Interview with Nathalie Buscombe, Dead Ringer audiobook narrator
Find out the secrets of audiobook narration in this interview with one of Dead Ringer‘s narrators, Nathalie Buscombe. You’re also a talented artist and writer, in addition to being an actor. How does audiobook narration fit into your schedule and why do you enjoy it? I have separate agents for…
Quiz: doppelgangers and imposters
This is a longer version of the quiz I ran at my book launch event. Test your knowledge of doppelgangers and imposters with these questions. (Answers below.) Questions Q1. Which language does the word ‘doppelganger’ derive from? Q2: Which sitcom star was accused of robbery in 2018 after his dastardly…
Is there a stranger out there who shares your face? (guest post for Confessions of a YA Reader)
What is the likelihood that you have a doppelgänger somewhere in the world? The scientific facts are stranger than you think. The idea of the doppelgänger – a stranger who looks uncannily like you – stretches back through history. The superstition is that encountering your “double” is a bad omen…
BBC Radio Bristol interview
On Wednesday 26 February 2020, I stopped by the BBC Radio Bristol studios to chat with Steve Yabsley about cats, ice skating, and the time I got fired from a job for insubordination. Play the interview below or find it on YouTube…
Dead Ringer – what the bloggers say
How did Dead Ringer go down with the book bloggers? Here’s a round-up of what happened on part 1 of the blog tour. “Littered with moments of dark humour and flawless insight, I found myself inside the head of both girls as their story came tumbling out.” (Full review at…
GenZ burnout and murder: the changing landscape of crime fiction
As the focus of crime fiction shifts to GenZ, the horrors are becoming more mundane – debt, burnout, poor mental health – but no less terrifying. “Generation Z” typically describes the post-Millennials, those born between the late 90s and the early 2010s. It’s a generation shaped by the 2008 financial…
5 random facts about Dead Ringer
Here’s a quick look into my writing process with a few fun facts behind the scenes of Dead Ringer. A five year journey It is almost exactly 5 years from the time I started writing Dead Ringer to its publication. When I tell people that, I think they imagine I’m…
“Pacy, witty, succinct” – CrimeTime review of Dead Ringer
Bob Cornwell gives his review of Dead Ringer for CrimeTime. “When I first met my double, I was disappointed how little she looked like me.” So thinks Ella Mosier, 24, a native of Walney Island, close by Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria as she meets Jemima Coottes-Mitchell, 25, London for the first time…
Dead Ringer book launch event – in pictures
Friday 28 February saw the official launch of Dead Ringer at Foyles in Bristol. Here’s some pictures and notes from the big night. I started off with a little speech and a reading of the first chapter of Dead Ringer. As you can see, there were many #faces during the…
3 things that inspired my novel Dead Ringer
Inspiration isn’t always linear; oftentimes, story ideas emerge out of unexpected nuggets colliding. Here’s how the premise for Dead Ringer ultimately came together. A clickbait article “I found my twin on YouTube.” When you’re scrolling distractedly through Twitter, that’s the sort of thing that catches your eye. Some 5 years…
Reading Round-Up #1: Ronan Farrow, Juno Dawson, Philippa Gregory and more
What books have I been reading and enjoying over the last couple of months? Here’s a quick rundown… Non Fiction Catch and Kill: Lies, Spies and a Conspiracy to Protect Predators – Ronan Farrow Even if, like me, you never want to hear the words “Harvey Weinstein” ever again, this…
The North/South Divide in Crime Fiction (guest feature on CrimeTime)
I wrote a feature for CrimeTime about the North/South divide in crime fiction and how setting can impact on a story. Name an island off the coast of England. Isle of Wight? Isle of Man? Maybe Lundy, if you’re feeling clever. How about Walney Island? It’s an island, a beautiful…
“Tense and compelling” — Daily Mail review of Dead Ringer
Christena Appleyard of the Daily Mail gives her review of Dead Ringer. The idea of this book might sound a bit far fetched — two girls find their doppelgängers via a new facial recognition app and decide to swap lives. Nicola Martin spins this slightly dodgy idea into a tense…
My doppelgänger story
Have I ever met my double? Is Dead Ringer secretly a true story…? Er, no. But here’s a quick rundown of the times I’ve been mistaken for people who look like me. I was on the island of St John in the US Virgin Islands recently, (and, yes, I know…
How to get your book published
The path to getting your novel or non-fiction book published can be circuitous and confusing, so here’s my step-by-step guide to how the whole process works for first-time authors. Write the whole book first Many new writers cling to the idea that they can sell a book to an agent/publisher…
5 ways to make your fiction unputdownable
Even quiet stories can (and should) have that gotta-keep-reading quality to them. But how can we as writers make sure our novels and short stories are compelling the whole way through? I’m going to use the C word here. Gulp. I’m going to talk about making fiction commercial. ‘Commercial’ can…
How I got my short stories published in The People’s Friend
This week marks my seventh short story published by women’s magazine The People’s Friend. But mine wasn’t an instant success story – I got rejected a lot in the beginning. Find out what I did differently to turn those rejections into acceptances. When I started writing short stories about five…
4 true crime documentaries for hipster douchebags who’ve seen every true crime documentary
I found out a new friend of mine was a true crime junkie recently. Our conversation quickly spiralled into what can only be described as true crime hipster douchebaggery: “You’ve seen Making a Murderer?” “Obviously. Have you watched The Jinx?” “Yeah, a couple of times. What about The Staircase?” “Pleeeease…
Check out the trailer for Dead Ringer
Want to meet your double? Be careful what you wish for… The eerie trailer for Dead Ringer gives you a flavour of what to expect from the novel.
Four months till Dead Ringer is published – what am I doing to prepare?
My debut novel, Dead Ringer, is set to be published on 27 February 2020. That’s four months from now, which simultaneously feels like eons away and yet is also panic-inducingly soon. So, in between breathing deeply, what am I doing to prepare? – Letting everyone know that the paperback is…