BEST OF CRIME with Sherryl Clark

Welcome to my latest BEST OF CRIME feature, looking at crime writers' top picks, from their favourite author and fictional detective to their best writing tip. 

Today I'm delighted to welcome 

SHERRYL CLARK

to share her BEST OF CRIME ...

... AUTHORS

I have a lot of favourites but currently it’s Tana French. I discovered her first book via  a review, and I love how each new novel takes a character from a previous one and they become the new main protagonist. They are all members of the Dublin Murder Squad, and the settings play a huge part, but mainly I enjoy the deep character development and great writing.

... FILMS/MOVIES

There is a Bruce Willis movie hardly anybody has heard of – 16 Blocks – that I think is one of his best. I also use it a lot in classes to show structure. It works perfectly for this, whether you are looking at 3-act or even hero’s journey, but Willis portrays dilemma and redemption in such an understated, powerful way that it’s one of the few movies I can watch again and again.

... TV DRAMAS

I can’t go past The Wire. It had me enthralled from start to finish, and there were so many multi-faceted characters doing good and bad at the same time! I had to pay attention in every episode and loved the way clues and hints were planted and then paid off later on. Such a great example of set up and pay off. But like my other ‘picks’ here, it was all about great characters as well as plot. I also loved Happy Valley and River.

... FICTIONAL KILLERS

So many fictional serial killers blend together for me that it’s hard to name any I think are best. The one I remember most is in Silence of the Lamb s– not so much Hannibal Lecter but the other guy, Buffalo Bill, and the skinning and the moths. The visuals have stayed with me!

... FICTIONAL DETECTIVES 

Logan McRae in Stuart MacBride’s books set in Scotland. As well as having to put up with the constant rain in Aberdeen, McRae has the world’s most awful boss, DCI Roberta Steel. McRae is both dogged and determined, and sometimes hangdog, but underneath it all he’s clever and instinctive – just how we want our detectives!

... MURDER WEAPONS

Poisons interest me, although so far I haven’t used any in my novels. There is a certain poison dart frog that can kill humans. One variety apparently has a poison which has highly curative properties for humans, but the difference between what cures and what kills is so small that it’s too dangerous to use in medicine. In murder, however…

    

... DEATH SCENES

For some reason I find the most horrific death scenes are to do with wood chippers or industrial mincing machines! Perhaps because what comes out is in no way human any more. The death scenes I remember most vividly are in the movie, Seven, I think because they all have a meaning that ties in with the killer and the motive. The head in the box at the end is both bizarre and horrible.

  

... BLOGS/WEBSITES

The site I tend to use the most for research is Victoria Police. They also have free issues of their magazine, “Police Life”, which tell you all sorts of interesting things about latest developments and changes, as well as interviews with serving officers. For writing, I read Writer Unboxed and Steven Pressfield, among others. For in-depth research I have a growing collection of books, so I can have it all in one handy place, and I’ve recently completed a course on crime scene investigation and forensic pathology.

... WRITING TIPS

One of the best tips I’ve ever had was actually about motivation generally – to team up with someone as accountability partners. You agree to your writing goals (words per day usually) and at the end of each day you email each other to “check in”. 28 days at a time seems to work best. Every time I’ve done this with a writing friend, I’ve written far more than I aimed for. It’s really productive. (I wrote about it here - https://medium.com/@sherrylclark/keep-your-writing-resolutions-commit-to-28-3a4749763335)

... WRITING SNACKS

My writing go-to is coffee. I don’t drink a lot of it but often it’s coffee that gets my brain into writing mode for some reason. Even more so when I am stuck – I take myself off to a café and have coffee and write. Works every time!

About SHERRYL CLARK

Sherryl Clark has had 40 children’s and YA books published in Australia, and several in the US and UK, plus collections of poetry and four verse novels. She has taught writing at Holmesglen TAFE and Victoria University. She recently completed a Master of Fine Arts program at Hamline University, Minnesota, and is now studying for a PhD in creative writing.

Find Sherryl Clark on her website and on Twitter - @sherrylwriter

About TRUST ME, I'M DEAD

Publisher's description

When Judi Westerholme finds out her estranged brother has been murdered, she assumes it's connected to his long term drug addiction. Returning home, she is shocked to discover he had been clean for years, had a wife – now missing –, a child and led a respectable life. But if he had turned his life around, why was he killed in a drug deal shooting? And where is his wife?

