Book Review & Author Q&A: Lie Beside Me by Gytha Lodge

Someone killed a man last night... and it might have been you.

Louise wakes up. Her head aches, her mouth is dry, her memory is fuzzy. But she suspects she's done something bad. She rolls over towards her husband, Niall. The man who, until recently, made her feel loved. But it's not Niall who's lying beside her. In fact, she's never seen this man before. And he's not breathing... 

As Louise desperately struggles to piece her memories back together, it's clear to Detective Jonah Sheens and his team that she is their prime suspect - though they soon find she's not the only one with something to hide. Did she do it? And, if not, can they catch the real killer before they strike again?

Full disclosure: I loved this book so much. I must admit, I haven't read any others in the series (but I do have one on my shelf!) so I'm reading them out of sequence. I don't think it matters. This reads perfectly as a standalone but has made me keen to read the rest. A good sign, don't you think?

As you can see from the summary above, the hook for this addictive book is immense. It captured my attention immediately, making me desperate to find out who the dead man is in Louise's bed. Reader, I could not put this book down! 

The narrative style of this thriller is brilliant. Louise, the prime suspect, tells the story of what really happened in alternating chapters, running parallel to the police investigation, addressing her husband in a letter. The only problem is, she doesn't remember a great deal. Drunk Louise was in charge that night... and she's unpredictable. She can't control herself. Bit by bit, you're drip-fed more and more information to help you piece together the mystery. And my god it's mysterious. Who murdered the man in her blood-soaked bed?

You also get a look into the personal lives of the detectives, an element which I really enjoyed. As the focus switches from character to character, it builds the pace brilliantly. With DCI Sheen heading up the investigation, we also follow the story of DS Ben Lightman, Domnall O'Malley and DC Juliette Hansen. Juliette was a character who interested me greatly. While she's focusing her efforts on this challenging investigation, her abusive ex-partner Damian refuses to leave her alone, intent on destroying her life. 

I love Gytha's writing style. It's compelling, dripping with suspense and packed full of drama. The plot is exciting, clever and feels thoroughly researched, and the characterisation is second to none, with an authenticity that brings each character to life. I'm so convinced you'll love it too!

Ready to meet the author? Gytha joins me on the blog today to discuss his latest launch.

Welcome to the blog, Gytha! I'm excited to be part of the blog tour for such an exciting book... I love the hook for Lie Beside Me. Can you tell me what sparked the idea for it?

So glad you like it! It's definitely my favourite hook so far. I think I'm a little boring at how I come up with ideas - in that I basically sit in a chair and go, "Right, that's that book done. Now I need a concept for the next one." 

With Lie Beside Me, I'd actually had a totally different idea that I wasn't happy with. So when it came to starting to write, I just thought, "I need something better. Something that will give me chills to think of." And as I often do, I hunted for some kind of experience that was spine-tingling. Hopefully to readers as well as to me. 

There was perhaps some background thought for the idea. I wrote a play in 2004 about someone finding themselves in a police interview room with no memory of the events they were being questioned about thanks to alcohol. It was an idea that really appealed to me then and still appeals to me now. I know I've had a night or two in my life where I've woken up and been horrified at what I might have done. For Louise, it's just a lot worse because what she might have done includes murder.

I love hearing how ideas come to writers! And this one is truly chilling.

What was your favourite scene in this book to write? On the flip side, what was the most difficult to write? 

I loved writing the opening scene. I am a huge fan of really gasp-worthy openings. But there's also a scene later on in the book when a whole lot of memories suddenly rush back to Louise, and I found it profoundly satisfying for her - and us - to finally understand part of the puzzle. 

Me too! As a reader, I can say it was VERY satisfying. On the subject of Louse, she is quite a character! Do your characters tend to take you on an unexpected path, or do they behave themselves and stick to your plot? 

Ha, they're total tearaways! I often plot quite extensively and then end up going in a hugely different direction because it becomes clear to me that the characters want something else. I think that's part of the fun of writing, as well as one of its challenges. 

Characters can be such nuisances! Which of your characters would you enjoy being stuck in a lift with and why? 

Ooh, interesting. I think most of my detectives would be good company in one way or another. Hanson and O'Malley would be great banter. Jonah would be great at working out how to get out. And I think a good length of time to try to figure out what's going on beneath the surface with Lightman would be good, too!

Are there any actors you can imagine playing the characters if this were to be adapted for TV or film? 

