BEST OF CRIME with Louise Beech

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 

LOUISE BEECH

to share her BEST OF CRIME ... 

... AUTHORS
In The Cut by Susanna Moore is a phenomenal book. It doesn’t shy away from dark and taboo topics, yet is stunningly, achingly beautiful. The prose is to die for. (ha!) It’s one I read regularly because it makes me happy to have eyes, makes me strive to be a better writer, and blows my mind.

... FILMS/MOVIES
Gone Baby Gone is a very under-rated but fantastic film. It came out in 2007, right around the time Madelaine McCann went missing, and so I think (due to the subject matter) it didn’t have the full/wide release intended/deserved. It’s a cracking story with a twist you really don’t see coming.

... TV DRAMAS
The darker the better for me, so I loved The Fall, Luther, and The Shield. God, The Shield had the best final few episodes of a series I had ever seen. I needed therapy to get over it.

... FICTIONAL KILLERS
I’m a little bit in love with Dr Hannibal Lecter. Who could not love a man who won’t tolerate rudeness? A man who can draw beautifully, is super intelligent, and won’t kill you if you extend him a little courtesy? 

... FICTIONAL DETECTIVES
Jane Tennison from Prime Suspect. The character is so under-stated, so perfectly played by Helen Mirren, and so absolutely real that you forget you’re watching fiction. (Columbo is a close top favourite, but that’s for privately sexual reasons...)

... MURDER WEAPONS
I love an unusual object. Like when Roald Dahl had a character kill someone with a lamb joint, then cook it and eat it. Once defrosted, none of the police could figure out what the weapon had been. Thomas Enger ‘did it’ with an icicle. And wasn’t there a film (can’t recall which?) where a woman killed men with sex? I’m trying to come up with something unusual for book five. Maybe an egg whisk? Lawnmower? Watch this space...

    

... DEATH SCENES
Just about every death scene in the film Seven has stayed with me since the first time I saw it back in 1995. Who can imagine being forced to eat until your stomach explodes? Having to eat your own flesh? Being starved for a year until you eat your own tongue? It’s not for the faint of heart. So, it was definitely for me.

  

... BLOGS/WEBSITES
There aren't any specific websites I use. I just tend to google the topic I'm interested and see where it takes me. Trust me... I've been places.... Also, I use my own experiences...

... WRITING TIPS
Your voice is all you have that’s really you. We all have the words, the grammar, some ability. But only you can write the way your heart dictates you should.

... WRITING SNACKS
I’m limiting those these days. When I’m being a good girl I drink lemon in boiled water. But when I’m bad... biscuits. Or boiled brain with a side of relish....

About LOUISE BEECH

Louise Beech has always been haunted by the sea, and regularly writes travel pieces for the Hull Daily Mail, where she was a columnist for ten years. Her short fiction has won the Glass Woman Prize, the Eric Hoffer Award for Prose, and the Aesthetica Creative Works competition, as well as shortlisting for the Bridport Prize twice and being published in a variety of UK magazines. Louise lives with her husband and children on the outskirts of Hull – the UK’s 2017 City of Culture – and loves her job as a Front of House Usher at Hull Truck Theatre, where her first play was performed in 2012. She is also part of the Mums’ Army on Lizzie and Carl’s BBC Radio Humberside Breakfast Show.

Find Louise Beech on her website and on Twitter - @LouiseWriter

About THE MOUNTAIN IN MY SHOE

Publisher's description

On the night Bernadette finally has the courage to tell her domineering husband that she's leaving, he doesn't come home. Neither does Conor, the little boy she's befriended for the past five years. Also missing is his lifebook, the only thing that holds the answers. With the help of Conor's foster mum, Bernadette must face her own past, her husband's secrets and a future she never dared imagine in order to find them all.

The Mountain in my Shoe was published by Orenda Books on 30 September 2016.

Look out for more BEST OF CRIME features coming soon.

Click here to read more BEST OF CRIME features.

Crime Writing Podcast Special

I have to be honest... Until recently, I'd never listened to a podcast. It had never even crossed my mind to check any out. I had a podcast app on my phone and iPad that had remained unopened. I'd even hidden it from view.

So what changed?
Firstly, I heard about the Two Crime Writers And A Microphone podcasts, featuring Steve Cavanagh and Luca Veste plus some of their blogger and author pals. And secondly, I read Six Stories by Matt Wesolowski, which is published by Orenda Books. Both opened up my eyes to a whole new world - that of conversation, discussion, learning and enjoyment.

I tend to listen to podcasts while I'm doing something mundane like ironing (although I don't do that as often as I should) or driving. Occasionally I listen to them when I'm out for a walk. I need to be able to concentrate so I can't have them on in the background while I'm working, reading or writing.

