BEST OF CRIME with Alex Caan

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 

ALEX CAAN

for his First to Die blog tour

to share his BEST OF CRIME ...

... AUTHORS

Graham Greene and John Le Carre. I was approached to work for the security services after University and since then my fascination with all things espionage has been extreme. But beyond just your average spy thriller, these two writers also give great insights into the human condition. Beautiful writers that really pack a punch each time.

... FILMS/MOVIES

Oliver Stone’s ‘JFK’. That was as thrillers go perfect. Multi-layered, suspenseful and actually scared me in a few places. 

... TV DRAMAS

The X Files. For me the ultimate show. Everything else that came after it borrowed so heavily from it, as a fan I can see the hangover even to this day. The chemistry between the leads, the terrifying storylines, the complex characters and villains, the mindblowing mysteries. I seriously cannot rate this show highly enough, and it changed me in so many ways and I think people can see my own TXF hang-ups in my novels.

... FICTIONAL KILLERS

The Jackal from The Day of the Jackal. I love blindingly clever villains like Hanniabl Lecter and Dr Alex Thorne from Angela Marson’s Kim Stone series, and the Jackal is just that. The way he manipulates, plots and ruthlessly kills to keep his identity secret, it’s fascinating. 

... FICTIONAL DETECTIVES 

Mulder and Scully of course. I loved how Mulder is the sensitive one in a way, the spiritual one, whereas Scully is clever, logical, tough and still able to be vulnerable. Scully especially is a blueprint I think for every hero I write whether they are male or female.

... MURDER WEAPONS

Jo Nesbo. He comes up with the craziest murder weapons. That ball thing from Phantom? And the teeth in The Thirst? It’s like he’s Googling these warped weapons and then building his novels around them. 

    

... DEATH SCENES

Not really crime but Thelma and Louise. I never felt so uplifted and positive after the death of anyone. It was a very weird feeling.

  

... BLOGS/WEBSITES

University libraries. Academic papers are the best for ideas and research. Really would recommend it to anyone, it’s more bizarre, fun and cutting edge than any google search.

... WRITING TIPS

If you want to write because you want to be the next J K Rowling then you will probably fail. Write because you love to write even if no one is publishing you yet. It’s a calling I think, and you will find your audience. Oh and the first draft is always shit. Don’t worry. 

... WRITING SNACKS

Cake. Any.

About ALEX CAAN

Alex Caan has spent over a decade working in Information Systems Security for a number of government organisations, and is currently specialising in Terrorism Studies. A lifetime passion for writing was sparked by the encouraging words of an English Teacher in school, and eventually led to Alex successfully completing an MA in Creative Writing, and write Cut to the Bone.

Cut to the Bone has been a Kindle Number 1 bestseller, was picked as a WH Smith 'Everyone's Talking About' book of the week, chosen as Sainsbury's best of summer reads and was Angela Marson's pick for crime novel recommendation of the year. Alex Caan was also a rising star on Amazon in 2016.

Find Alex Caan on his website, on his Facebook page and on Twitter - @alexcaanwriter

About FIRST TO DIE

Publisher's description

SOMEWHERE IN THE CROWD IS A KILLER 

Bonfire Night and St James's Park is filled with thousands of Anonymous protesters in a stand-off with the police. When a cloaked, Guido Fawkes mask-wearing body is discovered the following morning, Kate Riley and Zain Harris from the Police Crime Commissioner's office are called in.

The corpse has been eaten away by a potentially lethal and highly contagious virus. The autopsy reveals the victim was a senior civil servant, whose work in international development involved saving lives. Why would anyone want him dead? 

THEY WILL STRIKE AGAIN 

As the research team looking into the origins of the deadly virus scramble to discover an antidote, first one, then another pharmacist goes missing. Meanwhile, a dark truth starts to emerge about the murder victim: he was an aggressive man, whose bullying behaviour resulted in the suicide attempt of one of his former staff members.

AND TIME IS RUNNING OUT . . .

With thirty lives potentially at stake, Kate and Zain have their work cut out for them. Can they find the two missing pharmacists in time, or will they too end up dead?

Read a snippet of my review

'The plot is complex, steeped in science and politics, with plenty of twists, turns and surprises throughout - and a few 'heart in the mouth' moments too.'

To read the rest of my review, click here.

First to Die was published by Bonnier Zaffre on 14 June 2018.

Look out for more BEST OF CRIME features coming soon.

Click here to read more BEST OF CRIME features.

