BEST OF CRIME with Helen FitzGerald

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 

HELEN FITZGERALD

to share her BEST OF CRIME ...

... AUTHORS

Fyodor Dostoevsky.I like crime novels that draw me in to a real world populated by real characters, and Dostoevsky is the master at that. Raskolnikov’s struggle with his guilt in Crime and Punishment is one of the greatest tales in literature. 

... FILMS/MOVIES

The Silence of the Lambs. FBI trainee Clarice Starling and serial killer Hannibal Lecter are the most thrilling and intriguing odd couple in the history of crime movies. Everything about the film is great, as is the novel it was based on, but the two central characters elevate it to something more. They’ve rightly become iconic. 

... TV DRAMAS

Breaking Bad. I loved the Shakespearean transformation from ordinary decent man to The One Who Knocks. 

... FICTIONAL KILLERS

Hannibal Lecter: I don’t normally go for the “Killer as Artist” or “Killer as Philosopher” tropes, but you’ve got to make an exception for Hannibal. He just enjoys killing so much – and he’s so good at it.

... FICTIONAL DETECTIVES 

Columbo. I liked the fact that you knew straight away who had committed the crime. None of that red herring stuff. And then you could just sit back and watch as he shuffled around in his grotty raincoat, outwitting the evildoers who constantly underestimated him. I later found out that the character of Lieutenant Columbo was inspired in part by Porfiry Petrovich in Crime and Punishment, which made me feel very clever for liking him.

... MURDER WEAPONS

Death by larva. I once killed-off a baddy by tying him to a chair, making hundreds of little cuts all over his skin and tucking a maggot into each one. 

... DEATH SCENE

Hereditary. The scene where one of the children loses her head still keeps me awake at night.

... WRITING TIPS

Sometimes your first idea isn’t inspiration – it’s just your first idea.

... WRITING SNACKS

Toast and vegemite.

About HELEN FITZGERALD

Helen FitzGerald is the bestselling author of ten adult and young adult thrillers, including The Donor (2011) and The Cry (2013), which was longlisted for the Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year, and is now a major drama for BBC1. Helen worked as a criminal justice social worker for over fifteen years. She grew up in Victoria, Australia. She now lives in Glasgow with her husband.

Find Helen FitzGerald on her website and on Twitter - @FitzHelen

About WORST CASE SCENARIO

Publisher's description

Mary Shields is a moody, acerbic probation offer, dealing with some of Glasgow’s worst cases, and her job is on the line. Liam Macdowall was imprisoned for murdering his wife, and he’s published a series of letters to the dead woman, in a book that makes him an unlikely hero – and a poster boy for Men’s Rights activists. Liam is released on licence into Mary’s care, but things are far from simple. Mary develops a poisonous obsession with Liam and his world, and when her son and Liam’s daughter form a relationship, Mary will stop at nothing to impose her own brand of justice … with devastating consequences. 

Here's a snippet from my review: "Worst Case Scenario is dark, insane, shocking and highly entertaining - menopausal AND criminal madness. Lots of laugh-out-loud moments, cringeworthy ones and sad ones too."

Read my full review here.

Worst Case Scenario was published by Orenda Books on 16 May 2019.

Look out for more BEST OF CRIME features coming soon.

Click here to read more BEST OF CRIME features.

Follow the Blog Tour

Worst Case Scenario by Helen FitzGerald

Worst Case Scenario
By Helen FitzGerald
Published by Orenda Books (E-book: out now; Paperback: 17 May 2019)
I received an Advance Reader Copy from the publisher

Publisher's description

Mary Shields is a moody, acerbic probation offer, dealing with some of Glasgow’s worst cases, and her job is on the line. Liam Macdowall was imprisoned for murdering his wife, and he’s published a series of letters to the dead woman, in a book that makes him an unlikely hero – and a poster boy for Men’s Rights activists. Liam is released on licence into Mary’s care, but things are far from simple. Mary develops a poisonous obsession with Liam and his world, and when her son and Liam’s daughter form a relationship, Mary will stop at nothing to impose her own brand of justice … with devastating consequences. 

