AUTHOR IN THE SPOTLIGHT - Mel Sherratt

I am delighted that MEL SHERRATT is joining me on my blog today. Mel's latest book - Only the Brave - was published by Thomas & Mercer on 26 May 2015. 

So Mel, what inspired you to write crime fiction in the first place?
I like writing about underdogs, often showing their good sides as well as their mean streaks – plus writing about situations that escalate out of control. I also like a sense of justice, the knowledge that either someone is caught for committing a crime or someone is getting help to move on and improve his or her life.

Where do your ideas come from?
Everywhere - a song title or lyric, a newspaper report, a TV program or a news bulletin.  A comment on social media. If I’m ever stuck for ideas for The Estate Series, for example, I can pick up a women’s magazine and find plot lines galore.

Have your personal experiences influenced your writing? And if so, how?
I think every writer’s personal experience influences their writing. One of the main themes in a lot of my books comes from the sense of feeling abandoned. My parents divorced when I was a child and I think this stems from memories of my childhood. Also working as a housing officer for the local authority for eight years meant that I saw some terrible situations, some you would think would be fiction rather than fact. This background knowledge was a great starting point for ideas to ferment.  A writer mostly twists reality with the words ‘what if.’

Describe your writing style in 10 words or less?
Gritty, raw, emotional and passionate. And lots of short sentences.

Do you have any strange writing habits?
Erm – none that I know of.

Do you plot out the whole book before you start or just start writing and see where it leads you?
I plot a lot of it, having a vague beginning, middle and end. I create the characters and then I start writing, letting the main ones dictate to a certain extent. If I go off the original plan, I always tend to come back to the same ending.

Your books obviously involve in-depth research. What's the most interesting place you have visited for one of your books? And what's the strangest? Have you visited anywhere particularly frightening?
I don’t actually do a lot of research, except around any social issues that I might touch on, and for that, I research on the Internet or read a book on a particular subject, or a case study. I haven’t been to any strange places, as my books are either set in my hometown of Stoke-on-Trent or in a fictional town (The Estate Series).  The weirdest one was visiting the police station where my detective sergeant, Allie Shenton, is based. I could have sworn I saw her walking down the corridor towards her desk.

What do you consider to be the hardest part of your writing?
Switching off. It’s such a fascinating job - there is always something to learn, to read, to research.

Do you read? If so, who are your favourite authors?
I like crime fiction, psychological thrillers and women’s fiction (although I don’t particularly like that phrase – there’s no such thing as men’s fiction.) I have a few favourite authors whose books I read as soon as they come out, such as C L Taylor, Elizabeth Haynes, Martina Cole and Kimberley Chambers.  For women’s fiction, it’s Rowan Coleman, Lisa Jewell and Lucy Diamond. I read a lot of books to provide quotes for too. There is a mass of talent out there.

If you were writing a book about your life, what would be the title?
My editor calls me Ms Brit Grit-Lit so it would have to be something along those lines. Something like 'Everyone likes an Underdog'. Now, I’m sniggering.

What advice do you have for aspiring writers?
Advice I give to any aspiring writer is to find what is best for them. We all go on different journeys to achieve our goals – and all our goals are different. Self-publishing gave me some massive opportunities but I was hard at it for years before that. What works for one might not necessarily work for you, but keep at it. Experiment, have fun, and it will show in your work.

And lastly, why should people read your latest book?
Because Only the Brave would dare miss out…

About Mel Sherratt

Met Sherratt writes police procedurals, psychological suspense and fiction with a punch - or grit-lit, as she calls it. She has related three psychological thrillers in a series, The Estate, and Watching Over You, a dark, erotic thriller. More recently, she has made her first novel, Taunting the Dead, into the first of a series, with Follow the Leader and Only the Brave, books 2 and 3 respectively, both published this year.

Find Mel Sherratt on her official Facebook page and follow Mel on Twitter - @writermels

Only the Brave
Published by Thomas & Mercer (26 May 2015)

Synopsis: 
When one of the notorious Johnson brothers is murdered and a bag of money goes missing, a deadly game of cat and mouse is set in motion.

DS Allie Shenton and her team are called in to catch the killer, but the suspects are double-crossing each other and Allie has little time to untangle the web of lies.

As she delves deeper into the case, things take a personal turn when Allie realises she is being stalked b the very same person who attacked her sister seventeen years ago and left her for dead.