I love thinking about this. They definitely look, in my head, nothing like any actors I know. But it's really good fun to cast the characters. Because John Hopkins did an amazing job with the audiobook, I'd be intrigued to see him playing Jonah. And I'd love Jodie Comer to bring Hanson to brilliant life. 

All great choices! 

Will there be more from you in the DCI Sheen series? If so, can you give us some sneaky details? 

Yes, Jonah Sheens and his team will be back for more next year and the year after if all goes to plan - and to be honest, from my perspective, for many years after that 😉 I just hope I keep being allowed to write them!

The team has a really strange, challenging and unsettling case to come in the next instalment. But they also have their own issues to deal with, some of which become evident in Lie Beside Me. It's so satisfying to thread the team's own lives through as the books progress. At times some come more to the fore than others but they will all have their time. And it's great to build relationships between them, too.

Very excited to hear there will be more in the series - I love it when I find a series I can get stuck into. 

Do you find inspiration in real-life events or news stories, or does it all come from your head? 

I think it's absolutely fed by real-life events, interactions and people - but when coming up with stories, I tend not to consciously base it on one particular thing. Perhaps it's to do with liking the illusion of true originality! But without question, everything feeds in somewhere. 

The past year has been interesting, to say the least. Has the pandemic changed your approach to writing? Has it made it more difficult, or easier? 

It's been a strange old year, hasn't it? I've had to change my approach thanks to being a real coffee-shop writer, and thanks to having a 10-year-old boy at home with me. Homeschooling got a lot better as the school adapted, but there was a while where it inevitably took a lot of input, and being my son's friend, psychologist, teacher and mum all at once (with side roles as his cleaner and his cook) was definitely hard. 

I had to get a lot better at being ok with staying in, and with getting my day started without any of the usual routines or cues. I would put exercise in at different times - having formerly always done the bike ride to school and then a run into the city to find a coffee shop - and have spent more time working in the evenings to make up for interrupted days. 

I think I'm lucky to really love the job I do. It's made it all so much easier. Because as much as I might gripe about deadlines from time to time, I love to write and edit at every stage of a book, and that has also definitely kept me sane!

I can't imagine what it must be like trying to write a book during a pandemic and be a mum at the same time!

What was the first thing you ever wrote? (I'm hoping it's something embarrassing from when you were a kid...) 

Oh, I don't know what the first thing ever was - I remember my mum talking to my teacher when I was 7 and her saying that I didn't write stories - I wrote novels. Ha! 

The first full-length book I wrote was a terribly over-written thriller called Retribution set in America. I wrote it at 14, mostly in the back of history classes, and then I rewrote it later to set it in the UK and sent it to an editor, with full belief that it was BRILLIANT. I was lucky enough to pick a really lovely editor who rang me up to be super encouraging but to tell me the things I needed to change, and it was both incredible and humbling. It made me realise that writing was a real job of work, like so many other things, and involved learning all the skills over time. An attitude I have never lost. 

How amazing they took the time to give you feedback - it must have been so encouraging.

What book are you most looking forward to this year? 

I hate having to choose just one! Hahaha! I've been hugely excited for the new Elizabeth Knox title, The Absolute Book, and we're actually launch day buddies here in the UK! 

Thrillers-wise, there are so many, but Gillian McAllister's That Night looks just terrific and I always snap everything of hers up. 

I've also recently read utterly brilliant proofs by Erin Kelly and Jane Casey, so look out for those!

Oh my goodness, I'm a huge fan of both Jane Casey and Gillian McAllister (and Erin Kelly is on my list of authors to check out!). I'm so jealous you've read the proof copies. 

What's the best writing advice you ever received… and the worst? 

It's strange that I can never pick out a single eye-opener when it comes to advice. I've had so much gentle, brilliant advice that has trickled through from my wonderful agent, Felicity Blunt, and from my editor at Penguin, Joel Richardson. They are both really great at asking key questions and I learn so much with each and every book.  

That said, I think the advice that turned around my career came from the marvellous Michael Lengsfield at UEA. He was teaching us adaptation that term, and we were all trying our hands at adapting a book into a script. During it, we all had to write a synopsis as if we were pitching our script, and he went through my synopsis and said, "No. We don't want a series of plot points. We want the STORY." And in making me think about what made it a story, he totally changed my way of thinking about everything I wrote.