Desperate to know what really happened, Judi sets out to uncover the truth, even though it means confronting her own traumatic past. But she's not the only one looking for answers…

She turned her back on her brother in the past. Should she trust him now?

Trust Me, I'm Dead was published in ebook by Verve Books on 25 July 2019.

Look out for more BEST OF CRIME features coming soon.

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Working in the Music Business - a guest post by Louise Voss

Today, I am delighted to welcome Louise Voss to Off-the-Shelf Books to talk about how working in the music business has influenced her novels. The Last Stage was published by Orenda Books on 11 July 2019.

Working in the Music Business
(and how it influenced my novels)
By Louise Voss

I worked in the music business in the 90s, and it was such a profound experience that it has since featured in both my first and last novels.  The main characters in both To Be Someone and The Last Stage, Helena and Meredith respectively, were female popstars from successful 80s bands who subsequently had to come to terms with some of the less pleasant aspects of fame. 

I was originally planning to make the latter a sort of sequel to the former, a sort of ‘twenty years later’ story, since that’s almost the amount of time between publication dates, but as The Last Stage evolved, it became clear to me that the two women were very different, in both personality and appearance as well as their respective music tastes, so I made Meredith into a brand-new character instead. But the band threads remain in both novels, albeit very differing stories – The Last Stage is a crime novel, whereas To Be Someone was contemporary fiction. Unlike both Helena and Meredith, however, I was never a performer – perish the thought – but working with bands both big and small for years gave me a real insight into the joys and pitfalls of success, and how an act can go from being a bunch of kids messing around with guitars to selling out Wembley Stadium.

It was 1992, I was in my early 20s and a music nut, going to as many gigs as I could while working in a London school of architecture as an administrator during the day.  It had literally never occurred to me that I could make a career doing what I loved; not until someone told me about an employment agency specialising in jobs in music, so - in those pre-internet days - I rang them up. They told me to write in. The only problem was, the agency was (and still is) called Handle Recruitment, and I addressed my letter to Handel, after the composer. Talk about overthinking! 

Fortunately they didn’t write me off as illiterate. I got my first industry job, PA to the International MD of Virgin Records, joining right after Richard Branson sold out to EMI for a billion dollars. Whilst I was disappointed that I’d missed out on his legendary parties, I was also relieved to escape the potential fate of many female employees: being lifted up round the waist by him and chucked into a nearby swimming pool…

There were many other parties though, and the job immediately lived up to expectation. Record launches, leaving dos, album playbacks, aftershow bashes, awards ceremonies… The record business in the 90s was in my memory a strange mix of big business and quirky debauchery. Hospitality budgets were eye-wateringly huge. I remember the Christmas presents bought for some of the bigger artists – thousand-pound silk dressing-gowns from Harrods, expensive sound systems. Like they needed them! I used to think. 

People were mostly lovely, although with a few notable egos. One female exec had risen up through the ranks (helped in no small part by marrying her boss). Part of my job was organising the annual conference abroad for international executives, and once I dared query something she’d suggested. She shouted at me: ‘How DARE you question me! I’ve been running this company for twenty years!’ Not only did she not run the company, but she was 34 at the time…. 

A different boss I had at another record company famously got banned from British Airways for saying something so offensive to a stewardess that I still can’t repeat it without blushing. This was the company where the in-house drug dealer did regular Friday afternoon rounds of the office…so I won’t name that one! 

I loved working at Virgin. Not only did I make lots of friends I’m still in touch with, but I met my first husband there. Later in the 90s we relocated to New York to work for a Virgin subsidiary called Caroline Records. It was so interesting, going from working with huge bands at the top of their game, to brand-new starry-eyed acts whose first albums had just been signed. We promoted Ben Folds Five and the Chemical Brothers at the start of their careers, I also marketed Frank Sinatra’s grand-daughter’s band, and an act called The Del-Rubio Triplets, identical octogenarians in short skirts and cowboy hats…never a dull moment.  