My verdict

For the last 19 years, I've edited a newsletter about the menopause as part of my day job as a health journalist/editor. So I was delighted to read Worst Case Scenario, as it's not often that I find a menopausal protagonist in a crime novel. I don't just mean a woman 'of a certain age'. I mean one with actual menopausal symptoms - the ones you may know about and the ones you may prefer not to know about!

Mary Shields is a foul-mouthed probational officer with clients who have committed some abominable crimes. She wants to help her clients (although some don't want the help she's offering), but struggles with the paperwork and bureaucracy of her job and has finally had enough. She just needs to get through a few more weeks. 

Worst Case Scenario is dark, insane, shocking and highly entertaining - menopausal AND criminal madness. Lots of laugh-out-loud moments, cringeworthy ones and sad ones too, as protagonist Mary Shields' life falls apart at the seams. She's struggling to juggle her work, family, friendships and drinking habits, as well as cope with her troublesome menopausal symptoms - hot flushes, mood swings, those 'oops' Tena moments (seen the adverts?) and more. She may not come across as a caring individual, but has a strong sense of justice and would do anything for her family. Sadly, she makes terrible decisions and gets herself - and her family - into all sorts of trouble!

This is a short book but is hard-hitting and punchy - making up for its size with its highly memorable characters and gritty writing. You'll need a slightly warped sense of humour (lots of slapstick scenarios) and shouldn't take anything TOO seriously. It's pure escapism and lots of fun from beginning to end - and I really did find myself panicking at Mary's 'worst case scenario'! 

Plus Helen FitzGerald's first and the last lines are brilliant! 

You won't forget this book in a hurry - if at all!

Viral by Helen Fitzgerald

Viral
By Helen Fitzgerald
Published by Faber & Faber (4 February 2016)
ISBN: 978-057132517

Publisher's description
So far, twenty-three thousand and ninety six people have seen me online. They include my mother, my father, my little sister, my grandmother, my other grandmother, my grandfather, my boss, my sixth year Biology teacher and my boyfriend James.

When Leah Oliphant-Brotheridge and her adopted sister Su go on holiday together to Magaluf to celebrate their A-levels, only Leah returns home. Her successful, swotty sister remains abroad, humiliated and afraid: there is an online video of her, drunkenly performing a sex act in a nightclub. And everyone has seen it.

Ruth Oliphant-Brotheridge, mother of the girls, successful court judge, is furious. How could this have happened? How can she bring justice to these men who took advantage of her dutiful, virginal daughter? What role has Leah played in all this? And can Ruth find Su and bring her back home when Su doesn't want to be found?

My verdict
Viral has a brilliant first line - one of the best I have read, and it certainly enticed me into reading more. But the book is far more than just about that one line. It tackles some highly topical and moral issues and really makes you think about modern society and the impact of social media.

What happens if a video of you goes viral? What if the whole world is talking about you - and everyone knows what you look like and what you've done? What effect will this have on your family? What effect will it have on you? And how will you cope with the aftermath?

Viral explores all these issues and more, with plenty of underlying dark humour.

Su runs away from her adoptive family after a video of her goes viral. The events in the video are completely out of character. And, being adopted and having no information about her birth mother, Su wonders whether this is her true nature after all. This leads Su on a journey of self-discovery to South Korea to find out where she came from and where she belongs.

Meanwhile, Ruth, her adoptive mother, struggles to cope with what Su has done and the role of Leah, Su's adoptive sister. Ruth is determined that the men who took advantage of Su are brought to justice - whatever it takes (and whatever that means). I'm not sure how realistic some of Ruth's actions were, but it certainly made a fantastic story.

Viral moves at a fast pace and kept me intrigued all the way through. It's written to shock the reader - and it certainly does so. Don't read this if you're looking for something comfortable and easy! This is a book that will make a parent think twice before allowing their teenagers to go on holiday with friends.