Read my review here

Only the Brave by Mel Sherratt

Only the Brave
By Mel Sherratt
Published by Thomas & Mercer (26 May 2015)
ISBN: 978-1477830628

Publisher's description
When one of the notorious Johnson brothers is murdered and a bag of money goes missing, a deadly game of cat and mouse is set in motion.

DS Allie Shenton and her team are called in to catch the killer, but the suspects are double-crossing each other and Allie has little time to untangle the web of lies.

As she delves deeper into the case, things take a personal turn when Allie realises she is being stalked by the very same person who attacked her sister 17 years ago and left her for dead.

My verdict
Only the Brave is Mel Sherratt's third DS Allie Shenton book. Although this book could be read as a standalone, I suggest reading this series in order. In Only the Brave, characters return from the previous books and the background story about Allie's past continues.

This book is about crime, dodgy dealings, deception and, ultimately, money. When a man is stabbed to death, the police begin their search for the murderer, but none of the people involved are forthcoming with their information. Meanwhile, money that the dead man was carrying has gone missing, and the rightful owner is determined to find it.

Allie Shenton is a tough cookie and always gets the results, but in Only The Brave you get to see her more vulnerable side (a nice contrast against the hard characters of the crime world). Behind the scenes, her life is in turmoil. Her sister Karen, who was left for dead in an attack 17 years earlier, is now seriously ill and Allie has a difficult decision looming. She is also receiving threats from her sister's attacker, who has suddenly appeared on the scene.

Only the Brave moves at a steady pace, with the whole story taking place over just 48 hours. I found it to be a little rushed at the very end, but comes to a satisfying conclusion. I am intrigued to see what happens to Allie next.

I received an Advance Reader Copy from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The Day We Disappeared by Lucy Robinson

The Day We Disappeared
By Lucy Robinson
Published by Michael Joseph (9 April 2015)
ISBN: 978-1405911603

Publisher's description
It's springtime in London and everything is about to change for Annie Mulholland. From the moment she meets Stephen Flint, things seem too good to be true as Annie abandons her customary cautiousness for a wild love affair.

In Somerset, Kate Brady is starting a new job. Fresh air, new faces and good old-fashioned hard work is just what she needs to put everything that happened in Dublin behind her.

But what are these two old friends hiding, and how how long can they run from the secrets of their past before they come crashing into their futures?

My verdict
The Day We Disappeared is sad, funny and keeps you guessing. It's a brilliantly written book with a clever plot, fast pace and intrigue. It's a combination of love story and psychological thriller.

There are two parallel stories - Annie in London and Kate in Somerset. The chapters alternate between the two women, each one falling for her handsome boss. Kate is clearly running away or hiding from something, but is gradually making friends and building a new life for herself. Annie has a tragic past, which is clear from the outset, but has a great network of friends to rely on and keep her focused.

It took me a couple of chapters to get into the book. It reads like chick lit, which is no bad thing, but chick lit has to be very well written to keep me reading all the way through. In this case, I was sucked into the story soon enough, with its humour, romance and suspense. Then there's the sudden twist (which I have to admit, I had already suspected but not completely sussed out).

The Day We Disappeared is an excellent choice for fans of I Let You Go by Clare Mackintosh. It's very easy to get so engrossed in the story that you forget the time - and then to shout OMG when the twist arrives.

I received an Advance Reader Copy from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

AUTHOR IN THE SPOTLIGHT - Erica James

I am delighted that ERICA JAMES is joining me on my blog today. Erica's latest book - The Dandelion Years - was published in paperback by Orion on 18 June 2015.

So Erica, what inspired you to write a book in the first place?
It was a love of reading that triggered the thought that maybe it might be rather fun to tell a story of my own. I was proved right!

Where do your ideas come from?
As with most authors, ideas come from all sorts of places and often in the most unlikely. Occasionally an idea will come to me following a conversation with somebody, it could even be something as simple as a particular word used that could set off a thought process. With The Dandelion Years, it was reading something about Bletchley Park that set me off.

Have your personal experiences influenced your writing? And if so, how?
I think I can only really write about something that has an emotional resonance for me, I need to be able to 'feel' the situation I'm going to write about, it's about empathy. Many times in my novels I've dug down deep to explore and use my own emotions; it's frequently been a very cathartic experience.

Describe your writing style in 10 words or less?
I'm a storyteller.

