What crime novel would you most like to have written?
IN A LONELY PLACE by Dorothy B. Hughes, which is my favourite crime novel of all time. I still marvel at the way she conveyed her main character’s narcissism and self-delusion while revealing the truth about him to readers, and how women end up prevailing and overcoming a stereotypical role of victimhood. I’ve read the book many times and it remains fresh and new to me with each revisiting.
What fictional character would you most like to have been?
I had to think long and hard about this but I keep coming back to Valancy Stirling, the heroine of LM Montgomery’s THE BLUE CASTLE, who overcomes timidity and passivity through a fluke diagnosis and emerges as the mischievous, adventurous, idiosyncratic woman she was always meant to be (and ended up with the best man for her in the process.)
Who do you read for guilty pleasures?
Oliver Potzsch’s HANGMAN’S DAUGHTER series, which is unabashedly entertaining and fun, though I don’t feel terribly guilty about that.
Most satisfying writing moment?
When I finished the first short story that I was comfortable to send out for publication. Plots With Guns published it ten years ago.
If you could recommend one Irish crime novel, what would it be?
THE BLUE TANGO by Eoin McNamee, though ORCHID BLUE is also incredible.
What Irish crime novel would make a great movie?
GRAVELAND by Alan Glynn.
Worst / best thing about being a writer?
Best: being in the zone, coming up with that sentence which sings. Worst: agonizing when I cannot write an opening paragraph after twenty tries.
The pitch for your next book is …?
I’m not sure yet!
Who are you reading right now?
I’m trying to catch up on the backlists of all the authors in TROUBLED DAUGHTERS. I’ve succeeded with some; others are way more prolific. So about to start BEDELIA by Vera Caspary.
The three best words to describe your own writing are …?
Women with issues.
Sarah Weinman is the editor of TROUBLED DAUGHTERS, TWISTED WIVES: STORIES FROM THE TRAILBLAZERS OF DOMESTIC SUSPENSE
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