Today I'm delighted to welcome
MARGARET KIRK
to share her BEST OF CRIME ...
... AUTHORS
Conan Doyle. Because Holmes is just such a perfect creation. His plots are clever, convoluted – and sometimes, frankly just a little OTT. But the genius pairing of Holmes and Watson laid the groundwork for countless ‘tec and sidekick duos, and got me into crime fiction from a very early age.
... FILMS/MOVIES
Silence of the Lambs. There’s so much that’s excellent in this film – the structure, the nuances, the atmospheric lighting, the acting of Foster and Hopkins. Truly a classic.
... TV DRAMAS
Happy Valley. It’s no accident that so many ex-‘Job’ people have praised this series’ authentic feel – wonderful writing by Sally Wainright, faultless acting by Sarah Lancashire and the ensemble cast. Gritty, compulsive viewing.
... FICTIONAL KILLERS
Arya Stark. What, I can’t adore Holmes and still be ultra-contemporary? The traumas she’s endured have made her an implacable adversary, relentless in her need to avenge so many deaths. As the series’ end approaches, I suspect her days are numbered. But I’m still hoping she gets to cross one final name off her list …
... FICTIONAL DETECTIVES
I’ve already had Holmes, so let’s go for Val McDermid’s Karen Pirie – down-to-earth, determinedly unglamorous. Insubordinate, determined, compassionate. The (still) largely male-dominated world of male ‘tecs definitely needs more Karens!
... MURDER WEAPONS
Toaster, from Helen Fields’ Perfect Crime. And gentlemen, you really don’t want to know which part of the male victim’s anatomy gets inserted into it …
... DEATH SCENE
Almost any of Stuart MacBride’s ingenious methods of dispatch would do here! But I’m going with the mass murder in the opening scene of Stephen King’s Mr Mercedes. Why? Because King takes time to introduce us to the victims, to make us start to like them … and then kills them off in the most brutal, most senseless yet sadly believable way. Murder victims shouldn’t be anonymous, they should leave an imprint on our minds. And that’s what happens here.
... WRITING TIPS
I love Twitter– where else can you get into conversation with so many people you know you’ll probably never come into contact with in real life? (Mind you, in some cases you might be quite grateful for that…) And for locations you really can’t visit but need to describe in detail, Google Earth is your friend.
... WRITING TIPS
Hmm. Try not to stare at a blank page or screen for ages – if you’re really not getting anywhere, get up and get out for a walk if you can. It’s amazing what a change of location does for the mental processes, and it does help to halt the, er, spread of writers’ posterior. Also, having a shower often works too – there’s something about the feeling of being cocooned in warm water and quiet that seems to give my thoughts the jump-start they need.
... WRITING SNACKS
Banned, after I saw some fairly horrendous snaps of me at last year’s Bloody Scotland! I will allow myself some fruit and quite a lot of tea and coffee, but that’s basically it.
About MARGARET KIRK
Margaret Kirk writes ‘Highland Noir’ Scottish crime fiction, set in and around her home town of Inverness. Her debut novel, Shadow Man, won the Good Housekeeping First Novel Competition in 2016. Described as ‘a harrowing and horrific game of consequences’ by Val McDermid, it was published in 2017 by Orion. Book 2 in the DI Lukas Mahler series, What Lies Buried, will appear in June 2019. Margaret is also the writer of several award-winning short stories, including The Seal Singers, which has been published in translation in Germany, and Still Life, which was broadcast on Radio 4 as part of the ‘Scottish Shorts’ series.
Find Margaret Kirk on her website and on Twitter - @HighlandWriter
About WHAT LIES BURIED
Publisher's description
A missing child. A seventy-year-old murder. And a killer who's still on the loose.
Ten year-old Erin is missing; taken in broad daylight during a friend's birthday party. With no witnesses and no leads, DI Lukas Mahler races against time to find her. But is it already too late for Erin - and will her abductor stop at one stolen child?
And the discovery of human remains on a construction site near Inverness confronts Mahler's team with a cold case from the 1940s. Was Aeneas Grant's murder linked to a nearby POW camp, or is there an even darker story to be uncovered?
With his team stretched to the limit, Mahler's hunt for Erin's abductor takes him from Inverness to the Lake District. And decades-old family secrets link both casesin a shocking final twist.
What Lies Buried was published by Orion on 3 June 2019.
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