My Life of Crime: Carmen Radtke author of The Case of the Missing Bride

What excites me about My Life of Crime series , is that we delve beneath the surface of the writer. Crime authors are so generous in letting their readers get to know them better and I'm sure you'll agree this blog post by Carmen Radtke does just that. 
Carmen has worked as a newspaper reporter on two continents and always dreamt of becoming a novelist. When she found herself crouched under her dining table, typing away on a novel between two earthquakes in Christchurch, New Zealand, she realised she was hooked for life.

Carmen was born in Hamburg, Germany, but now lives in York, UK. To make life more interesting, she also writes historical woman’s fiction under pen name Caron Albright. A Matter of Love and Death is her first romantic suspense novel published under her alter ego’s name.Thanks so much for sharing some of yourself with your readers. 

So, over to you now Carmen ...

Two books that influenced me: 

The first one was Mark Twain’s Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn (I had the omnibus, so it counts as one surely). I was eight, and I so much wanted to be there, to share their adventures, fight injustice and explore a world so much bigger and more dangerous than my own ordered childhood. This was the book that cemented my desire to live abroad and fed into my love for history.

The second one is Dorothy L. Sayers’ Murder Must Advertise, which I read when I was twelve. I loved Agatha Christie, but this had Lord Peter, whom I’d have happily married, Bunter platonically included. This novel gave me the notion that one day I might be a writer.

Two Songs that influenced me:

It’s hopelessly sentimental, but “Moonriver” gets to me whenever I hear it. A drifter, off to see the world, that’s basically me. Have passport, will travel. One of my worst fears is being stuck in one place.

The second one is “I Am What I Am” by Gloria Gaynor. Allowing yourself the freedom to be true to yourself is one of the hardest and yet most liberating things to do. So what if I eat too much chocolate, am obsessed with classic Screwball comedies and early noir, if I ignore the cleaning when I write and if my fictional characters are closer to my heart than lots of flesh and blood people? If I make mistakes, they’re my own.

Two films  that influenced me:

The first one that’s haunted me since is the TV serial “Holocaust”. Again, I was twelve as I watched it, together with my father. I was born in Germany, and this detailed depiction including original footage from the concentration camps shook my world. With every elderly man, I wondered, what did you do? My grandfather used to be a tiny cog in the resistance, but like most of his generation he wouldn’t really talk about it. I’ve written about the Third Reich in newspaper features but not yet in a novel. Maybe I will one day.

The second film is North by Northwest. Cary Grant’s charm, the intricate story, the places – heaven. I’ve recently watched it again, and it’s still fun. Films and books are for me things I can’t live without.

Two people who’ve influenced me are:

Katharine Hepburn, for her talent, fearlessness and sheer bad-assery. 

And my best friend who was killed in an accident in 2003. We’d started school together, so he was the only one who pretty much knew me most of my life. He forgave me for not writing Harry Potter, he told me when to get off my high horse, and he was the first to believe in me, even when I didn’t myself. The Case of the Missing Bride is dedicated to him.

Follow me on twitter: @carmenradtke01

Blurb The Case of the Missing Bride:

Available here

When a girl goes missing on board of an ocean liner, only one person is convinced that the disappearance is no accident. 

Alyssa has found herself with a group of impoverished girls who are embarking from Australia to Canada in the hope of marriage. As the daughter of a senior official, Alyssa doesn’t share this goal. She hopes to return to England via Canada.

But the girls all share one problem. Their presence on the ship is not known to many of its passengers but their worlds collide when one of the gentlemen discovers them. Then Emma, one of the intended brides, goes missing. Alyssa is convinced the disappearance is no accident and will risk her own life to search for the killer.

What happened to Emma? Is there a murderer on board the ship?

Alyssa is about to discover that there is more to her voyage than she bargained for.