Killer Women Weekend - Talking to Sarah Hilary, Mel McGrath and Kate Rhodes

On Sunday October 21st, 2018, the Killer Women are taking over the Courtrooms above Browns Restaurant in London' Covent Garden, with events about crime novels, crime audio, crime television and true crime. 

But that's enough from me. Here are three of the Killer Women to tell you what influences their own writing and why this year's Killer Women Festival 2018 is the place to be!

Sarah Hilary
Sarah is author of the Marnie Rome series. She will be chairing the Fresh Blood panel at the Killer Women Festival (16.30-17.30).

1. Which crime fiction author or novel has influenced your own writing the most?

Am I allowed an author and a novel? The author would be Patricia Highsmith. There's something about her writing - so smooth and cool on the surface but it tangles you up and ties you to her world so utterly - which I'm always trying to unravel and from which I'm always learning. The novel would be Rebecca. I re-read it recently, and it struck me all over again just how much it affected me as a reader, and a budding writer. I first read it the summer I turned eleven, which I always thought was the ideal age to read it - as a young adolescent - but I enjoyed it hugely this last time, and took so much more from it than I ever have before. The emotion, the psychology, the atmospherics; it really is a masterpiece of storytelling.

2. Have you found a particular non-fiction book to be essential to (or influence) your own writing?

I'm a big fan of true crime. Most recently I enjoyed This House of Grief by Helen Garner, about a murder trial in Australia. It was utterly compelling, and almost unendurably real. The non-fiction book I've returned to most often when writing the Marnie Rome series is The Eye: A Human History by Simon Ing, for everything it has to say about the psychology of seeing and how we witness the world.

3. In 10 words or less, how would you describe Killer Women Festival 2018?

Ten tense, thrilling and tremendous hours for lovers of crime.

Mel McGrath
Mel's most recently book is a psychological thriller called Give Me the Child. She will be chairing the Sex Crime: Writing Sex in the #MeToo Age panel at the Killer Women Festival (10.15-11.15).

1. Which crime fiction author or novel has influenced your own writing the most?

I really can't just name one, but Barbara Vine and Patricia Highsmith both come to mind

2. Have you found a particular non-fiction book to be essential to (or influence) your own writing?

Really early on, Truman Capote's In Cold Blood. In the last couple of years probably Helen Garner's This House of Grief. Both brilliant non-fiction books about the impact of crime as much as about the crime itself.

3. In 10 words or less, how would you describe Killer Women Festival 2018? 

Friendly, inclusive festival programmed by authors with readers in mind.

Kate Rhodes
Kate Rhodes is author of the Alice Quentin crime series and, most recently, the Hell Bay series.

1. Which crime fiction author or novel has influenced your own writing the most?

It’s horribly difficult to choose just one, but if those are the rules, I’ll pick Brighton Rock, by Graham Greene. I read it in my early teens, when it just seemed like a thrilling story, full of gangsters and danger. It’s only as an adult that I realise how beautifully woven the plot is, and that it works as a moral fable, with brilliant use of language.




2. Have you found a particular non-fiction book to be essential to (or influence) your own writing?

I tend to use websites, not printed materials when doing research, opting for specialist sites written by experts and updated regularly. My most recent book is about deep sea diving, so I combed the internet, looking for information on techniques, instead of putting on a diving suit myself!




3. In 10 words or less, how would you describe Killer Women Festival 2018?

A friendly, brilliant collection of crime-related events, open to everyone.

Find out more

This year's Killer Women Festival features bestselling authors, police experts, forensic scientists and criminologists. Visit the website here to find out more.

The programme includes panels on forensic psychology, forensic science, forensic archaeology, the criminal justice system, geographic profiling, espionage and more! Check out what's going on here.

And visit here to buy tickets!

BEST OF CRIME with Mel McGrath

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 

MEL McGRATH

to share her BEST OF CRIME ...

... AUTHORS

I’m going to say Raymond Chandler because it was partly through his work that I discovered crime fiction, though Daphne Du Maurier has a lot to answer for in that regard as well. Were it not for devouring Chandler and Du Maurier when I should have been revising for my A-levels, I would probably not have got that D in chemistry. 

... FILMS/MOVIES
I absolutely love almost everything the Coen Brothers have ever made, so it’s a tie between their first movie, Blood Simple, and the later, brilliantly witty Fargo. There’s a kind of dark, macabre and yet grimly funny tone which I love and is all their own, and they always manage to get amazing performances from their cast. No one does dysfunctional small town America better.

... TV DRAMAS
We’re slap bang in the middle of a golden age of crime drama, so I’m surprising myself by picking a relative oldie, The Sopranos. It’s art. Simple as that.

