After 10 years of living and working South London,
author Clare Donoghue decided to escape the rat race and move back to
her home town in Somerset to do an MA in creative writing.
It proved to be a good move because her first
novel, The Watcher, was long listed for the Crime Writers’
Association’s Debut Dagger award for unpublished authors.
Although it remains unpublished it inspired Clare
to carry on writing and in 2013 she published her murder mystery
thriller Never Look Back.
Set in Lewisham it featured the borough’s murder
squad headed up by DI Mike Lockyear who investigate a serial killer
responsible for the deaths of three women.
Things are complicated further when another woman,
who fits the profile of the other murdered women, fears she is being
stalked by someone unknown.
Creepy, dramatic and with a gripping plot, it
received critical acclaim from readers and critics alike.
Fans of the book will now be delighted to learn
that Clare has picked up her pen again to write a sequel, No Place To
Die, which once more follows the exploits of DI Lockyear and his team
as they patrol the streets of Lewisham, Southwark and Greenwich
fighting crime.
The plot is somewhat darker and whereas in Never
Look Back, the victim was the main character, this time it’s DS
Jane Bennett who is centre stage. She takes charge following her boss
Mike’s suspension at the end of the previous book for becoming
involved with a female witness who was then murdered.
No Place To Die starts with the team making a grim
discovery of a man made tomb and in it the body of a missing
university student under Elmstead Woods.
It leads them on a winding case through
psychologists and dodgy academic practises in and around South East
London.
And with Jane often feeling as though she is
floundering while her boss fights his own demons, she eventually
finds herself in danger.
“It’s very dark,” admits Clare when I chat
to her about the book. “When I signed the deal it was for two books
so I’d already created the synopsis for the second by the time I
had finished the first.
“My inspiration for No Place To Die was a
nightmare I’d had as a child. When I was quite young I had a
recurring dream of being buried alive and not being able to breathe.
It was very scary and I would imagine for many people, it’s their
worst nightmare.
“I realised it could work as a premise for a
story and so I did some research about it which was fascinating and
freaked me out a bit – and still does – but it has cured me of
the nightmare!”
The story is both gripping and frightening
especially the descriptions of the student whose life gradually ebbs
away as she lies alone in the underground tomb.
It is extremely chilling and there are lots of
twists and turns along the way making it a real page turner.
One of the best bits about it is that it’s so
descriptive. Indeed the attention to geographical detail is spot on –
and for anyone who lives in South East London all the locations
within the book are instantly recognisable.
Reading it I felt as though I was right there with
the characters, so realistic were the references.
“I lived in Nunhead for about 10 years when I
was working in London so I know the area well,” says Clare.
“Lewisham has a big murder squad and it’s home
to the biggest police station in Europe and it always gave me a
massive amount of inspiration so it made sense to base it there.
“I don’t live there anymore but I do love
coming up to South London on my research trips and pounding the
patch. Lewisham has and is changing massively even in the few years
since I’ve been way.”
But why leave in the first place I ask.
“I was working as a deputy credit manager in a
law firm but had always wanted to write,” she says.
“My writing at school was dreadful, I don’t
think I had any aptitude, my spelling was bad and grammar was over my
head. I wrote lots of stories but realised I had no idea what I was
doing. There was no proper structure, I only had short scenes and I
didn’t know how to make the bits in between interesting.
“I’d always loved puzzles and reading crime
fiction and had writers I admired such as Stephen King, David Hewson,
Tess Gerrittsen and Sharon Bolton and I couldn’t wait for their
books to come out.
“After a while I realised that I actually really
wanted to give writing a serious go and if I didn’t do it soon I’d
never do it.
“But to do it I needed to do a writing course.”
So she quit her job, upped sticks and moved back
to Taunton and wrote her first book whilst doing her MA.
By the end of the course she had The Watcher under
her belt and had “totally got the writing bug”.
“It was a big risk but it was the best thing
I’ve ever done,” she laughs. “I was a complete dunce on the
course but absorbed everything they threw at me. Even just mastering
the basic writing helped and gave me confidence and I realised I
could do it.”
“Eventually I was writing characters and
situations I was comfortable with and by the end of the course I had
written The Watcher.
“No Place To Die was done in about six months
which was very quick but I was on a bit of a roll and I found it
easier to do than Never Look Back!
“I’d never go back to my old life,” she adds
warmly. “This suits my personality, I love the space I have here to
write and although it’s tough, I want to keep going.”
So are there plans for a follow up to No Place To
Die?
“Oh yes definitely,” she says
enthusiastically. “I’ve just about written the third which will
be published hopefully next March and I’ve got ideas for future
books.
“I’d love to write a series of stories
featuring Mike and Jane and their team – I’ve certainly got lots
of ideas for plots and characters that pop into my head all the time.
“They are definitely fictional characters,
though Jane is most similar to me and a bit of a goodie two shoes.
“I wanted to give her more prominence in the
second story but in the third we see them run together on the case
and we get to see more of the team they work with.
“What I want is to make my books enjoyable, easy
reads, something that someone can get stuck into and that will make
them miss their stop or read one more chapter before they go to sleep
– that’s what I’m aiming for!”
No Place To Die, by Clare Donoghue is published by
Pan Macmillan. RRP £7.99.
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