James McKenna’s new crime fiction title spars with Rosamund Lupton’s Sister

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books. crime thriller, crime fiction, crime thriller, enjoy reading, James McKenna

Recently I have been interested in the crime fiction titles that are selling this year and I am hoping mine might fare well in June when I publish The Unwanted – James McKenna, my latest crime novel.

With the internet being a massive treasure trove of statistics and information we can easily check out what is shifting crate loads of copies and also how books are being marketed and where.

The ones that have caught my eye recently have been Sister by Rosamund Lupton, The Redeemer Jo Nesbo, Bloody Valentine by James Patterson and The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet’s Nest by Stieg Larsson. These will do for starters.

Try the Book Depository for crime fiction titles

In fact they came to my attention when I ordered some books from http://www.bookdepository.co.uk and they supplied me with a very clever bookmark outlining how four crime books fared against the top 100 in the crime fiction category. I am always interested in other ways of marketing and drawing attention to crime fiction in whatever form. I suppose we are all so good at multi-tasking that even the humble bookmark now has to earn its keep and become a powerful marketing tool, so we get a fix!

James McKenna author versus James McKenna reader

When I am not scribbling away, although right now that seems to be most of the time, James McKenna author becomes James McKenna reader and it’s strange that I should enjoy other people’s crime fiction so much. I am always fascinated how crimes are resolved, hints are dropped and plots duck and dive.

You always want what you can’t have.

I also listened to Open Book on the BBC’s Radio 4 station and there was a really fascinating article on fiction trends in Turkey and how passionate young Turks are about books as for many years many titles were banned. It seems the way to really kick start interest in crime fiction, and in fact any book for that matter, is to ban it first! Human nature always wants what it can’t have or has been deprived of, so maybe I market the next book The Unwanted as a book no one is allowed to read! After all, do we take for granted the wealth of opportunities a democracy allows us? That is another debate I am thinking which I cannot begin here.

Sister Rosamund Lupton

Anyway, I digress, I was supposed to be talking about the four books I mentioned at the beginning of this blog and as time is running away with me this morning I am going to concentrate on Sister by Rosamund Lupton. This is a really good read, dealing as it does with sisters who could not be more different, one a free-wheeling artist and the other a dull corporate type with a suitably matching husband to be. The juxtaposition is interesting as both sisters are so very different: one lives in London, the other New York, one is passionate and ephemeral, the other bossy and staid. However the bond between them is still strong and there is their shared and partly unhappy history that binds them to one another. Yet we learn almost immediately that Tess is dead, apparently a case of suicide but her older sister thinks very differently and here the plot really begins.

It is a taut novel that deals with inherited disease, fractures in families and self- recrimination. The investigation that the older sister, Bea undertakes is frenetic, even reckless, which comes as a shock.

Searching for a murderer or something else?

You are not sure whether she is really searching for a murderer or something that has perhaps died inside herself. It was interesting to discover the author has a screenwriting pedigree and this actually not surprising as the story is spiked regularly with electric moments which ‘shock’ the reader and keep them gripped and it almost felt that as a reader I was being played with as if I was watching a film.

The new James McKenna crime fiction book mark

I thought Sister by Rosamund Lupton had a synergy and electricity which is very sparky and it’s not surprising it leads the Book Depository’s recent trends list . I may well think of designing a James McKenna bookmark; it’s a simple yet neat idea. I must get back to it. See you next week.
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James McKenna explores crime fiction and the mobile ‘s 40th birthday.

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books. crime thriller, crime fiction, enjoy reading, James McKenna

I won’t be the only one who raised their head for a moment to listen to news reports regarding the 40 year anniversary of the mobile phone this week.

To be honest, this particular news story was just the excuse I needed to stop proof reading my new novel, ‘The Unwanted’ . Unfortunately, after a while I start reading what I think is there instead of what is really there; it’s a real pain! So, putting my correcting pen down and taking note, having a bit of a stretch and putting the kettle on, were all very welcome distractions and prompted some creative thought too.

As I was following the item it suddenly dawned on me how many things have changed for authors in this interconnected society. Furthermore I’m not sure we have quite worked out how to compensate for the fact mobile phones have scuppered so many of our stock plot devices. Just think about it, unless you can organise a dodgy signal area everyone is eminently connectable. If London’s mayor, Boris Johnson gets his way we will all be able to remain in contact even on the city’s underground; so there goes another murder opportunity!

A friend of mine was recently bemoaning the fact her thriller has become ‘history’ as it is set on the internet but without Skype and video calls. ’I feel it really isn’t going to sound believable anymore; I obviously spent too long writing it!’

