Lis Howell

Latest Release

Interview

Which books are you reading at the moment?

I've just started re-reading (and reading for the first time I'm ashamed to say) Muriel Spark. I loved The Mandelbaum Gate but I'm not sure about The ballad of Peckham Rye. Still, it's amazing that she can switch styles.

What other writers do you admire?

Donna Leon, Peter Robinson, and M.C. Beaton

Is there a particular book or author that inspired you to be a writer?

Enid Blyton!

Other than writing, what other jobs or professions have you undertaken or considered?

I'm a TV journalist by trade and I'm currently Broadcasting Director at City University. When I grow up I'd like to be something glamourous.

What are you working on at the moment?

I'm working on my third book in the Norbridge Chronicle series

What was your inspiration to write your latest book?

I'm usually motivated by anger - which doesn't sound very nice but it's true. To be motivated to write a whole book you have to feel strongly about something and that something for me usually becomes the sub plot. At the moment I feel really cross about the behaviour of some teachers at a primary school. Most teachers are great but sometimes they can abuse their power. This happened in a local incident and I was involved in (at the periphery) and I suddenly realised it would be the right sort of environment for a crime.

Which genre (or sub-genre, even) of crime novel would you say you write in?

People say I write 'English cosies' because they are set in the country and the main characters are not police. But I would hope the books are a bit more realistic than that, with a strong sense of the darkness of human nature, but without the forensic gore that is so popular. I must say I don't like books were murder is seen as a game - unless they are quite deliberately funny.

What is this book about?

The Chorister at the Abbey is about music. And there's also quite a lot about family life - my two main characters are very different people who have just set up home together. The crime centres on a local wind-up merchant who is also a singer in a choir and who is found dead. But there are sub plots about music, genealogy and religion!

What is the best advice you could give to a future writer?

Write, write, write - but also, go about getting published in a businesslike way. Investigate agents, try out creative writing courses (we have a good one at City) and make contacts. Perseverance really matters. And also, keep on refining your technique.

Why did you choose to write in this genre?

It's the genre I read most.

What do you want your readers to get out of the book?

A real feeling of knowing the characters, plus if I really succeed, some insights about life. The books aren't high art but I'd love it if the reader felt not only satisfied with the plot, but intrigued or informed about peoples' behaviour.

Do you think the Crime Fiction genre is in a healthy state?

Yes! There are more on the shelves than ever! I personally am a bit sick of moody, lonely, intelligent but undervalued music-loving policeman of all nationalities - after all most men think they are like that . . . oh, maybe that is why the genre is so popular! But Donna Leon's Brunetti is different . . . and Patricia Cornwell has lonely moody intelligent etc women . . .. But I have tried to make characters out of more run-of-the-mill personalities.

View the whole Norbridge Chronicles series.