2023 - a baby and a book!

2023 was the first year for a long time that I haven’t written a novel. There’s one simple and very special reason for that: my partner and I had a baby! But despite not having the time for a new manuscript between changing nappies, preparing feeds, broken sleep, and lots of daddy day care, quite a bit still happened in my writing.

For the first few months of the year, I worked with my editor at Headline Wildfire, Jack Butler, and Russel McLean, to edit and proofread a thriller I had already written: Committed. It was my first high-octane / espionage thriller, my first book set in the US, and my first deal with an advance and a print run. The novel got fantastic praise from giants of the genre, like David Baldacci, Anthony Horowitz, Charles Cumming, and Ava Glass. But that wasn’t all.

Once the book came out in August and October (staggered digital / print releases) I experienced another first, thanks to Headline’s publicity head, Rosie Margesson – national press coverage in The Sun and The Financial Times (fortunately, both pieces were very positive!). I’m really grateful to all the reviewers and bloggers who posted about Committed, and in particular to Donna Morfett and Alex Hawley for hosting me live on their platforms to talk about it around the August release.

I also took part in several festivals this year, running a ‘Trauma in fiction’ workshop with crime writer and former detective Graham Bartlett as part of Harrogate’s Creative Thursday, interviewing spy writers Charles Cumming and Jim Naughtie at Bloody Scotland (the less said about the Scotland vs England crime writers’ football match, though, the better…), and teaming up with Jacky Collins (aka Dr Noir), Mick Finlay, and Robert Craven to talk about spooks and sleuths at Newcastle Noir. I also chatted live online with William Shaw and Claire Seeber about writers’ mental health and wellbeing for the Crime Writers’ Association, which I joined for the first time this year, and contributed to a piece for the BPS’s The Psychologist magazine on psychologists who write crime fiction.

Another highlight came towards the end of the year when I signed with literary agent David Headley at DHH Literary Agency. David and I had been in contact for a year or more and, following the release of Committed, we agreed to start working together on a high-octane, international thriller – which we hope will be the start of a great series. I can’t say any more about it for now, but with my son at nursery and a few more hours available every day, that’s what I’m planning to write in 2024. Watch this space!

Thank you for your support to my novels, and I hope the new year brings you enjoyment and success in your own projects, whatever those may be.

Committed - new thriller out 1st August!

I’m really excited to announce that I have a new thriller, Committed, coming out this summer. It tells the story of former undercover CIA operative Ellen McGinley as she tries to escape from a secure psychiatric hospital to stop an act of domestic terrorism in the US, while battling to overcome PTSD and protect her family.

Committed represents a new venture for me - new themes (espionage, conspiracy, action), new publisher (Headline Wildfire), new setting (the US), and even writing in a new voice (American English - hope I got it right…). I’m thrilled to be able to offer it to readers, and I hope you enjoy it as much as my previous books. Please take a look and let me know what you think!

Committed is released in e-book and audio formats on 1st August (Worldwide), and in paperback on 12th October (UK) and early 2024 (US). You can pre-order a copy here: https://t.co/C4kmTAIFIk

Thanks for your support!

100,000 sold copies!

More or less exactly on the fourth anniversary of my first novel being published, I recently hit the milestone of 100,000 sold copies. Some authors are lucky enough to reach that number in a year with their debut, but it took me four years and seven books to get there. And I’m very proud of that achievement, because I know how hard I’ve needed to work to get there.

I’ve realised along the way that writing is a very up-and-down business - some titles do better than others, and it’s difficult to predict how well a book will do. But I always come back to the fact that I love writing (most of the time!), which gives me the motivation to keep going, to keep improving, and to keep putting my work out there for readers. If you’ve bought and read one (or more) of my books, thank you for your support!

I’m working on some new ideas at the moment, so watch this space for news…

The New Home - blog tour begins

My first psychological thriller, The New Home, is out now with Bookouture in e-book, print-on-demand, and audio formats. I’m really looking forward to seeing all the posts and reviews from this fantastic collection of bloggers who have signed up for the tour over the coming week! I’ll be sharing everything on my Twitter page, so pop over if you’re interested to read the reviews and find out more about the book.

Live radio... in real life!

On 20th July I had the pleasure of joining The Feckless Four live in the studio of Riverside Radio in Battersea. We chatted about south-west London as the setting for several of my novels, including the Lockhart & Green series, and my upcoming standalone psych thriller, The New Home. It was loads of fun and great to be able to do an event in person, after a year of Facebook Lives at my laptop and podcast recordings hunched over my phone! If you’d like to check out the discussion, the show is on Mixcloud here.

The New Home - psychological thriller cover reveal

My publisher Bookouture revealed the cover for my next book, The New Home, this week. Here it is - a suitably creepy and intriguing design - I love it!

The New Home is my first foray into the territory of psychological thriller. It tells the story of Freya Northcott, a documentary maker who moves into a doer-upper on the outskirts of London with her fiancé Jack, hoping to make a home for the family they’re planning. But, as she gets to know her seemingly perfect neighbours, she realises that something isn’t quite right… and finding out the truth about them will change her life forever.

The New Home is out September 7th, 2021. To find out more and pre-order the e-book, click here.

