SHOTSMAG CONFIDENTIAL

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• Cold Cases in Fiction by Steph Mullin and Nicole Mabry
• Sarah Alderson on The Weekend Away
• David Leadbeater on The Vatican Secret
• Creative Process: Thoughts on Writing What You Know by Annie Ward.
• Anne Metter Hancock interviewed about The Corpse Flower…

Cold Cases in Fiction by Steph Mullin and Nicole Mabry Posted: 03 Mar 2022 01:56 AM PST Get ready to cozy up with page-turning thrillers that solve old cold cases. There's little more satisfying than when a character solves a mystery that's haunted them and their town for years, putting together clues and turning lies on their head. In our second thriller, When She Disappeared, we explore the case of popular high school senior, Jessie Germaine, who has been missing for 15 years, only for her body to then be discovered at the bottom of a local swimming hole. Our protagonist Margo, Jessie's childhood best friend, teams up with a documentary crew that comes to their small mountain town hoping to shine a light on the dark mystery. We loved exploring the idea of this big secret going unsolved for so long in a town where everyone knows everyone, yet they all have something to hide. Here are five other thrillers that explore cold cases coming back to life after years of the unknown. In My Dreams I Hold a Knife by Ashley Winstead is a psychological thrill ride that combines fascinating relationship dynamics with a haunting murder on a college campus. Now, those whose lives were turned upside down by the murder are back on campus for their class reunion, haunted by old ghosts everywhere they turn. Alternating between multiple timelines to carefully unravel the web of lies each character has left behind in a group of so-called best friends, Winstead delivers mesmerizing pacing in this exciting "whodunnit" that leaves you second guessing motives every step of the way. Even after the mystery is finally solved…the satisfying conclusion will leave you breathless. The Chalk Man by C.J. Tudor explores not just one, but three cold cases: the murder of a high school girl, the poisoning of a dog, and the brutal attack on a pastor that leaves him catatonic. The story goes back and forth in time from the 80's with a group of childhood friends who use a secret code, scrawling stickmen in different colors to pass hidden messages to one another, to present day, where they reconnect after they've each received a disturbing note with a scrawled stickman. When one of them dies mysteriously, only our main character, Eddie, believes it was murder. In trying to figure out who's leaving the notes, Eddie must delve back into the original crimes and uncover the culprit from so long ago. This stunning psychological debut is a must read for solving cold cases. The Mentor by Lee Matthew Goldberg may need a trigger warning for graphic violence but is well worth the read. This incredible plot follows Ryan, a rising star at a big publishing house, and alternates with his aging college mentor, William. When the two reconnect after many years, William asks Ryan to consider publishing his novel, his magnum opus. While Ryan is ecstatic to give a break to the man who did so much for him, the minute he dives into the manuscript he realizes the book is the most depraved thing he's ever read. Under pressure from his girlfriend and William to give the book a chance, Ryan reluctantly agrees to finish the book. But by midway through, it's clear William's book is outlining the kidnapping and murder of Ryan's former girlfriend who disappeared in college. Goldberg expertly creates a disturbing psychological tale of murder and revenge to satisfy even the savviest mystery readers. The Dead Season by Tessa Wegart is the second in her Shana Merchant detective series but could be read as a standalone. After Shana survives being kidnapped by the serial killer, Blake Bram, The Dead Season picks up when Shana is days away from her psych evaluation to rejoin the police force. Just getting her life back together, Shana is shocked when the body of her uncle, who disappeared when Shana was 13 years old, is discovered. Everyone believed he was a deadbeat dad who'd abandoned his family. But the truth was, he never made it out of town. When a young boy is kidnapped, Bram reappears to manipulate Shana into investigating her uncle's murder, or else the blood of the missing child is on her hands. Stepping back in time to relive old family dramas, Shana must race against the clock to find out what happened to her uncle so many years ago. Then She Was Gone by Lisa Jewell is a moving family drama that simultaneously pulls at your heartstrings and sends a chill down your spine. After 15-year-old Ellie Mack, the golden child of her family, disappears, they are left to pick up the pieces. Through the darkness and the eventual discovery of Ellie's remains, they create new relationships and try to mend the deep hole in their hearts from their loss. Navigating these new relationships 10 years after Ellie's disappearance, her mother, Laurel, meets a new man and his own daughter…who looks exactly like Ellie as a child. Forging connections and asking uncomfortable questions, Laurel is determined to uncover the truth of what happened to her daughter. When She Disappeared by Steph Mullin and Nicole Mabry. (HarperCollins) Out Now 'On May 26, 2004, Jessie Germaine rode her bike into the forest and disappeared...into thin air.' Margo hasn't been back to Lake Moss since her friend went missing. But as she returns, the news breaks. Her hometown's swimming hole has been Jessie's grave for fifteen years. Digging out her old diary, and steeling herself to face unfriendly ghosts from her past, Margo sets out to help a documentary crew as they return to investigate the infamous case the police bungled. In a town where everyone knows everyone, the killer is certain to be close to home. But the question is: How close? More information about both authors can be found on their website. You can also find them on Facebook. You can also find them both on Twitter @Steph_Mullin and @NicoleAMabry

