Extract from Devil's Coin by Jennifer McAdam

“Have you ever heard of digital currency, Jen, Bitcoin?” asked my best friend Eileen.

I was facing a bleak situation then: I was unwell. I was having relapses and had to take to my bed and draw the blinds to create a blackout, as the light burned my eyes. Sometimes I wore sunglasses in bed. I wasn’t fit to work for another employer because of the way the ME just took the feet from underneath me, but I didn’t even have the energy to be my own boss. I couldn’t commit to clients. I’d lost everything I had because of ME and I just wanted the chance to invest my dad’s money for my son and keep it safe for him and his wee family. Eileen knew where I was at and she told me, “I think you should take a look at this—you should at least speak to Rex.”

I remembered some of my IT clients had mentioned Bitcoin before and I said to myself, “Digital currency, I’ve heard of Bitcoin, I think I will speak to him.” I asked Eileen to give him my phone number. He called me the same day. His name was Rex Charles. He described himself as a “wealth strategist.” He was enthusiastic but not pushy. He explained about digital currency and how this investment opportunity was growing in value faster than Bitcoin.

“For you to really understand it, I definitely recommend that you go to a webinar.”

And there was one that night!

He asked, “Would you like to jump on? I’ll send you the invite link.”

I said, “Aye, do that, that’d be great.”

I joined the webinar that evening, and this pleasant lady named Sally Losa was hosting it. It lasted for about an hour and a half. There must have been about another hundred people or more on that webinar. It was ninety minutes of OneCoin marketing, which explained the Bitcoin story, how it had soared in value, and Sally explained what digital currency actually is.

The OneCoin team went back in history to the Stone Age days of bartering goods for goods and how money has changed throughout time. The message was that digital currency would bring a financial utopia, a digital future that would make flat currency obsolete. OneCoin was going to be the global leader, and the only one that mattered, the number one cryptocurrency. Then they played their ace.

They introduced Dr. Ruja Ignatova.

She appeared on a video presentation, which had a buzz about it, with repeated promotional talk of financial freedom. The film shown to prospective investors worldwide was so professional and the insistent message so convincing I felt some people would be kneeling in front of their laptops worshipping this lady and the message she was delivering. She came across as a deity.

For the moment they simply called her a money-world superstar. She had a PhD and used to work for the big-time financial company McKinsey & Company, which advises many Fortune 1,000 companies, institutions, and governments. They showed her on the cover of Forbes magazine and on glorious display on two pages inside. She was shown in Financial IT magazine making a speech at a European economic summit and explaining what she had achieved in founding OneCoin.

I was sitting in my rented council house and already hero-worshipping this Dr. Ruja and listening as Sally Losa told us the value of OneCoin. Then, more excitement as they explained that as soon as you bought a Tycoon pack- age for £5,000, the package would have a digital value of £48,000 based on OneCoin being valued at £5.25 at that mo- ment. At the same time, I was recruited into the OneCoin WhatsApp groups, where all the chat began about how you could really only change your family’s life with the Tycoon package and above. The sales team insisted that as soon as you even looked in the direction of one of the packages, you were a millionaire. It was a powerful pitch. 

“My God, I’m absolutely blown away.” 

I felt I was finally doing something positive with my dad’s money. 

Devil's Coin: My Battle to Take Down the Notorious OneCoin Cryptoqueen by Jennifer

McAdam with Douglas Thompson (Ad Lib Publishers) Out Now

Jen McAdam was a victim of the OneCoin global cryptocurrency fraud, which stole an estimated $27 billion from ordinary people around the world. The evil genius of the scam was its target, society's 'unbanked,' not wealthy investors, and it robbed millions of their livelihood and futures. The poor became poorer. The brutal plundering led by self-styled Cryptoqueen Ruja Ignatova defied all legal and banking barriers bamboozling financial authorities - until Jen McAdam fought back. With a GBP15,000 inheritance from her father, saved from a careful life in a west of Scotland mining town, Jen wanted to invest wisely for her family's future and was enraptured by the possibilities offered by OneCoin's promotional material and convincing endorsements from celebrities and financial institutions. They, like all Dr Ruja's flamboyant promises, were bogus. Jen McAdam was the first victim brave enough to fight back and despite death threats and an intimidating campaign to shut her down, and through a debilitating illness, strived tirelessly for justice - for herself, her family and friends, and the millions around the world who lost everything. She created and continues to lead victims 'support groups and in 2023, as the OneCoin bandits were being punished by international courts, spearheaded a move to get financial compensation for the many whose life hopes were cruelly crushed by the Cryptoqueen.

You can follow Jennifer McAdam on X @JenMcAdamUK 

August books from Bookouture

The Girl Who Lied is by Shannon Hollinger. Rain hammers the earth and a vicious wind rattles the trees. Then lightning strikes, the flash illuminating a young girl staggering out of the woods, her brown eyes wide with fright, a silent scream on her lips… There’s a storm approaching the tiny Maine town of Coyote Cove when Chief Maggie Riley comes across the body of a man, blood seeping from stab wounds into the damp forest floor. As she desperately struggles to secure the evidence before the rain hits, Heather, a local teenage girl, emerges from the woods, shivering and unable to talk. Maggie, once a high flying big-city detective, lost everything when her four-year-old brother went missing five years ago. Heart-broken, she’s never stopped searching for him: but now she is plunged back into the world she left behind.The victim, Maggie discovers, knew secrets about everyone in isolated Coyote Cove. It seems there are more local suspects in this case than people she can rule out. And with Heather still traumatised, Maggie struggles to unravel her strange appearance at the crime scene. Until, following a faint, bloody trail deep into the forest, she’s horrified to unearth what the terrified girl’s been hiding…  But when Heather is kidnapped, the battle to identify the killer becomes a race to save an innocent girl’s life. And with the whole town terrified, Maggie is shocked to uncover that this twisted killer is much closer to home than she’d ever imagined. Battling her own demons and memories of her missing brother, how far will Maggie have to go to save Heather? Or will another innocent young life be lost forever...?

