BEST OF CRIME with Graham Minett

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 

GRAHAM MINETT

to share his BEST OF CRIME ... 

... AUTHORS

I first got into crime through the obvious US authors such as Michael Connelly, Dennis Lehane, Robert Crais, James Ellroy. Lately I’ve found new US favourites including John Hart, Neely Tucker, Ace Atkins and especially John Sandford. How he turns out two a year of such quality is beyond me. Over here my favourites would be Ian Rankin, PD James, Graham Hurley and I’m becoming more than a little enthusiastic about David Mark. 

... FILMS/MOVIES

Se7en and The Usual Suspects take some beating. The original version of Sleuth with Laurence Olivier and Michael Caine takes some beating too. 

... TV DRAMAS

So many. Breaking Bad, The Wire and The Sopranos for the US. Line of Duty, Prime Suspect, Between The Lines, Happy Valley and The Missing over here. The Bridge, Engrenages (Spiral), Braquo and The Killing from Europe. I’ll have missed out some excellent ones though. 

... FICTIONAL KILLERS

Deputy Sheriff Lou Ford in Jim Thompson’s The Killer Inside Me. Genius.

... FICTIONAL DETECTIVES

In no particular order:

• Virgil Flowers and Lucas Davenport (John Sandford)
• Harry Bosch (Michael Connelly)
• John Rebus (Ian Rankin)
• Dave Robicheaux (James Lee Burke)
• Aector McAvoy (David Mark)
• Elvis Cole and Joe Pike (Robert Crais)
• Quinn Colson (Ace Atkins)
• Kurt Wallander (Henning Mankell) 

... MURDER WEAPONS

To be honest, I’m not really interested in murder weapons. It’s more the psychology behind it that gets my attention .

    

... DEATH SCENES
A bit of a cheat here, because it’s not an actual death scene but that final shot in Se7en took my breath away when I first saw it and even now, after several times, I find the build up to the moment when Brad Pitt opens the package almost unbearably tense, especially when Morgan Freeman works out what’s going to be in there. If you’ve seen it you’ll know what I mean.

  

... BLOGS/WEBSITES
NHS Choices – if I can’t find what I need for my characters I can always check I’m doing OK personally.

... WRITING TIPS

• Act out your dialogue and check how authentic it sounds
• Respect the intelligence of the reader
• Put the reader on the street corner alongside your characters – what can they hear, smell, feel?
• Listen to as much advice as you can but only act on it if you’re convinced it’s right for you

... WRITING SNACKS

• Walnuts
• Banana
• Cereal bar
• Small pack of raisins
• Can of diet coke/pepsi

Every morning at 11

Well, wouldn’t do for us all to be the same, would it? 

About GRAHAM MINETT

Graham Minett was born in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, and lived there for 18 years before studying for a degree in Modern and Medieval Languages at Churchill College, Cambridge.
He taught for several years, first in Cheltenham and then in West Sussex before opting to go part-time and start an MA in Creative Writing at the University of Chichester. Completing the course in 2008, he gained a distinction for the dissertation under the guidance of novelist, Alison Macleod and almost immediately won the Segora Short Story Competition with On the Way Out.
Other awards soon followed, most notably his success in the 2010 Chapter One novel competition with what would eventually become the opening pages of his debut novel. He was signed up by Peter Buckman of the Ampersand Agency, who managed to secure a two-book deal with twenty7, the digital-first adult fiction imprint of Bonnier Publishing. The Hidden Legacy was published in eBook in November 2015 and paperback in August 2016. Lie in Wait was published as an ebook in August 20116 and paperback in March 2017. The One That Got Away will be published as eBook in November 2017.

Find Graham Minett on his website, FB page and on Twitter - @GJMinett

About LIE IN WAIT

Publisher's description

A man is dead. A woman is missing. And the police have already found their prime suspect...  

Owen Hall drives into a petrol station to let his passenger use the facilities. She never comes back - and what's more, it seems she never even made it inside.