Sarah Alderson on The Weekend Away Posted: 02 Mar 2022 11:00 PM PST   As I wandered around Lisbon with my best friend, an idea sprung into my mind for a story about a woman who goes missing on a weekend away. If you'd told me then that the book would one day wind up being a best-seller, as well as a movie on Netflix, and that Leighton Meister would be playing the character inspired partly by my best friend, I'd have laughed, and then eaten another custard tart.  I'm a novelist and a screenwriter too, so I always write my books with a view to adapting them for television or for features, and The Weekend Away was no different. As I walked around Lisbon, I was mentally imagining what the movie version would look like and where I would set what scenes. Ironically, due to budget and covid reasons, we ended up shooting the movie in Croatia, but the atmosphere is very much the same and Split is a fantastic alternative to Lisbon on screen. The Weekend Away very naturally fit into a feature structure with a clear three acts, an inciting incident kicking things off (her friend's disappearance), a heroine who finds herself in a strange world, a mentor figure who helps her navigate it, and a classic 'all is lost' moment towards the end.  Once I had written the book, I wrote out a synopsis for the movie version. It didn't differentiate wildly from the book, though I did alter the ending slightly, wanting to end the film on a more definitive note than the book in order to give the audience more satisfaction.  While I started out as a novelist, I've now worked in Hollywood for six years, in TV and film, as a writer and a producer. That experience - working with networks, studios, directors and actors - and also the experience of being on set, dealing with issues as they arise while filming, and working with budgets, crews, actors and stuntmen, has been invaluable in helping me better understand how to adapt a book into a movie, not just from a creative point of view, but also a logistical one. My film agents shopped The Weekend Away to Netflix. The low budget independent department were interested and so I pitched the outline of the movie on Zoom to the executives. This was at the very beginning of the covid outbreak and Hollywood was just moving to online meetings. They loved the pitch and immediately commissioned a script. I set about writing it, already feeling confident in the structure and able to visualize all the scenes already on screen.  The process was fairly simple and very fast. Netflix loved my first draft and greenlit the movie off of it. As with most scripts though, by the time it comes to shooting, you've rewritten it twenty times or more.  Unlike with books, scripts are much more collaborative. Feature writers are very often replaced at each draft stage with a new writer. Most movies end up with several writers taking credit. I was lucky to remain the sole writer on this project and worked very closely with the director, Kim Farrant, as well as the execs to shape the script and to adapt it based on locations and the budget. Netflix also wanted me to change the nationality of the main characters, making the lead American, though keeping her best friend, Kate, English. I was thrilled when Leighton Meester (Gossip Girl) came on board to play Beth, the main character. She is a fantastic actress and embodies the role. Ziad Bakri, a Palestinian actor, who plays a taxi driver who helps Beth in her search for her missing friend, also looks like he's stepped out of the pages of the book. I'd seen him in the French series The Bureau and had been a huge fan, so was very excited when his name appeared on the casting list. Watching the final cut with my daughter a few days ago, I found myself on the edge of my seat during several scenes, which considering the fact I've seen the movie a dozen times during the editing process and had written the scenes, felt like a good sign.  It's always nerve-wracking to put your work into the world, even more so with a feature that will be shown on the biggest streamer in the world, so I'm nervously awaiting its premiere in March. In the meantime, I'm onto adapting my next book as a feature!  The Weekend Away will be out on Netflix March 3rd. The Weekend Away by Sarah Alderson (HarperCollins) Out Now Miles from home. Trust no one. Suspect everyone. Orla and Kate have been best friends forever. Together they've faced it all - be it Orla's struggles as a new mother or Kate's messy divorce. And whatever else happens in their lives, they can always look forward to their annual weekend away. This year, they're off to Lisbon: the perfect flat, the perfect view, the perfect itinerary. And what better way to kick things off in style than with the perfect night out? But when Orla wakes up the next morning, Kate is gone. Brushed off by the police and with only a fuzzy memory of the night's events, Orla is her friend's only hope. As she frantically retraces their steps, Orla makes a series of shattering discoveries that threaten everything she holds dear. Because while Lisbon holds the secret of what happened that night, the truth may lie closer to home...