The worst advice would probably be in script feedback I once had. I had a character saying, in a slightly obnoxious attempt at a joke, that, "Oh, Nick works in a call centre, so he's not the brightest," and the person giving feedback actually wrote, "Not all people who work in call centres are stupid." And I just wanted to shake them for the extraordinary bad teaching involved in that. He was basically saying that we should only write characters who say NICE things or things that WE think. Which I thought about the most reductive idea I'd ever heard. 

I totally agree! Wouldn't it be boring if all our characters agreed with us?

What's your dream writing setup – snacks, drink, music, location? 

The coffee shop in a Waterstones book shop. I love my Cambridge one. It's just the best possible writing space. There is the wonderfulness of being surrounded by books, the fact they get the temperature right, the fact that most people there are kindred book-loving spirits, and the fact that they do amazing snacks. Including crumble cakes, which are the best thing ever. 

This has now become my enduring fantasy for the last year, as I've been denied my favourite place for all that time. I absolutely cannot wait to get back there, vaccinated and with the shop open again, spending half my salary on lattes and black earl grey tea. 

That would be the DREAM right now.

Thanks so much for joining me today, Gytha! I really can't wait to read more from this series.

This tense, riveting thriller is out tomorrow in hardback, audiobook and ebook. Grab a copy from your favourite bookshop... I'm 100% sure you won't regret it!

Roxie

@RoxieAdelleKey

About the author

Gytha Lodge is a writer and multi-award-winning playwright who lives in Cambridge. After seven years spent as a successful playwright, she studied creative writing at UEA and was shortlisted for the Yeovil Literary Prize and the Arts' Council England fiction awards. She also developed a large online following, with over seven million reads accrued on platform Wattpad. Her first novel, She Lies in Wait, was a Richard and Judy Book Club pick and a Sunday Times bestseller. Lie Beside Me is her third novel. 

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Montague Island Books with Chris McDonald

Montague Island is a fictional island off the coast of Cumbria that was created by M.W. Craven for his book The Curator. Bookends Book Club invite one author and one reader each week to do a desert island discs style session but with a book-themed twist. 

Chris McDonald and I were invited to choose our favourite 7 books, an album, a film, a meal and of course, a luxury item each to take on the island with us. 

Find out all about Chris's latest book launches, why he cries at musicals, who's going to be cooking our daily roast dinner and a little bit about my current work in progress. This was a really fun session with lots of laughs, and we hope you enjoy it! There are lots more sessions to come, so please join Bookends Book Club or visit Montague Island Books on Facebook to find out more.

Roxie

@RoxieAdelleKey

Audiobook Review and Author Q&A: Far from the Tree by Rob Parker

Brendan Foley has worked to balance the responsibilities of a demanding job and a troublesome family. He’s managed to keep these two worlds separate, until the discovery of a mass grave sends them into a headlong collision. When one of the dead turns out to be a familiar face, he’s taken off the case. 

Iona Madison keeps everything under control. She works hard as a detective sergeant and trains harder as a boxer. But when her superior, DI Foley, is removed from the case, her certainties are tested like never before. 

With stories of the Warrington 27 plastered over the news, they set out to solve the crime before anyone else. The local constabulary is small and under-funded – Brendan knows they can’t crack this case alone, and he’s not letting a rival force take over. Not with the secrets he fears are lurking. Their investigations lead them into the murky underworlds of Manchester and Liverpool, where one more murder means little to drug-dealing gangs, desperate to control their power bases. 

But as Madison steps into the ring for the fight of her life, the criminals come to them. It’s no coincidence that the corpses have been buried in Foley’s hometown. The question is, why? Foley might not like the answer…

Readers, I'm so, so excited to share this audiobook with you today. This is actually the first audiobook I've ever listened to and now I'm wondering how I ever lived without them. I knew it was a good one when I realised I'd barely listened to music since starting this. 

Far From The Tree by Rob Parker is nine hours of pure edge-of-your-seat, keep-you-up-at-night drama. A pacey, twisty police procedural with an immense hook from the very first chapter: 27 bodies discovered in a mass grave.

For me, character is the most important element of a book. Without those complex, leap-off-the-page characters you can really connect with, who really cares what happens to them? But I really cared about Detective Inspector Brendan Foley and Detective Sergeant Iona Madison. 