She makes me laugh, but there is a serious point here. How do you ensure a character is untraceable, for example? After all, a quick Google or Facebook search turns up all kinds of signals which can really mess up an intricate bit of plotting!

I am not averse to using the vernacular but text speak? I have to say it doesn’t thrill me but then perhaps I am showing my age here and this really will be the future of crime fiction.

The other alternative, of course, is to look backwards. Think how important Hilary Mantel trilogy has become and these books are set at the time of Henry VII or popular crime fiction writer, C.J. Sansom’s Shardlake series of crime thrillers which are also set in the same period and even featuring Cromwell too!

The big blockbusting TV serials which have garnered countless fans have been Downton Abbey, that series about the setting up of Selfridges and now The Village. Is this simply a reaction or are authors rejecting the ‘mobile phone plot saboteur’?

I am thinking about this, but personally I am going to have to find a way round this 24/7 interconnectivity conundrum one way or another; perhaps I might become even more imaginative as a consequence; let’s hope so.

I suppose to a certain extent it almost depends on target audience but seeing as we are all Generation C (C standing for connected) it is difficult to generalise. Mind you the more I think about it the more possibilities there are regarding mobile phones and computers.

Look at the desperate behaviour of the press regarding phone hacking scandal’s despicable behaviour. This kind of behaviour might be something which could be exploited; after all the opportunities to manipulate and be manipulated by phone are almost endless. Cyber bullying didn’t used to exist, but now? There are always different avenues to explore when thinking about theme and plot for crime fiction.

Maybe it really is time to stop relying on tried and tested crime fiction devices, for example, and embrace the new technological world. We have already moved on from the dead body in the drawing room kind of scenario. Anyway, consider the fact, we have learned to trust and rely on our mobile devices which is always very dangerous. Therefore, what if? Hold on, must dash I’ve just had an idea …

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James McKenna explores a treasure trove for crime writers

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books. crime thriller, good read, James McKenna, scary

Where does inspiration come from? Sometimes an idea lands conveniently in one’s lap when perusing a newspaper. Maybe a report on a TV bulletin immediately plugs into the brain and you find yourself asking; what if? What prompted that? Who was the gang behind the killer making all the decisions?

When I began my novel The Uncounted, I had researched widely about modern day people trafficking and was amazed (and somewhat shocked) at the numbers of people involved all over the world. I couldn’t believe no one was talking about it!

Of course, these days, now the internet is full to overflowing with all kinds of exciting information, the task is even easier. 101 things might prompt a number of crime fiction titles and it is very straightforward to turn up all kinds of starting points for narratives.

In fact during the opening months of 2013 over two and a half million historical criminal records will be fully searchable through findmypast.com. This will be a fabulous treasure trove for authors, not just crime writers.

My mouth was watering at the thought of what might be lurking in this fascinating collection which goes back as far as 1770 and will end in 1934. Although having said that, these earlier documents are being held back and released as a later tranche after the 1871 -1934 are published.

Just studying the short piece advertising this particular service was riveting. Apparently there is access to mug shots, which in themselves area truly fascinating peek into history, and then appeal letters, official court documents and even registers from the hulk ships used when mainland prisons were full to capacity. It brings to mind the opening of Dickens’ Great Expectation when Magwitch terrifies the main character, Pip, having escaped from the hulks moored in the River Medway; the stuff of nightmares indeed.

Not only does a crime writer actually have first class original sources to work from by using these documents, it also shows how the criminal justice system has evolved. It is thought-provoking to consider the changes in social behaviour that took place during the 18th century. Just think how people had been kept in line by living in tight knit religious communities where everyone knew everyone else’s business. Imagine the sense of freedom and license people must have felt when they moved anonymously through the new cityscapes which were filled with tenement blocks and dark alleyways.

Not only this, but there are a number of pertinent details lodged in this archive that I just can’t wait to explore. There is so much to consider; like what a judge might have recommended, petitions lodged by families desperate for release and other circumstances which should be taken into consideration. These documents even outline a prisoner’s state of health and give so much material for a crime writer, it is like a gift; a veritable treasure chest.

Knowing this is all ready and waiting for any writer of crime fiction and is emanating from respectable sources like the Home Office, the Prison Commission, the Metropolitan Police, central Criminal Court and even the Admiralty it is a rich seam to mine.

Except it will have to wait as my latest crime fiction title, The Unwanted, moves on apace; it has to bearing in mind the intended summer publication date!

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