Striking fear into the hearts of her readers is of the utmost importance to S J (Sharon) Bolton. The author of five successful thrillers – the latest of which, Dead scared, is published by Bantam Press in April – her aim is to terrify.

http://www.thebookseller.com/profile/s-j-bolton.html

Ahead of Europe’s largest gathering of crime writers in Harrogate, we speak to three female novelists who are making their names in the crowded marketplace of crime fiction.

Lancashire-born SJ Bolton is the only woman on the six-strong shortlist for crime Novel of the Year with Blood Harvest.

Her novels have been described as “rural gothic”, although Bolton plays down the supernatural element.

“There are no ghosts, but there’s an atmosphere of dread and foreboding that is akin to the classic gothic horror novel,” she says.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-14193367

S J Bolton was born and brought up in Lancashire. She spent her early career in marketing before going back into education and obtaining a masters degree in Business Administration.

Before becoming a writer she held various public relations posts in London, including working for the Solicitors Indemnity Fund.

http://www.reviewingtheevidence.com/interviews.html?id=109

Questions for A.W. Bruna Publishers newsletter and website
from Lizanne Croonen

AWB: The legendary Jack the Ripper works as an inspiration for the killer in your book 'Now You See Me'. I've heard about your lifelong fascination with violent crime. Can you remember where it all started (age, book/movie)? What's so interesting about serial killers in general? What makes Jack the Ripper most interesting for you? Do you call yourself a Ripperologist?

SJB: I was born and brought up very near to Saddleworth Moor in the Pennines, a range of hills in the north of England that form part of the border between my native Lancashire and Yorkshire.  Saddleworth may not mean much to most Dutch readers but in England they are synonymous with some of the most shocking crimes we can remember. In the early 1960s young children were abducted, tortured, killed and buried on Saddleworth by the "Moors Murderers", Ian Brady and Myra Hindley. Even as a young child, I had a sense of a community, if not a nation, in shock at these terrible events and even though the killers were tried and sentenced to life imprisonment, the story went on, as some of the victims have, to this day, never been found. Years later, when I was in my teens, the "Yorkshire Ripper" struck fast and hard, terrorizing the north of England, making women of all ages afraid to leave their homes. Quite possibly, it is this early exposure, and close proximity, to violent crime that begun my own fascination. Jack the Ripper is particularly interesting because he was the one that got away. He was clever enough, and lucky enough, to evade all police efforts to catch him. Deep down, all who fall under his spell want to be the one to "catch" him, even though secretly we know no one ever will.

AWB: British folklore seems to be a cornerstone in your plots, like the Shetland-legend in 'Sacrifice' and the history/mythology of snakes in 'Awakening'. Since I didn't read Blood Harvest, I don't know exactly what the folklore was in this book. But focusing on Jack the Ripper in 'Now You See Me': what fascinates you about the British folklore and why is it so good to combine with crime?

SJB: I am intrigued by the idea that evil never truly goes away, but instead lies dormant, sometimes for many years, before a trigger occurs and brings it back into the open again. And I like to think about folklore being based on true events. In Sacrifice one of my characters says: inside every legend there is a kernel of truth. By linking contemporary crime with legend, I'm drawing together old and new evil.

AWB: Jack the Ripper is one of the most brutal serial killers ever. Were there any moments/murder-describings during your research that he even made YOU shivering or - worse - want to throw up? Have you censured some of his actions?

SJB: My research often makes me feel slightly queasy. All crime writers have to delve into some very dark places.  I didn't censure any of his crimes, as I feel quite strongly that Jack has an anti-hero place in our folklore that he doesn't deserve. He was a brutal, merciless killer and we should never forget this.

AWB: Lacey Flint is not the first main character you describe as a woman with 1. Balls. 2. Complex background 3. Little social life. I know you told that this is not something you do on purpose. But have you ever thought about an unconscious decision to give these type of damaged women a chance to shine? What makes them so interesting to write about?

SJB: There are very few people, men and women alike, who by the time they have reached a certain age have not been impacted upon by life in a way that changes them. You notice I don't use the word damaged! I like to explore how what people have been through in the past impacts upon the way they handle their future. If I'm drawn to solitary types, it's probably because I'm that way inclined myself. Interestingly, the men in my books are all very popular and gregarious.

