Tuesday 23 July 2019

BEST OF CRIME with Paul Burston

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 

PAUL BURSTON


to share his BEST OF CRIME ...




... AUTHORS
Alex Marwood. The Wicked Girls was an astonishing debut, and she continues to go from strength to strength. I’ve read an advance copy of her new novel The Poison Garden and I honestly think it’s her best yet. 


... FILMS/MOVIES
The Talented Mr Ripley. Casting wholesome as apple pie Matt Damon as Highsmith’s sexually ambiguous, morally bankrupt antihero was a stroke of genius. It’s a beautiful film and Damon succeeds in making us root for Ripley even when he’s at his most diabolical. 


... TV DRAMAS
Happy Valley. Everything about it is perfect - the writing, the direction, the performances. Sarah Lancashire can do no wrong in my book. And Sally Lindsay is superb. 


... FICTIONAL KILLERS
Dexter Morgan. I love the Dexter novels and TV series. He’s such a morally complex character - a serial killer who derives sadistic pleasure from what he does but who also works as a crime scene investigator and only targets other killers. The relationship between Dexter and his detective sister Deb invites us to see another side to him - the little boy lost who grew up to be a cold, calculating killer.


... FICTIONAL DETECTIVES 
Marnie Rome, heroine of Sarah Hilary’s brilliant series. Another deeply complex character with a compelling back story. And I love the interplay between Marnie and her gay, black sidekick Noah Jakes. They’re a great pairing - both outsiders with emotional baggage, both trying to make the world a better place.


... MURDER WEAPONS
I think there’s more horror in the  mundane - a blow to the head with a golf club or a tin of beans, an electric appliance tossed into the bathtub. There’s an episode of Columbo where a murder is committed with an electric food mixer. 


... DEATH SCENE
The scene in Brian De Palma’s Carrie where Piper Laurie is killed with a variety of knives and a potato peeler and the gift of telekinesis. This scene doesn’t appear in Stephen King’s book. There Carrie kills her mother by making her heart stop. The film version is more spectacular and hugely satisfying. 


... BLOGS/WEBSITES
I spend a lot of time on social media. Facebook for more civilised discussions and Twitter for observing people at their worst. Some of the spats I witness on Twitter make me despair. And some inspire me to write! 


... WRITING TIPS
When you’re going through writing hell, keep going. It’s much easier to fix pages of bad writing than it is to turn a blank screen into perfect prose. Get the words down first. Fix them later. 


... WRITING SNACKS
I try to avoid snacks but I have been known to inhale family-size bags of dry roasted peanuts. 


About PAUL BURSTON
Paul Burston is the author of five novels and the editor of two short story collections. His most recent novel, The Black Path, was a WHSmith bestseller. His first novel, Shameless, was shortlisted for the State of Britain Award. His third novel, Lovers & Losers was shortlisted for a Stonewall Award. His fourth, The Gay Divorcee, was optioned for television. He was a founding editor of Attitudemagazine and has written for many publications including Guardian, Independent, Time Out, The Times and Sunday Times. In March 2016, he was featured in the British Council’s #FiveFilms4Freedom Global List 2016, celebrating “33 visionary people who are promoting freedom, equality and LGBT rights around the world”.He is the founder and host of London’s award-winning LGBT+ literary salon Polari and founder and chair of The Polari First Book Prize for new writing and the newly announced Polari Prize.

Find Paul Burston on his website and on Twitter - @PaulBurston


About THE CLOSER I GET




Publisher's description
Tom is a successful author, but he’s struggling to finish his novel. His main distraction is an online admirer, Evie, who simply won’t leave him alone.
Evie is smart, well read and unstable; she lives with her father and her social-media friendships are not only her escape, but everything she has.
When she’s hit with a restraining order, her world is turned upside down, and Tom is free to live his life again, to concentrate on writing.
But things aren’t really adding up. For Tom is distracted but also addicted to his online relationships, and when they take a darker, more menacing turn, he feels powerless to change things. Because maybe he needs Evie more than he’s letting on.

Read a snippet from my review:
"The Closer I Get by Paul Burston is a dark tale of obsession and a chilling reminder that while social media can be a brilliant and beneficial forum, it can also be highly dangerous ... This book is thought-provoking and frighteningly plausible."

Read my full review here.

The Closer I Get was published by Orenda Books on 11 July 2019.


Look out for more BEST OF CRIME features coming soon.

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