The little dog trembles and whimpers, but refuses to move. Maggie reaches further into the undergrowth, trying to tempt it out. But as she moves closer, she sees something that stops her heart—a tiny, shivering baby, wrapped in a thin, pink blanket, saved only by its loyal protector. There’s a ferocious storm heading toward the isolated town of Coyote Cove when Chief Maggie Riley gets the call every cop dreads. Three bodies have been found on Rattlesnake Mountain, half a day’s hike from civilization. And when Maggie finally reaches the site, exhausted and freezing, she discovers something even more terrifying—a tiny baby girl, kept alive only by the warmth of a small dog who refuses to leave her side. As Maggie races the baby to safety, she wonders, why on earth the family risked hiking the mountain in this weather? Who were they and who could possibly have killed them? A former detective, Maggie may be an experienced investigator, but she’s still an unwelcome newcomer. Battling town prejudice, her fears for the orphaned baby, and the increasingly dangerous weather, Maggie soon discovers the case is far more complicated than she could have imagined. The family is not who they seemed. The mother has never had a baby, there’s no link between them at all. So whose baby is it, and where are they now? With Coyote Cove cut off by the storm, Maggie knows that wherever the killer is, they won’t be able to leave. Stuck in town with a murderer on the loose, Maggie must race to find them before anyone else gets hurt. But she hasn’t counted on the killer taking matters into their own hands, and going after Maggie first… Their Angel's Cry is by Shannon Hollinger.

Murder at the Inn is by Katie Gayle. Julia Bird loves the village pub quiz, but it seems one of her team won’t make it to the next round alive…  On the first Tuesday of each month, Julia Bird and her Agatha Quizteam teammates take part in Berrywick’s village pub quiz. They take it seriously – what’s the point of playing, after all, if you aren’t in it to win it? But it seems someone connected with the quiz night has taken the competition to a whole new level when Lilian, the local police constable and all-round general knowledge expert, is found fatally stabbed after the evening’s final round. With local DI Hayley Gibson stuck home with a broken leg and an incompetent Superintendent brought in from the nearby town, it’s up to Julia to make sure the investigation stays focussed – whether they like it or not! While the police are convinced that the murderer is linked to Lilian’s professional life, Julia turns her amateur sleuthing eye to suspects much closer to home. Perhaps Lilian’s personal life could have something to do with the dreadful crime? When another quiz team member is attacked, Julia is finally put on the right track. But what could possibly be important – or dangerous – enough for two attendees of the pub quiz night to meet such foul ends over? Could the culprit really be among them on that busy Tuesday night? As Julia’s race to identify the killer ramps up to desperate heights, she wonders, where will the murderous spree end?

The Inheritance is by Samantha Hayes. I thought he took my secret to the grave. But the truth can’t stay buried forever… In the wake of my darling husband’s death, I am so lucky to have my three beautiful, grown-up daughters by my side at our holiday home in Scotland. We need some time together, to recover from the shock. But I also need to set some things straight about their beloved father… I’ve always known this house was the perfect place to bury secrets – remote, isolated, surrounded by nothing but miles of dense forest. But this time I’m not here to hide more of my lies. I’m here to expose one. I promise everything I’ve ever done has been to protect my daughters. I just hope they understand that too… By the end of the trip, nothing will ever be the same again. I knew revealing the truth about the inheritance would have consequences, but I could never have imagined we wouldn’t all survive it. And now the truth is out, am I in danger too…?

Murder at the Village Fair by Helena Dixon. Kitty Underhay is riding a carousel… with death.  Summer 1935. Enjoying a belated honeymoon visiting her new husband Matt’s family in the rolling Yorkshire hills, Kitty strolls through a village fair. But when Kitty persuades Matt to visit the fortune teller’s tent, the lovebirds are shocked to find the body of Madame Zaza slumped over her crystal ball, pearl necklace askew and a half-drunk cup of tea at her elbow. After predicting so many of the villagers’ misfortunes, how did she not foresee her own murder? From a pompous old colonel to a reticent reverend and a dodgy village doctor, Kitty soon feels like half the village had a motive for murder. But with more suspects than tarot cards, she and Matt are no closer to finding the culprit. Madame Zaza had been a part of the community’s life for decades and discovering a photograph album of the villagers through the years gives Kitty and Matt the breakthrough they’ve been searching for. Kitty is soon hot on the killer’s trail when her sleuthing puts her in terrible danger. Will her lucky stars align, or is her life line about to run out?

The Mistake I Made is by Sam Hepburn. A man is dead. And only I know why. As we sit drinking wine by the river and I gaze into his dark brown eyes, I know I have finally met the man of my dreams. I have been hurt before, but this time will be different. He has a terrible past and everyone tells me he can’t be trusted, but they don’t know what I know. I know deep down that together we can overcome anything. Because sure he has secrets, but who doesn’t? But now a man is dead. And the police are knocking on my door. Was trusting him the biggest mistake I could make…? I don’t know where to go or who to turn to. What if I am next?