Follow the Blog Tour!

First to Die by Alex Caan

First to Die
By Alex Caan
Published by Bonnier (14 June 2018)
I received an Advance Reader Copy from the publisher

Publisher's description

SOMEWHERE IN THE CROWD IS A KILLER 
Bonfire Night and St James's Park is filled with thousands of Anonymous protesters in a stand-off with the police. When a cloaked, Guido Fawkes mask-wearing body is discovered the following morning, Kate Riley and Zain Harris from the Police Crime Commissioner's office are called in.
The corpse has been eaten away by a potentially lethal and highly contagious virus. The autopsy reveals the victim was a senior civil servant, whose work in international development involved saving lives. Why would anyone want him dead? 
THEY WILL STRIKE AGAIN 
As the research team looking into the origins of the deadly virus scramble to discover an antidote, first one, then another pharmacist goes missing. Meanwhile, a dark truth starts to emerge about the murder victim: he was an aggressive man, whose bullying behaviour resulted in the suicide attempt of one of his former staff members.
AND TIME IS RUNNING OUT . . .
With thirty lives potentially at stake, Kate and Zain have their work cut out for them. Can they find the two missing pharmacists in time, or will they too end up dead?

My verdict

First to Die is the sequel to Alex Caan's Cut to the Bone, and you can't get more 'bang up to date' than this. Here you have a police team (and potentially the capital city) in crisis, with fears of a deadly virus on the loose. It's a race against the clock in case the killer strikes again.

Alex Caan has written a gripping, fast-paced crime thriller. He kept me guessing all the way through, as key characters (Kate and Zain) struggled to unravel the truth about who killed this senior civil servant, and why. The plot is complex, steeped in science and politics, with plenty of twists, turns and surprises throughout - and a few 'heart in the mouth' moments too.

Both Kate and Zain have complicated pasts and secrets to hide, with regular 'reveals' about their backgrounds fleshing out their characters and triggering intense emotions in both of them. While they're battling their demons, they're put their own lives in danger, which really ramps up the pace. There are plenty of other larger-than-life characters too, turning this into a fun read despite it's dark undertones.

While First to Die could be read as a standalone, I recommend reading Cut to the Bone first. I'm looking forward to seeing what Alex Caan comes up with next!

MY PUBLISHING LIFE with Scott Pack

Welcome to my latest MY PUBLISHING LIFE feature, an interview with a literary agent, publisher, publicist or editor about their publishing career to date. Some serious questions, and some just for fun!

Today I'm delighted to welcome 

SCOTT PACK

Editor-at-Large

at
Eye/Lightning Books
(and other freelance roles elsewhere!)

What and when was your first job in publishing?

My first job was as commercial director at The Friday Project, having joined them from Waterstones.

How long have you been working in your current job/role?

I am a freelancer nowadays and have been for a few years. One of my roles is as editor-at-large at Eye & Lightning Books and I have been doing that for 18 months or so. I also acquire books for Unbound and am co-founder of Abandoned Bookshop, a digital imprint that reissues lost and forgotten books from the past.  

Which books have you worked on recently/are you working on?

We have just published Their Brilliant Careers by Ryan O'Neill, an award-winning novel from Australia that purports to be a collection of biographies of Australian writers but is all completely made up. I think it is a work of sublime genius and everyone I have foisted a copy onto has loved it. I have this very day been offering feedback on the cover of The Hurtle of Hell by Simon Edge, an atheist comedy in which God himself is a major character. And this week we went to print with The Industry of Human Happiness, the debut novel by Telegraph music critic, James Hall, set in the early days of the gramophone industry.

Which qualifications/life skills/experience have helped you get to where you are today?

I came to publishing from book retail – I was head of buying at Waterstones for six years or so – so I think I was able to bring a bit of a commercial eye to the publishing jobs I have done, but outside of that my qualifications and experience are not typical for publishing. I didn't go to university and spent the 90s working in record shops and as a buyer at HMV's head office, all of which gave me an interesting perspective but none of which would really be seen as ideal for the career I have ended up with. 

I think my ability to keep things in perspective had helped me quite a lot. Publishing is full of deadlines and minor or near disasters are often on the horizon, so being able to step back and assess the situation objectively – is this really a big deal? - has been good, I think.

How do you relax after a busy working day?

Actually, I think it is important to find time to relax during a busy working day, so I do try to go for walks, or sit outside with a book, most days if at all possible. At the end of the day I like to cook dinner for the family and watch a movie or, predictably, read a bit more.