When Owen raises a fuss, the police are called - and soon identify Owen himself as a possible culprit - not least because they already have him in the frame for another more sinister crime.

Owen's always been a little different, and before long others in the community are baying for his blood. But this is a case where nothing is as it seems - least of all Owen Hall...

Lie In Wait was published in paperback by Zaffre in November 2017.

Look out for more BEST OF CRIME features coming soon.

Click here to read more BEST OF CRIME features.

From News to Novels - author guest post by TM Logan

I am delighted to welcome author TM Logan to my blog today to talk about 'From News to Novels'. TM Logan's book Lies was published in e-book by Twenty7 on 17 January 2017.

From News to Novels

By TM Logan

Authors come from every kind of background. For me, it was journalism. I always knew I wanted to write, and that instinct led me to spend eight years as a newspaper reporter including a stint on a national daily in London. In many respects I think it’s a good preparation for a writer – here are a few of the ways that journalism helped me in writing my debut novel LIES.

1. Respect the reader

A constant refrain during my training was that if the reader didn’t understand what you’d written first time around, it wasn’t their fault, it was yours. In other words, the point is to communicate – to be clear – rather than try to show off. Whatever you’re writing, your words should be a bridge to connect with the reader, rather than a barrier. As the writer Amy Hempel put it: ‘Journalism taught me how to write a sentence that would make someone want to read the next one.’

2. People are going to change what you write

There’s (almost) always a better way to write what you’ve already written. When I was a reporter, it was absolutely routine for everyone’s copy to go through one or more sub-editors on its way to the page. They would tighten it, sharpen it, improve it, and come back with questions that needed answers or elements that ought to be added. This gets you used to the process of revising and copy-editing a novel – to make it the very best it can be.

3. Getting used to deadlines

This is both a blessing and a curse. I spent so long working to daily deadlines, filing three or four stories a day, that I became used to the pressure and accustomed to writing against the clock. Which is helpful when you have to meet a short writing deadline. The flipside, however, is that when the deadline stretches out for months – such as writing a 100,000-word first draft – it can be difficult to retain your focus. My solution is to have self-imposed wordcount targets, and to write every day to meet them.

4. Writing as a way to make a living

In some ways, writing is like a muscle – the more you exercise it, the more effective it becomes. Being a journalist, and in my current role in communications, there is an expectation that you will be writing every day, and this is not a bad preparation for the writer’s life. Every day you start with a blank page, and every day you fill it. Journalism showed me that I could do something I love – writing – and make a living out of it

5. ‘Write it as if it’s true'

I had quite a few weird moments as science reporter at the Daily Mail. One day I was assigned a story about strange lights in the sky that looked like alien spacecraft. Could they be visitors from another galaxy? I duly rang around various astronomers who explained to me what caused this phenomenon (not aliens, unfortunately). I told the assistant news editor the story was a dud. His response was a furrowed brow, followed by: ‘Can you write it as if it’s true?’ But it’s not true, I said again. It was one of the weirdest instructions I ever received as a journalist, but it has some merit for fiction writers. Because if you can write your story as if it’s true, as if it’s really happening to someone, somewhere, then it will feel all the more real to the reader – and that’s something I’ve tried to do with LIES.

About TM Logan

T M Logan is former Daily Mail science reporter, covering stories on new developments in a wide variety of scientific fields. He is Deputy Director of Communications at the University of Nottingham and lives in Nottinghamshire with his wife and two children.

Find TM Logan on Twitter - @TMLoganAuthor

About Lies

Lies

By TM Logan

Published by Twenty7 (E-book out now; Paperback in May 2017)

ISBN: 978-1785770555

Publisher's description

When Joe Lynch stumbles across his wife driving into a hotel car park while she's supposed to be at work, he's intrigued enough to follow her in.

And when he witnesses her in an angry altercation with family friend Ben, he knows he ought to intervene.

But just as the confrontation between the two men turns violent, and Ben is knocked unconscious, Joe's young son has an asthma attack - and Joe must flee in order to help him.