I received an Advanced Reader Copy from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Extract from Viral by Helen Fitzgerald

Viral
By Helen Fitzgerald
Published by Faber & Faber  (4 February 2016)
ISBN: 978-0571323517

Synopsis

So far, twenty-three thousand and ninety six people have seen me online. They include my mother, my father, my little sister, my grandmother, my other grandmother, my grandfather, my boss, my sixth year Biology teacher and my boyfriend James.

When Leah Oliphant-Brotheridge and her adopted sister Su go on holiday together to Magaluf to celebrate their A-levels, only Leah returns home. Her successful, swotty sister remains abroad, humiliated and afraid: there is an online video of her, drunkenly performing a sex act in a nightclub. And everyone has seen it.

Ruth Oliphant-Brotheridge, mother of the girls, successful court judge, is furious. How could this have happened? How can she bring justice to these men who took advantage of her dutiful, virginal daughter? What role has Leah played in all this? And can Ruth find Su and bring her back home when Su doesn't want to be found?

READ THE EXTRACT

Ruth Oliphant was used to wearing a wig. Usually it was short, grey, had three curls above each ear, cost £2,000 (according to the Daily Record ), and complemented her classic black skirt and red robe. The wig she had on now was bright pink, bob-shaped, straight bangs, and it complemented her low-cut slinky black dress and the pink ‘Hen Party’ sash which crossed her torso and back. For fifty-two, she was pretty damn hot. Good skin from years of water-drinking healthy-living. Slim, toned body from years of organic-only vegetarianism as well as a twenty-mile round-trip cycle from home in Doon to the court in Kilbarchie. People laughed that she cycled to work in Lycra, showering and reappearing in ‘My Lady’ clobber.

She wasn’t the only Hen in the jam-packed club, but she was the only one over the age of twenty-five, the only one without a gaggle of at least ten others with an identical sash, and probably the only one who was about to spike a man’s drink.

‘Think you’ve got the wrong place, lady. The bingo’s two doors down.’

‘Does an attractive cougar threaten you?’ She sipped her ‘Multiple Orgasm’ as sensually as she could, leaning forwards to show some cleavage.

‘What makes you think you’re attractive?’ He wasn’t looking at her face when he said this, so it was working.

‘The fact that I am.’ It had taken a long time to find this man and Ruth’s quest to find him had been as mercurial as her plan once she did.

‘Can I wear your wig?’ He stroked her pink hair and looked into her eyes but didn’t recognise her.

She smiled at his glorious stupidity and slipped a pill into his beer. No, she would not let him wear her wig.

*

She’d been in the afternoon’s custody court when her husband phoned. Wig on, she’d sat through three breaches of the peace, one of them a domestic, an assault to injury, a dangerous driving, a housebreaking, and a few more that she can’t recall now. She was in a good mood by the end of the afternoon session, she remembered that much. Michael MacDonald was defending a few of the cases, and he’d always entertained her, since the first time she’d seen him in court. It was two years ago, and he was defending an unusually dapper man in his early twenties. Ruth had studied the defendant – his designer suit jarred with his tacky billiard ball ring – and had thereafter thought of him as ‘The guy behind the 8-ball’.

‘The defendant experienced a spontaneous and unprecedented moment of rage,’ Michael had said, ‘when he came home and found his partner had cut his designer shirts into tiny little pieces. One of the shirts was a Louis Vuitton worth £450.’

The guy behind the 8-ball had expressed his rage by setting fire to his partner’s dog. Silver Fox didn’t argue hard on this occasion. Like most people, animal cruelty upset him more than violence against women and he did not consider appealing against the eighteen-month custodial. It was a memorable case for Ruth, watching Silver Fox in action for the first time, but also because of the threats the guy behind the 8-ball hurled at Ruth from the cells below her afterwards: ‘I’ll get you for this, bitch’; ‘I know where you live’; ‘You’d better watch out’. Ruth decided to ignore the muffled noise, confident that the guards would quieten him, and continued the session.

