Author Interview: Next up to be Warped on The Crime Warp is Michelle Kidd author of the DI Jack Macintosh series ....

I am delighted to welcome Michelle Kidd onto The Crime warp today. Her most recent novel m The Fifteen, was released in August this year and she's hoping for the fourth in the series to be released early in 2021. So, Michelle settle down with a vanilla slice and a cup of hot chocolate and spill the beans ... 

Tell us a bit about your current book release.

Available here

My most recent release ‘The Fifteen’ was published at the beginning of August 2020. This is the third
book in my DI Jack MacIntosh series. I wrote the majority of it during Lockdown, putting the extra time to good use!

How long did The Fifteen take to write?

A little over six months from start to finish. I work for the NHS and was able to work a lot of the time at home during Lockdown – and found that days had more than the usual 24 hours! I was able to spend more time writing than I usually can, and found it a useful escape from the depression and horror of the outside world. I am grateful to Jack MacIntosh, my central character, for providing me with that escapism.

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

There is a character who appears in the first DI Jack MacIntosh book ‘The Phoenix Project’ and continues to dip in and out of each subsequent book as well. He starts out as a ‘baddie’ and the reader is meant to dislike him. But as the books progress I try to show a different side to him – and maybe pose the question whether people can be both and bad and good at the same time.

Where is your favourite place to write and why?

On my bed with my cat! My cat, Livi, likes to sit on my legs, which forces me to stay still and keep writing!

 

Available here

Do you have a particular writing routine you follow?

As I still work full time, writing had to be squeezed into any spare time. I generally write on a Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning. Before Lockdown changed everything, I used to attend a monthly writers retreat which enabled me to write solidly for almost six hours. I miss that!

 If you weren’t a writer what would you like to do?

I currently work for the NHS, but if I had my working life all over again I think I would like to be a paramedic.

What is it about Crime fiction as a genre that turns you on?

It is a genre that is always full of surprises. I like books that twist and turn and pull you in all sorts of directions. Having also worked in the legal profession as a defence lawyer, I know that nothing is impossible when it comes to crime!

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?

A)    Sherlock Holmes – just because! - Aw but which one ?- I'm partial to Robert Downey Junior myself!

B)    John Rebus – he would be great to come home to at the end of the day (if he was there!) and would always have a drink ready - I'm a Ken Stott Rebus fan.

C)    Hannibal Lecter – well you just would wouldn’t you!

Well since you survived a meal with Hannibal Lecter, let's move on. Could you describe the book

Available here

you are working on at the moment using only 5 words?

My next book to be published is ‘The Bishop’ – due for release in January 2020 (hopefully)

Explosive. Clever. Twisty. Shocking. Satisfying

Do you have competing ideas for future projects and have you ever worked on more than one at the same time?

I am just finishing the final editing of ‘The Bishop’ – and I am already thinking of the next book in the series. I am making notes as I go along with things that will happen in the next book. At the same time, I have an idea for another detective series set in my home town, this time with a female DI. I am going to try writing both books at the same time – I’ve never done this before, so we will see how it goes….!

Well thanks so much Michelle for taking the time to be warped on The Crime Warp. We'll hear from you again soon when you come back with your Detectives In The Dock questions. 

A Bit More about Michelle

Michelle Kidd is a self-published author known for the Detective Inspector Jack MacIntosh series of novels.

Michelle qualified as a lawyer in the early 1990s and spent the best part of ten years practising civil and criminal litigation.

But the dream to write books was never far from her mind and in 2008 she began writing the manuscript that would become the first DI Jack MacIntosh novel – The Phoenix Project. The book took eighteen months to write, but spent the next eight years gathering dust underneath the bed.

In 2018 Michelle self-published The Phoenix Project and has not looked back since. There are currently three DI Jack MacIntosh novels, with a fourth in progress.

Michelle works full time for the NHS and lives in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk. She enjoys reading, wine and cats – not necessarily in that order!

 You can connect with Michelle here 

Social Media links:

www.michellekiddauthor.com

www.facebook.com/michellekiddauthor (Facebook)

@AuthorKidd (Twitter)

@michellekiddauthor (Instagram)

Coming in 2021