When he returns, desperate to make sure Ben is OK, Joe is horrified to find that Ben has disappeared.

And that's when Joe receives the first message . . .

You can buy Lies here.

Cut to the Bone by Alex Caan

Cut to the Bone
By Alex Caan
Published by Twenty7 (E-book - out now; Paperback - 3 November 2016)
ISBN: 978-1785770500

Publisher's description

Ruby is a vlogger, a rising star of YouTube and a heroine to millions of teenage girls. And she's missing. She's an adult - nothing to worry about, surely? Until the video's uploaded. Ruby, in the dirt and pleading for her life.

Who better to head up the investigation than the Met's rising star, Detective Inspector Kate Riley? She's leading a shiny new team, high-powered, mostly female and with the best resources money can buy. It's time for them to prove what they can do. Alongside her, Detective Sergeant Zain Harris - poster boy for multiracial policing and the team's newest member - has his own unique contribution to make. But can Kate wholly trust him and when he's around, can she trust herself?

Ruby's millions of fans are hysterical about what may have happened to her. The press is having a field day and as the investigation hurtles out of control in the glare of publicity, it becomes clear that the world of YouTube vloggers and social media is much, much darker than anyone could have imagined in their worst nightmares.

And the videos keep coming . . .

My verdict
Alex Caan is certainly an author in keeping up with modern times, creating a dark crime thriller about the vlogging community. When YouTube star Ruby Day goes missing, no one is that worried - until a video shows what seem to be her final moments. Cut to the Bone is a dark and intriguing read.

Vlogging is a subject I know little about, even though I have two teenage boys, so Cut to the Bone was a fascinating read. There's a lot of technical information to digest - but the chapters are concise to take this into account - and I certainly learnt a lot. I particularly love the London setting with familiar places and landmarks.

Both of the main police characters - DI Kate Riley and DS Zain Harris - have their own dark pasts to contend with. Can they be trusted? Can they trust each other? Should they trust each other? Cut to the Bone had various threads that tied up at the end, but also left the story geared up for a sequel - does this mean we will discover more about Kate and Zain's pasts in the next book? I look forward to finding out.

I received an Advance Reader Copy.

Tall Oaks by Chris Whitaker

Tall Oaks
By Chris Whitaker
Published by twenty7 (e-book - 7 April 2016; Paperback - 8 September 2016)
ISBN:  978-1785770302

Publisher's description

Everyone has a secret in Tall Oaks . . .

When three-year-old Harry goes missing, the whole of America turns its attention to one small town.

Everyone is eager to help. Everyone is a suspect.

Desperate mother Jess, whose grief is driving her to extreme measures.

Newcomer Jared, with an easy charm and a string of broken hearts in his wake.

Photographer Jerry, who's determined to break away from his controlling mother once and for all.

And, investigating them all, a police chief with a hidden obsession of his own . . .

My verdict
Tall Oaks isn't a crime novel, as such, although a boy's disappearance is at the heart of the book. It's far more than 'who' or 'how' or 'why'. It's a study of small town America, where nothing much usually happens, until a little boy goes missing.

As mentioned by other reviewers, Tall Oaks is ideal for fans of Twin Peaks. It reads like a series of intertwined short stories featuring a whole host of diverse, larger than life characters.  It's a dark, intriguing and humorous mystery, with vivid descriptions, sharp dialogue and a gripping plot.

This isn't a fast paced read, but it's certainly not a boring one! Everyone is a suspect but, without any clues, local police chief has no idea what's happened to three-year-old Harry. Everyone is also VERY keen to help him - many are over-keen - and it's clear that there are secrets, lies and strange behaviour bubbling underneath each characters' many layers.

There were several twists and turns, including a few OMG moments that kept me on the edge of my seat. But it's really everything going on in the background, how easily you get caught up in people's lives and the reading between the lines that makes this a book to remember.

Before I end my review, I have to mention that 'Manny rocks' - he's definitely my favourite character in Tall Oaks!