first year that the Glencairn Glass have sponsored the prizes. Kirsty Nicholson, Glencairn Crystal's Marketing Manager said:

‘First time authors winning both prizes this year highlights what a bright future the fantastic tradition of Scottish crime writing has.We are delighted and proud to sponsor such prestigious awards with the Glencairn Glass and would like to congratulate both Francine and Deborah, while wishing them all the best for the future.'

Francine Toon was brought up in Sutherland and Fife. She has lived in Dornoch, St Andrews, Edinburgh, Canterbury, London and Portugal.

Deborah Masson was born and bred in Aberdeen. She and her children now live in the family home where she grew up.

Manda Scott Revealed to be the Winner of the McIlvanney Prize Scottish Crime Book of the Year Award 2019.

David Baldacci announced at the opening of Bloody Scotland that the winner of the 2019 McIlvanney Prize is Manda Scott for A Treachery of Spies published by Transworld.

It is only the second time in its 8-year history that the prize has been won by a woman. Two previous winners – Denise Mina and Chris Brookmyre (this time as Ambrose Parry with wife Marisa Haetzman) were amongst the four finalists along with Doug Johnstone – but A Treachery of Spies was the unanimous winner. 

The panel of judges which included Guardian journalist Alison Flood; Chair of Publishing Scotland, James Crawford and former Head of Programmes at Channel 4, Stuart Cosgrove, described A Treachery of Spies as: ‘A powerful, complex and remarkable espionage thriller: a present-day murder links back to Resistance France.  An intricately plotted novel which keeps the reader guessing right to the end.’

Lee Child described it as: ‘a beautifully imagined, beautifully written, smart, sophisticated – but fiercely suspenseful – thriller’

Born and raised in Scotland, Manda has been, variously a veterinary surgeon, veterinary anaesthetist, acupuncturist columnist, blogger, economist – and author. She began her writing career with a series of crime novels, the first of which was shortlisted for the Orange Prize. No Good Deed, the dark, edgy thriller which followed, was nominated for an Edgar Award and hailed as one of the most remarkable thrillers of the year in 2001. 

The McIlvanney Prize recognises excellence in Scottish crime writing, includes a prize of £1000 and nationwide promotion in Waterstones.

This year Bloody Scotland also introduced the inaugural Bloody Scotland Scottish Crime Debut of the Year and special guest, Richard Osman, presenter of Pointless on TV and soon to be a debut author himself, presented it to Claire Askew for All the Hidden Truths published by Hodder. She is a poet, novelist and the current Writer in Residence at the University of Edinburgh.

Both winners accompanied David Baldacci at the head of the torchlit procession from Stirling Castle to his event at the Albert Halls which begins at 8.30pm. 

Festival Director, Bob McDevitt commented:

‘I am delighted that a woman has won both the McIlvanney Prize and the Debut Prize. Coincidentally we had already planned a panel on Spy Sisters about how women are beginning to enter the male dominated preserve of spy fiction. When Manda was longlisted for the prize we added her to the panel. Now anyone who had booked to see that event at 2.30pm tomorrow will be lucky to hear from the McIlvanney Prize winner.’

Manda Scott was born in Glasgow but now lives in Ludlow, Shropshire. She will be in Stirling until Monday afternoon. If you would like to talk to either of the winners, the judges or the Director of Bloody Scotland Bob McDevitt please contact fiona@brownleedonald.com 07767 431846.

ADDENDUM

Immediately after being presented the McIlvanney Prize 2019 by David Baldacci, Manda Scott announced that she wished to share the prize equally with all finalists - Doug Johnstone, Denise Mina and Ambrose Parry (Chris Brookmyre & Marisa Haetzman.

She invited them all to join her on stage on this day of climate protest and said 'This is the proudest moment of my life. We need to change if we're going to get through this moment of climate and ecological crisis and we need to change the way we do things - this starts with abandoning rivalry. We need to cooperate. We need to share. I would like this to be a grain of sand in a tide that sweeps us to a new way of being.

Manda and the other winners went on to lead the torchlight procession with David Baldacci.