The Family on Smith Street is by Elisabeth Carpenter A happy family. A picture-perfect street. A secret someone would kill for. My husband James and I love living on Smith Street, with its neat houses and friendly family barbecues. Our daughter Scarlett grew up playing outside with the other local kids – it’s somewhere nothing bad could ever happen. Or so I thought… Because when I wake terrified, head pounding, in a cramped windowless room, I realise I was entirely wrong. As my eyes adjust to the dark, I see creased pictures of missing local people I vaguely recognise from the news covering the walls. Then my skin turns ice-cold when I notice the newest pictures are of me, of James, of Scarlett… A terrified sob catches in my throat. It seems there’s been a killer hiding in our neighbourhood for years. And I’m their next victim. I stare at the photos in horror. Because if they’ve got me, they could also have James or, worst of all, my precious daughter Scarlett... In that moment, I know I’ll do anything, everything, to save my family. Especially because, deep down, I know this is all my fault…

The Market Retreat is by Laura Elliot.‘Welcome to Serenity Falls,’ I say, forcing a smile as I guide our new guests across the courtyard and through the doors of the old house. This should be a fresh new start for the couple, but how can I help them when my own life is being torn apart? My husband Victor and I have been together for twenty-five years and we’ve created a successful marriage retreat business. The tranquil hotel, with its cherry blossom trees and the sound of the waterfall in the backdrop, is the perfect setting for couples to repair their fractured relationships. My own marriage has been a shining example of honesty and trust. Or at least that’s what I believed… When a police officer knocks on my door to tell me the man I loved has been killed in a tragic accident, I’m left trembling with shock. But that isn’t all. An unnamed woman was by his side when Victor died, and she now lies in a coma. As my husband’s secrets unravel, I discover that my whole life has been a lie. Now my future is at stake and my life is in danger. And I have to make a choice to protect myself and my family. A choice that will turn me into a liar, just like Victor. And will end in murder…

The Doctor's Widow is by Daniel Hurst.She trusted him. Now she’s paying the price… I loved my husband, Doctor Drew Devlin, but he betrayed me. And now he’s dead. As I put the key in the lock and open the door to the luxurious new home I’ve purchased with Drew’s life insurance money, I’m certain the worst days are behind me. My secret is safe, and I can’t wait to enjoy my new wealth and freedom. Then I meet handsome Roger. I wasn’t looking for a relationship but as we spend our evenings drinking wine on my sunny terrace, I realise he’s just what I need right now. Roger is nothing like Drew, he’s spontaneous and romantic. And most of all, he’s honest.He thinks I’m a rich, lonely woman. He’s wrong of course, there’s so much more to me… But then one night, when we’re curled up in bed together, Roger says something that makes my blood run cold. I think he knows the truth about my life as the doctor’s wife. I will do anything to stop my past from catching up with me… But is Roger really who he says he is? Or is my life now in danger? 

Murder at Bay View Hotel is by Emma Jameson. Join Jemima Jago—librarian, cake lover and fearless super-sleuth—on her next puzzling case, when an entry at a baking competition proves delicious… but deadly! It’s time for the Bay View Hotel’s annual bake-off and Jem is looking forward to sampling all the cake she can. But when head judge and successful local critic Lemmy Beaglehole drops dead in the middle of tasting a chocolate gateau, Jem can’t resist throwing herself into the investigation. Jem interviews everyone present and discovers that Lemmy had plenty of enemies at the bake-off and was famous for his venomous reviews. But who could have hated him enough to actually poison him? Was it the long-suffering hotel manager? The local busybody who hated Lemmy enough to stage a protest over his inclusion as head judge? Or the aspiring baker, whose dreams of running his own pastry shop were dashed by a terrible review? Finding a crumpled rose-patterned envelope that may have contained the poison, Jem feels certain she’s close to the truth. But when a huge storm blows in over the Isles of Scilly, trapping everyone—bake-off contestants, staff and guests—in the hotel overnight, Jem must work fast to untangle the clues and catch the killer before their next toxic treat ends up on her plate!

The Elevator is by Claire Cooper. My whole body is shaking, my breath catches in my throat. I’m stuck here. Trapped. With the one person who will do anything to destroy me… When I step into the elevator that sweltering morning, I barely notice the woman standing next to me. She seems out of place, with her floaty linen clothes in a building full of suits. But that’s none of my business. A minute later, there’s a sudden jerk. The elevator stops. The lights go out. The other woman’s face is deathly pale. She’s breathing noisily, clearly panicking. As we sit slumped against the mirrored walls, we start talking to try and keep calm. I tell her I moved halfway round the world to start again where no one knew what I was hiding. I tell her my darkest secrets, because she seems to understand, and we’re never going to see each other again, right? But I’m wrong. We’re not strangers. None of this is an accident. And when the truth comes out, there’ll be nowhere to hide…