How I became a crime writer - interview for The Hobcast

Last week I recorded a podcast with Adrian Hobart and Rebecca Collins of Hobeck Books - following in the footsteps of friends and fellow authors Matt Brolly and Graham Bartlett, both of whom have been guests on The Hobcast. We talked about how my two previous careers - diplomacy and clinical psychology - had led me to crime writing, the links between those jobs, and how I draw on some of my earlier experiences as I write. If you’re interested to have a listen, click on the link below - my section of the show starts at 18m55s.

https://adrianhobart.podbean.com/e/episode-15-from-clinical-psychologist-to-crime-author-with-dr-chris-merritt/

Talking crime fiction with Matt Brolly

On 18th February I was live in conversation with bestselling crime author Matt Brolly. We spoke about our new books - Lost Souls, and The Gorge - as well as how we research and write thrillers. Matt had tremendous success with his book The Crossing last year - it was the 16th most-downloaded e-book of 2020 in the UK, clocking up over 130,000 copies sold - and it was great to hear from him about his process and writing experiences. You can watch the full recording here: fb.watch/3Lfp3lGMvD/

Forensic psychology of serial killers at Bloody Scotland

In September I was delighted to get the call up to take part in the Bloody Scotland crime writing festival. I’d hoped, of course, to be able to make it up to Stirling and take part in the traditional England vs Scotland crime writers’ football match, too - but Covid-19 put a stop to that, and the festival moved online.

I was asked to interview American forensic psychologist Dr Katherine Ramsland about serial killers. Katherine has authored numerous books on the subject, perhaps most notably a biography of Dennis Rader (aka ‘BTK’) as well as consulting with the FBI and on many TV shows. I was given an advance copy of Katherine’s new book, How to Catch a Killer, which is a really interesting collection of case studies about how serial murderers were caught, and well worth a read.

We had a fascinating discussion around the psychological issues relating to serial murder, with the theme emerging that no one consistent factor can be found among these killers’ motivations. The video of our session is no longer available on YouTube, but Louise Cannon posted a write up of it on her Bookmarks and Stages blog.

The Bloody Scotland team did an amazing job curating and running the programme online, and it was incredible to share even a tiny bit of the bill with lots of my writing heroes, including Lee Child, Val McDermid and Mark Billingham. Fingers crossed we’ll be able to attend these amazing festivals in person in 2021.

New book cover reveal

On Wednesday 29th January, my publisher Bookouture revealed the cover and ‘blurb’ for my new book, Knock Knock.

I was overwhelmed by the response on Twitter - with more than twenty book bloggers sharing the image, synopsis and even ‘about the author’ info!

It was incredible to receive such interest and support from the blogging community - it makes all the hard work worth it.

I love the cover image, designed by Henry Steadman. Hen has done cover art for some of my favourite authors, including Lee Child, Jo Nesbo and Sebastian Faulks, as well as Bookouture bestsellers Louise Jensen, K.L. Slater and Robert Bryndza. So I feel as though I’m in very special company!

Knock Knock will be released on 17th March 2020. You can read more about it here and pre-order it in e-book format here.

Crime fiction festivals

In late September, I was lucky enough to spend three days attending crime fiction festivals and, technically, I could call it work.

My long weekend started in London on the Friday with Capital Crime - London’s first crime writing festival. I heard talks from some incredible bestselling authors, including Anthony Horowitz, Peter James, Mark Billingham and Robert Harris. I ran into authors I knew as well as contacts from publishing and TV production. And I got to meet some brilliant bloggers who I recognised from Twitter!

On the Saturday, I took a train up to Lancashire for the Morecambe & Vice festival. M&V is a small-scale crime fiction festival, now in its third year, with a hint of theatre about it and a massive dollop of fun. A highlight of the afternoon was being part of the audience while Adam Croft recorded his hilarious Partners in Crime podcast.

The following day, I was on an author panel with crime writer and former psychiatric nurse Barbara Nadel, and academic Dr Liz Brewster. We discussed the overlap between crime fiction and mental health - not only how psychological issues are portrayed in thrillers, but also how reading crime fiction can boost wellbeing (fact).

My Sunday highlight was meeting Prof Dame Sue Black, a forensic anthropologist who has inspired at least three characters in Val McDermid’s novels, and whose incredible work is captured in her book All That Remains (recommended). Sue and I were both interviewed live on BBC Radio Lancashire after the festival - another first for me!

Then it was back to London on the train and back to the reality of Monday morning - but still feeling a warm glow from having connected with crime fiction communities both north and south.

Parkour x Crime Fiction with PKGen

Back in June, I joined Parkour Generations at the Chainstore Gym in East India Docks, London, for a parkour workshop and author talk.

My third Zac Boateng crime thriller, Life or Death, saw detective Kat Jones learning parkour, developing strength and skills including the ‘wall run’. Since I’d trained with PKGen back in the day, I chose to set these scenes at PKGen classes to make her drills and challenges realistic.

PKGen Founder Dan Edwardes led a movement class in the gym, focusing on quadrupedal motion. After this, we sat down for an interview followed by Q&A. This might’ve been the world’s first parkour crime fiction workshop. I hope it’s not the last.

You can check out a short video made by Ironheart Studios about the role of parkour in the book here: https://www.instagram.com/p/Btv0j_NBo8M/?hl=en