In The Spotlight - Denise Mina

Name: Denise Mina 

Job:     Author

Website:- http://www.denisemina.com

Twitter:- @DameDeniseMina

Introduction:-

Denise Mina is the author of 14 novels which includes 3 different series the Garnethill Trilogy, the Paddy Meehan series and the Alex Morrow series along with 3 standalone novels.  The most recent being Conviction.  The first book in the Garnethill trilogy won the John Creasey Dagger from the CWA for Best Crime novel in 1998.  In 2011 The End of the Wasp Season won the Martin Beck Award. Whilst in 2012 and 2013 the novels The End of the Wasp Season and Gods and Beasts won the Theakston’s Old Peculier Crime. Novel of the Year Award. In 2017 The Long Drop won the Gordon Burn Prize and the Mcllvanney Prize for Scottish Crime Novel of the Year.  The first Paddy Meehan novel, The Field of Blood, was filmed by the BBC and broadcast in 2011 whilst the second book The Dead Hour was broadcast in 2013.  She is also the author of two different graphic novels Hellblazer and the Millennium Trilogy and two plays Ida Tamson (2006) and A Drunk Man Looks at the Thistle (2007) and a radio play The Meek which was performed on BBC3 in 2009

Current book?     

Milkman by Anna Burns

Favourite book? 

Heart of a Dog by Mikhail Bulgakov

Which two characters would you invite to dinner and why?  

Tom Ripley and a smug uberman, someone like James Bond. I know I’d get killed in the cross fire but it would be a great fight to watch.

How do you relax?  

I can’t remember. Watch box sets? Is this what the young are doing now? 

What book do you wish you had written and why? 

Not a book but ‘The Still Beating Heart’by Edgar Allan Poe 

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

Remember to enjoy your triumphs. It’s so easy just to move onto the next worry. Also, in the future everyone will be precariously self-employed so what you’re doing isn’t as foolish as you think.

How would you describe your series character?

Well, I haven’t really got one at the moment but Anna McDonald is rude, impatient and a better friend than most of us deserve.

Conviction by Denise Mina (Published by Vintage Publishing, May 2019) 

Conviction stars a strong female protagonist who is obsessed by true-crime podcasts and decides, one day, to investigate one of the unsolved crimes herself. It's just a normal morning for Anna McDonald. Gym kits, packed lunches, getting everyone up and ready. Until she opens the front door to her best friend, Estelle. Anna turns to see her own husband at the top of the stairs, suitcase in hand. They're leaving together and they're taking Anna's two daughters with them. Left alone in the big, dark house, Anna can't think, she can't take it in. With her safe, predictable world shattered, she distracts herself with a story: a true-crime podcast. There's a sunken yacht in the Mediterranean, multiple murders and a hint of power and corruption. Then Anna realises she knew one of the victims in another life. She is convinced she knows what happened. Her past, so carefully hidden until now, will no longer stay silent. This is a murder she can't ignore, and she throws herself into investigating the case. But little does she know, her past and present lives are about to collide, sending everything she has worked so hard to achieve into freefall. 

Jorn Lier Horst on tracking down the serial killer

Jorn Lier Horst is one of Norway’s most experienced police investigators, but also one of Scandinavia’s most successful crime writers. His enthralling, intelligent crime novels give an unusually detailed and realistic insight into how serious crimes are investigated as well as the workings of both the police and the press.

Among a host of literary prizes, the Norwegian Booksellers’ Prize, the Riverton Prize (Golden Revolver), the Glass Key for best crime novel in the Nordic countries, and the prestigious Martin Beck Award, have all been conferred on Jorn Lier Horst for his literary output.

* * *

TRACKING DOWN THE SERIAL KILLER

One person has rampaged through the crime literature of the past thirty years, more than anyone else. The serial killer. However, his – and statistics show that the serial killer is much more likely to be male - traces go much further back than you might think.

As for me, I belong to the group that prefers to give these psychopaths a wide berth, both as a reader and a writer, and I produced ten previous novels before deciding to set William Wisting on the pursuit of a serial killer. The groundwork for The Caveman became a fascinating journey into some of the sickest human psyches the world has ever known.

The actual concept of serial killing was first used in American police reports in the 1960s. At the beginning of the 1970s, the FBI introduced the term in cases where one perpetrator was responsible for more than two murders committed in various locations at different times.

The rest of this fascinating and thought provoking article can be found on the Shots website. A review of The Caveman can be found here as well.

You can also find more information about the author on his website. You can follow him on Twitter @LierHorst and on Facebook.

Jørn Lier Horst wins 2014 Martin Beck Award

Last year the Shots team were delighted to meet up with Jørn Lier Horst, catching up with his tales of Norwegian Crime Fiction when he was one of the guests at Crimefest Bristol.

I was fortunate to have dinner with Jørn, accompanied by Lucy Ramsey and Nicci Praca, where we discussed his work, which at the time was new to me, and he is a writer I would urge you to explore. Crime fiction doesn't get more authentic than the work of Jørn Lier Horst, with his insight in the police procedural, and the anecdotes he shared over dinner.

This morning Lucy Ramsey and Anne Cathrine Eng contacted me with the wonderful news that his novel "The Hunting Dogs" has been presented with the 2014 MARTIN BECK Award, proving that many others will soon be discovering the work of this former Norwegian Police Inspector, turned crime writer.

Jørn Lier Horst's THE HUNTING DOGS has received The Martin Beck Award presented by the Swedish Crime Writers' Academy (Svenska Deckarakademin) for the best crime novel in translation. It is one of the most prestigious international crime-writing awards. The Jury says; An original, thrilling novel about a policeman's struggle on the edge between disaster and restoration of justice. THE HUNTING DOGS is published by Lind & Co in Sweden and Sandstone Press in the UK. Lind and Co in Sweden, have also acquired rights for CLOSED FOR WINTER and THE CAVE MAN in the same series.

Previously Jørn Lier Horst’s work has been awarded The Glass Key (top Nordic novel 2013); The Golden Revolver (top Norwegian crime novel 2013).

Looks like Jørn needs a new mantelpiece for his awards.

Published in the UK by Sandstone Press, here’s what this terrific crime thriller has in-store for the reader –

Seventeen years ago William Wisting led the investigation into one of Norway’s most notorious criminal cases, the murder of young Cecilia Linde. When it is discovered that evidence was falsified he is suspended from duty. It looks like a man has been wrongly convicted, and suddenly the media are baying for blood. Wisting, who has spent his life hunting criminals, is now the hunted.

To discover what really happened Wisting must work alone and under cover. Under investigation and with the press on his trail, he gets help from his journalist daughter, Line, and another unexpected source. Then another young woman goes missing and an electrifying race against time begins. Together they have to stay one step ahead of the pack.

Download the first five chapters here or scroll to the bottom of this link here

And then take advantage of Shots Bookstore which has Hunting Dogs at a discounted price here

 Jørn Lier Horst with the Lar Keplar writing duo, Barry Forshaw on an international crime fiction panel moderated by Paul Johnston – at CrimeFest 2015

And remember Lee Child interviews Maj Sjöwall, the godmother of Scandinavian crime fiction, and co-creator of the Martin Beck Thrillers during next year's CrimeFest which runs 14 - 17 May 2015

Visit http://www.crimefest.com for more information.