The Wrong Family is by Ellery Kane. He tells you he’s your father. He welcomes you into his family. And now you’re trapped… I’ve never met my father. It was always just me and Mom, so when she died, I was completely alone. But today, years since I first mailed my DNA to Family Ties, I finally have a match. They’ve found my biological father. When I meet Robert, he’s warm, dependable, sturdy. I’m desperate for him to like me. I want to be part of his perfect, high-flying family more than anything. Except, I’m not so sure they are perfect. Every day, strange things go wrong in the Thompsons’ grand Lake Tahoe house. A family photo is found burning. Robert’s car is tampered with. My mother’s necklace goes missing. Though that’s nothing compared to the horror of finding the huge family portrait violently slashed in its ornate gold frame… But someone is trying to blame me for everything—all eyes are on me. I can’t run now. And then I receive an email from Family Ties that makes my blood run cold. Robert Thompson is not my father. Now I’m trapped in a house full of strangers, with no idea who I can trust. And I’m terrified my life is in grave danger…

Petrona Award 2023 - Longlist

 

Outstanding crime fiction from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland longlisted for the 2023 petrona award

Twelve crime novels from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland have made the longlist for the 2023 Petrona Award for the Best Scandinavian Crime Novel of the Year.

They are:

The Shadow Murders by Jussi Adler-Olsen tr. William Frost (Denmark, Quercus) 

Death in Summer by Lina Areklew tr. Tara F Chace (Sweden, Canelo Crime)

Little Drummer by Kjell Ola Dahl tr. Don Bartlett (Norway, Orenda Books)

Femicide by Pascal Engman tr. Michael Gallagher (Sweden, Legend Press)

The Corpse Flower by Anne Mette Hancock tr. Tara F Chace (Denmark, Swift Press)

Winter Water by Susanne Jansson tr. Rachel Willson-Broyles (Sweden, Hodder & Stoughton)

The Axe Woman by Håkan Nesser tr. Sarah Death (Sweden, Mantle)

Land of Snow and Ashes by Petra Rautiainen tr. David Hackston (Finland, Pushkin Press)

Kalmann by Joachim B Schmidt tr. Jamie Lee Searle (Switzerland, Bitter Lemon Press)

Red as Blood by Lilja Sigurðardóttir tr. Quentin Bates (Iceland, Orenda Books)

Codename Faust by Gustaf Skördeman tr. Ian Giles (Sweden, Zaffre)

Bitter Flowers by Gunnar Staalesen tr. Don Bartlett (Norway, Orenda Books)

The significantly increased number of entries for this year’s Petrona Award illustrates the continuing popularity of Scandinavian crime fiction in translation. The longlist contains a mix of new and established authors including previous Petrona Award winner, Gunnar Staalesen.

Both large and small publishers are represented on the longlist, with Orenda Books leading with three entries, and the breakdown by country is Sweden (5), Denmark (2), Norway (2), Finland (1), Iceland (1) and Switzerland (1), with translators Don Bartlett and Tara F Chace having translated two entries each.

The shortlist will be announced on 7 September 2023.

The Petrona Award 2023 judging panel comprises Jackie Farrant, the creator of RAVEN CRIME READS and a bookseller/Area Commercial Support for a major book chain in the UK; Miriam Owen, founder of the NORDIC NOIR blog, passionate about the arts, she moderates author panels and provides support at crime fiction festivals, and Ewa Sherman, translator and writer, and blogger at NORDIC LIGHTHOUSE. The Award administrator is Karen Meek, owner of the EURO CRIME blog and website.

New crime writing prize launched by A M Heath, Orion and Crime Monthly

A M Heath literary agency, the Orion Publishing Group and Crime Monthly have teamed up to launch Criminal Lines 2023, a new £3,500 crime writing prize open to unagented, debut authors, born or resident in the UK and Ireland.

From psychological thrillers, cosy crime to serial killer thrillers, entrants are invited to submit the opening 5,000 words of a novel with “criminal intent”, plus a synopsis of no more than 1,000 words here.

Entries open on 3rd August 2023 and close on 7th December 2023. The winner will be selected by a panel of judges including A M Heath agents Euan Thorneycroft and Oli Munson, Crime Monthly assistant editor Lisa Howells, Orion Fiction editors Leodora Darlington and Sam Eades, and authors Vaseem Khan and Mari Hannah.

Howells said: “It’s such an exciting time to be a crime writer, and it’s a privilege to be able to help launch someone into their dream career.”

Thorneycroft said: “We know there are great undiscovered crime and thriller writers out there and we can’t wait to find the next star of British and Irish crime writing.”

Darlington added: “We are delighted to be partners-in-crime with A M Heath and Crime Monthly, and look forward to discovering crime fiction’s next superstar. We are looking for unforgettable voices, a strong sense of place, books with series potential, killer openings and endings that will get readers talking.”

Hannah said she had no hesitation in agreeing to judge the prize. “If you are an aspiring writer who has plucked up the courage to enter such a prestigious competition, congratulations. Taking that huge step is an achievement in itself, an opportunity not to be missed for anyone chasing the dream of being published”. 

“I’ll be looking for originality, a strong voice, a manuscript that moves me, one that urges me to read on. I’m waiting patiently for your submission. Your job is to blow me away with your storytelling. Good luck everyone.”

Khan added: "It took me two ego-bruising decades and seven unpublished novels to finally find myself in print. This new prize aims to help shortcut that journey for unpublished writers with the talent, commitment and sheer bloody-mindedness to become crime and thriller novelists – bloody being the operative word. Working with stellar brains at A M Heath, Orion and Crime Monthly, I’ll be looking for twisted, dark and murdery tales, told with panache."

Capital Crime Individual tickets on sale

INDIVIDUAL EVENT TICKETS ARE NOW AVAILABLE
& WE'RE DELIGHTED TO WELCOME SHARI LAPENA, CLARE MACKINSTOCH, BEN AARONOVITCH & PETER JAMES TO OUR LINEUP!