... FICTIONAL KILLERS
Kathy Bates as Annie Wilkes in the movie adaptation of Stephen King’s Misery. I enjoy crackpots who think they are perfectly sane, and there are none more cracked than Annie, romance writer Paul Sheldon’s ‘number one fan.’ Also a dark satire on the perils of success.

... FICTIONAL DETECTIVES 
I know he’s a terrible womaniser and borderline misogynist, but I can’t help myself wanting to spend time with Philip Marlowe, for his droll wit and self-deprecatory humour.

... MURDER WEAPONS
There was a true crime case in the US not so long ago where a woman had attempted to kill her husband by lacing her genitals with poison and persuading him to perform a sex act. It really doesn’t get much weirder than that.

    

... DEATH SCENES
I can watch the death scene in Thelma and Louise over and over on a loop. I can’t think of any other death scene that evokes such contradictory feelings of elation, melancholy and rage. It’s one of the great movie moments in any genre.

  

... BLOGS/WEBSITES
I listen to a lot of true crime podcasts and get inspiration there. Among my favourites, Criminal and My Favourite Murder.

... WRITING TIPS
Thomas Mann said that writers are people who find writing harder than other people. Writing requires enormous mental agility and discipline. You have to confront your own limits daily. Don’t expect it to be easy and you won’t be disappointed.

... WRITING SNACKS
I keep a bucket of popcorn on my desk and try to pretend I’m at the movies.

About MEL McGRATH

Mel McGrath is an award-winning and bestselling writer and journalist. She has also been a TV producer and presenter.  Her Edie Kiglatuk (pr Kig-la-took) series of Arctic mysteries is translated into 18 languages and was twice longlisted for the CWA Gold Dagger. It is currently being developed for TV in the US. Give Me The Child is her first psychological thriller. The Financial Times calls it a 'triumph' and The Sun describes it as 'addictive' and 'edge of your seat stuff.' Mel is a cofounder of the Killer Women collective of crime writers.

Find Mel McGrath on her website and on Twitter - @mcgrathmj

For more 

About GIVE ME THE CHILD

Publisher's description

An unexpected visitor.

Dr Cat Lupo aches for another child, despite the psychosis which marked her first pregnancy. So when Ruby Winter, a small girl in need of help, arrives in the middle of the night, it seems like fate.

A devastating secret.

But as the events behind Ruby’s arrival emerge – her mother’s death, her connection to Cat – Cat questions whether her decision to help Ruby has put her own daughter at risk.

Do we get the children we deserve?

Cat’s research tells her there’s no such thing as evil. Her history tells her she’s paranoid. But her instincts tell her different. And as the police fight to control a sudden spate of riots raging across the capital, Cat faces a race against time of her own…

Give Me The Child was published by HQ on 27 July 2017.

About Killer Women

Killer Women is an author collective of 21 female crime-writers, who work together to put on exciting, innovative crime fiction events around the country, for men and women. It also offers its Crime Club members exclusive access to free chapters of Killer Women authors' new books, giveaways, competitions and discounted early bird tickets to their annual Killer Weekend event. 

To learn more about the Killer Women Killer Weekend from 28  to 29 October 2017, click here.

Look out for more BEST OF CRIME features coming soon.

Click here to read more BEST OF CRIME features.

Killer Women Weekend - be an early bird!

Will YOU write the next crime bestseller?

There's only one way to find out! Get writing! 

If you need some guidance, there's a brilliant weekend in October that aims to help you with the writing and editing process, research and pitching to editors and agents.

The Killer Women Weekend is taking place on 28 & 29 October 2017, from 10am to 6 pm, at Browns Courtrooms, Covent Garden, London WC2.

What's on?

Learn the art & craft of crime fiction from bestselling authors including Rachel Abbott, Mark Billingham, Erin Kelly, Mick Herron, Stuart MacBride, Sarah Pinborough and Cally Taylor.

Pitch your idea to senior commissioning editors and agents including HarperCollins, Orion, Penguin Random House and Headline.

·      Masterclasses on thrillers, procedurals, author as brand, self publishing and more 

·      Insider tips from top writers, editors and agents

·      Craft workshops on suspense, character, plotting and more

·      One-to-one research sessions with experts

Check out the full programme here.

More about the venue here.

Get in early!
Book your weekend ticket at the special earlybird price of £260^* by joining the Killer Women Club (for free) - click here.  (Killer Women will email you an exclusive secret link to the earlybird ticketing page.)

*Tickets go on general release on 1 September. Weekend tickets will be £275.

To learn more about the weekend, click here.

About Killer Women

Killer Women is an author collective of 21 female crime-writers, who work together to put on exciting, innovative crime fiction events around the country, for men and women. It also offers its Crime Club members exclusive access to free chapters of Killer Women authors' new books, giveaways, competitions and discounted early bird tickets to their annual Killer Weekend event.