The Crime Warp's Q&A with Bernie Steadman

The Crime Warp has great pleasure in welcoming B.A Steadman to our den of iniquity.  Bernie is the author of the DI Hellier series of books which are acclaimed as being gripping and pacy - Just my cup of tea.  Talking of which Bernie, here's your coffee and I've splashed out on some shortbread fingers....


Liz: Tell us a bit about your current book release.

Bernie: My current book is Death and The Good Son,

Available on Amazon
Click here

released in December 2016. It returns to DI Dan Hellier and his team in their Exeter police station. Two headless, handless corpses have been discovered in a bog on Dartmoor, and efforts to identify them prove difficult. Meanwhile, someone is selling doctored ‘legal highs’ on the streets, and they cause the death of a teenage boy. Dan and the team have two murders to solve, and a set of difficult characters to crack.

Liz: Where did the inspiration for Death and the Good Son come from?

Bernie: I love the area around Exeter, especially Dartmoor and the estuary leading out to Exmouth, so I came up with a story which would allow me to exploit both locations. There was a lot in the news (still is) about the terrible effects of so-called ‘legal highs’ and young people really aren’t aware of the damage they can cause. Bodies in the bog was just a fun way to start the story off – it is a great place to hide a body, if you dig the hole deep enough…

Liz: Is there a subsidiary character you have created and are particularly fond of and why?

Bernie: I love Lizzie Singh, the Detective Constable. She is in

Exmouth estuary

a job that her Sikh family could never approve of, she is brave and clever (in a way I would love to be) and she has a sense of humour when things get serious. With Lizzie, if she is knocked down, she will get up again, and I admire that in her. Her character has grown in importance over the two published books, and she takes a more important part in the new work in progress.

Liz: I'm glad you said that, Lizzie appealed to me too.  I found her a bit like one of my subsidiary characters, Alice Cooper - every good crime novel needs a character like those. So, Bernie, where is your favourite place to write and why?

Bernie: I could say sitting at a café on the island of Crete in the shade, which would be true, but only once a year. In reality I have a desk in the study I share with my husband. It faces the wall, so I can’t daydream, and the wall has bits of paper stuck all over it with messages to remind me about clues, evidence and dates as I forget things. It’s the best

place because I have less distraction and can focus properly. Also the OH brings me tea and biscuits when I’m in full-on writing mode. My only problem is getting my backside onto the chair in the morning – once I’m there, I’m there for several hours.

Liz:  I know that feeling.  Do you ever suffer from writer’s block and if so how do you overcome it?

Bernie: I don’t know if it’s writer’s block, or more that I get a plot black hole and need to take time away to solve it. If I do get stuck, I go at it a different way; bring in a new character or scene, or do ‘worst case scenario’ – what could happen now that would be absolutely disastrous? Then I write that scene, which is related, but not so far part of the story. Sometimes it goes in, sometimes it doesn’t, but it does get me going again.

Liz: Who are your writing heroes and why?

Bernie: The tartan noir army are my favourites. Val McDermid, Ian Rankin, Stuart MacBride, Peter May.  It’s the terseness and honesty of the dialogue, the wildness of the landscape and some brilliant characterisation. Who could not love Logan McRae and hate DI Steel?

Liz:  A woman after my own heart - I love Stuart MacBride's work too.  What is it about Crime fiction as a genre that turns you on?

Bernie: I love action and adventure in a novel. I like ramping up the stakes and pushing characters to their limits, and that’s what you get in crime. There is always a proper baddie, even though he/she may be hard to identify at first, and I love the uncovering of that character through dogged, sometimes inspired detective work.

Liz:  Now, lets have a bit of a giggle.   If you were to play Snog Marry Avoid using crime writers and characters from crime fiction who would you A) Snog B) Marry and C) Avoid… and why?

Bernie: Snog: has to be Stuart Macbride. I am in love with DS Logan McCrae, which I think may mean I’m in love with his creator. Ooerr!

Marry: Peter May. I feel safe in his hands. He’ll tell a great story and keep me intrigued the whole way through, and I enjoy his French-set thrillers, too.

Avoid: Kathy Reichs. I admire and respect her vast knowledge and experience, but I’m just not that into bones.

And her Temperance Brennan character is hard to empathise with, which is always a turn off for me. I need to be rooting for the protagonist.

Liz: Who or what inspires you to keep writing?

Bernie: A good review is a tonic. People telling me how much they enjoyed the book is still such a delight, that I keep doing more. Also, there is an element of addiction in it. More than anything, I love getting lost inside these fictional worlds I create and making up stories. What could be more fun?

 Liz: Could you describe the book you are working on at the moment using only 5 words?

Bernie: Dan battles the fire goddess!

Liz:  Oooh, very intriguing.  Do you have competing ideas for future projects and have you ever worked on more than one at the same time?

Bernie: Yes, I finished a YA urban fantasy novel just as I got

Available on Amazon
Click here

a publishing contract for Death and Deception. And then I needed to get going on Death and the Good Son to keep up the momentum, so By Fire and By Water is still languishing in a drawer. I will get it sent off to publishers this year, though, no excuses. Meanwhile I have started Death and The Fire Woman, which will be Book 3 in the DCI Dan Hellier series, due out in December 2017!

Liz:  It's been so lovely to chat with you Bernie.  Good luck with all your projects.