AWB: Do you think you could be friends with Lacey, even if she doesn't have any? Why?

SJB: I think I'd be afraid of Lacey Flint.

AWB: Your book is situated more than a century after the Ripper-murders, in the city of London, nowadays stuffed with CCTV camera's and modern safety technology. And still these murders in your book can take place without the killer gets caught. Nothing changed for a good serial killer? So do you think that this is all a false sense of security? Could this story be set anywhere?

SJB: 'Now You See Me' is based around the premise that a very clever and lucky serial killer once got away with murder many times over. I believe that, in the right circumstances, it could happen again. Real life serial killers tend not to be super-intelligent and we can all be grateful for that. That's why we catch them. (Hannibal Lecter is fascinating but a work of fiction!) On the other hand, if a very bright one did come along, I think we could be in trouble.

AWB: Your earlier books were situated in rural areas, while 'Now You See Me' isn't. What made you decide to do so? Wasn't it complex, to not have the atmospheric scenery and to do have the crowds around? Big brother (CCTV etc.) is watching your characters. How was that, for a change?

SJB: I've always believed that a big city can be as atmospheric, as creepy and, ultimately, as lonely and isolating as any rural setting and I wanted to prove that.

AWB: 'My favorite things' is a song that turns up at the most creepy moments of your book. Let's talk about your creepiest things. In Awakening, for example, one of the biggest dangers is the snakes. In 'Now You See Me' it's a serial killer. You picked some completely different but big fears in society. Are these your own biggest fears in life? What evil scares you the most and are you going to write about that? Is it feeling less creepy when you research it out completely or…?

SJB: A callous disregard for other people's feelings, whatever form it might take, invariably shocks me and taken to a violent extreme, leads to the sort of crime I write about. Evil that takes us by surprise, that we cannot possibly predict or prepare for, is what I fear the most. I quite like snakes!

AWB: Rapists that don't get caught, is a big thing in your book. What inspired you to bring this up? Have you lost faith in the police system on this? Is that a big fear of yourself too?

SJB: I don't think you need to experience rape yourself to fear it or to understand the devastating impact it has upon others. When I was researching 'Now You See Me', I watched a documentary about the problem of gang rape among young black communities in London and it shocked me to the core. At the risk of being controversial, I felt I had to include it in the book.

AWB: Do you fear the moment that your (now 9-years old) son will read your books? Do you want to protect him from these dark crime stories as long as possible, or do you believe that's not at all a threat when you look at all the true crime that could happen to him?

SJB: My son, who just turned ten, is "a chip off the old block". He is as fascinated by the dark side of literature and popular culture as I am. I do worry, continually, that I may be exposing him to too much dark stuff too early but he does seem remarkably grounded and certainly understands the boundaries between fiction and reality. He will take a Joseph Delaney "Spooks" book to bed, and read about the creepiest things just before turning out the light, then next morning cry at a news story about seal pups being killed. On the whole, I encourage him to read, whatever the subject matter. The world wouldn't go too far wrong, if everyone in it became a reader.

AWB: As a reader, you constantly question Lacey Flint. Are you a person that is constantly on your guard, in general? Especially since you read a lot about fear, murder and to never trust anybody. Did it affect you?

SJB: I constantly imagine the very worst that can go wrong, in any given situation, and this makes me quite a nervous person. I think it's as much about having a powerful imagination, as it is about all the research I do. As for Lacey, I'm delighted readers don't feel they can trust her. That was exactly the impact I was aiming for.

AWB: When you're writing, do you feel followed by your own characters? Is the excitement and tension in your own writing something keeping your from sleep? Did it ever happen that a character kept following you after finishing the book?

SJB: My characters are in my head all the time when I'm writing a story. When I finish the first draft and hand it to my agent I go through a period of grieving for them. On the whole, whilst I think of them all from time to time, generally though, I'm happy to leave them to get on with their lives.

