Today I'm delighted to welcome
CHRIS WHITAKER
to share his BEST OF CRIME ...
... AUTHORS
John Hart.
It was after reading The Last Child that I decided to quit my city job and have
a go at writing a book. I recently found out he has a copy of All The Wicked
Girls. Sometimes I lay awake at night and think of him holding it/me.
... FILMS/MOVIES
Mystic
River, because it did justice to the book. Sean Penn was such a perfect Jimmy,
he earned his Oscar that year.
... TV DRAMAS
The
Sopranos, everything else is a very distant second. I have a painting of Tony
Soprano in my office and still can’t believe James Gandolfini is no longer with
us.
... FICTIONAL KILLERS
That dude
from Silence of the Lambs that makes a skin suit. He scares the absolute shit
out of me. If he approached I’d just give him all my skin, he wouldn’t even
have to ask.
... FICTIONAL DETECTIVES
Rust Cohle
and Marty Hart from the first season of True Detective. God, that show was
insanely good.
In books I
would go with Tom Reynolds from the series by Jo Spain, because he’s a badass
and he’s funny. Jo said she modelled him on me.
... MURDER WEAPONS
Piggy and
the boulder comes to mind. Poor guy.
I’d quite
like to kill someone with kindness. On a separate note, I’d like to use this
platform to tell my wife how much I love her.
... DEATH SCENES
When Tom
Ripley beats Dickie with the oar. Destroying something so pretty, it ain’t
right.
... BLOGS/WEBSITES
I used the
International Dialects of English Archive to listen to Alabamans. I really
wanted the dialogue to be authentic so spent many hours just listening. There’s
lots of websites where you can do this and I found them invaluable.
... WRITING TIPS
Be
fearless. Take risks. If it becomes a box ticking exercise then tear it up and start
again. Don’t send it to anyone until you’re certain you can’t do any better. I
believe that if you truly enjoy reading it back then others will too.
Don’t worry
if it’s tough, it should be.
... WRITING SNACKS
I don’t snack when writing. I know it sounds a bit lame but
I try and completely move into the story I’m working on, and there’s no
distractions at all.
After I’m done I’ll stuff my face with all sorts of sugary
crap.
About CHRIS WHITAKER
Chris Whitaker
was born in London and spent ten years working as a financial trader in the
city. His debut novel, Tall Oaks, was published to critical acclaim in
2016 by Bonnier Zaffre. Tall Oaks was longlisted for the CWA John Creasey New
Blood Dagger, and shortlisted for the Last Laugh Award.
A Guardian crime book of the month, Tall Oaks also featured
in Crime Time’s top 100 books of 2016 and BuzzFeed’s incredible summer reads.
Chris’s second novel, All The Wicked Girls, will be
published Summer 2017. He lives in Hertfordshire with his wife and two young
sons.
Find Chris Whitaker on Twitter - @WhittyAuthor
About ALL THE WICKED GIRLS
Publisher's description
Everyone loves Summer Ryan. A
model student and musical prodigy, she's a ray of light in the struggling small
town of Grace - especially compared to her troubled sister, Raine. Then Summer
vanishes.
Raine throws herself into the investigation,
aided by a most unlikely ally, but the closer she gets to the truth, the more
dangerous her search becomes.
And perhaps there was always more to Summer than met the eye . . .
All the Wicked Girls was published by Zaffre on 24 August 2017.
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