BEST OF CRIME with Emily Koch

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 

EMILY KOCH

to share her BEST OF CRIME ...

... AUTHORS

I don’t often read lots of books by the same author, I have to admit – so it’s difficult to pick a favourite. But when I read the literary thriller Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng I immediately went and bought her debut, Everything I Never Told You. I love both, and have re-read them since. They are such fantastic character studies, such subtle mysteries, and such brilliant explorations of family life.

... FILMS/MOVIES

I watched Thelma and Louise for the first time the other week and I loved it so much. What a fantastic pair! I loved the way this story develops, and how it’s not your usual crime story – the way you are following the criminals rather than the detectives and see them before their crime, too. And the ending. Oh my God, that ending! I thought it was perfect.

... TV DRAMAS

Breaking Bad spin-off Better Call Saul on Netflix is a firm favourite in our house. The only thing that could knock it off the top of our list would be a series about another character, the delightfully paradoxical softie hitman Mike. Come on, Netflix! More Mike Ehrmantraut!

... FICTIONAL KILLERS

Tom Ripley. I only read The Talented Mr Ripley by Patricia Highsmith recently but boy, what a novel. What an amazing, amoral, anti-hero. How the hell does she make you like a murderer? I love books that make me think like this – as a writer I love to try and solve the puzzle of exactly how another author has achieved something bold like this. It shouldn’t work, but it does.

... FICTIONAL DETECTIVES 

I love Captain Sam Wyndham in Abir Mukherjee’s crime series. He’s an ex-Scotland Yard detective and veteran of the First World War who has been scarred by his experiences and finds himself in Calcutta looking for a fresh start. He and his quick-witted Indian Sergeant, Surrender-not Banerjee, make a great team and I love the historical (1920s) setting of this series.

... MURDER WEAPONS

A compass point through the jugular and a set square through the heart are two of the murder weapons in Jonathan Pinnock’s very entertaining mathematical mystery The Truth about Archie and Pye. It’s a crime novel that will make you laugh out loud – which is refreshing in this genre! There are two more in the series (the third, The Riddle of the Fractal Monks, comes out in April).

... DEATH SCENES

There’s a heart-in-the-mouth, devastating scene in Jane Shemilt’s latest offering, Little Friends, where a lifeless child is discovered. I have a child of a similar age so it really got to me. She builds up to this scene so expertly. It’s a fantastic novel with a great premise – while the adults are misbehaving, what are the children getting up to?

  

... BLOGS/WEBSITES

I love using 16personalities.com to put my characters through rigorous personality tests and understand more about them beyond what I already know. The helpingwritersbecomeauthors.com blog (and podcast) is really helpful when I’m starting to write a book, I find it reading a few posts there helps get my brain into the right gear. And… Facebook! For research, I often ask friends for contacts or advice on there.

... WRITING TIPS

You know the phrase: dance like nobody’s watching? Well, I think sometimes it’s worth writing like nobody is reading. What I mean by that is it sometimes helps to just write for yourself. What book do youwant to write? What fun things would you do with your writing if you weren’t worried about how it would be received or judged? Give yourself the freedom to experiment and see what happens – you can always rein yourself in later, but maybe you’ll come up with a brilliant idea when you’re playing around! And while you’re at it, write a few pages every now and then longhand with a colourful felt tip pen. It makes the whole task feel less serious, I find, and less like it matters. You need to feel that sometimes, as a writer – it’s liberating.

... WRITING SNACKS

A fresh-out-of-the-oven cinnamon bun when I’m working at my local café. Oh yes.

About EMILY KOCH

Emily Koch is an award-winning journalist and writer living in Bristol with her family. Her second novel Keep Him Close came out in March 2020. Her debut, If I Die Before I Wake, was shortlisted for the CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger award, longlisted for Authors' Club Best First Novel Award, and selected as a Waterstones Thriller of the Month.