Do you have any strange writing habits?
Oh, where to start! My first novel was published in 1996 and ever since I've written in the same way, printing chapters off as I go along and putting them into a red file - no other colour would do. I have my 'magic' pens and pencils that nobody else is allowed to touch, I drink from 'magic' bone china mugs (again nobody else is allowed to use them) and I have everything set out on my desk in the same way for each book. Basically nothing must change or the magic will leave me. 

Do you plot out the whole book before you start or just start writing and see where it leads you?
I've never plotted a book before, I just go where the characters take me. When I started work on The Dandelion Years I had no idea I was going to write Jacob's character in the first person, but suddenly that was how he wanted his story to be told. Who was I to disagree?

What do you consider to be the hardest part of your writing?
Holding my nerve when the doubts kick in, as they always do. I've never written a book that hasn't given me cause to doubt that I'm writing a story people will want to read. I call it the Wobble Factor and there's nothing else for it but to keep going in the hope it will pass.

Do you read? If so, who are your favourite authors?
My reading taste has changed quite a bit over the years and I find that I'm reading more and more books written by men. Daniel Silva is a thriller writer I've recently discovered, but my favourite book of the year so far, and a book I'd been meaning to read for a very long time, is E.F. Benson's Mapp & Lucia. The wait was worth it; it's a gloriously funny novel.

Your latest book The Dandelion Years prompted me to visit Bletchley Park (the day after I finished your book, in fact). What's the most interesting place that you have visited for your books? And what's the strangest?
I suppose Venice and Lake Como are at the top end of the spectrum when it comes to the most interesting places to visit for my novels, but strangest… well, I can't think of anything that fits that particular bill.

If you were writing a book about your life, what would be the title?
'She Could Have Done Better'

What advice do you have for aspiring writers?
Never ever rubbish a book you've just read and claim you can do better. Nothing annoys me more than hearing the kind of arrogance from aspiring authors.

And lastly, why should people read The Dandelion Years?
Oh lawks, I'm a hopeless self-promoter, so practically the latest person to urge anyone to read anything I've written. But if you had a gun to my head, I'd say The Dandelion Years is a bargain with two stories for the price of one - Saskia's story as a book restorer in contemporary Suffolk, and Jacob's story set during WWII at Bletchley Park. How does that sound?

About Erica James

With an insatiable appetite for other people's business, Erica James will readily strike up conversation with strangers in the hope of unearthing a useful gem for her writing. She finds it the best way to write authentic characters for her novels, although her two grown-up sons claim they will never recover from a childhood spent in a perpetual state of embarrassment at their mother's compulsion. The author of many bestselling novels, including Gardens of Delight, which won the Romantic Novel of the Year Award, and her recent Sunday Times top ten bestsellers, Summer at the Lake and the The Dandelion Years, Erica now divides her time between Suffolk and Lake Como in Italy, where she strikes up conversation with unsuspecting Italians.

Find Erica James on her website and follow Erica on Twitter - @TheEricaJames


The Dandelion Years
Published in paperback by Orion (18 June 2015)

Synopsis: 
Ashcombe was the most beautiful house Saskia had every seen as a little girl. A rambling pink cottage on the edge of the Suffolk village of Melbury Green, its enchanting garden provided a fairy-tale playground of seclusion, a perfect sanctuary to hide from the tragedy which shattered her childhood.

Now as an adult, Saskia is still living at Ashcombe and as a book restorer devotes her days tending to the broken, battered books that find their way to her, daydreaming about the people who had once turned their pages. When she discovers a notebook carefully concealed in an old Bible - and realising someone has gone to a great deal of trouble to hide a story of their own - Saskia finds herself drawn into a heart-rending tale of wartime love...


The Dandelion Years is one of my favourite books of 2015 so far. Click here to read my review.

The Edge of Dark by Pamela Hartshorne

The Edge of Dark
By Pamela Hartshorne
Published by Pan Macmillan (Paperback - 12 March 2015)
ISBN: 978-1447249559

Publisher's description
Be careful what you wish for. 
Jane believes in keeping her promises, but a deathbed vow sets her on a twisting path of deceit and joy that takes her from the dark secrets of Holmwood House in York to the sign of the golden lily in London's Mincing Lane. Getting what you want, Jane discovers, comes at a price. For the child that she longed for, the child she promised to love and to keep safe, turns out to be a darker spirit than she could ever have imagined.