I took it all for granted, the business flights and freebies, seeing bands every night, the backstage passes for all the Virgin and EMI acts who came to town. I went to Bowie’s 50th birthday concert at Madison Square Gardens, Peter Gabriel’s flat in New York, had my photo taken with Blur, dinner with the Smashing Pumpkins and a hug from Lenny Kravitz. 

After we moved back to the UK, I became a director of Sandie Shaw’s company, which was another brilliant job – Sandie was great fun to work with. 

It’s only really now I look back that I think how extraordinary it all was, what an amazing experience to have. I’m not surprised it’s cropped up more than once in my books, and more than likely will again in some guise or another.

            

About Louise Voss

Over her eighteen-year writing career, Louise Voss has had eleven novels published – five solo and six co-written with Mark Edwards: a combination of psychological thrillers, police procedurals and contemporary fiction – and sold over 350,000 books. Her most recent book, The Old You, was a number one bestseller in eBook. Louise has an MA (Dist) in Creative Writing and also works as a literary consultant and mentor for writers at www.thewritingcoach.co.uk. She lives in South-West London and is a proud member of two female crime-writing collectives, The Slice Girls and Killer Women.

Find Louise Voss on her website and on Twitter - @LouiseVoss1

About The LAST STAGE

The Last Stage

By Louise Voss

Published by Orenda Books (11 July 2019)

Publisher's description

A violent and horrific incident forces a young woman to go into hiding, at the peak of her career as lead singer of an indie pop band. Years later, strange things start to happen and it becomes clear that some know who she is…

At the peak of her career as lead singer of a legendary 1980s indie band, Meredith Vincent was driven off the international stage by a horrific incident. Now living a quiet existence in a cottage on the grounds of an old stately home, she has put her past behind her and come to terms with her new life.

When a body is found in the manicured gardens of her home, and a series of inexplicable and unsettling events begins to occur, it becomes clear that someone is watching, someone who knows who she is … Someone who wants vengeance.

And this is only the beginning…

Read a snippet of my review: 'The Last Stage contains a murder mystery to solve and secrets to reveal. There's even some history in there too. It's funny, smart and highly entertaining!'

Read my full review here.

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The Last Stage by Louise Voss

The Last Stage
By Louise Voss
Published by Orenda Books (E-book - 24 May 20189; Paperback - 11 July 2019)
I received an Advance Reader Copy from the publisher

Publisher's description

A violent and horrific incident forces a young woman to go into hiding, at the peak of her career as lead singer of an indie pop band. Years later, strange things start to happen and it becomes clear that some know who she is…

At the peak of her career as lead singer of a legendary 1980s indie band, Meredith Vincent was driven off the international stage by a horrific incident. Now living a quiet existence in a cottage on the grounds of an old stately home, she has put her past behind her and come to terms with her new life.

When a body is found in the manicured gardens of her home, and a series of inexplicable and unsettling events begins to occur, it becomes clear that someone is watching, someone who knows who she is … Someone who wants vengeance.

And this is only the beginning…

My verdict
The Last Stage is a twisty psychological thriller - a tale of revenge, identity and disturbing pasts.

Ex-singer Meredith Vincent has a 'past' she's been trying to hide, something that she's kept to herself for years while living a quiet life away from the crowds. But now her past is beginning to catch up with her - or rather, someone is trying to catch up with her and they're not looking for a sentimental reunion.

The psychological thriller market is saturated, so it's always a bonus to find a book that offers more than the rest of the crowd. I raced through this one, with its cosy crime feel, twisty thriller plot and quaint British setting.

The book is filled with an abundance of vibrant, memorable, larger-than-life characters, in the past and present, and I loved the descriptions of the old stately home, cottage garden and canal boats. I can imagine author Louise Voss having as much fun writing this book as I had reading it (despite the darkness behind it).

The Last Stage contains a murder mystery to solve and secrets to reveal. There's even some history in there too. It's funny, smart and highly entertaining!

BEST OF CRIME with Paul Burston

Welcome to my latest BEST OF CRIME feature, looking at crime writers' top picks, from their favourite author and fictional detective to their best writing tip. 

Today I'm delighted to welcome 

PAUL BURSTON

to share his BEST OF CRIME ...

... AUTHORS

Alex Marwood. The Wicked Girls was an astonishing debut, and she continues to go from strength to strength. I’ve read an advance copy of her new novel The Poison Garden and I honestly think it’s her best yet. 