Find Emily Koch on Twitter - @EmilyKoch

About KEEP HIM CLOSE

Publisher's description

Her head was bowed, and the hands braced on the chair arms were not like hands at all, but the dry dark claws of a bird ... The MacNamara sisters hadn’t been seen for months before anyone noticed. It was Father Timoney who finally broke down the door, who saw what had become of them. Berenice was sitting in her armchair, surrounded by religious tracts. Rosaleen had crawled under her own bed, her face frozen in terror. Both had starved themselves to death. Francesca MacNamara returns to Dublin after decades in the US, to find her family in ruins. Meanwhile, Detectives Vincent Swan and Gina Considine are convinced that there is more to the deaths than suicide. Because what little evidence there is, shows that someone was watching the sisters die ...

Keep Him Close was published by Harvill Secker on 19 March 2020.

FRIDAY NIGHT BOOK PARTY WITH EMILY KOCH

Friday Night Book Party with Emily Koch – starts on 27th March. 

Every Friday evening while we are all social distancing, Emily will be hosting a fun evening of book chat, games, giveaways, guest authors and even a book disco. 

Visit facebook.com/emilykochwriter for more details.

Look out for more BEST OF CRIME features coming soon.

Click here to read more BEST OF CRIME features.

Deep Dark Night by Steph Broadribb

Deep Dark Night 
By Steph Broadribb
Published by Orenda Books (5 March 2020)
I received an advance reader copy from the publisher 

Publisher's description

A city in darkness. A building in lockdown. A score that can only be settled in blood…

Working off the books for FBI Special Agent Alex Monroe, Florida bounty-hunter Lori Anderson and her partner, JT, head to Chicago. Their mission: to entrap the head of the Cabressa crime family. The bait: a priceless chess set that Cabressa is determined to add to his collection.

An exclusive high-stakes poker game is arranged in the penthouse suite of one of the city’s tallest buildings, with Lori holding the cards in an agreed arrangement to hand over the pieces, one by one. But, as night falls and the game plays out, stakes rise and tempers flare.

When a power failure plunges the city into darkness, the building goes into lockdown. But this isn’t an ordinary blackout, and the men around the poker table aren’t all who they say they are. Hostages are taken, old scores resurface and the players start to die.

And that’s just the beginning…

My verdict
It feels very apt to publish this book review on Off-the-Shelf Books on Mother's Day in the UK, because Lori Anderson, the protagonist of Deep Dark Night, is very much a devoted mother. She also happens to be a kickass bounty hunter who get herself into various precarious scenarios. And the scenario in Deep Dark Night certainly seems to be her most dangerous one yet.

Lori and her partner JT have taken on a high-stakes case that involves not just gambling for money but gambling for their lives. And while everything falls apart around her, all Lori can really think about is getting back safely to her daughter.

Deep Dark Night is 'Die Hard on speed', with constant action through skyscraper blackouts, riots in the city and a locked-room mystery. The book sizzles with electricity, taking the reader on a rollercoaster of emotions, yet also has an intense claustrophobic feel to it. It's a brilliant fun one-sitting read that will push your adrenaline levels sky high.

Another reason I love this book is that due to its structure JT finally has 'a voice' as we follow his endeavours to keep himself safe, after he and Lori are forced to go their separate ways. Thanks to plenty of cliffhangers followed by a switch in viewpoint, this book constantly left me feeling on edge.

This series keeps on getting better and better, with Steph Broadribb expertly creating three-dimensional characters and plots that continue to shock, thrill and entertain. Looking forward to the next one.


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BEST OF CRIME with Trevor Wood

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 

TREVOR WOOD

to share his BEST OF CRIME ...

... AUTHORS

Obviously there are loads I love but the well-known ones don’t need any help from me so I’d like to give a shout out to the next big thing, Dominic Nolan. His debut novel Past Life blew me away. Featuring battered cop Abigail Boone, who suffers from total retrograde amnesia after a savage beating and a fall, it’s dark and desperate but beautifully written and deeply moving. The sequel After Dark is even better. If there’s any justice it’ll be a huge hit. 

... FILMS/MOVIES

I love Dennis Lehane’s books and the movie made from one of them, Gone Baby Gone is nigh on perfect. It provides all the thrills and twists the genre demands but at the heart of it is a moral dilemma that is utterly heartbreaking. The final scene, I’d suggest, is one of the best in crime movie history. It would be much better known if it hadn’t been shelved for a couple of years due to the kidnapped young girl bearing a startling resemblance to Madeleine McCann.

