BEST OF CRIME WITH C.M. (Chris) Ewan

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 

C.M. (CHRIS) EWAN

to share his BEST OF CRIME ...

... AUTHORS

I think it’s hard to beat Michael Connelly. His books deliver brilliantly, year after year. How many writers create truly iconic series characters like Harry Bosch, Mickey Haller and Renee Ballard? How many deliver brilliant standalone thrillers, too? Not many, obviously, but Connelly does. The Poet and The Lincoln Lawyer are two of my all-time favourite reads.

... FILMS/MOVIES

I’m going to go with Panic Room starring Jodie Foster. It’s tight, lean and brilliantly structured. And hey, if you like Panic Room, I hope you’ll enjoy A Window Breaks.

... TV DRAMAS

It’s super-glossy and totally implausible, but I got totally swept up in season one of How to Get Away With Murder. I loved the flash forwards and flashback sequences, the clever dovetailing of the plot, the sneaky reveals. Total escapist fun. 

... FICTIONAL KILLERS

How do you look past Tom Ripley? He’s such a devilishly appealing character – showing us where the hint of darkness in us all might lead. Plus, he travels to some seriously appealing locations in Patricia Highsmith’s novels. The sequences set in Venice in The Talented Mr Ripley get me every time.

... FICTIONAL DETECTIVES 

I am a sucker for Sara Gran’s Claire DeWitt – the self-styled “Best detective in the world.” She’s a true one of a kind. Unconventional, unpredictable and wholly fresh. Everything she does is a surprise. 

... MURDER WEAPONS

It’s impossible to give details without giving away a major spoiler, but I’ve long admired the murder weapon Lee Child came up with in The Visitor. How is a killer murdering ex army high-fliers? The answer is wildly ingenious, deeply satisfying and like no murder weapon I’ve read of before. 

    

... DEATH SCENES

When I worked as a film lawyer with the Isle of Man Film Fund, we helped finance a little-known comic crime movie called Big Nothing starring David Schwimmer, Simon Pegg and Alice Eve. It’s about a blackmail gone wrong and during the course of the movie, the corpse of a nasty vicar is dragged by one bad guy into a septic tank to be hidden. When the other bad guy comes back, he wants to know where the vicar has gone. Turns out he wasn’t actually dead …  

  

... BLOGS/WEBSITES

Most days I like to Google random webcams around the world. No real reason, other than I’m curious and I like to see what’s going on at a given time in, say, Times Square, New York, or at the top of a random Swiss mountain. You can probably chalk this up to procrastinating.

... WRITING TIPS

Stephen King’s ON WRITING contains the best writing tip I’ve ever come across. It’s a simple formula. The second draft of your work in progress should = the first draft, minus 10%. It works!

... WRITING SNACKS

On a good day, some kind of trail mix. On a realistic day, too many chocolate digestives.

About C.M. EWAN

C. M. Ewan is a pseudonym for Chris Ewan, the critically acclaimed and bestselling author of many mystery and thriller novels. Chris’s first standalone thriller, Safe House, was a number one bestseller in the UK and was shortlisted for the Theakston’s Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award. 

Born in Taunton in 1976, Chris graduated from the University of Nottingham and llater trained as a lawyer. After eleven years living on the Isle of Man, herecently returned home to Somerset with his wife and their two children, where he writes full-time.

Find Chris Ewan on his website and on Twitter - @chrisewan

About A WINDOW BREAKS

Publisher's description

You are asleep. A noise wakes you. 

You stir, unsure why, and turn to your wife.

Then you hear it. 

Glass. Crunching underfoot. 

Your worst fears are about to be realized. 

Someone is inside your home. 

Your choices are limited. 

You can run. Or stay and fight. 

What would you do?

A Window Breaks was published by Pan Macmillan on e-book on 31 October 2019. Paperback will be published on 20 February 2020.

Here's a snippet from my review: "I read this book so quickly - I barely took a breath and could feel my heart pounding throughout."

To read my full review click here.

Look out for more BEST OF CRIME features coming soon.

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