... FILMS/MOVIES

The Talented Mr Ripley. Casting wholesome as apple pie Matt Damon as Highsmith’s sexually ambiguous, morally bankrupt antihero was a stroke of genius. It’s a beautiful film and Damon succeeds in making us root for Ripley even when he’s at his most diabolical. 

... TV DRAMAS

Happy Valley. Everything about it is perfect - the writing, the direction, the performances. Sarah Lancashire can do no wrong in my book. And Sally Lindsay is superb. 

... FICTIONAL KILLERS

Dexter Morgan. I love the Dexter novels and TV series. He’s such a morally complex character - a serial killer who derives sadistic pleasure from what he does but who also works as a crime scene investigator and only targets other killers. The relationship between Dexter and his detective sister Deb invites us to see another side to him - the little boy lost who grew up to be a cold, calculating killer.

... FICTIONAL DETECTIVES 

Marnie Rome, heroine of Sarah Hilary’s brilliant series. Another deeply complex character with a compelling back story. And I love the interplay between Marnie and her gay, black sidekick Noah Jakes. They’re a great pairing - both outsiders with emotional baggage, both trying to make the world a better place.

... MURDER WEAPONS

I think there’s more horror in the  mundane - a blow to the head with a golf club or a tin of beans, an electric appliance tossed into the bathtub. There’s an episode of Columbo where a murder is committed with an electric food mixer. 

... DEATH SCENE

The scene in Brian De Palma’s Carrie where Piper Laurie is killed with a variety of knives and a potato peeler and the gift of telekinesis. This scene doesn’t appear in Stephen King’s book. There Carrie kills her mother by making her heart stop. The film version is more spectacular and hugely satisfying. 

... BLOGS/WEBSITES

I spend a lot of time on social media. Facebook for more civilised discussions and Twitter for observing people at their worst. Some of the spats I witness on Twitter make me despair. And some inspire me to write! 

... WRITING TIPS

When you’re going through writing hell, keep going. It’s much easier to fix pages of bad writing than it is to turn a blank screen into perfect prose. Get the words down first. Fix them later. 

... WRITING SNACKS

I try to avoid snacks but I have been known to inhale family-size bags of dry roasted peanuts. 

About PAUL BURSTON

Paul Burston is the author of five novels and the editor of two short story collections. His most recent novel, The Black Path, was a WHSmith bestseller. His first novel, Shameless, was shortlisted for the State of Britain Award. His third novel, Lovers & Losers was shortlisted for a Stonewall Award. His fourth, The Gay Divorcee, was optioned for television. He was a founding editor of Attitudemagazine and has written for many publications including Guardian, Independent, Time Out, The Times and Sunday Times. In March 2016, he was featured in the British Council’s #FiveFilms4Freedom Global List 2016, celebrating “33 visionary people who are promoting freedom, equality and LGBT rights around the world”.He is the founder and host of London’s award-winning LGBT+ literary salon Polari and founder and chair of The Polari First Book Prize for new writing and the newly announced Polari Prize.

Find Paul Burston on his website and on Twitter - @PaulBurston

About THE CLOSER I GET

Publisher's description

Tom is a successful author, but he’s struggling to finish his novel. His main distraction is an online admirer, Evie, who simply won’t leave him alone.

Evie is smart, well read and unstable; she lives with her father and her social-media friendships are not only her escape, but everything she has.

When she’s hit with a restraining order, her world is turned upside down, and Tom is free to live his life again, to concentrate on writing.

But things aren’t really adding up. For Tom is distracted but also addicted to his online relationships, and when they take a darker, more menacing turn, he feels powerless to change things. Because maybe he needs Evie more than he’s letting on.

Read a snippet from my review:

"The Closer I Get by Paul Burston is a dark tale of obsession and a chilling reminder that while social media can be a brilliant and beneficial forum, it can also be highly dangerous ... This book is thought-provoking and frighteningly plausible."

Read my full review here.

The Closer I Get was published by Orenda Books on 11 July 2019.

Look out for more BEST OF CRIME features coming soon.