... TV DRAMAS

Line of Duty has been consistently brilliant from the start so that has to get a mention but surely everyone’s seen it now so I’ll throw Spotless out there. It’s a little-known Netflix series about a man who runs a crime scene clean-up crew. Funny, dark with a very scary bad guy. I love it.

... FICTIONAL KILLERS

Maurice Swift in John Boyne’s A Ladder to the Sky. He’s a bit like Ripley but with the extra twist that he’s a writer who will do anything to get to the top. Great book as well.

... FICTIONAL DETECTIVES 

Back to Dennis Lehane for this one. Patrick Kenzie and Angie Gennaro are a fantastic pairing of old-school private detectives and their on-off romance is beautifully judged. I read most of the series back to back and it flew by. Start with A Drink Before The War and go from there.

... MURDER WEAPONS

Carl Hiaasen is the master of bizarre murder weapons. On the grounds of taste I’m going to skip swiftly past the sexually-deviant dolphin in Native Tongue and opt for the stuffed blue marlin head that is used to impale an intruder in Skin Tight.

... DEATH SCENES

I love the scene in Final Destination 5 where a man is on an acupuncture table with umpteen needles sticking out of his face, torso and legs when an aromatic candle breaks apart and sets fire to some paper. In struggling to escape he flips over the table and falls face first on the floor, driving the needles in and knocking over a bottle of flammable liquid. Somehow he struggles up but the liquid catches fire and the whole room is now ablaze. Again he avoids death by throwing himself to the floor in the one bit of the room not on fire. Then a shelf above him collapses and a large statue of Buddha falls off, crushing his skull. 

  

... BLOGS/WEBSITES

I was going to say Agent Hunter, which I found invaluable when looking for an agent. It was a comprehensive list of Agencies and Agents with a search facility that enabled you to find the right agent, i.e. one who liked the kind of thing you were writing. It also included links to interviews they’d given which was very useful in deciding who to submit to and what to put in your submission letter. You could also pay a small amount for a trial period which is all you really needed. However, in writing this, I looked it up and found it’s been taken over and is now called Agent Match and you have to pay £30 for a month. It’s still worth it, I think, so my only reservation is that I haven’t tried the new site so can’t recommend it from personal experience. I’m sure it’s still great but it’s probably best to ask around before trying. You can find it here https://jerichowriters.com/agentmatch/

... WRITING TIPS

The most on-point advice I ever heard was that you should ‘put your character up a tree and throw rocks at him.’ It’s been attributed to Nabokov but that seems highly unlikely to me. 

My top tip would be to find people whose judgement you trust to read your work. As many as you like. I’m in a local group of five writers who meet every three weeks. We all submit 2000 words and offer constructive criticism of each other’s work and it improves my writing immeasurably.  Obviously the key word is ‘constructive.’ If you can’t find a local group, form your own. The crime-writing MA I attended at UEA had a similar peer feedback model and that was where The Man on the Street came from so I can’t recommend it highly enough.

... WRITING SNACKS

Does wine count? If not, then fruit. Working from home, with very easy access to the fridge can be problematic so I try very hard not to snack on anything less healthy as I put on weight way too easily. Also coffee. Lots of coffee.

About TREVOR WOOD

Trevor Wood has lived in Newcastle for twenty-five years and considers himself an adopted Geordie. He's a successful playwright who has also worked as a journalist and spin-doctor for the City Council. Prior to that he served in the Royal Navy for sixteen years. Trevor holds an MA in Creative Writing (Crime Fiction) from UEA. The Man on the Street is his first novel.

Find Trevor Wood on Twitter - @TrevorWoodWrite

About THE MAN ON THE STREET

Publisher's description

Her head was bowed, and the hands braced on the chair arms were not like hands at all, but the dry dark claws of a bird ... The MacNamara sisters hadn’t been seen for months before anyone noticed. It was Father Timoney who finally broke down the door, who saw what had become of them. Berenice was sitting in her armchair, surrounded by religious tracts. Rosaleen had crawled under her own bed, her face frozen in terror. Both had starved themselves to death. Francesca MacNamara returns to Dublin after decades in the US, to find her family in ruins. Meanwhile, Detectives Vincent Swan and Gina Considine are convinced that there is more to the deaths than suicide. Because what little evidence there is, shows that someone was watching the sisters die ...