There's only one place to be from 31st August - 2nd September 2023 and that's the Leonardo Royal St Paul's Hotel, where we will be celebrating the best genre in town.

We believe that every reader and crime fiction fan should be able to celebrate and enjoy a weekend's worth of entertaining and engaging conversations from some of the world's finest creative minds! With only four weeks to go until we're opening our doors, we're swinging them wide open with our individual event tickets that will suit every budget.

Get ready to mingle with crime fictions biggest stars and latest chart toppers as we're honoured to welcome Richard Osman, Lisa Jewell, Joanne Harris, Kate Atkinson, "Happy Valley" creator Sally Wainwright, Dorothy Koomson, Chris Carter, Peter James, Ben Aaronovitch Liz Nugent, Imran Mahmood, Will Dean, Nicola Williams, Richard Armitage, Yomi Adegoke, Mark Billingham, M W Craven, Steve Cavanagh, Adele Parks and many more of your favourite authors to Capital Crime this year! 

For our full line-up and schedule head to our website!

Tickets can be brought here.

The Australian Crime Writers Association announced the 2023 Ned Kelly Awards Shortlists

 

BEST CRIME FICTION 

Soulmate by Sally Hepworth 

When The Carnival is Over by Greg Woodland 

Exiles by Jane Harper 

When We Fall by Aoife Clifford 

The Tilt by Chris Hammer 

Those Who Perish by Emma Viskic 

Seven Sisters by Katherine Kovacic

Lying Beside You by Michael Robotham

BEST INTERNATIONAL CRIME FICTION 

(Published in Australia) 

The Lemon Man by Keith Bruton 

Paper Cage by Tom Baragwanath 

The Favour by Nicci French 

The Hitchhiker by Gerwin van der Werf 

BEST DEBUT CRIME FICTION 

Wake by Shelley Burr 

No Country for Girls by Emma Styles 

Dirt Town by Hayley Scrivenor 

Black River by Matthew Spencer 

How to Kill a Client by Joanna Jenkins 

The House of Now and Then by Jo Dixon 

Lenny Marks Gets Away with Murder by Kerryn Mayne 

Denizen by James McKenzie Watson 

BEST TRUE CRIME 

Tiger! Tiger! Tiger! by Officer 

A Death Row at Truro by Geoff Plunkett 

Rattled by Ellis Gunn 

Betrayed by Sandi Logan 

Out of the Ashes by Megan Norris 

Leveraging Fear In Your Fiction By Shannon Hollinger

If I were to ask, “What are you afraid of?” I’d probably get plenty of similar responses. For some, it’s serial killers, ax murderers, and bad people in general. For others, it’s disease, illness, or the loss of a loved one. Then there’s phobias like spiders, snakes, clowns, and heights, which are all responsible for their own share of sweating palms and racing heartbeats.

But fear isn’t just for horror novels. The feeling can be used to increase tension, suspense, character development, and even setting, in every genre.

And you don’t have to be obvious about what you’re doing, or even how you’re doing it. It can actually be more impactful if you aren’t. Learning the art of how to subtly leverage your characters’—and your readers’—fears can help you create a fictional world that keeps eyes glued to the pages of your book.

One way to do this is by not focusing on a specific fear. Sure, making your character afraid of heights, and then forcing them to conquer a fifty-foot climb in order to save the day has its place, but it’s okay to not name what it is that has your character on edge. 

It’s perfectly acceptable to simply invoke the feeling, because sometimes people—and characters—don’t know exactly what it is that they’re afraid of. A general uneasiness of unknown cause can be crafted into scenes that create just as much tension as a character locked in a haunted house with Hannibal Lecter and a dozen sadistic, serial killing clowns, because fear takes many forms, has many faces, and is felt in varying degrees. 

At its most general, fear is anxiety, and anxiety isn’t always an enemy. Anxiety can keep you safe. It can sharpen your senses. It can make you take action. It can also make you worry, and worrying can make you more careful, enhance your motivation, and help you solve problems.

If I were to ask, “What makes you anxious?” would I get the same answer as when I asked what you were afraid of? Now what if I asked, “What makes you worry?”

Three different questions, all with different answers.

This is how to subtly leverage fear in your writing. Pick a different emotion or feeling and develop it. Make it grow into something more. Something worse. Something, dare we say, sinister.

How do you feel about being alone? What if you were somewhere unfamiliar, like on a road trip? Consider having your car break down on a remote stretch of highway where you were unable to get a cell signal. It’s an unsettling situation, to be sure.

Would you feel less nervous in this scenario if you were by yourself, or with others? What if those others were unable to contribute positively to the situation? What if they were arguing? Or had bad ideas about how to respond to the circumstance you’ve found yourselves in?

Now, what if we changed the location? Your car and your phone still don’t work, but instead of being stranded in the middle of nowhere, you’re at a resort on a tropical island. It’s a popular trope, but a good example in that it’s a situation that can also be enjoyable. On an island with friends and no cell service, nothing to do but relax and unwind? Sounds like torture, right? 

But what if your bitter ex was there? Or you made a horrible mistake that turned the others against you? What if a storm was coming? Or a body was discovered?

That’s the fun thing about fictional fear—taking paradise and making it purgatory. Twisting the situation, emotions, the little, niggling voice we all have at the back of our minds to ramp up the tension.

