BEST OF CRIME with Barbara Copperthwaite

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 

BARBARA COPPERTHWAITE

to share her BEST OF CRIME ... 

... AUTHORS
Elizabeth Haynes. Each of her novels is so different from one another, which is a real skill. So many people rave about Into The Darkest Corner – and I’m one of them.

... FILMS/MOVIES
Twelve Angry Men. The idea is brilliantly simple, with jurors discussing a case that seems open and shut – until one juror starts asking questions that may turn everything on its head. The film’s claustrophobic setting in one room helps to build the tension, as twelve ordinary people, who are strangers to one another, are forced to reveal their prejudices as they discuss the case.

... TV DRAMAS
I am currently obsessed with Line of Duty.

... FICTIONAL KILLERS
Tom Ripley. Patricia Highsmith managed to create a killer who somehow became a sort of anti-hero that readers loved so much that she wrote five books featuring him. She was an author way ahead of her time. 

... FICTIONAL DETECTIVES
I didn’t used to read detective novels until I came across Detective Sergeant Logan McRae, Stuart MacBride’s creation. The crimes he investigates are gritty and gory, but the banter between him and his colleagues is so deliciously dark and realistic that it always makes me laugh. Thanks to him, I started to read other detective series and crime authors, then psychological thrillers…and look at me now, writing my own! So DS Logan McRae will always have a special place in my heart.

... MURDER WEAPONS
I don’t want to say specifically, and give the game away, but for sheer ingenuity I have to make special mention of Ragdoll, by Daniel Cole. Every murder committed in that book is bizarre, unique, and ingenious.

    

... DEATH SCENES
It’s not crime, but my favourite death scene has to be Emma’s in Madame Bovary. She is a character who in many ways is modern – she wants to be adored, ideally she’d like to be a heroine in a novel. I’ve always thought that if she were around today, she’d apply to be on all manner of reality television shows. So when she decides to commit suicide by swallowing arsenic, she thinks it will a beautiful thing where she drifts to sleep looking gorgeous, just like in the romance books she has read. But her death is all too horrifyingly real, complete with agony, blood, and vomiting. The dark tragi-comedy of it is superbly handled.

... BLOGS/WEBSITES
I don’t have one blog or website I visit more than any other. Although I’m quite partial to FBI reports, which I frequently Google to gain insight into the criminal mind.

... WRITING TIPS
Sometimes it’s easy to miss mistakes because our eyes skim over them; we’re too close to our work. Reading aloud highlights any problems with the rhythm of a sentence, or clunky dialogue.

... WRITING SNACKS
My writing is almost exclusively powered by chocolate and cake.

About BARBARA COPPERTHWAITE

Barbara is the bestselling author of psychological thrillers INVISIBLE, FLOWERS FOR THE DEAD, and THE DARKEST LIES. Much of her success is thanks to her twenty-odd years' experience as a national newspaper and magazine journalist. She's interviewed the real victims of crime - and also those who have carried those crimes out. Thanks to people sharing their stories with her, she knows the emotional impact of violence and wrong-doing. That's why her novels are dark, realistic and tackle not just the crime but its repercussions. When not writing feverishly, she is often found hiding behind a camera, taking wildlife photographs.     

Find Barbara Copperthwaite on her website, FB page and on Twitter - @BCopperthwait

About THE DARKEST LIES

Publisher's description

A mother desperate for the truth. A daughter hiding a terrible secret.

Melanie Oak appeared to have the perfect life. Married to her childhood sweetheart, Jacob, the couple live with their beautiful, loving, teenage daughter, Beth, in a pretty village.

Nothing can shake her happiness - until the day that Beth goes missing and is discovered beaten almost to the point of death, her broken body lying in a freezing creek on the marshes near their home.

Consumed with grief, Melanie is determined to find her daughter’s attacker. Someone in the village must have seen something. Why won’t they talk? 

As Melanie tries to piece together what happened to Beth, she discovers that her innocent teenager has been harbouring some dark secrets of her own. The truth may lie closer to home and put Melanie’s life in terrible danger…

The Darkest Lies was published by Bookouture on 12 May 2017.

Look out for more BEST OF CRIME features coming soon.

Click here to read more BEST OF CRIME features.

Flowers for the Dead by Barbara Copperthwaite

Flowers for the Dead
By Barbara Copperthwaite
Published by CreateSpace (2 September 2015)
ISBN: 978-1514263976

Publisher's description
ADAM WILL DO ANYTHING TO MAKE YOU HAPPY. EVEN IF IT KILLS YOU.

Adam Bourne is a serial killer who thinks he is a saviour. When he murders his victims and cuts off the women’s lips, he believes he has done it to make them happy. How did he become warped from the sensitive four-year-old who adored his gran and the fairy tales she read to him? What turned him into a monster who stalks his victims? And what is he trying to say with the bouquets he sends? When he meets Laura Weir, Adam weaves a fairy tale romance around them. A tale she has no idea she is part of. As he hatches his twisted plan for their fairy story ending, can anyone stop him before he creates the ultimate sacrifice to love?