Also, naps are great.

What was the last book you read for pleasure?

Last night I stayed up late to finish Circe by Madeline Miller. It was every bit as good as The Song of Achilles. I am a sucker for anything related to Greek myths but this is particularly fine.

Describe your job in 15 words or less...

I try to help make books a bit better and then hope people buy them.

What have been the highlights of your publishing life so far

My favourite book as a child was Krabat by Otfried Preussler, so getting the chance to reissue that when I was at HarperCollins was definitely a highlight, something that would have greatly impressed the eleven-year-old me. Having Haruki Murakami write an introduction to The Miner by Natsume Soseki gave me a chance to work with my literary hero, albeit briefly. But, being honest, the next book on the horizon always feels like a highlight. OK, so they don't always turn out to be but potential is a wonderful thing!

If you could try out any other job for one day (with no limits on money, travel etc.), what would you choose?
Restaurant critic. I don't need much of an excuse to try out a new restaurant so might as well get paid for it. I have also reached the point in life where I really do not care about my waistline.

If your publishing life was a book, what would the title be?
Inspired by Douglas Adams, I'd go for 'Don't Panic' because, at the end of the day, most of the problems we face in publishing are minor compared to what many other people have to deal with.

Thanks so much for taking part, Scott!

Look out for more MY PUBLISHING LIFE features coming soon.

Click here to read more MY PUBLISHING LIFE features.

If any literary agents, publishers, publicists or editors would like to take part, please contact me through my blog or Twitter for the full list of questions.

Countless characters by Gunnar Staalesen

I am delighted to be today's stop on the blog tour for Big Sister by Gunnar Staalesen. Gunnar talks about 'Countless characters' below! Big Sister is published by Orenda Books, and will be published in paperback on 20 June 2018.

Countless characters

By Gunnar Staalesen

Big Sister is the eighteenth novel in the Varg Veum series. The first one, which hasn’t been translated into English yet, was published more than forty years ago, in 1977. Number nineteen is almost finished and will be published in Norway this autumn.

During all these years and across all these books, I have created more characters then I can remember – and I have never counted them. Some of them I have lived with on and off over the years; others have disappeared – some dying and some retiring from police work. But if I leaf through one of my books and read a page here and there, I can still recognise my characters – mostly by name – even if it is almost forty years since I invented some of them. I can still see them clearly in my mind, too, often because many – at least in terms of their physical appearance – are modelled on people from real life, such as a local politician, an actor or a football player I have seen, a writer colleague, or even a publisher or a journalist that I have met, even women that I have fallen in love with from a distance…

When I started to write seriously, at seventeen years old, there were several writers who had a significant impression on me: Jack Kerouac, Albert Camus, some Norwegian writers – although still not Sjöwall & Wahlöö and Chandler (they came some years later). Similarly, during my childhood I read and loved the great storytellers: Dumas, Hugo, Jules Verne, Stevenson, Scott – and, of course, Charles Dickens. What impressed me with Dickens was the way he created his characters: funny names that were easy to remember, their way of speaking, and their set of physical characteristics. All his characters are painted so vividly, you can see them before your eyes as you read – and at that age I read a lot of Dickens’ novels. Although I didn’t go on to write books in his style, I tried to work like him when creating my own characters. In fact, there is a lot of Dickens in crime fiction – for example, you can easily see how Chandler builds character in the same way in his books. And there is a huge character-creating tradition in English-language writing, from Shakespeare to Dickens to Chandler, and a lot more names I haven’t the room to mention!

The action in the Varg Veum novels starts in 1976 and Big Sister takes place in 2003. Clearly, Varg has grown older during these years – he was thirty-four at the beginning and now he’s sixty-one. The same has happened to all the characters around him, of course. The police officers he meets in the first part of the series are all retired now, apart from Hamre, who will retire after the book I am writing now. Women have come and gone too. His wife, from who he was already divorced in the first book, has a girlfriend now; his son, who was a small child in the first book, has a son himself, making Varg a grandfather. (His son is a professor in literature at the University of Oslo, and we do not meet him much in the later part of the series.) His journalist best friend died some years ago, after playing an important role as an informant in many of the books, and Karin, his girlfriend and wife-to-be, died in one of the most recent books published in the UK. During all the books I try to keep track of these characters – their ages, their occupations, their looks etc. – so that I do not make any mistakes. But it is not a failsafe archive, so some smaller mistakes have occurred over the years.

