So recently at Crimefest my very good friend Christine and I interviewed a plethora of gorgeous authors – over at Christine’s place today you can see what happened when we met Corrie Jackson – but right here I have my favourite (2nd favourite, oh ok he might be heading towards favourite) author Neil White. His latest novels make up the Parker Brothers trilogy and he has a new novel coming soon from Bonnier Zaffre which I am VERY excited for.
Neil with Steve Cavanagh preparing for the Making a Murderer event at Crimefest.
We started off by asking Neil to tell us a little about his latest novel, The Domino Killer which is available in Hardback now and will be out in paperback in September (look out for more on that on the blog around then)
Neil tells us that it’s the finale to the Parker Brothers trilogy – two brothers one a lawyer, one a detective whose sister was murdered – the trilogy at its heart is all about the affect losing their sister has on the pair and the hunt for her killer – but equally about their often confrontational relationship. Each can be read as a standalone also and has a separate tale of murder and mayhem.
The Domino Killer will be released as a paperback in December but for now if you have not yet started the trilogy Next to Die is available right now and is a good place to start. It being book one and all….
Next we asked about Neil’s lawyerly life – In his day job he is a criminal prosecutor..
And here he is being all lawyerly with Steve Cavanagh and Sophie Hannah during the Making a Murderer event at Crimefest.
Neil was a full time criminal prosecutor and has recently been working freelance for the CPS (Crown Prosecution Service) -it sounds very exciting but apparently is not so (doesn’t everyone who does an exciting job pretend its deathly dull?) Anyway back to the point the early novels (which I refer to these days as “Jack and Laura how I miss them”) featured a crime reporter which Neil says allowed him to avoid the “boring court stuff” and research how crime is reported in the media. As an aside I still LOVE that series and reread them regularly so you might want to check them out. The first one is HERE.
In an attempt to drag some controversy out of the very laid back Mr White we then moved on to asking him about his thoughts on how the legal profession is portrayed in television drama – with specific reference to Broadchurch – that recently addictive show starring David Tennant and Olivia Coleman.
The insanely talented Erin Kelly wrote the original series Broadchurch tie in novel as well as a series of short interludes between episodes – she gets another mention later on…
Neil is rather animated on this subject with a fair bit of random pointing, he’s also very funny on it so if you are ever in a room with him you might want to get him onto the topic its really very entertaining – but the long and short of it is that as far as he is concerned the 2nd series courtroom scenes were all kinds of wrong. He felt that the dramatic tension could still have been built by having witnesses parading up and down nervously outside court rather than being IN court before their testimony which is apparently not permitted. Plus the retired QC would not be allowed to just turn up in court or take the case as shown – Neil WAS frustrated that they did not take the chance to get that right especially when it could have been done so easily and not lost any power. He also pointed out that Soaps like Emmerdale and Eastenders are usually a lot more accurate which goes to show it can be done – those shows are very popular and dramatic. Christine and I noted to him that we both thoroughly enjoyed the series and did not mind, or indeed were not aware of the rights and wrongs – but agreed there was probably a good case to be made for getting it right where possible.
One more proper question concerned what is next – what is Neil working on right now? (This is where I, as a long time fan, sit forward expectantly in my chair)
He’s working on a new book, that will be out as an ebook in October and in February 2017 as a paperback via Bonnier Zaffre. It’s working title is ‘From the Shadows’. It is a bit like a legal ‘Happy Valley’ drama, set in a northern small town. Featuring a young female private investigator, who is a former client of a very focused male solicitor – There will be a very slow burning attraction, between the two of them. Neil tells us to think ‘Moonlighting’ for the sizzling chemistry. (Although before the Moonlighting pair got together which we all agreed killed that show pretty much)
Well I think you can call me chronically impatient again…
Finally our “ask everyone” pair of questions including that killer one from Vicki..
If you were writing a book about your life, what would it be called?
Got Away With It
Incidentally Neil was one of two authors who spat that out straight away – he’s obviously thought about it 😉
Recommended Books
Erin Kelly’s new novel He Said/She Said which will be out in 2017 from Hodder and Staughton.
The Dice Man by Luke Rhinehart – published in the 1970s
Thanks SO much to Neil for taking the time. As mentioned earlier over at Christine’s place today you can hear from Corrie Jackson – later this year when Corrie’s novel is released in paperback, there will be a really brilliant article on Liz Loves Books where Neil has interviewed Corrie about all things publishing. The pair of them are hilarious so make sure you tune in for that.
In the meantime you could:
Find out more about Neil here and buy his books here
Happy Reading!