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BEST OF CRIME with Kristen Lepionka

Welcome to my latest BEST OF CRIME feature, looking at crime writers' top picks, from their favourite author and fictional detective to their best writing tip. 

Today I'm delighted to welcome 

KRISTEN LEPIONKA

to share her BEST OF CRIME ...

... AUTHORS

Richard Price. The brilliant characterization in his police novels is nothing short of infuriatingly good. Read Lush Life for the most vivid fictional portrayal of New York City possible.

... FILMS/MOVIES

A Few Good Men. I saw this military courtroom drama when I was a kid and liked it so much I recorded it onto a VHS tape (ah, remember those?) for frequent re-watching. Luckily, it’s a bit of a syndicated classic and pops up on TV regularly even still. 

... TV DRAMAS

The original Law & Order will always be my favorite, especially the first five or six seasons. The show took a formula—literally half the show is about cops and the other half about lawyers -and turned it into an art form. I also adored The Wire and Sons of Anarchy, for the quality of the writing. (It’s no surprise that Richard Price was a writer for The Wire!)

... FICTIONAL KILLERS

John Wick. The body count in this recent series of thriller films is probably the highest of anything I’ve ever seen on the screen. Wick is a retired hitman who’s forced back into the life after an act of violence against his dog. His is a story of vengeance, not cold-blooded murder, but I love the way he lives by his “code.” 

... FICTIONAL DETECTIVES 

Sara Gran’s Claire DeWitt—the self-appointed “world’s greatest detective” - is a ray of cocaine-fueled light. I love the unique approach in that series, which blends a present-day mystery with an old “girl detective” comic book series. Claire has an unforgettable cynicism, and she sees through everything and everyone except herself.

... MURDER WEAPONS

I like my murder straightforward, for the most part—you won’t find any unusual murder weapons in my books (yet). I’m very intrigued by poisons though, especially the world of plant medicine and how it can quickly turn deadly…

... DEATH SCENE

This isn’t from crime fiction, but I’m still not over the final sequence of Six Feet Under, in which the audience gets to see how each main character will die in the future. A beautiful and haunting way to end a show about the fact that everybody dies…

... BLOGS/WEBSITES

For no-nonsense writing advice, I like to read Chuck Wendig’s blog, Terrible Minds. I tend to do research in a lot of different places (until someone invents crime-google.com, this is the only way) but I find myself collecting interesting tidbits from Vice.com articles a lot.

... WRITING TIPS

I always say the best piece of writing advice is just to write. Annoying, but true. Beyond that, here are two practical tips that have helped me a lot:

1. Don’t worry about chapters when you’re drafting a novel. Just write the story, and figure out the chapters later. 

2. If you’re stumped about something, be it a detail, a plot point, whatever: just type “TK” and move on. It’s an old proofreading shorthand for “to come,” meaning, to be written later and probably on deadline. But it’s handy because the letters TK don’t appear in that order in any English words, so a find-and-replace will easily help you find them all before you turn the piece in to your editor. If you write linearly (like I do), you might find it scary to leave a detail just hanging around unfinished like that—the horror!—but it’s actually quite liberating once you try it a few times. 

... WRITING SNACKS

I can’t stand getting gunk on my keyboard so I rarely eat while writing, but I am never without a drink - usually coffee, sometimes tea or whiskey.

About KRISTEN LEPIONKA

Kristen Lepionka is the author of the Roxane Weary mystery series. Her debut, The Last Place You Look, won the Shamus Award for Best First P.I. novel and was also nominated for Anthony and Macavity Awards. She grew up mostly in a public library and could often be found in the adult mystery section well before she was out of middle school. She is a co-host of the feminist podcast Unlikeable Female Characters, and she lives in Columbus, Ohio, with her partner and two cats.

Find Kristen Lepionka on her website and on Twitter - @KMLwrites

About THE STORIES YOU TELL

Publisher's description

A late-night phone call is never good news, especially when you’re Roxane Weary. This one is from her brother, Andrew, whose evening was interrupted by an urgent visit from Addison, a hip young DJ and one-time fling, who turns up at his apartment scared and begging to use his phone. She leaves as quickly as she appeared, but now Andrew is worried – especially when Addison never makes it home and her friends and family demand to know where she is. As the police begin to suspect that something may have happened to her, and that Andrew is involved, Roxane tracks Addison’s digital footprint as she goes deeper and deeper into the events preceding her disappearance. Meanwhile, a cop is found dead on the opposite side of town, leading to a swirl of questions surrounding a dance club whose staff – which includes Addison – has suddenly gone AWOL. As Roxane struggles to distinguish the truth from the stories people tell about themselves online, it’s clear that the mystery of Addison’s whereabouts is just the beginning.

