What's the story behind the story? What inspired you to write this book?
I grew up in a small town in South Wales, but for various reasons, I always felt a bit like an outsider. In 2016, while my wife and I were hiking on vacation in the White Mountains, an idea came to me: What if a British police detective from a small coal-mining community in South Wales emigrated to the USA and ended up policing a small town Upstate? What would it be like to be an outsider in a foreign country? Would he be accepted? Who could he trust? He'd have mysteries to solve, bad guys to apprehend, and a place to live and work. In a sense, I wanted to write a thriller/mystery with a twist and populate the story with other ‘misfits’—particularly Liz, the protégé, a fashion model who had always wanted to be a cop. Over the years, we’ve visited New Hampshire’s White Mountains 15+ times. We love this part of the world and have made some great friends, so the mountain trails had to feature, too.
If you had to pick theme songs for the main characters of your book, what would they be? (Meant to be fun. Skip if you need to!)
James Evans would struggle with this one. His musical tastes are strictly classical. Maybe the choral finale of Beethoven’s 9th Symphony, the Ode to Joy. And Liz Hales? Rebel, Rebel by David Bowie.
What's your favorite genre to read? Is it the same as your favorite genre to write?
My interest in writing was sparked by immersing myself in crime and mystery thrillers, and I still devour them more than any other genre. But my reading extends to literary fiction, Austen, Eliot, Dickens, and other timeless authors, as well as a little biography, history, exploration, and adventure.
What books are on your TBR pile right now?
It’s always a mix of the old and new. Right now, ‘Kiss the Girls’ (James Patterson), ‘Remarkably Bright Creatures’ (Shelby Van Pelt) – because I’ve just watched the movie, and ‘The Artist’ (Lucy Steeds) – because the author has recently won the Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize.
What scene in your book was your favorite to write?
The joy of writing a book series is having the time and space for your characters to reveal a little more about themselves. And yes, we authors work on our protagonists' backstories, but sometimes I find myself at the keyboard in James's or Liz's head, and something magical happens. They reveal something I hadn't known before. There’s a scene in Chasing Shadows where James and Liz are driving up the interstate from Boston to Concord, when Liz lets her guard down. She lets James into the realities of life as a young fashion model in a world where, “the parties you attended, there were a lot of men – overdressed men and underdressed women. Men in suits that hinted at wealth, trying to appear respectable but hinting at something else. We models knew what was expected of us.”
Do you have any quirky writing habits? (lucky mugs, cats on laps, etc.)
No quirky habits, really. But I do need my own writing space—not at my ‘office’ desk, but tucked away in the ‘green room.’ A small desk by the window, with my wellcare relaxation mode set to the sound of waves on the seashore. From time to time, I look up from the keyboard at my formal white garden, its clipped topiary cubes reaching the windowsill. Beyond lies a stone dyke, then the grey walls of the local laird's ancestral home below. The landscape folds and rises in the distance, toward the tops of the Grampian Mountains. It takes only a glance. A safe space, my safe space. Hopefully, inspiration isn’t too far away. I can’t write anywhere else.
Do you have a motto, quote or philosophy you live by?
Crikey! Can such a complex question have a short answer? Probably yes, though my full answer might run to a novella. In my writing, it’s simpler to answer. I seem to have a literary giant perched on my shoulder. I’m not sure how he got there, or whether he’s supporting or mocking me, yelling rather than whispering, “There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down and bleed.”
If you could choose one thing for readers to remember after reading your book, what would it be?
That’s a strange thing for a writer to do: let total strangers into their heads and give them privileged access to an imaginary world. Everyone has one, but would you let someone in to wander around, push at doors, and make themselves comfortable? Don’t rush. Try not to be too judgmental. We writers are only human, after all. If you finish the book a little less certain about one of the principal characters than you were at the beginning—and wanting to know more—then maybe I’m on the right road as a storyteller.
