Tuesday 7 May 2019

BEST OF CRIME with Fiona Erskine

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 

FIONA ERSKINE


to share her BEST OF CRIME ...




... AUTHORS
When it comes to thrillers, I adore Robert Harris, John Le Carré and Lee Child, but my current favourite is Lionel Davidson. I devoured Kolymsky Heights, raced through Rose of Tibet and lingered onthe delicate and tragic Smith’s Gazelle.


... FILMS/MOVIES
An Oscar winning film, The Lives of Othersset in 1984 East Germany is a subtle but thrilling portrayal of good people betrayed by those who should protect them. Sebastian Koch is a joy to watch, but it is the internal journey of secret policeman Ulrich Mühe that captivates.
(2006 Das Leben der Anderen Florian Henckel von Dennersmark)


... TV DRAMAS
For its perfect combination of superb writing and faultless acting, I have to pick The KillingThe intricate plot, the honest exploration of bereavement, the charismatic politician, all arebrilliantly handled but it is Sofie Gräbøl’s gritty portrayal of Detective Sarah Lund that steals the show for me.
(2007 Forbrydelsen Birger Larsen)


... FICTIONAL KILLERS
It is very hard to think of a more chilling and compelling character than Dr Hannibal Lecter (in Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris). I like my antagonists cerebral, and my fava beans sautéed.


... FICTIONAL DETECTIVES 
I am more interested in reluctant detectives who operate outside the constraints of police procedure, which is why I warmed to the intrepid V.I. Warshawski (Sara Paretsky) and the naughty Nick Belsey (Oliver Harris). But I’ll make an exception for my current favourites Captain Sam Wyndham and Sergeant “Surrender Not” Banerjee of the Calcutta Police Force in the brilliant series by Abir Mukherjee set in 1920’s India.


... MURDER WEAPONS
An elephant (stomping in A Necessary Evil by Abir Mukherjee).


... DEATH SCENE
It’s a dead heat between the opening of Red Snow by Will Dean (man splats open in snow after falling from the tower of a salty liquorice factory) and the opening of Smoke and Ashes by Abir Mukherjee (man escapes police raid in opium den only to trip over enucleated corpse).


... BLOGS/WEBSITES
The sadly defunct WordCloud of the Writers’ Workshop kept me sane while I was starting to write. Now Emma Darwin’s wonderful this itch of writing helps me to improve.


... WRITING TIPS
Read
Read outside your genre, fiction and non-fiction, poetry, drama and prose. Read inside your genre: the good – to push yourself; the bad – to avoid the same pitfalls; and the ugly - to work out why it doesn’t work for you as a reader. Act as a beta reader for others - not just so they return the favour, but to hone your surgical skills before you turn to murderous vivisection on your own manuscript.

Write
Write lots. Write every day. If you are stuck, write “I remember…” and just see what flows. If you’re stuck with the novel, write some flash fiction, poetry or short stories instead. Write for yourself. No writing is wasted. It’s a muscle that needs exercising.


... WRITING SNACKS
Prosecco.


About FIONA ERSKINE
Fiona Erskine is a professional engineer based in Teesside, although she travels often to Brazil, Russia, India and China. As a female engineer, she is often the lone representative of her gender in board meetings, cargo ships, night-time factories and offshore oil rigs, and her fiction offers an insight into this traditionally male world.

Find Fiona Erskine on her website and on Twitter - @erskine_fiona


About THE CHEMICAL DETECTIVE




Publisher's description
Dr Jaq Silver. Skier, scientist, international jet-setter, explosives expert. She blows things up to keep people safe. 
Working on avalanche control in Slovenia, Jaq stumbles across a problem with a consignment of explosives. After raising a complaint with the supplier, a multinational chemical company, her evidence disappears. Jaq is warned, threatened, accused of professional incompetence and suspended. Taking her complaint further, she narrowly escapes death only to be framed for murder. Escaping from police custody, she sets out to find the key to the mystery.
Racing between the snowy slopes of Slovenia and the ghostly ruins of Chernobyl, can she uncover the truth before her time runs out?

The Chemical Detective was published by Point Blank, an imprint of Oneworld, in hardback on 4 April 2019.


Look out for more BEST OF CRIME features coming soon.

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