Brendan is the kind of man I'd want on my side. He's brave and determined, and a huge risk-taker who will do anything for those he loves. When the case gets a little to close to home, he throws himself full-pelt at it, doing everything he can to get to the bottom of it at all costs.

Iona on the other hand, is the kind of woman I want to be. She is such a strong character with so much passion and drive. She's bloody fantastic at her job as well as the boxing that she competes in - an element of her story that I adore. In fact, I can't stop thinking about her, and I really hope she features in the rest of the series. Massive applause to Rob for writing such a brilliant female character. 

Set in Rob's hometown of Warrington, Lancashire, his superbly vivid prose was brought to life by Warrington-born Warren Brown, who was the perfect choice of narrator. The energy and passion he brought to the performance made it so enjoyable and absorbing, and made it feel terrifyingly real. 

Far From The Tree is full of different threads that are woven together with masterful plotting. Prepare to be taken to some very dark places indeed, and brace yourself for shocking reveals you could never imagine. I loved the structure, which swings like a pendulum between a handful of characters, divulging nuggets of information to build the puzzle, layer by layer, from different angles. It worked so well. 

I must admit, I was so emotionally invested in the story and characters that I found myself gasping and shouting out loud in the car (you'll know the bit I'm talking about when you get to it) and crying my eyes out when it was over. 

Guys, if that's not enough for you, check out the below video for a Q&A with the author himself, where we discuss all sorts including THAT ending, writing awesome female characters, Yorkshire dinosaur hunters and the opinions of mums.

This tense, gritty thriller is out now on Audible, with the paperback release coming July 2021, waiting patiently for your pre-order. 

Roxie

@RoxieAdelleKey

About the author

Rob Parker is a married father of three, who lives in Warrington, UK. The author of the Ben Bracken thrillers, Crook’s Hollow and the #1 Audible bestseller Far From The Tree, he enjoys a rural life, writing horrible things between school runs. Rob writes full time, attends various author events across the UK, and boxes regularly for charity. He spends a lot of time in schools across the North, encouraging literacy, story-telling and creative-writing, and somehow squeezes in time to co-host the For Your Reconsideration film podcast, appear regularly on The Blood Brothers crime podcast, and is a member of the Northern Crime Syndicate.

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Book Review and Q&A: The Stolen Sisters by Louise Jensen

Three little girls missing.

One family torn apart.

The press called them the Stolen Sisters.

Twenty years on from their abduction, a dark truth threatens once more.

Welcome to my stop on the blog tour for Louise Jensen's The Stolen Sisters! A huge thank you to HQ for inviting me to be part of the tour, and for a copy of the book in exchange for my honest, unbiased opinion. 

When I read The Family by the lovely Louise Jensen last year, I was blown away. It made my top 10 books of 2019 list, and I honestly wondered how she was going to top it. But she's done it again.

The Stolen Sisters is a gripping and wonderfully-written psychological thriller that tells the heartbreaking tale of the Sinclair sisters, Carly, Marie and Leah, who were kidnapped twenty years ago and locked up in a terrifying, filthy room in a derelict RAF site. The mystery is not about how they manage to escape, because what happens after is so much worse.

We meet them as adults. Physically, they're doing fine. Mentally? That's a whole other story. The Stolen Sisters delves deeply into how people cope with trauma. And with Carly's extreme trust issues, Leah's battle with contamination OCD and Marie's struggles with addiction, they are definitely not coping with the trauma. As the twentieth anniversary of the kidnapping looms ever closer, a catastrophic chain of events unfolds and sends the reader rocketing towards a series of twists and turns that are as unpredictable as they are clever. 

Told from multiple perspectives and two different timelines, you'll climb right inside the head of each sister and you'll be thinking about them long after you turn the last page. I absolutely adore Louise's style of writing, how she writes about such harrowing, terrifying things with prose that is drenched in beauty, and constructed with such strong imagery. 

Be warned: you'll fall victim to the 'just-one-more-chapter' trap. Louise is the master of foreshadowing, leaving you hanging on by a fingertip as she ends each chapter. She sends you hurtling down one road, only to whip the carpet from beneath your feet and leave your head spinning. This was an unbelievably tense read, and oh-so dark and twisty. 

Ready to meet the woman behind the masterpiece? Louise Jensen, author of 5 bestselling psychological thrillers, joins me on the blog today to discuss The Stolen Sisters.

Welcome to the blog, Louise! It's no secret that I loved The Stolen Sisters, so I'm thrilled to be part of your blog tour. This is such a terrifying story from start to finish... can you tell me what sparked the idea for it?