AWB: This is your fourth stand-alone. Do you ever think about not saying goodbye to some of the characters? Is it true that Lacey and Mark are returning in your upcoming new book? What's left to explore about them, can you give us a hint?

SJB: 'Now You See Me' is not my fourth stand alone, it is the start of what will be at least a four part series! What's still to explore about Lacey and Mark? Good heavens, we've only just started. Will Mark trust her now or become suspicious again? Will Lacey ever let Mark get close? Will she be able to close the door on her past and move forward? Will they work together again? Dead Scared, my fifth book, sees them investigating a series of sudden and horrible deaths in Cambridge. Lacey goes undercover, posing as a student, to act as bait for a clever and unscrupulous killer. And both Evi Oliver and Harry Laycock from Blood Harvest are back too.

Interview with Italian newspaper

IG: When did you decide to write books?

SJB: I was born a writer, I just didn’t know it until I reached the age of forty! Having a baby and a career break was the catalyst. I had time to think about what I wanted to do with the rest of my life, other than be my son’s mother, and stories have always been one of my great passions. Discovering that I could write them was a wonderful surprise.

IG: What do you like about your work and what do you hate?

SJB: I love getting emails from readers, sometimes on the other side of the world, who have enjoyed my books. To be honest, there’s nothing I hate, although I do get a bit nervous waiting for sales figures. My publishers have invested a great deal of time and money in me and it’s vitally important that the books are successful for them too.

IG: Is it true that you study the plots of your stories walking with your dog Lupe?

SJB: Perfectly. I never get writers’ block but sometimes, when I’m not sure how to take a scene forward, I go for a walk. There’s something about the steady rhythm of walking that aids concentration and gets the ideas flowing. To repay Lupe for her great contribution to my working life, she has a starring role in the book I’m working on now.

IG: When I read the presentation of "Blood Harvest" I thought: "wow, a new Children of the Corn" sequel. How much was King the inspiration for this book?

SJB: I haven’t read Children of the Corn but will admit to being hugely influenced by Stephen King. He is my favourite contemporary writer and his gift for prose is as inspirational, I believe, as his formidable imagination. Where King and I part company is that, ultimately, there is nothing supernatural in my books. My love of the spooky and weird is balanced, always, by my fascination with forensic science. Everything, in the end, is explained.

IG: Which are the authors that most inspired you?

SJB: I’ve always loved the classics, particularly the Brontes, Dickens, Tolkein, Wilkie Collins and similar. There are many contemporary writers I admire, JK Rowling, Joanne Harris, Lee Child. Basically anyone who combines a gift for language with an ability to deliver a great and original plot.

IG: Is it true that you used the family of your sister for writing "Blood Harvest"?

SJB: Absolutely. A few years ago, my sister and her family built a new house, by an old church, on a moor in northern England. Shortly after moving in, they found human remains in their garden. This got me thinking. What would happen if, in a heavy storm, a grave opened up and more corpses tumble out than are supposed to be in it?

IG: Heptonclough is a real or a fictional place?

SJB: Both. It was inspired by Heptonstall, a real and very atmospheric village high on the moors in northern England. Heptonstall is beautiful, and very spooky, but none of the odd customs of Blood Harvest actually take place there. At least, I don’t think they do…

IG: The Shetland Islands, Dorset, Yorkshire, how many real dark, brutal and bloody traditions are today alive in these places?

SJB: The traditions I describe in Blood Harvest, such as The Cutting of the Neck, the Day of the Dead, the Blood Harvest itself, are all part of our English countryside heritage. The story behind Sacrifice was based on documented Shetland legend and belief.  Sadly, most of these traditions, beliefs and customs are lost now, but I like to think we can keep them alive in fiction.

IG: How do you try to describe the anthropological tradition of your nation?

SJB: With honesty and understanding. Ultimately, though, I am a novelist and therefore an entertainer, not a social scientist. The folklore in my books is there to provide a rich and satisfying backdrop to the story.

IG: There’s a movie "The Wicker Man" with Christopher Lee that has an approach similar to certain of your plots?

