From the Programme:
Always a festival ‘must see’. Queen of Crime Val McDermid has hand-picked four of the hottest new talents on the scene and invited them to discuss their debut novels. Eager readers on the lookout for the next big thing will be spoiled for choice as Val introduces Elizabeth Haynes (Into The Darkest Corner), David Mark (The Dark Winter), Oliver Harris (The Hollow Man) and Kate Rhodes (Crossbones Yard).
My notes:
VM gets sent piles of debut books so she can pick authors for the panel. Keeps her up to date as well as getting a list for hitman. Crime fiction has expanded over the years, you can go anywhere do anything. Buy & Try!
All here because VM loved characters and voices.
OH - police procedural very unlike Dixon of Dock Green
LH - took pole-dancing clasees for research.
DM - a man of mystery! The Dark Winter is set in "joyous sea side town of Hull" as fun as you'd might expect...
KR is a poet
[then followed an intro to all the books - links to reviews are above.]
LH - the OCD plot was device for word count (as written for NaNoWriMo) and think of what to do next. VM used to send Kate Brannigan to the supermarket for similar reasons.
DM - born in Carlisle.
OH - write to explore other aspects of people's lives, experimental form to take apart what's going on.
LH - worked for police intelligence - wrote romance in playground, 50 shades of jelly baby (VM). Massive crime fiction fan but could never find any justification for crime, so was part of reason she applied for police job, to inspire her fiction.
Boundary between crime fact and fiction. Darkness in book. VM can read violence but terribly squeamish.
DM - write about what you know. As a journalist for 7 years has met many victims of crime (crime reporter). Natural affinity. Lucky to get job at 17, almost immediately attending murder trial.
KR fed up with poetry after 15 years, very lonely. Like to have a conversation with readers, loved crime fiction, very classy and very good at the moment especially in Britain.
VM - you have to care about a character whether you like or hate them.
VM - George Bennett in A Place of Execution was given self-doubt as a result of It's a Wonderful Life.
DM's main character is very earnest, good - which is tiresome and he has arguments with him in his head. VM says What drives McAvoy is his love for wife and child
KR's next book is about bankers dying (big cheer from the audience).
Interesting that VMcD is squeamish about reading violence as she can be a very "protracted violence" author when she wants to be. I've enjoyed some of these debut novels discussed here and look forward to reading David Mark's in due course.
ReplyDeleteOh no... You can see the back of my head in that photo! :D
ReplyDeleteThis was my first year at Harrogate and I loved it! I've only read Kate Rhodes' Crossbones Yard from the panel, but I've already added the others to my TBR list.