My son went missing from primary school, many years ago and I’ve never forgotten the utter terror of that day. The sense of helplessness and hopelessness as the police searched for him. The immense relief when he was found hours later. I’d always said, as an author, I couldn’t bear to write about missing children but the Sinclair sisters lodged themselves in my head and wouldn’t leave. The only way I could approach the story was if readers found out straight away that the girls had survived their ordeal without any abuse.

The setting for the kidnap is so scary and felt so real! Is it based on an actual place? If so, where?

It is! RAF Norwood is based on RAF Upwood in Cambridgeshire. As in the story, Upwood is being demolished to build houses on but the landowners generously invited me to have a look around. I bought the items the girls have in the book and took some very creepy photos. Here’s one:

There’s a medical condition in the book I’d never heard of, and it's fascinating. In fact, I can't believe it's a real thing! What made you want to include this in The Stolen Sisters?

My youngest son, Finley, is so curious about the world, and is always discovering new things. He found a short film on YouTube about this condition (which I can’t name because of spoilers!) and I was both intrigued and saddened. I researched it and knew I had to include it in a story.

What was your favourite scene in The Stolen Sisters to write? On the flip side, what was the most difficult to write?

The epilogue was both my favourite scene and also the most difficult. Each time I had to go back and edit it I cried! Partly, I think, because it’s such an emotional scene, but also because I had to say goodbye to Leah, Marie and Carly and I’d grown to love them all so much.

Have you ever written anything so terrifying you've scared even yourself?

This book! Because it brought back a lot of feelings for me it was an emotional roller-coaster to write.

Do you find inspiration in real-life events or news stories?

I rarely read or watch the news because it terrifies me but I’m certainly interested in real-life medical conditions. The Gift features cellular memory, the concept that a donor heart can store memories which can be passed along to the recipient.

The Date is centred around Prosopagnosia (face blindness). Surrogacy really interested me and inspired The Surrogate, and brainwashing in The Family. You spend such a long time writing a book you need to be interested in the subject.

You've recently launched The Life We Almost Had, under the pen name Amelia Henley, which is definitely not a thriller... how are you finding juggling two genres that are so different?

It’s been a busy few months! I’ve taken everything I’ve learned as a thriller writer, taking an unusual concept and applying suspense, cliff-hangers at the end of chapters and a few huge twists so although The Life We Almost Had is, at its core, a love story, writing it used the same principles. Having two names on social media gets a little hectic though!

2020 has been interesting, to say the least. Has lockdown changed your approach to writing? Has it made it more difficult, or easier?

Definitely harder. I’ve been launching and promoting two books, editing two books for next year while homeschooling. I haven’t written anything since March and I hugely miss it. I’ve put ‘WRITE' in my calendar for every day in November.

Can you give us any hints about your next thriller?

It’s the story of a family who are all keeping secrets. It’s by far the darkest book I’ve written so far. There’s one scene in it that actually turned my stomach!

So exciting! I can't wait to get my hands on it. Thanks so much for joining me today, Louise! 

This dark and twisty masterpiece is out now in paperback, audiobook and ebook. Grab a copy from your favourite bookshop today. 

It's unmissable. 

Roxie

@RoxieAdelleKey

About the author

Louise Jensen has sold over a million English language copies of her international no. 1 psychological thrillers The Sister, The Gift, The Surrogate, The Date and The Family. Her novels have also been translated into twenty-five languages, as well as featuring on the USA Today and Wall Street Journal bestseller’s list. Louise's sixth thriller, The Stolen Sisters was published on 1st October by Harper Collins.

The Sister was nominated for the Goodreads Debut of 2016 Award. The Date was nominated for The Guardian's 'Not The Booker' Prize 2018. The Surrogate was nominated for the best Polish thriller of 2018. The Gift has been optioned for a TV film. The Family was a Fern Britton Book Club pick. Louise was also listed for two CWA Dagger Awards.

When Louise isn’t writing thrillers, she turns her hand to penning love stories under the name Amelia Henley. Her no. 1 bestselling debut as Amelia Henley, The Life We Almost Had, is out now.

Louise lives with her husband, children, madcap dog and a rather naughty cat in Northamptonshire. She loves to hear from readers and writers.

www.louisejensen.co.uk 

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Book Review and Q&A: Noir from the Bar

Welcome to the bar. 