Over four centuries later, Roz Acclam remembers nothing of the fire that killed her family - or of the brother who set it. Trying on a beautiful Elizabethan necklace found in the newly restored Holmwood House triggers disturbing memories of the past at last - but the past Roz remembers is not her own...

My verdict
Wow, The Edge of Dark is a brilliant supernatural novel that left me all 'tingly'.

This is the story of two women: Roz in the present day and Jane in the 16th century. Roz's family died tragically in a fire in York when she was just five years old. She went to live with her aunt and, not remembering anything about the tragedy, was told that all of her family had died in a car accident.

When Roz starts working at Holmwood House in York, she hopes that some of her memories will return. But the flashbacks she experiences are not her own - she appears to be living another woman's life during these visions. Roz doesn't know whether she's being haunted by Jane or just losing her mind.

I loved the time-slip aspect of this novel. Pamela Hartshorne very cleverly switches between the two time periods, seamlessly weaving them together. The two women's stories run parallel to one another and, although they are born over 400 years apart, there are several similarities between them. I also found the historical background fascinating, reading about women's lives in Tudor times.

The Edge of Dark had been sitting in my 'To Be Read' pile for a while, and I now wish that I had picked it up earlier. It was very difficult to put down and I raced through the last few chapters to find out what happened at the end. I recommend this book to anyone who loves novels set in the Tudor period or historical fiction with a supernatural twist.

I read the hardback version, but both the hardback and paperback books have beautiful covers (which is why I have included both of them with my review).

I received an Advance Reader Copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

You, Me & People by Fionnuala Kearney

You, Me & Other People
By Fionnuala Kearney
Published by Harper Collins UK (18 June 2015)
ISBN: 978-0007593989

Publisher's description
They say every family has skeletons in their closet…

But what happens when you open the door and they won't stop tumbling out?

For Adam and Beth, the first secret wasn't the last, it was just the beginning.

You think you can imagine the worst thing that could happen to your family, but there are some secrets that change everything.

And then the question is, how can you piece together a future when your past is being rewritten?

My verdict
I loved this book from start to finish and couldn't put it down. You, Me & Other People is a thought-provoking look at the breakdown of a marriage and the costs of infidelity.  The story is filled with gentle humour as well as sadness as the story unfolds.

Fionnuala Kearney is not just a gifted storyteller but fleshes out her characters so well that they come to life. The chapters alternate between the viewpoints of Beth and Adam, which means you get to hear both sides of the story. I felt like I knew these two people personally by the end of the book. It's the little details that make them so realistic and believable - their likes and dislikes, their mannerisms etc.

At the beginning of the story, Beth finds out that her husband Adam has cheated on her for the second time. But this is only the top layer of his deception. As the story progresses, Beth's character grows and strengthens, dealing with whatever secrets are thrown her way.  Little snippets of information tease the reader and keep the story flowing. The secrets keep on coming, with layer after layer peeled away until the final reveal of all.

This is an amazing debut, and I couldn't stop thinking about it afterwards.

I received an Advance Reader Copy from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

AUTHOR IN THE SPOTLIGHT - Fredrik Backman

I am delighted that FREDRIK BACKMAN is joining me on my blog today. Fredrik's latest book - My Grandmother Sends Her Regards & Apologises - was published by Sceptre Books on 4 June 2015. 

So Fredrik, what inspired you to write a book in the first place?
I'm not really a person who gets ‘inspired’, I'm more of a person who ‘steals stuff’. A man called Ove literally started out with me standing in line at an Apple Store, behind a man in his prime years, who held an iPad in his hands and demanded to be told if this was a computer or not. The clerk, who as they always tend to be at Apple Stores was about 12 years old, couldn't quite hide his frustration. As the argument got out of hand, I stood there thinking ‘this would be a great first chapter of a novel’. So somewhere in Stockholm there is probably still a very angry man with an iPad, roaming the streets looking to hunt me down for royalties.

Where do your ideas come from?
I would say a combination of having a lot of free time and not having many friends as a child. My mother also claims it could have something to do with me eating candles when I was about four. Apparently it's bad for your brain or whatever. But I don't know where do any ideas come from? I think a lot, and I'm pretty bad at talking to people. This is my way of communicating.