The Man on the Street was published by Quercus on 19 March 2020.

Look out for more BEST OF CRIME features coming soon.

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BEST OF CRIME with Nicola White

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 

NICOLA WHITE

to share her BEST OF CRIME ...

... AUTHORS

This changes all the time, but today, I’m going with Raymond Chandler for verve, style and wit. He creates a world that is all his own, with the sure rhythm of a jazz soloist.

... FILMS/MOVIES

Maybe it’s because I’m writing about the 80s, but I think the courtroom thriller Jagged Edge – with Glenn Close and Jeff Bridges, is very satisfying. There’s no better sound than hearing a whole cinema gasp as the clue is revealed that changes everything. With a terrifying score by John Barry and some excellent tailoring.

... TV DRAMAS

The Killing was the first Nordic noir I ever watched, and I think has never been bettered. A series leaves room for subtleties in the way a film can’t. I loved the workaday slog of a long case, with all its false triumphs and reversals. There was also an interesting focus of the family of the murdered girl and the damage they endured. Perhaps there’s something about having to read subtitles that means your attention is particularly undivided.

... FICTIONAL KILLERS

I’ll always have a soft spot for Patricia Highsmith’s Tom Ripley. I read The Talented Mr Ripley as a teenager and it threw me into moral confusion when I realised I was hoping he would get away with it all. He sees himself as a victim of circumstance. I think a lot of people who do bad things see themselves as victims.

... FICTIONAL DETECTIVES 

I think the detective I have loved most is Sara Peretsky’s VI Warshawski. She was the first detective I had read who was out there on her own, smart, tough and self-reliant, fighting abuses of power, but with a lovingly described ordinary life. She did the laundry, loved her food and walked the neighbour’s dogs – everywoman and superhero. 

... MURDER WEAPONS

A hatpin has definite appeal, something small, stylish and deadly.

... DEATH SCENES

There is an amazing murder scene in Denise Mina’s Blood, Salt, Water where a hired thug has to kill a woman. The woman is annoying, the thug is full of self-loathing. It’s such an emotionally powerful scene, drenched in pity for the waste of it all.

  

... BLOGS/WEBSITES

I’ve become reliant on watching archive film clips on YouTube. While newspaper and magazine archives are hugely useful for the facts of things, there is nothing like seeing the era you are writing about – the clothes people wore, what the shops are selling – to put you right back there. It amazes me that there are dozens of home videos that people took of themselves, just driving around Dublin in the 1980s. It’s a magic portal!

... WRITING TIPS

Work makes work. That is, when you are in the midst of writing, the best ideas come. It’s no use waiting for inspiration to strike (though walks and baths can be useful strategems), you have to wrestle your way into your prose and work from there. Also, I have the Freedom app on my computer for when the willpower is weak.

... WRITING SNACKS

No snacks at the desk! Snacks are for bribery only – when I finish this page I can have lunch kind of thing. Instead, I indulge in a parade of hot beverages – coffee black or white, strong tea, herbal tea, chai, miso soup, Lemsip…

About NICOLA WHITE

Nicola White won the Scottish Book Trust New Writer Award in 2008 and in 2012 was Leverhulme Writer in Residence at Edinburgh University. Her novel The Rosary Garden won the Dundee International Book Prize, was shortlisted for the McIlvanney Prize, and selected as one of the four best debuts by Val McDermid at Harrogate. She grew up in Dublin and New York, and now lives in the Scottish Highlands.

Find Nicola White on Twitter - @whiteheadednic

About A FAMISHED HEART

Publisher's description

Her head was bowed, and the hands braced on the chair arms were not like hands at all, but the dry dark claws of a bird ... The MacNamara sisters hadn’t been seen for months before anyone noticed. It was Father Timoney who finally broke down the door, who saw what had become of them. Berenice was sitting in her armchair, surrounded by religious tracts. Rosaleen had crawled under her own bed, her face frozen in terror. Both had starved themselves to death. Francesca MacNamara returns to Dublin after decades in the US, to find her family in ruins. Meanwhile, Detectives Vincent Swan and Gina Considine are convinced that there is more to the deaths than suicide. Because what little evidence there is, shows that someone was watching the sisters die ...