SJB: The Wicker Man is the story of an isolated community that makes its own laws and that turns upon an outsider. This is a very common theme in literature and film, and for good reasons. We all fear finding ourselves in an alien situation, where we can no longer rely upon the rule of law. We all fear being the outsider. This is a theme I use in both Sacrifice and Blood Harvest and probably will again as it interests me so much.

IG: Can you describe us Tom Fletcher?

SJB: A perfectly ordinary English child who finds himself in an extraordinary situation. At the end of the story, the safety of his family rests on his slim shoulders and the big question is whether he has the courage to do what will be asked of him.

IG: Is it true that you visit a cemetery similar to that of Heptonclough?

SJB: The cemetery immediately beyond my sister’s garden in northern England is exactly the same as the one in my book. I watched my nephews play around the old gravestones when they were younger, just as the Fletcher boys do in my story. And I spent many hours just staring out of the window at it, when I was planning Blood Harvest.

IG: Which is your biggest fear?

SJB: That I will face a situation similar to the ones faced by characters in my book. And that I won’t be able to summon up their courage.

IG: Why do you prefer to change characters every book and not continue with a saga with the same protagonist?

SJB: I am a story-led writer, rather than a character-led one. The plot is always the starting point for me, and the characters have to be right for it. Having said that, my fourth book reintroduces Dana Tulloch, the police sergeant from Sacrifice and the book I am working on at the moment will bring back a major character from Blood Harvest (Evi Oliver) and two from my fourth book.

IG: And about the serial saga that you are projecting with Jack The Ripper?

SJB: I have long been fascinated by Jack the Ripper, the killer who was never caught and always knew I would one day write about him. My fourth book, NOW YOU SEE ME, isn’t about the ripper murders exactly, but is the story of a young detective, Lacey Flint, who is herself fascinated by Jack, and who becomes the target of a brutal and very clever killer.

IG: "Now you see me" is coming, can you talk something about it and about the dreadful Camden Catacombs?

SJB: I loved writing Now You See Me and am very excited about its publication (2012 in Italy?) It is the story of a young woman, Lacey Flint, who is very dedicated to her job as a police detective but who is hiding a very dark secret in her own life. One night, a woman is killed right in front of her and she becomes involved in her first murder investigation. It soon becomes clear though, that the killer’s real target is Lacey herself. And that if she catches the killer, her own secret will come out.

Now You See Me is set in London and the final chapters take place underground in The Camden Catacombs.  I discovered these by accident when I was researching the book some months ago and was immediately fascinated. The Catacombs are a vast underground network of tunnels and chambers that was built during the reign of Queen Victoria and that still exist, beneath the streets of north London today. They are the perfect setting for a terrifying climax to my latest story.

Article on crime writing for 2011 Harrogate Crime Festival.

20th February 2012

It tickles me no end that a genre so often dismissed as pulp fiction, airport fodder, rubbish, is the most challenging of all to write. In a genre this competitive, you need an incredible, original idea before you even pick up your pen.

These days, crime novels are heavy on information. I spend months on research before I write my first sentence. In recent years, I’ve learned about obstetrics, folklore, major burns, psychology, forensics, suicide, charismatic religions, veterinary medicine and Jack the Ripper.

Plots are invariably complex, with more twists than a bucket of snakes in a maze. The big surprise at the end is compulsory, but can never be a rabbit out of a hat. Clues have to be laid along the way, but not so many the reader guessed halfway through. What you’re aiming for is: “of course, why didn’t I see that?”

Characters have to be engaging and likeable, even facing stressful, life-threatening situations. Not easy – point a gun at someone’s head, they won’t be at their best. Oh, and every sentence that develops character slows down the pace of the narrative. It’s a continuous balancing act.

Readers will spot and not forgive mistakes.

Crime novels are read by people who are passionate about the genre and who, from the moment they open the first page, are trying to catch us out. They’re looking for the clues, the red herrings, trying to anticipate the twists and if they guess the solution before the final 10% of the book, they dismiss us with contempt.

If you are this sort of reader, take it from me, we are terrified of you. But when we sit down at our keyboards, we know we are facing some fierce opposition and it keeps us, 100%, on our game.

Writing crime is the best job in the world, but it’s never easy.