For me, it’s not the bam-bam-bam of action that keeps me reading late into the night. It’s the tension of needing to find out what happens next. The slow burn as the flame travels up the wick, getting closer to the stick of dynamite, that keeps me in suspense. Every book can benefit from that steady draw, so find your character’s weakness, sharpen your claws, and prey upon it. 

The Girl who Lied by Shannon Hollinger (Bookouture) Out Now

Rain hammers the earth and a vicious wind rattles the trees. Then lightning strikes, the flash illuminating a young girl staggering out of the woods, her brown eyes wide with fright, a silent scream on her lips…There’s a storm approaching the tiny Maine town of Coyote Cove when Chief Maggie Riley comes across the body of a man, blood seeping from stab wounds into the damp forest floor. As she desperately struggles to secure the evidence before the rain hits, Heather, a local teenage girl, emerges from the woods, shivering and unable to talk. Maggie, once a high flying big-city detective, lost everything when her four-year-old brother went missing five years ago. Heart-broken, she’s never stopped searching for him: but now she is plunged back into the world she left behind. The victim, Maggie discovers, knew secrets about everyone in isolated Coyote Cove. It seems there are more local suspects in this case than people she can rule out. And with Heather still traumatised, Maggie struggles to unravel her strange appearance at the crime scene. Until, following a faint, bloody trail deep into the forest, she’s horrified to unearth what the terrified girl’s been hiding…  But when Heather is kidnapped, the battle to identify the killer becomes a race to save an innocent girl’s life. And with the whole town terrified, Maggie is shocked to uncover that this twisted killer is much closer to home than she’d ever imagined. Battling her own demons and memories of her missing brother, how far will Maggie have to go to save Heather? Or will another innocent young life be lost forever...? 

Their Angel's Cry by Shannon Hollinger (Bookouture) Out Now

The little dog trembles and whimpers, but refuses to move. Maggie reaches further into the undergrowth, trying to tempt it out. But as she moves closer, she sees something that stops her heart—a tiny, shivering baby, wrapped in a thin, pink blanket, saved only by its loyal protector. There’s a ferocious storm heading toward the isolated town of Coyote Cove when Chief Maggie Riley gets the call every cop dreads. Three bodies have been found on Rattlesnake Mountain, half a day’s hike from civilization. And when Maggie finally reaches the site, exhausted and freezing, she discovers something even more terrifying—a tiny baby girl, kept alive only by the warmth of a small dog who refuses to leave her side. As Maggie races the baby to safety, she wonders, why on earth the family risked hiking the mountain in this weather? Who were they and who could possibly have killed them? A former detective, Maggie may be an experienced investigator, but she’s still an unwelcome newcomer. Battling town prejudice, her fears for the orphaned baby, and the increasingly dangerous weather, Maggie soon discovers the case is far more complicated than she could have imagined. The family is not who they seemed. The mother has never had a baby, there’s no link between them at all. So whose baby is it, and where are they now? With Coyote Cove cut off by the storm, Maggie knows that wherever the killer is, they won’t be able to leave. Stuck in town with a murderer on the loose, Maggie must race to find them before anyone else gets hurt. But she hasn’t counted on the killer taking matters into their own hands, and going after Maggie first…

More information about Shannon Hollinger can be found on her website. You can also find her on Facebook And on X @ThisWriterSays.

In The St Hilda's Spotlight - Andrew Wilson

 Name:- Andrew Wilson

Job:- Author and Journalist

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

Twitter: - @andrewwilsonaw

 Introduction

Andrew Wilson is an award-winning author and journalist. His first book 'Beautiful Shadow: A Life of Patricia Highsmith' was shortlisted for the Whitbread biography prize (2003) and won an Edgar Allan Poe award for biography in 2004 and a LAMBDA Literary Award in 2003. His journalism has appeared in a wide range of newspapers and magazines. He also writes under the pseudonym E V Adamson where he is the author of psychological thrillers.

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

I always have lots of books on the go - and because I read so much for work, I have to carve out the time to read books for pleasure. I’ve just finished Christine Mangan’s Palace of the Drowned, set in Venice in 1966. I adored her first novel Tangerine and I loved this one just as much. I write non-fiction as well as crime fiction, and at the moment I’m working on a new book about Marilyn Monroe. So I’m reading lots of books - novels and memoirs - about old Hollywood, which is enormous fun. 

Favourite book:

Too many to mention - of course! But in the list there would have to be a Christie, a Highsmith, and The Secret History by Donna Tartt. 

Which two characters would you invite to dinner and why?

I’d love to sit back and observe Christie’s two greatest detectives: Hercule Poirot and Miss Jane Marple. They could compare case notes, reminisce about murderers they have known, discuss their various methods and perhaps indulge in a little light flirtation over the black coffee. 

How do you relax?

I’m lucky enough to live by the sea in South Devon so I each day I make sure I go for a long walk. But often as I walk through the fields or by the beach I find that this gentle activity is conducive to solving a tricky plot point or untangling a stubborn knot in the narrative.

Which book do you wish you had written and why?

It would have to be Donna Tartt’s The Secret History. I remember devouring it when it was first published in 1992 and being blown away by its compulsive narrative, gripping characters and stylish writing. I like to reread it every couple of years.