A Famished Heart was published by Viper Books on 27 February 2020.

Look out for more BEST OF CRIME features coming soon.

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BEST OF CRIME with Sam Hurcom

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 

SAM HURCOM

to share his BEST OF CRIME ...

... AUTHORS

Stephen King. I may be starting off on the wrong foot by naming an author who, strictly speaking, isn’t a crime writer, but growing up I read through much of King’s back catalogue. His short story collections and supernatural tales of small-town America have always been an inspiration for my own writing. 

... FILMS/MOVIES

Film noir as a genre is a favorite for me, and Bogart playing Philip Marlowe in The Big Sleep is pretty hard to beat. The more contemporary L.A. Confidential would be a close second. 

... TV DRAMAS

The Wire is without a doubt my favourite TV crime drama, portraying the bleak realities of inner-city drug violence with a superb cast of humorous, diverse and flawed characters. With two British actors in Dominic West and Idris Elba, arguably giving their best on screen performances, the show doesn’t put a foot wrong throughout all five series.

... FICTIONAL KILLERS

This is a hard one, as I don’t tend to focus on killers in crime fiction. Patrick Bateman from American Psycho springs to mind; the psychotic, Manhattan businessman is wholly unhinged, consumed by materialism and the constant competitive world of Wall Street. He idolises Donald Trump as well, which says a lot. 

... FICTIONAL DETECTIVES 

I’m returning to The Wire with Detective Kima Greggs, played brilliantly by Sonja Sohn. A brilliant, complex character, who literally had me sat on the edge of my seat towards the end of series one (without giving away any spoilers, I’ll just say I was very worried for Kima).  

... MURDER WEAPONS

The captive bolt stunner used by Anton Chigurh in No Country for Old Menis rather unique, and has the added bonus of being a neat tool to break door locks. 

... DEATH SCENES

Purely for the philosophical headache it caused as I spent an evening rereading and considering it, I’ll have to go with the assassination of General Kaplan in Philip K. Dick’s The Minority Report.Though the scene itself is far from the most shocking anyone will ever read, the questions it raises regarding predeterminism and personal autonomy are brilliant, reflecting the author’s utter genius. 

  

... BLOGS/WEBSITES

There’s not one specific website I rely on too heavily, but as I write historical crime fiction, I try to look for blogs and sites run by former police officers, dedicated to the history of the police force. As a result, I’ve been lucky enough to get in touch with some very kind and knowledgeable people.

... WRITING TIPS

For aspiring writers, particularly writing a first novel, find a manageable, achievable daily word count and stick to it until you type THE END. Some days the words come easy and some days they are hard to find, but an imperfect first draft is far better than a perfect blank page. 

... WRITING SNACKS

I have rather unhealthy snack habits whilst writing, and usually eat far too many sugary treats. I currently have a mild addiction to Cream Eggs.  

About SAM HURCOM

Sam Hurcom was born in Dinas Powys, South Wales in 1991. He studied Philosophy at Cardiff University, attaining both an undergraduate and master’s degree. He has since had several short stories published, and has written and illustrated a number of children’s books. Sam currently lives in the village he was raised in, close to the woodlands that have always inspired his writing. A Shadow on the Lens is Sam’s debut novel, with a sequel due to be released in September 2020.

Find Sam Hurcom on Twitter - @SamHurcom

About A SHADOW ON THE LENS

Publisher's description

1904. Thomas Bexley, one of the first forensic photographers, is called to the sleepy and remote Welsh village of Dinas Powys, several miles down the coast from the thriving port of Cardiff. A young girl by the name of Betsan Tilny has been found murdered in the woodland – her body bound and horribly burnt. But the crime scene appears to have been staged, and worse still: the locals are reluctant to help.

As the strange case unfolds, Thomas senses a growing presence watching him, and try as he may, the villagers seem intent on keeping their secret. Then one night, in the grip of a fever, he develops the photographic plates from the crime scene in a makeshift darkroom in the cellar of his lodgings. There, he finds a face dimly visible in the photographs; a face hovering around the body of the dead girl – the face of Betsan Tilny.

A Shadow on the Lens was published by Orion on 5 September 2019.

Look out for more BEST OF CRIME features coming soon.

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