David Leadbeater on The Vatican Secret Posted: 02 Mar 2022 10:00 PM PST For me personally, The Vatican Secret is a brand new fusion of styles, involving deep historical research centred around the Vatican, the church and Christianity combined with the action-packed, fast-paced novels that I am used to writing. When I got my publishing deal with Harper Collins/Avon Publishing I knew that I wanted to produce a new series that involved historical research and exhilarating action. I have always had a notion running around my head – that there might actually be a Vatican Book of Secrets – and this seemed like the perfect time to build a story around that idea. My earlier influences come straight from the books I read in my youth – stories written by the likes of Stephen King, Clive Cussler, Stephen Donaldson and Tolkien. I'm pleased to say that I always enjoyed reading a wide range of genres, which is most probably why I relish mixing writing themes to this day. My more recent influences come from absolutely everywhere… from the authors of fast-paced adventure novels to TV series, movies and everyday life. I am always on the lookout for a new idea and have been known whilst on a family outing to stop the car and park up just to get something down on paper. The same thing can happen in the dead of night. Sometimes I will just have to turn on the light and jot something down on the pad I keep by the side of the bed. I find that ideas gestate from ideas. You find a thread and pull on it, see in what direction it takes you. Anything can fire my imagination, from a single sentence spoken by a fictional character or even a newsreader, to a scene witnessed in my local supermarket. But nothing is set in stone. Changes do happen during the writing process – for instance, at the onset of planning I never envisioned that The Vatican Secret or its sequel The Demon Code, would involve a secret society hell bent on taking down the Church. I feel these are the best moments – when an idea-swerve just develops out of nowhere or when the actions of a character take on a life of their own, sending you in a different direction to that which you originally intended.  Although I have written fast-paced conspiracy thrillers before The Vatican Secret was a new venture for me in terms of pacing, depth and length. I had to find a way to keep the excitement ramped up over a longer period whilst at the same time weaving in a large amount of historical fact and fiction. The wonderful places we visit across the globe were inspiring to research and offered a resplendent backdrop to the story. I love the action/adventure side of writing, and I love the research side. It's two different styles working in tandem. Switching between the two helps keep the focus fresh. And more often than ever before, whilst researching this book I found myself hoping the description I just entered into Google didn't get me into trouble! For me, the characters are the beating heart of the book. Finding the right characters in Joe Mason and his new friends was an absolute must and, fortunately, I feel I was able to do that. The Vatican Secret is a fast-paced conspiracy thriller that takes our heroes around the globe, but it is also a heartfelt story of one man's struggle to come to terms with the failures of his past, of re-learning to trust in the team dynamic and of awkward relationships that might just grow if properly fuelled.  The Vatican Secret by David Leadbeater (HarperCollins) Out Now An ancient relic. A deadly enemy. A secret he'll protect with his life... When ex-MI5 operative Joe Mason is sent to Rome to guard an elderly professor and his daughter, he thinks he's in for an easy ride. But on their first day in the Vatican secret archives, a masked assassin gains entry, shoots Joe's client in cold blood and steals an ancient manuscript. Giving chase, Joe can't imagine what could lie within those pages that would make someone willing to kill. The search for answers leads Joe and his comrades in a race against time, across continents and into treacherous mountains. Only they have a hope of rescuing the Vatican Book of Secrets before a centuries-old enemy can succeed in bringing Rome - and the world as we know it - crashing down.. You can find more information about his books on his website. You can find him on Twitter @dleadbeater2011 and on Facebook.