Whether you're after a quick shot of something strong or a cocktail to seduce the senses, you'll find something you like here. 

But don't expect it to be pretty. 

If you follow me on Twitter, you'll have probably noticed every Wednesday night my timeline is littered with Virtual Noir at the Bar chat. VNatB is a free online weekly event run by Vic Watson and Simon Bewick, where crime authors read their work via live video. Based on a physical event, the aim of this digital version was to recreate a slice of what that experience was like. 

But, as the saying goes, all good things must come to an end, and the final (for now) VNatB is on Wednesday 26th August (I'm not crying, you are). However... not only can you catch up on all the episodes here, but you can bring the bar to your own bookshelf because Vic, Simon and a whole host of VNatB readers have released Noir From The Bar, an anthology of crime fiction that's available in paperback and on Kindle. 

I finished this last week. What a collection! I love dipping into short stories during my lunch breaks and this is just perfect, as each story takes less than ten minutes to read, which gives me time to stuff my face go for a quick walk. Brimming with dark, twisty and thrilling tales, Noir From The Bar is an unputdownable collection, compiled by a smashing group of authors with talent bursting from their seams. 

There's a little bit of something for everyone, including locked room mysteries, gritty noir, cosy capers, psychological thrillers, twist-in-the-tales, revenge dramas, shocking shorts and longer dramas to savour. The theme of bars and alcohol trickles cleverly throughout each story, and what's not to love about that? With an average rating of 5 stars on Amazon, and all profits generously donated to our fabulous NHS, you'd be mad not to own a copy. I know, I know. We're all mad here. 

I caught up with Vic and Simon to find out a bit more about their joint venture... pull up a stool and grab a drink with us.

We all think you're both brilliant for doing this, but whose idea was it originally?

Vic: It’s a bit of an odd one, that. I was on my daily lockdown walk a few weeks into VNatB and I thought it would be pretty cool to put an anthology together and then told myself I was being silly. It would be an incredible amount of work and that, being mum to a ten-month-old baby was a big enough job in itself never mind running VNatB with Simon and doing an anthology. But when I got home from said walk, Simon had emailed saying “tell me if you think this is mad but what about putting a collection together?”

Simon: I’d mentioned it to Vic as a ‘shoot this down’ by-the-by comment and she said she’d been thinking along the same lines…

Vic: It seemed somewhat serendipitous!

Great minds certainly think alike! And did it become everything you hoped it would be?

Simon: When we sent out the initial query, we did so without too much expectation: perhaps a few authors might dig out some old stories we could use. The fact so many authors said yes, and actually wrote new stuff specifically for the project was more than we could have hoped for.

Vic: I was completely right in terms of it being a giant job – a job I couldn’t undertake because of my son but Simon ran, in fact flew, with it. I think what he and the writers involved achieved is beyond anything I could have imagined, especially given the time frame. 

It was a massive achievement! Pulling together an anthology in such a short amount of time is bloody impressive. How the hell did you manage it?

Vic: I feel a bit of a fraud being in this interview as Noir from the Bar was entirely Simon’s baby from conception to publication. He worked tirelessly with authors, editors and designers to pull this amazing collection together in just six weeks. 

Simon: Lockdown helped! As a freelance consultant I suddenly had a bit more time on my hands… in truth though, it was the willingness of everyone to pitch in.

Everything happened very quickly. From sending the first enquiries to authors, to receiving their stories, through Vic’s SOS for editors, all the way through to edit requests. The authors were amazed at the speed we worked at, and we reflected that amazement in their willingness to collaborate.

It would have stalled if it wasn’t for the fact we had a designer who put together multiple choices for the cover and was prepared to answer demanding requests at most hours of the day (the fact she’s married to me helped), and the brilliant Zoe Sharp, without whom it wouldn’t look anywhere near as professional as it does.

You've been a big supporter of emerging writers, both through VNatB and this anthology, and we love you for it. But have you had any 'pinch me' moments with any famous authors you've worked with? 

Vic: Well, I think anyone who watched episode 12 of VNatB will have seen how delighted and disbelieving I was to host my hero, Linwood Barclay. I felt the same when Ann Cleeves was gracious enough to join us quite early on, and Dorothy Koomson in July. It’s incredible how approachable everyone has been. We’ve been lucky that, despite working with some huge names, we haven’t encountered many egos. As a crime fiction fan, every week there have been writers on VNatB who I’ve looked up to for years. And every time, I get hideously tongue-tied and shy! 