My verdict
Flowers for the Dead is a very dark and twisted psychological thriller - just as I like them - with a real rogue as the main character.

Adam is evil, manipulative and very creepy, yet is yearning to love and be loved (although in a warped way). Thanks to the book's switching between past and present, you learn how Adam has become the man he is today. This book tackles the whole issue of what creates a serial killer - is it nature or nurture?

Barbara Copperthwaite writes in a very vivid and descriptive way. Flowers for the Dead is very well written and easy to read, but is a long book so certainly isn't a quick read. Every little detail of the characters' actions and thoughts are there on the page. This enables readers to get right inside the characters' heads and picture each scene very clearly, which adds to the chilling nature of the book.

You know Adam is a serial killer from the outset, and you know the ending won't be good. The momentum builds up, as does the body count, but you just have to keep reading anyway. I found myself racing to the end. Would Adam find true love and mend his ways? Or would he get his comeuppence? And more importantly, does he deserve his destiny or fate?

I received a copy of the book from the author in exchange for an honest review.

'Playing Frankenstein': A feature by author Barbara Copperthwaite

I would like to welcome Barbara Copperthwaite to my blog today to talk about her writing and editing process. Barbara's latest psychological thriller Flowers for the Dead was published on 2 September 2015.

Playing Frankenstein: From first draft to finished book

By Barbara Copperthwaite

Everyone works differently, and it’s important to find your own way of writing, a way that works for you. For me, though, I like to think of the process of creating a book in the same way as creating a person from scratch. It is literally a body of work in my mind’s eye, and that thought helps me differentiate between the processes involved.

First draft: skeleton

The first draft is a little like a skeleton and major organs. Get this right and there is a strong base for everything else. Once you’ve finished, step back and try to look at it as a whole. Are there bits that are in the wrong place and need to be moved around? If a leg is in the wrong place, the person will fall over; if a part of the book is in the wrong place, it could make the story fall too.

Second draft: fleshing out

With the second draft, I am adding muscle, nerves, veins and arteries. I am ‘fleshing out’ with all the wonderful detail that gives depth to a story and brings it to life.

Third draft: liposuction

Next will be draft number three, where I cut out extraneous material – a bit like liposuction for the body of the book. From paragraphs that add nothing, to tightening sentences, to cutting repetition, every single word should work hard and have a reason for being; no flabby bits allowed!

Editing: the beauty treatment

Finally I will be busy with the editing, a sort of beauty treatment: think deep cleanse, exfoliation, and moisturiser that will make the skin glow.

Although I am an indie publisher, I always use a professional editing service. It’s expensive, but it’s the only way to produce a quality product. No matter how good you are, no matter how full of praise/suggestions friends and family are, they can’t do the job of a professional editor. I’ve been a journalist for over 20 years, and worked my way up to being an editor of several national magazines, so I know all about proofreading, what makes a good story, pacing, copy editing, etc. I’ve done it to other people’s copy for years. And that’s is why I pay someone else to look at my work: because I know the importance of using expert people to carry out specific jobs.

By the time I send the book off to my editor, I’m exhausted, and the time they take looking at it is both a welcome break away from the book, and a painful exercise in patience (not something I am good at).

At this point, the edit is about big picture stuff. Weakness in pace, plot, characterization, timeline issues etc are highlighted, and suggestions made. Don’t get defensive. Don’t think that they ‘just don’t get’ your book. Do read what has been said, take a deep breath, and read it a second time. Go for a walk, read it a third time, and put the whole thing aside for another week. Only then should you start work on making the changes. It’s good advice, given to me by my editor, and it works.

Together, we are polishing my words, checking for mistakes, and getting everything just right so that the finished product is as close to perfect as it can be.

Proofreading: the Spanx of editing

Your novel has a great body, has been buffed and polished, but to be really certain of perfection, run it past a proofreader. They will spot all those annoying repetitions that you think you took out, but actually missed half of them, the typos that your eye glides over, and a myriad of other things. It’s the final ‘tightening’ of your copy.

Clothing your creation

Of course, as an indie author, now my book is finished I shall have to work on the cover, and that's the clothing, hair and make up of the piece. I’m getting my book ready for her party, trying to create something eye-catching.

Hopefully, she turns into the belle of the ball – and not Frankenstein’s monster.

About Barbara Copperthwaite

Barbara Copperthwaite was raised by the sea and in the countryside, where she became a lover of both the written word and the great outdoors. When not writing feverishly, she is often found hiding behind a camera, taking wildlife photographs.

Her fascination with crime really began during a brief spell working in a men's prison, and only grew when she became a national journalist and editor. Now she is using her twenty years’ experience of writing to create novels.

Both of Barbara’s psychological crime thrillers, Invisible and Flowers For The Dead, have been Amazon best sellers.

To find out more about the novels Invisible and Flowers for the Dead, go to www.facebook.com/AuthorBarbaraCopperthwaite or follow @BCopperthwait on Twitter. To find out more about Barbara, go to www.barbaracopperthwaite.com