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

You will do it! Growing up in a working class family in the north of England, I had no connections with writing or the arts. I always wanted to be a writer and my route was through journalism - after university, I worked as a feature writer and interviewer for national newspapers and magazines. From this I moved into biography and then into fiction. Although all three disciples are very different, I like to think that journalism helped me with discipline, deadlines and also how to tell a story. 

How would you describe your latest published book?

My latest novel is one published under the pseudonym E.V. Adamson. It’s called Murder Grove (HarperCollins) and it’s about a young couple who leave London to live in an eco-village in southern Spain. Soon after arriving in this paradise, their green dream turns into a nightmare. I based it on my own experience of six years living in an eco-village in southern Spain - without the real-life murders!

With Celebrations: innocent parties, guilty pleasures being the theme at St Hilda's this year, which are you three favourite psychological books and why?

• The Talented Mr Ripley by Patricia Highsmith. Highsmith cleverly seduces the reader into identifying with a twisted mind - the charming psychopath Tom Ripley. This book changed the course of crime fiction.

• Five Little Pigs by Agatha Christie. This is one of the Queen of Crime’s best books. It uses the device of multiple narrators - something which has become increasingly fashionable in recent years - to tell the story of a murder committed years before. If anyone (not familiar with Christie) proclaims that she only wrote cardboard cut-out characters I give them this to read. 

• A Judgement in Stone by Ruth Rendell. I love Rendell’s novels - particularly her Barbara Vine ones - but this novel first published in 1977 has to be one of my favourites. The reader knows the name of the killer and the motive for the murders in the first paragraph, but the suspense is extraordinary. 

If you were to rewatch a psychological film which film would it be and why?

I love Hitchcock’s Vertigo and I must have seen it a dozen or so times. I’ll never forget the first time I saw it - when the final twist was revealed I felt such a sense of shock and awe. It’s such a compelling study of obsession and when I write I often have Bernard Herrmann’s score playing in the background. 

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

This will be my first time in person at St Hilda’s - I took part in a digital event for the festival during Covid. So I can’t wait to meet some of my heroes and heroines in the crime writing field. I’ll have to stop myself fan-boying them. But I hope to break the ice with my secret weapon - Patricia Highsmith’s dressing gown. 

  The Murder Grove by E V Adamson (HarperColins)

Two bodies. Thirty years. And a secret that connects them both… 1990 A woman’s body is found brutally murdered in the woods, and next to it, a shallow grave hiding a terrified young girl. 2021 ...When Mia and Rich move to an eco-village in Spain, they’re looking for a new start. Val Verde is everything they wished for – at least to begin with. But when someone is murdered in an olive grove, Mia realises the village isn’t the safe haven she was hoping for… There’s a killer in the village – and they’ll stop at nothing until they get revenge…

 Information about 2023 St Hilda's College Crime Fiction Weekend and how to book tickets can be found here.

Committed:- A New Take on Terrorism By Chris Merritt

When we think of terrorism, what probably comes to mind is the deadliest attacks of the new millennium: 9/11, Madrid, London, Mumbai, Paris. We think of groups like ISIS, Al-Shabaab, and Boko Haram. For most of the 21^st Century, Islamist extremism has grabbed the headlines. Not so today.

In 2021, for the first time since 9/11, the FBI classified far-right extremism as a bigger threat inside the US than that posed by Islamic terror groups. In fact, since 9/11, racially-motivated extremists have killed more people in the US than Islamists. Violent far-right groups like Atomwaffen Division and Hammerskins have significant followings in Europe, North America, and Australasia. 

Membership of these fringe groups has grown along with the popularity of mainstream far-right political parties, standing for election on anti-immigration, nationalist platforms. However, Western governments have done little to tackle their spread, hate speech, or the violent threat they pose. 

In some cases, politicians have even supported the actions of far-right organisations, for example, Trump telling the Proud Boys – who were among the leaders of the US Capitol riots – to ‘stand by’ on national TV. Troublingly, serving law enforcement and military personnel are often among those identified as members of such groups.

While far-right terrorism might seem a world away from Islamic extremism, the two share more in common than you might think. Central to participation in each is the process of radicalisation: the development of an extreme ideology based on hatred of those who believe something different.

As a psychologist and former diplomat who has worked in conflict zones where people killed each other over their beliefs, I was fascinated by the psychological link between these two types of extremism. In my new book, Committed, I explore the parallels between them in the conversion of ordinary people to terrorist ideologies. But how does this conversion happen?

Humans are more susceptible to messages when they come from an authority figure or group to which we feel aligned. We consider ourselves part of the ‘in-group’, and we begin to feel negatively towards any ‘out-groups’. Extremists create this sense of affinity by tapping into racial, economic, social, political, and religious divisions, over-simplifying and exploiting them by manipulating their adherents to hate the ‘out-group’ that supposedly hates them. With this justification, violence is just a short step away.

My main character, Ellen McGinley, was a CIA undercover operative during a deadly Islamist terror attack in Paris, five years ago, which she blames herself for not preventing. In the present day, she is trying to confront a domestic terror threat in the US which no one else believes is real, and she won’t stop – even if it costs her everything.

In occasional chapters narrated by one of the domestic terror group, Peter, we see from the other side how someone might come to be drawn into a radical group. Poverty, hatred, a sense of being betrayed by those in power, personal failure, social rejection, and frustration are all factors that contribute to the characters’ susceptibility to join an extreme group and engage in violence.

Though Committed is a work of fiction, the issues at its heart are very real. And as society, we ignore them at our peril.

