{"id":318134,"date":"2025-11-25T13:31:55","date_gmt":"2025-11-25T13:31:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/entertainment\/books\/i-learn-from-those-novels-that-hide-the-villain-really-well-the-dorset-book-detective\/"},"modified":"2025-11-25T13:31:55","modified_gmt":"2025-11-25T13:31:55","slug":"i-learn-from-those-novels-that-hide-the-villain-really-well-the-dorset-book-detective","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=318134","title":{"rendered":"\u201cI learn from those novels that hide the villain really well\u201d \u2013 The Dorset Book Detective"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Crime writer Sherryl Clark talks to me about her books and the authors who inspires her. <\/strong><\/p>\n

Please tell me about your books. What drew you to crime fiction?<\/em><\/p>\n

I started reading crime fiction when I was a teenager so I think it was the early influence, which has lasted my whole life. I enjoy some true crime, which is where I get a few of my ideas, but mostly I read fiction. I like darker stories now, although I did start with some Agatha Christies, but I also loved books by Mickey Spillane and Ed McBain. I like trying to work out who the villain is, although I\u2019m hardly ever successful \u2013 I learn from those novels that hide the villain really well. I also write children\u2019s books, but they are very different and I can keep them apart without too much trouble. The ideas for them develop in a different way.<\/p>\n

Talk to me about your books. You write short stories and novels: which do you prefer?<\/em><\/p>\n

I mostly prefer writing novels. It\u2019s really hard to write a good crime short story, because you don\u2019t have much room to hide clues and put in red herrings. I love diving into my characters in a novel, developing backstories for them and families, and again, there\u2019s not time to do that in a short story. But if I get a really good idea, I\u2019ll definitely write a short story. I try to enter our Sisters in Crime competition every year. <\/p>\n

What books do you like reading yourself?<\/em> Any authors you\u2019re particularly fond of?<\/em><\/p>\n

I read a lot of what I would call traditional crime fiction, which means authors like Ann Cleeves, Stuart MacBride, Ian Rankin, Michael Connolly \u2013 all the writers whose books make the bestseller lists. But I love discovering books that do something different in the genre. In this I\u2019d include authors like Lou Berney, Belinda Bauer, Chris Whitaker and Tana French. In Australian crime fiction I don\u2019t think anyone is better now than Garry Disher.<\/p>\n

If you could collaborate with anyone, living or dead, on a writing project, who would it be and why?<\/em><\/p>\n

That\u2019s a hard question because I\u2019m trying really hard not to write like anyone else \u2013 to develop and strengthen my own voice and ideas. I think I\u2019d actually like to work on a TV series with Jed Mercurio! Especially if that meant learning how to adapt one of my own books.<\/p>\n

What books are you looking forward to in the future? <\/em><\/p>\n

I\u2019m living in New Zealand these days, and I love seeing what is coming out here in the crime genre \u2013 some really good writers drawing on all different settings and characters. Instead of lots of novels set in the outback as in Australia, in NZ you get deep, dark bush and remote farms and old ghosts.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s next for you? Any new projects you\u2019re excited about?<\/em><\/p>\n

I\u2019m working on a standalone novel at the moment that I started on a writing retreat. It was going to be a short story, funnily enough, but it kept growing and growing. It\u2019s great to write something where I don\u2019t have to keep track of everything for Book 2 \u2013 I can focus totally on this one woman and her search for her daughter.<\/p>\n

But right now I have had to put that aside as I\u2019m working on the editing of a new book, For All the Dead Girls<\/em>, which is a sequel to my Melbourne PI novel, Woman, Missing<\/em>. I\u2019ve got the editor\u2019s notes and comments back and it\u2019s so helpful to have that objective eye pointing things out!<\/p>\n

Do you have anything to add?<\/em><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve always felt very grateful for having been shortlisted in the CWA Debut Dagger back in 2018 with my very first novel, Trust Me, I\u2019m Dead<\/em>. It got me started with the series that was published by Verve Books in the UK, and since then I\u2019ve just kept going.<\/p>\n

Many thanks to Sherryl for taking the time to answer my questions. If you\u2019re interested in learning more about her books, check out her website HERE<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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