Simon: My ‘pinch me’ moment came in late April. Up to that point we’d been using free-to-use library music for VNatB. We have an expression in the North East: ‘shy bairns get nowt’ – which could be translated as shy children don’t get anything, or, ‘if you don’t ask, you don’t get.’ I reached out to Martin Stephenson – one of my favourite musicians since I was sixteen – and asked if we could use a couple of tracks. He came back immediately, with the generosity and humbleness he’s always had and said, ‘no problem.’

Within an hour, I’d put a post on social saying who my top five authors to appear would be. Within an hour of that, we’d had Lawrence Block and Joe R Lansdale say they’d be interested… that was a surreal afternoon for me.

Seeing as you smashed it out the park with these projects, can you share some nuggets of wisdom for anyone thinking about undertaking something like this?

Simon: In starting a virtual event, I think it helps to have some idea what you’re doing with the tech. There are a lot of events out there – especially enforced due to recent circumstances. With a bit of research, effort and help you can put something together that looks professional: that’s what we’ve always tried to do with VNatB.

Vic: The lovely thing about Noir at the Bar is that it began in Philadelphia with Peter Rosovsky in 2008 and has been hosted in lots of different places in varying formats. From Philadelphia, it spread across the US and then to the UK. I’ve run the Newcastle and Harrogate chapters, Jacky Collins does Edinburgh, Jay Stringer and Russel D McLean have done Glasgow and there’ve been events in London, Carlisle and Manchester.

I’ve been approached by a few people wanting to do NatB events in their own hometowns and my advice is the same as I was given by Graham Smith and Jay Stringer: find a pub with a separate room if possible, pick a quiet night and approach them to see if they are open to it. My events have made a lot of money for the bars, and, because NatB is not-for-profit, they’ve been happy to waive a room hire fee.

Simon: Regarding creating a book? Just have a go. It’s easy to do with things like Kindle Select nowadays. I released four self-published books before Noir from the Bar – the first is not well edited or formatted, but hopefully the essence of the passion came through. With each book I’ve published, they’ve got a bit better in look and feel. I’ve also edited a best-selling non-fiction book for a third party, which I wouldn’t have dared do without ‘messing up’ a bit myself first.

Approximately how much alcohol was consumed during the creation of Noir from the Bar, and what drinks will I be buying you at Harrogate?

Vic: Speak to Simon, the contributing authors and the editors! In terms of drinks, I’m a fairly cheap date. I love pop and on occasion have been known to stick some vodka in there.

Simon: I did get through a lot of Bewdog Punk AF and half of Colombia’s coffee supply. But I don’t drink, so I’m a cheapish date in any bar, virtual or otherwise!

Noted! Following the success of the anthology, will we be seeing any more publications from you in the future?

Simon: When we finished this one, I would have said ‘never again’ – not because it was unpleasant, just a huge amount of work. But you know… you get a few months down the line and you start to get a few ideas.

Vic: Who knows…? I’ve brought out some anthologies with members of my writing group in the past so I’d never rule it out. 

You guys just keep bringing us the good stuff. Will we be seeing any more VNatB in the future?

Simon: So, while VNatB has closed down for a renovation and clean up, it’ll be back with a couple of one-off specials: we’ve already got dates in the diary for a Halloween-themed evening (where I’m happy to say we’ve just had agreement from Britain’s greatest living horror author to appear), and a Christmas crime special.

Vic: Make sure you put 28^th October and 16^th December in your diary! 

Done! Can you spill any beans on what lies on the horizon for you next? 

Vic: We’ve certainly got some ideas in the pipeline but we’re kicking stuff about and don’t want to be too premature on the announcement. As many writers who’ve worked with us during VNatB know, we try to make everything as good as it can be so we’ll keep it close to our chests for a little longer. But if you want to be the first to know what’s happening, sign up to our newsletter. 

Simon: We think it’s going to be bigger and, dare we say it, better than anything we’ve done so far. We’ll make sure you’re the first to know when we’re ready!

A big thanks to you both for keeping us all sane during lockdown, and for introducing us to some brilliant authors!

Well... I don't know about you, but I'm excited! Keep your eyes peeled for more news, and in the mean time, grab your copy of Noir From The Bar today.

Roxie Key

@RoxieAdelleKey