Tell us a little about your background.
What influenced you to write?I think writing is in my blood. Both my parents were lovers of the English language and of the written word. My mum, like me, is an avid reader and she was also a great storyteller. During some of my early primary years we had a very long walk of several miles to school and back and she would entertain me and my brothers by getting us to invent characters, whom she would then cleverly work into a story. I remember being so excited as I waited for my character to enter, but intrigued, too, as to how she was going to do it, especially as our characters would be quite diverse, so it would be something like Robocop meets a talking tractor and a one-legged ballet dancer. But she always managed to do it, and I think that had a big influence on me. Later, during my upper primary school years, I’d write stories and also plays, which my best friend and I would cast, star in and perform for the class. I went on to do a degree in languages and later retrained as a criminal defence lawyer. Writing persuasively was part of the job, but my work also meant I was never short of inspiration for the stories I still wanted to write. I liked literary and women’s fiction most during my teens and twenties, but later it seemed entirely natural for my two careers to converge and for me to write legal thrillers.
What are the key themes of your books?
They usually involve good people doing the wrong thing for the right reasons, or at least for a reason that the reader will empathise with and understand. My protagonist will usually be female and she will often be fighting for justice, either for herself or for someone else. My books are standalones, but I have a recurring character, a criminal defence lawyer named Sarah Kellerman who usually comes along to represent at least one of my characters, and she will be presented with a mystery to solve. Sarah is a good and dedicated lawyer who is caring and empathetic toward the people she represents. As they find they are able to trust her, they open up and that brings new reveals, which is often the way it happens in real life when I represent someone. I like my characters to face the kinds of real-life challenges that readers will relate to and which many of my clients face. Most people who commit crimes aren’t evil serial killers – they are ordinary people whose behaviour has been clouded by their emotions. In the Day I Lost You, my aim is to show that in the wrong set of circumstances most of us will be stretched in ways we can’t predict.
What kind of research do you do?
I research everything thoroughly. It’s probably the lawyer in me! I need to know the legal storylines are as accurate as they can be so that I can provide an authentic experience for the reader. I will use artistic licence if I really have to, but part of the reason I chose to write legal thrillers is because I’ve seen so many legal dramas on TV that have made me want to throw something at the telly! I am a legal aid lawyer, so the equivalent of a public defender, and we often get a bad rap because there’s very little money there to support the work we do, but actually there are some brilliant people with brilliant minds doing this job, who work long hours and are completely dedicated. They don’t do it for the money; they do it because they care. I wanted to show that. As a criminal defence lawyer I am fortunate to meet a lot of forensic and other experts who are happy to help answer my questions, and I have also been privileged to connect and become friends with many other authors who have interesting backgrounds in the police or some other specialist field.
What are your favourite books? Do you prefer some genres to others?
On the whole, I read the kinds of books I like to write: character-led books about ordinary women and their lives and relationships, and these days they are usually also psychological or legal thrillers. They will almost always have a strong female protagonist as well as a good plot. If ‘Thelma and Louise’ had been a novel, it would probably have been my favourite. It had all the elements I enjoy – interesting, relatable, likeable female protagonists with a strong friendship and flaws that get them into hot water, a crime that needs solving, a rollercoaster ride of both comedy and tragedy throughout – not to mention some hugely important social observation about misogyny and its ultimate responsibility for the tragedy that occurs.
I like my crime fiction medium-boiled, the way I write it. Not too much violence or too many graphic descriptions of crime scenes or dead bodies for me. I’m more interested in the people in the story and the psychology behind the crime, as well as the characters’ back story. Having a relatable protagonist is key for me.
Do you always have a book in the go?
Always, but lately I’ve been finding that after staring at a screen all day, it’s harder to look at more words in the evening and so I’ve started to listen on audio which is a great way to wind down at the end of the day. I can close my eyes and lie in the dark and I find that very relaxing. But I do read on kindle and I like a paperback too, especially in the morning, when I feel fresh and don’t have to write that day. I’m also a big fan of film and TV and I watch true crime, movies and TV dramas for an hour or two most evenings. It’s research, after all!
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