Which podcasts have I been listening to?

I've already mentioned Two Crime Writers And a Microphone. I have to admit I'm very behind as each one is around two hours long and I don't always have that time to spare. But they're great fun and definitely worth listening to, tackling topical issues and great discussions.
You can find out more here.

I've become addicted to The Honest Authors podcast by Gilly McAllister and Holly Seddon. I love these as they're shorter (around 40 to 60 minutes) and the easiest to slot into my day. These offer what they say on the tin. An honest account of what it means to be an author, from the pathway to publication to dealing with edits and publicity. I'm up to date and can't wait for the next one.
You can find out more here.

I've also started listening to The Bestseller Experiment - with author and screenwriter Mark Stay and 'future author' Mark Delvaux. Their plan is to write and publish a bestseller together within one year. During their writing journey, they speak to authors, publishers and agents about the 'business' of writing bestselling books. I still have a long way to catch upon these podcasts and probably won't have done so by the time the series has finished.
You can find out more here.

Plus I'm still searching for other podcasts that interest me. So far, I've found a true crime one (Crime Bites) and some other writing ones, including The Creative Penn. The list is endless, although sadly my time isn't.

Six Stories by Matt Wesolowski

Finally, about Six Stories, which set me on the podcast path. It was published in e-book in December 2016 and in paperback in March 2017. It's since been chosen for the WHSmith Fresh Talent Spring 2017 and I'm sure there are plenty more awards and success stories to come. It's marketed as perfect for fans of 'Serial' - yet another series of podcasts I need to listen to.

I was one of the first readers of Six Stories, thanks to the very lovely Karen Sullivan at Orenda Books. I knew straight away that this book would be a success.

If you haven't read my full review, you'll find it here. But here's a brief taster:

'Six Stories is unlike anything else I've read. It's current, fresh and skillfully delivered … An eerie spine-tingling read. It's unpredictable and chilling and kept me guessing all the way through. I don't scare easily, but certainly found this book unsettling … Everyone will want to read this book - and should!' 

I bought the audiobook, with its full cast of 17 narrators. Six Stories doesn't just read like a real podcast but it sounds like one too. This book was written to be read out loud!

Can you recommend any podcasts?

From Helping Fight Crime to Helping Write Crime - Stuart Gibbons

I would like to welcome Stuart Gibbon to my blog today. Stuart is a former policer officer who now advises writers on police actions and procedures. You can find out more by visiting Stuart's website - http://www.gibconsultancy.co.uk

From Helping Fight Crime to Helping Write Crime

by Stuart Gibbon

My name is Stuart Gibbon and I'm a former police officer who served for 30 years in London and the East Midlands before retiring from the police service in 2012. A large part of my career was spent as a Detective in Major Crime. As a Detective Chief Inspector (DCI) I was in charge of Murder and other serious crime investigations. As such, I have considerable experience in the way police investigate crime and other police-related issues.

On leaving the police service I decided to set up my own business, GIB Consultancy www.gibconsultancy.co.uk. I now help writers by giving advice on police actions and procedures. It can be anything from how a missing person is investigated or how forensic evidence works to how the police would go about solving a Murder.

Writers generally contact me via e-mail through my website and either send me a list of questions which they would like answering or send me a draft of the police procedural element of their work for fact-checking.

Although most of my work comes from crime writers, I sometimes get enquiries from writers of other genres who may want to include a police-related topic in their book. My first written acknowledgement came courtesy of Tammy Cohen, after I provided advice for the thriller 'Dying for Christmas'. More recently I've been helping C.L. Taylor with advice for 'The Missing' (released in April nd a massive hit!!) and her fourth thriller currently being written. I was originally contacted by Cally back in November 2014 and continue to help as and when required. It's great to see the advice and information you have given to authors actually appearing in the published version.

I've helped writers with many different topics from the role of the Coroner in suspicious deaths, how the police promotion system works to forensic procedures and Court sentencing guidelines. One of the most interesting was explaining how the police would deal with a person in prison who had confessed to a serious crime (you may recognise this if you've read 'The Missing', if you haven't keep an eye out for it!!!)

I also talk with Writing Groups on the subject of 'Murder investigation' and have a couple of national conferences booked for later this year as a speaker. I take the audience through a Murder case (using a generic case study) from discovery of a body to the arrest and detention of a suspect, explaining the challenges facing Detectives in such cases.   

My new career is every bit as interesting and rewarding as my old one and it's great to contribute towards the hard work that goes into writing a book. If any writers need help with police procedural or investigative processes I can be contacted via my website www.gibconsultancy.co.uk whether you just have the odd question or require more detailed advice.