Cath Staincliffe

I was gripped by the book though often found it/her annoying but I wasn't so sure about the ending though it was a clever twist.

I always find it so hard to pick just one or two of anything but among my favourite characters are Jenny Cooper from the M.R.Hall books, she's a fierce champion for justice but her personal life is a real mess and I find myself cheering her on. A long lasting favourite is Dave Robicheaux from James Lee Burke, flawed and very humane as is Jackson Brodie, Kate Atkinson's protagonist but Brodie is also very funny at times which is a welcome counterpoint to the suspense of the stories. I could go on but I'll stop there...

Hope you like them as much as I did.

I'm not prepared to stop reading while I'm writing as I'm addicted to books so I think I've got used to not letting what I read seep into my own prose style. As for your second question, I've not had that sort of pressure from publishers but I did once briefly have an agent who wasn't keen on the book I was trying to get published and basically suggested I go off and write a 'big thriller' that she could sell. We parted company. When you think about it, it might take a year to write a book and a year to publish it so by the time that's done the trend might be done and dusted.

Yes! I remember that. Not played it for years. The Kafka line is a great one.

Here's a question from one author to the others. If you didn't write crime what sort of books would you write? Is there another genre you'd like to work in? Answering for myself I'd love to write a children's book someday and I'd like to write science fiction/fantasy too which is what I wrote when I first started out.

Publishers do tend to present the author with the artwork and a note saying 'here's the cover and we love it hope you do too' and most of the time I do. I really like the recent covers for my stand alone books (which are part of a cover trend known as the single female eye ) Audio books have sometimes been wide of the mark, one of my gritty Sal Kilkenny private eye titles looked like wartime romance! If a cover is really not a good reflection of the book, I've usually been able to get changes made with the help of my agent.

They are very different reads, take you into totally different worlds but each completely gripping. Apple Tree Yard suspenseful and intelligent and at times shocking while The Universe Versus Alex Woods is funny and poignant and uplifting.

The long-lists are out now for the Dagger Awards in the UK. http://thedaggers.co.uk/entries/list.php?dagger=2 What titles from all the books you've read this last year would you pick as your winners? I'll kick off with my top five Apple Tree Yard by Louise Doughty The Universe Versus Alex Woods by Gavin Extence The Cry by Helen FitzGerald Norwegian by Night by Derek B Miller Burial Rites by Hannah Kent

I find reading fiction so much more rewarding, it engages me in a different way than non fiction as I imagine being the characters, being in that situation and also I relish the use of language in good prose. Personally I find it hard to concentrate on non fiction - I manage to read a few features in the newspaper once a week and that's it. Finally there are so many novels out there I want to read - and so little time - so that's my priority.

'It was a bright cold day in April and the clocks were striking thirteen.' George Orwell, 1984 Also 'It was the best of times, it was the worst of times ...' Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities First and last lines are so important!

I love a good story whatever the genre but I also like to keep up with new writing in crime fiction where my home is. My estimate is that about two thirds of the books I read are crime and the other third are mainly general fiction and literary fiction. Every so often I list books I've enjoyed on my blog as recommendations. Someday I'll have to tot up whether my estimate of the genre split is right.

Like Sam I treat writing as my job so it's what I do everyday with bits of time for admin, emails, twitter and the like. I've not used any software though have heard authors rave about scrivener and it sounds good, I'm a bit reluctant to try it as I don't know how long it would take to get used to it. Post it notes and writing first drafts longhand works well for me so far. I do diagrams and a calendar and lists of dates etc - all of which I believe can be there at a keystroke with scrivener. One thing I have used is voice recognition software when I have loads of typing to do. It's slightly quicker for me than touch typing but I wish it was even more accurate.

Well, I write a lot about loss and grief and I do find myself 'upset' when I'm writing in the same way that I hope a reader would be moved when they are reading the book. But soon as my writing day is done I am fine. Some areas I avoid - I've only once written from the point of view of a serial killer as it's not a place I want to be for long. (That was my short story Laptop which won a dagger so maybe I should reconsider that position!)

Yes, at least with the pilot. Spent some time with the lead actors looking at the characters and their lives and their attitude to work and so on. Great fun. Didn't do that with later series, though I went to the read thrus and visited filming.

Hi Andrea, it's true to say I hate research which is why my first series was about a private eye and I didn't have to know any procedure. I've no experience of police work but picked quite a bit up from watching TV and have got to know contacts in the Crime Writers Association who are ex police and can answer my questions. On Blue Murder we also had police consultants advising us - and the same for the Scott & Bailey books. Yes - I did write the scripts for the pilot of Blue Murder and some of the episodes in the following seasons. The show was based on an unpublished novel of mine and (thanks to a tip off from my writer friend Ann Cleeves) I knew the TV company were looking for drama ideas with strong female leads. An initial meeting led to development and I was given the chance to try and write the scripts. A very steep learning curve but an exhilarating experience!

Andrew Taylor is a UK writer who's produced some excellent historical crime fiction, The Scent of Death is set in New York during the American War of Independence and won a Dagger here from the Crime Writers Association. I'd also recommend Laura Wilson's Stratton series set in the 40s and 50s and Sarah Waters' Victorian novels. And the late Ariana Franklin whose books are set in the twelfth century and feature a great female protagonist are really excellent and unusual reads.

Hello Julie, thanks for the welcome. I've never thought of writing true crime and it's not something I read. I find it too upsetting which may sound odd coming from someone who writes about murder and grief all the time! I'm also very careful not to use real stories in my fiction - I prefer to make them up but also I don't want to intrude on someone's real life tragedy..

I also like James Lee Burke, Benjamin Black, Lawrence Block and Thomas H Cook. Other writers I always enjoy include Kate Atkinson, Walter Mosley, Jane Casey, Steve Mosby, Tom Benn and Denis Mina. I love their writing and their stories but most of all the characters they create. Some recent stand out reads for me were Rubbernecker by Belinda Bauer, A Land More Kind Than Home by Wiley Cash, Broken Harbour by Tana French, Apple Tree Yard by Louise Doughty,Norwegian by Night by Derek B Miller and The Last Policeman by Ben H Winters.

Hi, I’ve written three series of books, the Sal Kilkenny private eye mysteries, the Blue Murder series (based on the TV show I created) and the Scott and Bailey novels – I wasn’t involved in that show or create those wonderful characters but was asked to write prequels to the TV series. My other strand of work is a number of stand-alone crime novels which feature ordinary people caught up in the criminal justice system and focus on the aftermath of crime for the relatives of victims.