The Stories You Tell was published by Faber & Faber on 16 July 2019.

Look out for more BEST OF CRIME features coming soon.

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BEST OF CRIME with Paul French

Welcome to my latest BEST OF CRIME feature, looking at crime writers' top picks, from their favourite author and fictional detective to their best writing tip. 

Today I'm delighted to welcome 

PAUL FRENCH

to share his BEST OF CRIME ...

... AUTHORS

I’m currently racing through everything by George Pelecanos (after binge watching both series of the HBO show, The Deuce, which he co-writes) – the Nick Stefanos series and the DC Quartet are amazing. Most of his noir novels are set in Washington DC in the ‘70s and ‘80s. They’re fast, furious and leave you breathless turning pages so fast.

... FILMS/MOVIES

I watch a lot of Chinese cinema. Especially Chinese gangster and revenge movies. Last year Jia Zhangke’s Ash is the Purest White was about contemporary jianghu, or outlaw gangs; while (my favourite Chinese movie director) Jiang Wen released a 1930s Beijing-set revenge thriller called The Hidden Man. 

... TV DRAMAS

I started watching Justified, based on Elmore Leonard's short story Fire in the Hole and I will not stop till I get to the end of all six series and 78 episodes.

... FICTIONAL KILLERS

Dix Steele, from Dorothy B. Hughes’s 1947 noir In a Lonely Place. A troubled ex-WW2 airman who roams LA at night, falls for actress Laurel Gray and might just be a serial killer. Humphrey Bogart played Dix and Gloria Grahame was Laurel in the slightly toned down 1950 movie, which still looked great. 

... FICTIONAL DETECTIVES 

I’m going to go with Detective Sean Duffy of the Royal Ulster Constabulary in the seven Duffy novels from Adrian McKinty. 1980s Northern Ireland is a tough beat – Duffy deserves his nightly pint of vodka gimlet and a little Tom Waits at the end of the day. 

... MURDER WEAPONS

I’m a noir guy – it’s the city that kills you … every time. 

... DEATH SCENE

The opening of James Ellroy’s LA Confidential – LAPD detective turned mob enforcer Buzz Meeksis holed up in an abandoned auto court with $94K, 18b of high-grade heroin, a 10-gauge pump, a .38 special, a .45 automatic and a switchblade. It’s 4 pages of total mayhem (though the dope cloud in the opening scene of Don Winslow’s The Force might just tie for first place)

... BLOGS/WEBSITES

newspapers.com – it’s all there in copious amounts – murder, human depravity, sin - and less per annum than a Netflix subscription. 

... WRITING TIPS

Get it writ; then get it right.

... WRITING SNACKS

Summer – Pastis, a lot of water (you don’t want to slump over the keyboard too early), ice 

Winter – hot chocolate with a serious shot of chartreuse 

About PAUL FRENCH

Paul French lived in Shanghai for ten years, where he was a business advisor and analyst. He frequently comments on China for the English-speaking press around the world. French studied history, economics, and Mandarin at university and has an M.Phil in economics from the University of Glasgow. He lives in London.

Find Paul French on his website and on Twitter - @chinarhyming

About CITY OF DEVILS

Publisher's description

1930s Shanghai was a haven for outlaws from all over the world: a place where pasts could be forgotten, oppression outrun, fortunes made - and lost.

This is the story of 'Lucky' Jack Riley, the Slot King of Shanghai, and 'Dapper' Joe Farren, owner of the greatest clubs and casinos. It tells of their escape from American prisons and Vienna's ghetto, their rise to power, and the trail of destruction they left in their wake.

Shanghai was their playground for a flickering few years, a city where for a fleeting moment even the wildest dreams seemed possible.

City of Devils was published in paperback by riverrun on 13 June 2019.

Look out for more BEST OF CRIME features coming soon.

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