Shortly after this first encounter with Silver Fox, Ruth was surprised to see him singing in the East Kilbride Gilbert and Sullivan Society’s performance of the Pirates of Penzance. She had to admit he was the very model of a modern major gen-eral. He was exceptionally charismatic, and never more so than today, it seemed. Ruth would never smile in court, but she found this difficult as he spoke about the last defendant of the session, a short and painfully thin twenty-one-year-old man called Barry Andrew Malone, who had somehow man-aged to find a suit three sizes too small.

‘Mr Malone suffers from Oppositional Defiant Disorder, My Lady.’ MacDonald gestured towards the glaikit defen-dant, whose grey suit sleeves ended three inches before his yellowing shirt and who looked like he wanted to punch everyone in the room. ‘This is a recognised condition which means he finds it difficult to comply with requests and is often argumentative. In layman’s terms, My Lady, Mr Malone has been diagnosed as clinically naughty. On the afternoon in question he was suffering quite badly from naughtiness and did not wish to wait in the queue at Greggs the Bakers on Queen Street. My Lady, the defendant was in dire need of a cheese and onion pasty at the time of the alleged incident. It was 3 p.m., M’Lady, and he’d had no breakfast and no lunch. The alleged victim confronted him, saying . . .’ MacDonald pushed a flop of silver hair away from his face as he leant down to read the transcript: ‘Wait ya turn, ya knob.’ Head and hair upright again, MacDonald continued. ‘My Lady, at this point, I’m afraid the psychological disorder reared its ugly head, which as I’ve explained is outwith my client’s control and My Lady, this is why Mr Malone used his elbow to shove the alleged victim, a Ms Ellen Dalkeith, who was first in the queue at Greggs on the afternoon in question and hoping to purchase two strawberry tarts.’

Ruth bit her lip to suppress a smile and spoke flatly and without looking up. ‘He’s pleading not guilty?’

‘Yes, My Lady.’

As requested by Sheriff Ruth Oliphant, the defendant stood, revealing suit trousers that bulged painfully at the groin and ground his teeth as trial dates were announced by the clerk of court. Ruth gathered her papers as everyone stood and lowered their heads. She exited via the back door, and giggled all the way to her chambers.

There were two messages from her husband on her mobile. 1: Ruth, call me as soon as you can. 2: Ruth, my darling, I’m in the car park across the road and I’ll still be here when you’re done. Come as soon as you get this. I need to talk to you. It’s urgent. I love you.

Buy Viral from Amazon UK here.

The Exit by Helen FitzGerald

The Exit

By Helen FitzGerald

Published by Faber & Faber (5 February 2015)

ISBN: 978-0571287895

Publisher's description
23-year-old Catherine is mainly interested in Facebook and flirting, but she reluctantly takes a job at a local care home after her mother puts her foot down - and soon discovers that her new workplace contains many secrets.

One of the residents at the home, 82-year-old Rose, is convinced that something sinister is going on in Room 7 and that her own life is under threat. But Rose has dementia - so what does she actually know, and who would believe her anyway?

As Catherine starts investigating Rose's allegations, terrible revelations surface about everyone involved. Can Catherine find out what's really going on before it's too late?

My verdict

I loved this book and read it in a couple of hours in just one sitting.

The Exit is an unusual story and very well written. It begins as a fairly straightforward easy read, but then develops into a brilliant sick and twisted plot, as the layers build up and more characters are introduced.

I took an instant dislike to Catherine, who is incredibly immature at the beginning and, as described by Rose, is rather dull. However, my views gradually changed throughout the course of the book; her personality grows with the story as circumstances force her to take on more responsibility in her life.

Rose was a brilliant character - a spunky 82 year old with plenty of attitude who doesn't stand for any nonsense. She drifts between moments of total lucidity and moments of regression back to her 10-year-old self. Sadly, due to her dementia, no one believes most of what she has to say - yet she actually holds the key to what is going on in Dear Green nursing home.

The Exit is very creepy, with humour and horror thrown into the mix. Helen FitzGerald is a very talented author.

I received an Advance Reader Copy from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.