If you’d like to read more, you can purchase Committed here: https://t.co/C4kmTAIFIk

Committed by Chris Merritt (Headline)

Former CIA undercover operative Ellen McGinley is battling to overcome PTSD when she stumbles upon a domestic terror plot. The deadly attack is due to take place in six days and will strike at the very heart of her homeland. For Ellen, it's a chance to find redemption for her greatest mistake - one she will never allow herself to forget. But no sooner than she alerts the authorities, she finds herself diagnosed as delusional and locked in a psychiatric ward. No one believes her story. She's the only one who thinks the danger is real, which means she's the only one who can stop it. Ellen must draw on all her old skills to escape, stay alive, protect her family, and find those responsible - before all hell breaks loose.

Chris Merritt is a clinical psychologist and former diplomat. As a member of the British foreign service, he completed postings in Jerusalem and Iraq. He has also lived and worked in the US. Committed is his eighth novel.

More information about the author can be found on his website. You can also follow him on Twitter @DrCJMerritt on Instagram @cjmerritt81 and on Facebook.

Tony Mott on Deadly Autumn Harvest

Thank you for allowing me to introduce myself directly to your readers. My name is Tony Mott, Mott being my mother’s maiden name, and I live in Braşov in Romania. I have written nine novels and two non-fiction books so far. I always knew I wanted to write crime fiction, but at first I was a bit scared of it. My first two books only skimmed the surface – a couple of disappearances here and there – but I’ve now moved more firmly into mystery and thriller territory.

I was born and bred in Brașov and consider it the most beautiful town in Romania. It’s unusual nowadays, when people seem to lead such a nomadic existence, to live in the same town all your life. The longest I ever lived elsewhere was when I was working for a multinational and had to spend three months in Bucharest and another three months in Germany. In my first five novels I did not have the courage to use Brașov as the setting for the whole story, but I’ve always enjoyed telling other people about the beauties of my hometown.

When I started the Gigi Alexa series, I decided that Brașov would not only be the backdrop, but almost become a character in itself. The atmosphere in the old town is very picturesque and friendly, the surrounding landscape is superb, with Mt Tampa overlooking the town. Gigi Alexa, the main protagonist, is a forensic pathologist and collaborates with the police. She loves her hometown as much as I do but complains that it’s boring (as do many of its inhabitants). Nevertheless, she quite enjoys the provincial languor, the quiet that descends upon the centre after eight o’clock at night on a weekday and after midnight at the weekend.

Right next to Mt Tampa (where you can see the Hollywood-like sign of ‘Brașov’) is Dealul Melcilor, Snail Hill, where I used to go frequently as a child. I’d been reading Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa’s The Leopard and I thought it would be a good idea to bring back a lizard for my mother, as a stand-in for a salamander. She didn’t appreciate my present. There is a legend that a long time ago a dragon lived on Mt Tampa who swallowed up people, but that he was killed by a young man who tricked him into swallowing a calf hide filled with slaked lime. The more the dragon drank water, the more his insides burnt, and so he died. After his death, a multitude of lizards appeared in that spot – like the one I took for my mother. Legend has it that if you see a lizard there, you’ll have good luck for a whole year, but if you harm a lizard, misfortune will stalk you for three years.

I was at a film conference recently where they discussed filming in Brașov – how beautiful the town was and how well it would work as a film backdrop. We are in discussions about filming this series but I’m not getting my hopes up: the Romanian film industry is quite complicated and very few films and TV series ever get made. Of course, Brașov looks beautiful in every season, but it’s not just about the landscape but also about the story. I hope the story that you will discover walking alongside Gigi through the streets of the city will chill and thrill you.

All the things I read in my teens made me want to explore many different careers: lawyer, psychologist, medical doctor, police officer, detective. As you can see, they are all linked to my innate curiosity to understand how the human mind works, how we make decisions, why we often make the wrong choices, how we construct our real identity beyond what we choose to show to the world. That is how I started writing my non-fiction books, which are all about understanding ourselves, our drivers and values, how to have a sense of purpose and how we can help ourselves to be well balanced, at peace and at ease with the world and the people around us.

My other great passion was storytelling. I believe this is what unites us humans: the way we talk about the things we’ve experienced or the dreams that we have. Although I’m a very matter-of-fact person, I’m also fascinated by mysteries, and demand logical explanations which is what drew me to crime fiction.

Finally, let me tell you a secret: the best place to encounter Gigi if you ever come to Brașov is on the hiking paths on the hills surrounding the city or else on the narrow streets of the Old Town, including Rope Street, the narrowest street in Eastern Europe, only 1.35m in width. Since we mentioned legends earlier, it is said that the couples who kiss on this street will remain together forever.

Deadly Autumn Harvest by Tony Mott (Corlyus Books) Out Now 

A series of bizarre murders rocks the beautiful Carpathian town of Braşov. At first there’s nothing obvious that links what look like random killings.With the police still smarting from the scandal of having failed to act in a previous case of a serial kidnapper and killer, they bring in forensic pathologist Gigi Alexa to figure out if several murderers are at work – or if they have another serial killer on their hands. Ambitious, tough, and not one to suffer fools gladly, Gigi fights to be taken seriously in a society that maintains old-fashioned attitudes to the roles of women. She and the police team struggle to establish a pattern, especially when resources are diverted to investigating a possible terrorist plot. With the clock ticking, Gigi stumbles across what looks to be a far-fetched theory – just as she realises that she could be on the murderer’s to-kill list.