Have your personal experiences influenced your writing and characters? And if so, how?
I think only a very select few writers, who are the geniuses of each generation, can write fiction that is totally separate from themselves. Most of us are, of course, not geniuses. Most of us, and me in particular, will never even come close, so we have to tell stories that are close to ourselves. We have to pour all our own trials and tribulations into each of our characters and feel everything that they felt and just do our very best to make them as real as possible. So to the question ‘if so, how?’, I answer ‘in every possible way’. Most stories are the sum of the experiences of the person trying to tell them. I can tell you a joke right now about two drunks in a boat, and tell you the same joke in 25 years. It might be a lot funnier then just because I will tell it differently when I'm 59 than when I'm 34. And you might hear it differently. Experience changes everything we do. Especially, I think, the way we tell stories.

Both of your books are funny, moving and heart-warming. What makes you laugh and what makes you cry?

Fun things and sad things. I have learned not to try to be intellectual about comedy and grief. When you laugh you laugh, when you cry you cry, I have no idea how that works but I'm pretty sure that if I don't do it when I write no one who reads it ever will either. Sometimes people ask me questions with the belief that I somehow know how to write something ‘commercially’ just because I sold a couple of books, but I really have no clue. It just so happens that a lot of the things I like are things that a couple of other people like as well. That's not really answering your question, is it? Sorry.

Describe your writing style in 10 words or less?
A writer who never uses 10 words if he can use 12.

Do you have any strange writing habits?
Before I can sit down and write each morning, I have to throw a guitar, a can of conserved pineapples and three monkeys (any sort of monkey, I'm not picky) into a volcano. It's just a thing. But other than that: Nothing at all. 

Do you plot out the whole book before you start or just start writing and see where it leads you?
Both. To ‘plot out’ is what I would call ‘thinking’. And a book is thoughts and words. I don't know how to do anything at all with just one of them. But I guess this falls in line with me not being a great writer, technically. I think there are a lot of astounding writers who possess a great language and can just sit down and jam with their sentences like a musician, but I'm not nearly as good as that. So I think a lot before I start writing. But then of course a novel takes several months or even years to finish, and if you don't have a single NEW idea during all that time you are in desperate need of a holiday. So my answer is: Both. Always both. Like a good drink it is all in the mix. And the ice. And the company.

What do you consider to be the hardest part of your writing?
Answering questions about writing. Other than that, it's the constant struggle with self-confidence. But everyone who tries to be creative of course deals with that. I don't think anyone who is altogether sure of themselves has ever produced anything really good at all. If you're totally sure of yourself, you have nothing left to prove. Doubting is almost always the first step.

Do you read? If so, who are your favourite authors?
I do, quite a bit. I think one has to, to become better at writing. Musicians have to listen to music, artists have to watch other artists’ art… It's just the way you learn. My favourite author would be Astrid Lindgren. During my childhood, her books were like puddles of mud that I could jump around in without shoes and socks on. I wouldn't be writing at all if it wasn't for her.

If you were writing a book about your life, what would be the title?
'This is gonna take a while'

What advice do you have for aspiring writers?
Write. Then you're not ‘aspiring’ anymore and that's a really good first step. Other than that I don't think anyone should take my advice because I honestly don't really know what I'm doing.

And lastly, why should people read My Grandmother Sends Her Regards & Apologises?
They shouldn't. It's not very good.

About Fredrik Backman

Fredrik Backman is a Swedish blogger, columnist and author. His debut novel A Man Called Ove has been a number one bestseller across Scandinavia. It has now sold over one million copies. Fredrik's second novel, My Grandmother Sends Her Regards & Apologises, also went straight to number one in Sweden on publication in 2014.

Follow Fredrik Backman on Twitter - @Backmanland

My Grandmother Sends Her Regards & Apologises
Published by Sceptre Books (4 June 2015)

Synopsis: 
Elsa is seven years old and different. Her grandmother is seventy-seven years old and crazy. Standing-on-the-balcony-firing-paintball-guns-at-men-who-want-to-talk-about-Jesus-crazy. She is also Elsa's best, and only, friend. At night Elsa runs to her grandmother's stories, to the Land of Almost-Awake and the Kingdom of Miamas. There. everybody is different and nobody needs to be normal.

So when Elsa's grandmother dies and leaves behind a series of letters apologising to people she has hurt, it marks the beginning of Elsa's greatest adventure. Her grandmother's letters lead her to an apartment building full of drunks, monsters, attach dogs, and totally ordinary old crones - but also to the truth about fairytales and kingdoms and a grandmother like no other.

Click here to read my review.