In 1997-2000, when I wrote my trilogy about Norway, Europe and the world in the twentieth century – some years before Ken Follett and Jan Guillou did the same – I told the stories of several families in Bergen. One of these was the tale of Varg Veum’s parents: what happened to them before they met, how they came to meet, and the story of their marriage. As in most families, they had their secrets. One of these was about Varg’s older half-sister, who was born in another town before his mother went to Bergen and met his father, the tram conductor from the fjords. This secret is one of the elements in my most recent Varg book, and is one of the reasons that the novel has the title Big Sister.

Varg’s sister’s name is Norma. She was a character who I loved creating and I hope all my readers will like her too.

About Gunnar Staalesen

Gunnar Staalesen was born in Bergen, Norway in 1947. He made his debut at the age of 22 with Seasons of Innocence and in 1977 he published the first book in the Varg Veum series. He is the author of over 20 titles, which have been published in 24 countries and sold over five million copies. Twelve film adaptations of his Varg Veum crime novels have appeared since 2007, starring the popular Norwegian actor Trond Epsen Seim, and a further series is being filmed now. Staalesen, who has won three Golden Pistols (including the Prize of Honour) and the Petrona Award, and been shortlisted for the CWA Dagger, lives in Bergen with his wife.

About Big Sister

Big Sister

By Gunnar Staalesen

Published by Orenda Books (E-book- available now; Paperback - 20 June 2018)

Publisher's description

Varg Veum receives a surprise visit in his office. A woman introduces herself as his half-sister, and she has a job for him. Her god-daughter, a 19-year-old trainee nurse from Haugesund, moved from her bedsit in Bergen two weeks ago. Since then no one has heard anything from her. She didn't leave an address. She doesn't answer her phone. And the police refuse to take her case seriously. 
Veum’s investigation uncovers a series of carefully covered-up crimes and pent-up hatreds, and the trail leads to a gang of extreme bikers on the hunt for a group of people whose dark deeds are hidden by the anonymity of the Internet. And then things get personal…

Here's a snippet of my review: 'Big Sister is perfectly packaged Nordic crime fiction, with its amazing sense of place and chilling plot - one particular scene left me feeling cold (not many books have that effect on me).'

Click here to read the whole review.

Follow the Blog Tour

Big Sister by Gunnar Staalesen

Big Sister
By Gunnar Staalesen
Published by Orenda Books (published 20 June 2018)
I received an Advance Reader Copy from the publisher

Publisher's description

Varg Veum receives a surprise visit in his office. A woman introduces herself as his half-sister, and she has a job for him. Her god-daughter, a 19-year-old trainee nurse from Haugesund, moved from her bedsit in Bergen two weeks ago. Since then no one has heard anything from her. She didn't leave an address. She doesn't answer her phone. And the police refuse to take her case seriously. 
Veum’s investigation uncovers a series of carefully covered-up crimes and pent-up hatreds, and the trail leads to a gang of extreme bikers on the hunt for a group of people whose dark deeds are hidden by the anonymity of the Internet. And then things get personal…

My verdict
I've read a few Varg Veum books now (thanks to the fantastic translations by Don Bartlett through publisher Orenda Books). Big Sister is definitely my new favourite (so far).

In Big Sister, Veum is looking into the disappearance of a young woman, prompted by a surprise visit by his half-sister (a woman he didn't even know existed until now). This is a haunting story of hidden pasts, family secrets, fathers and fatherhood and troublesome relationships between parents and children - as Veum not only searches for the young woman, but also explores his own past.

The Varg Veum books are gradually coming into the modern age, with mobile phones and computers becoming more popular. Big Sister also features some very contemporary themes, with plenty of darkness lurking beneath the surface. Yet this book (as with Gunnar Staalesen's previous books) still has a traditional 'private eye' feel to it, which I love. Here is a detective used to using his head rather than the tools around him to investigate, explore and do his job. Veum is a man with strong principles and a nose for trouble. But he still manages to put himself into danger several times, ramping up the pace of the book and providing several nail-biting scenes.

Big Sister is perfectly packaged Nordic crime fiction, with its amazing sense of place and chilling plot - one particular scene left me feeling cold (not many books have that effect on me). I finished the book feeling a little sadder and more thoughtful then when I began its rollercoaster journey. The words flew off the page, thanks to the taunt writing and seamless translation, and I'm looking forward to the next one in the series.

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