Creative Process: Thoughts on Writing What You Know by Annie Ward. Posted: 01 Mar 2022 10:00 PM PST Most aspiring novelists, at some point in their early years, were likely told by a well-meaning teacher that it's best to "write what you know." Inevitably, shortly thereafter, some other influential authority came along and condemned that advice as didactic and unimaginative garbage.  Among writers, it's a somewhat divisive topic. Kazuo Ishiguro has said, "'Write about what you know' is the most stupid thing I've heard. It encourages people to write a dull autobiography. It's the reverse of firing the imagination and potential of writers." Personally, I harbor no malice towards people who think clinging to this "write what you know" advice is cowardly. However, it's the only thing that works for me. George R.R Martin can write about dragons and frozen zombies in Game of Thrones and deliver it so evocatively it's as if he's seen it all personally. I, on the other hand, struggle to describe a café where I've never had a coffee. I wish I had that unique talent to bring something completely unknown to life, but as I publish my third novel, I expect that I will always return to writing what I know.  For this reason, I relate to this quote by Zoë Heller: "The injunction is only to know; the business of how you come by your knowledge is left quite open. You can mine your own life, yes. But you can also sympathetically observe other people's experiences. You can read and research. And you can use your imagination." This accurately describes my approach to new projects. Even though I start with "what I know," I then proceed to do research and employ the darkest parts of my imagination. As a writer of psychological thrillers, this process usually means that I concoct a story based on some chapter of my life and then ultimately look for a sneaky way to kill off a few of the characters. Understandably, this makes some people close to me a bit uncomfortable, wondering if they might be stabbed, shot, held under water until they drown, or pushed off a ledge in my next book. My writing process--though never exactly the same--usually follows a similar trajectory. For example, in my new book THE LYING CLUB, I knew that I was fascinated with the idea of writing about my experience as a high-school and college soccer player. I later became a coach at a private school in New York City. That world of young athletes and coaches was still intriguing to me, and I could hear the characters talking to one another in my head. Next, I looked for ways to place these real-life elements into a plot-driven whodunnit-style mystery. Once I started writing, I folded in the juicy fiction; lies, jealousy, betrayal and abuse, which culminate in a revenge murder. Looking back, this is the process that has worked for me repeatedly. My second novel THE IDEAL WIFE began as a memoir about being in love with an ex-soldier who suffered from PTSD. Over a period of years, I transformed it into a fictional psychological thriller by taking many liberties to create suspense and terror. My first book THE MAKING OF JUNE started as a personal story about moving to Eastern Europe as a young, idealistic newlywed. It eventually was published as a literary drama about an American couple who fall apart in a foreign country, finding excitement and ultimately love, with others. These novels started with worlds, emotions and characters that were familiar, intriguing and important to me. These were stories that were inside me, begging to be told. I truly wish I had the amazing and enviable ability to write about dragons and zombies. My kids and my husband would absolutely love it. I do think, though, that I will have to leave that to the writers who find that it comes easily. For me, what comes naturally and what I feel enthusiastic about, is retelling, and in a sense reliving, the most meaningful moments of my own life—- with entertaining twists. My new book, tentatively titled THE CONSERVATORY, is based on the time I spent navigating the competitive shark tank atmosphere of the film school I attended in Los Angeles. Inevitably, some bloody bodies will be left lying around the campus by the end. Raymond Carver said, "Of course, you have to know what you're doing when you turn your life's stories into fiction. You have to be immensely daring, very skilled and imaginative and willing to tell everything on yourself. You're told time and again when you're young to write about what you know, and what do you know better than your own secrets?" In my experience, writing what you know can be cathartic. Taking an axe to it and turning it into something wholly different and sinister can be disturbing but strangely euphoric. I've told many secrets in my books--but when confronted with them I can always shrug, smile and say, "It's just fiction."  The Lying Club by Annie Ward. (Quercus Publishing) Out Now.  At an elite private school nestled in the Colorado mountains, a tangled web of lies draws together three vastly different women. Natalie, a young office assistant, dreams of having a life like the school moms she deals with every day. Women like Brooke-a gorgeous heiress, ferociously loving mother and serial cheater-and Asha, an overachieving and overprotective mom who suspects her husband of having an affair. Their fates are bound by their relationships with the handsome, charming assistant athletic director Nicholas, who Natalie loves, Brooke wants and Asha needs. But when two bodies are carried out of the school early one morning, it seems the jealousy between mothers and daughters, rival lovers and the haves and have-nots has shattered the surface of this isolated, affluent town-a town where people will stop at nothing to get what they want. More information about Annie Ward can be found on her website.  You can also find her on Facebook. You can also find her on Twitter @_Annie_Ward.