A short story first published in the Daily Mirror.

12th August 2011

‘Someone knows this killer,’ said the dark-skinned detective. ‘He goes home at night, he talks to his family. Someone knows who he is.’

Barney switched off the TV. Two thirteen-year-olds dead in the last four months and now, tonight, a third body has been found.

Someone knows the killer.

At his desktop computer, Barney opened Google and them his folder on what the media were calling The Boy-Child Murders. Several saved Internet searches, articles from national and local papers, his own lists of salient-facts and four letters sent anonymously to the murder investigation team at Lewisham.

Below his window, in the next garden along, he could see light. Barney jumped up and ran down to the basement kitchen. Outside, he leapt for the top of the garden wall.

‘Good God, Barney, you sacred me to death. Does your dad know you’re out this late?’

The policewoman was dripping with sweat, as she always was when she left her garden shed. Whatever gym equipment she had in there, she worked it hard.

‘He’s not in.’ Barney landed on her side of the wall. ‘Tuesdays and Thursday,’ he said, before she had time to ask where his dad was. ‘That’s when it happen.’

‘Barney, I promise I passed your message on, but I’m not part of the investigation team. I’m not working at all at the moment.’

Barney knew that. ‘Suspended for police brutality or talking bribes’, his father had speculated when Barney had mentioned he never saw the policewoman going to work anymore. ‘They’re all at it.’

‘You’re looking for someone who’s never at home on Tuesdays and Thursdays,’ he went on. ‘Today’s Thursday.’ Since the murders had begun, he’d been combing every website and blog he could find for information. Each child had been taken from their own homes. All lived in the same part of south London. Each disappeared on a Tuesday or Thursday. Each body was found on one of those days.

‘I’m sure they’ve worked that out. You’ve been going onto the blog sites, haven’t you? You’re Rubble?’

How had she known that? ‘It’s what my mum used to call me,’ he admitted. ‘Barney Rubble.’ If she’d guessed Rubble was him, maybe someone else would too. ‘Do you think the murdered looks at those sites?’ he asked.

‘Are you scared?’

He nodded. He was, but not for the reason she thought. She thought he was scared because all three victims had been thirteen-year-old boys like him. That wasn’t all.

As Barney closed the back door he knew he wasn’t alone in the house. He climbed the stairs and stopped at the study door. A cotton handkerchief spotted with blood in the doorway. He’d been right then, all along.

Someone knows who he is.

The killer was in the study, a tall man, his back to Barney. He turned and looked directly at the boy, so similar to each of his three victims, and Barney saw guilt, plain as daylight, in the man’s eyes.

‘Hello Dad,’ he said. ‘you’re back early.’

Published in New Books Magazine

18th May 2011

The world is full of danger, being sacred is essential to the human condition and we deal with our real fears by fictionalizing them. So a good crime novel must first reflect the fears and attitudes and essences of its time. Race and gang wars, international terrorism, children in danger, and the lone, sexual serial killer: these themes recur in our fiction because they represent our most fundamental fears, decades ago, our fears were a little different, so was our crime fiction.

Good crime fiction today is expected to inform. The simple story feels empty, like easily digested but not entirely wholesome food. We crave knowledge and we want it in our story books. The brilliant forensic writes, like Cornwell, Beckett and Reichs teach us while they entertain. We love Sansom and Franklin (God rest her sweet, clever soul) because they bring the past to life for us.

A great book will move the genre on. The silence of the Lambs brought us the monstrous but compelling anti-hero, The Da Vinci Code introduced us to the religious conspiracy thriller. The Secret History, The Tenderness of Wolves and The Historian proved that crime novels can also be works of great literature. (Actually, I think Dickens did that a long time ago.)

Characters in crime have to be credible, but attractive. We have no interest in the acne-ridden dentist as amateur sleuth. They must be real for us, but heaven help the author who loads his people up with character bling, or who builds characters at the expense of the pace.

Above all, a great crime novel is a story, and one that competes in the most crowded genre known. It must shock, surprise, entrance, terrify and move us, sometimes in the same chapter.

A good crime novel is the best entertainment we could hope for.

Lupe’s portrait