Anne Metter Hancock interviewed about The Corpse Flower… Posted: 02 Mar 2022 12:35 AM PST   When and how did the idea for "The Corpse Flower" originate? The idea originated a few years ago in a small town in the South of France, the same town that I lived in as a child and where I have spent every summer since. One day, I was at the market square, and I was watching this brisk-looking guy feeding a kid goat with a feeding bottle while my children were standing around and petting the animal. As I was standing there, I suddenly noticed this woman sitting at a café across the street. She stared at me, and I could see in her eyes that she recognized me from somewhere without being able to put her finger on it. It turned out to be an acquaintance from my childhood, but for some reason, the look on her face made me think of the opening scene of a crime novel: A woman on the run is recognized in a small town in France and immediately flees the scene. That evening I wrote the opening scene for "The Corpse Flower". The plot then marinated in my thoughts for a long time before I wrote the rest of the book, and by then the two main characters, journalist Heloise Kaldan and homicide detective Erik Schäfer, were born. How did you come up with the title "The Corpse Flower"? A few months into the writing process, I saw a documentary about corpse flowers on the National Geographic channel and was wildly fascinated by the phenomenon. A cunning plant that smells like death? How wonderfully disgusting and exciting at the same time. I knew that I had to incorporate this Frankenstein-like plant in the story and I thought that it would make for a good title, too. Many crime novels tend to have the protagonists solving crimes on their own, without much input from the police, who are usually incompetent, corrupt or just hostile. And then there are often journalists as secondary characters in police procedurals. But towards the end of The Corpse Flower, Kalden and Schäfer are working as a team, which is quite unusual. Will they be doing so in future novels? Well, I suppose it is a rather unusual set-up, but like my main character, Heloise, I am a journalist, so it was natural for me to write about someone in that line of work. And in a crime novel you naturally have to include the police to some degree. But to me, the most unusual thing about this particular duo, is Schäfer's character. In most of the crime novels I've read, the homicide detectives always have some kind of darkness or a deep struggle within, like a substance abuse problem, a failed marriage, strained relationships with their children, etc. I wanted to introduce a different type of detective; someone who is happily married, well functioning in life and good at his job, and I liked the idea of him and Heloise forming a friendship of sorts. It's true that they sometimes work together and in some cases share information, and they'll continue to do so throughout the series, but they are also very aware of the fact that he is a policeman, and she is a reporter. They certainly don't always keep each other in the loop. The Corpse Flower by Anne Mette Hancock is published by Swift Press, £12.99 hardback. Danish journalist Heloise Kaldan is in the middle of a nightmare. One of her sources has been caught lying, and she could lose her job over it. And then she receives the first in a series of cryptic letters from an alleged killer. Anna Kiel is wanted for murder but hasn't been seen by anyone in three years. When the reporter who first wrote about the case is found murdered in his apartment, detective Erik Schafer comes up with the first lead. Has Anna Kiel struck again? If so, why does every clue point directly to Heloise Kaldan? As Heloise starts digging deeper she realises that to tell Anna's story she will have to revisit her darkest past, and confront the one person she swore she'd never see again...

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