Live Twitter Chat for Authors Sarah Hilary & Alex Marwood!

I’m so excited to be sharing the news that Penguin (@PenguinPbk) will be hosting a killer Twitter chat between two wonderfully talented British suspense/mystery authors - Sarah Hilary (@sarah_hilary) and Alex Marwood (@AlexMarwood1) - which will take place on Wednesday, August 20^th from 12-1 pm EST, under #killerfiction. Don’t miss your chance to ask questions to these up-and-coming authors in the genre! 

Important Details:

Who: Authors Sarah Hilary (@sarah_hilary) and Alex Marwood (@AlexMarwood1)

What: Live Twitter Chat with the authors! Use #killerfiction to participate!

When: Wednesday, August 20th from 12-1 pm EST

Book/Author Info:

Someone Else's Skin

Author: Sarah Hilary

Genre: Mystery/Thriller

Release Date: June 24, 2014

Publisher: Penguin Books

Description:

Some secrets keep you safe, others will destroy you...

Detective Inspector Marnie Rome. Dependable; fierce; brilliant at her job; a rising star in the ranks. Everyone knows how Marnie fought to come back from the murder of her parents, but very few know what is going on below the surface. Because Marnie has secrets she won't share with anyone.

But then so does everyone. Certainly those in the women's shelter Marnie and Detective Sergeant Noah Jake visit on that fateful day. The day when they arrive to interview a resident, only to find one of the women's husbands, who shouldn't have been there, lying stabbed on the floor.

As Marnie and Noah investigate the crime further, events begin to spiral and the violence escalates. Everyone is keeping secrets, some for survival and some, they suspect, to disguise who they really are under their skin.

Now, if Marnie is going to find the truth she will have to face her own demons head on. Because the time has come for secrets to be revealed... 

About the Author:

Sarah Hilary lives in Bath, where she writes quirky copy for a well-loved travel publisher. She's also worked as a bookseller, and with the Royal Navy. An award-winning short story writer, Sarah won the Cheshire Prize for Literature in 2012. She is currently working on her third Marnie Rome novel. Her first novel, SOMEONE ELSE’S SKIN, was published in 2014. Her second, NO OTHER DARKNESS, will be published in early 2015.  

(All book and author information taken from Goodreads)

Praise:

“Award-winning short story writer Sarah Hilary has crafted a tight, nasty mystery… gripping and full of graphic details about the lives and psychology of her characters, both abusers and their victims.”

—Eileen Brady, Mystery Scene Magazine

“If this first entry is anything to go by, Hilary's sense of plot and subtle character building will make the DI Marnie Rome series one to watch.”

—Shelf-Awareness

“Promising…[Hilary] skillfully interweaves multiple viewpoints on the way to the mystery’s unsettling conclusion.”

—Publishers Weekly

“Fans of Val McDermid and Ian Rankin will love this tremendous debut. Someone Else’s Skin puts Sarah Hilary and DI Marnie Rome squarely on the map. A gripping, disturbing examination of domestic violence with gravitas in spades, this book haunts you well after its finish.

—Julia Spencer-Fleming, New York Times & USA Today bestselling author of Through the Evil Days

 

The Killer Next Door: A Novel

Author: Alex Marwood

Genre: Mystery/Thriller

Release Date: October 28, 2014

Publisher: Penguin Books

Description:

A taut new psychological thriller from the Edgar Award nominated author of The Wicked Girls.

Alex Marwood’s debut novel, The Wicked Girls, earned her lavish praise from the likes of Stephen King, Laura Lippman, and Erin Kelly, and was shortlisted for an Edgar Award. Now Marwood’s back with a brilliant, tightly paced thriller that will keep you up at night and make you ask yourself: just how well do you know your neighbors?
Everyone who lives at 23 Beulah Grove has a secret. If they didn’t, they wouldn’t be renting rooms in a dodgy old building for cash—no credit check, no lease. It’s the kind of place you end up when you you’ve run out of other options. The six residents mostly keep to themselves, but one unbearably hot summer night, a terrible accident pushes them into an uneasy alliance. What they don’t know is that one of them is a killer. He’s already chosen his next victim, and he’ll do anything to protect his secret. 

About the Author:

Raised by wolves, Alex Marwood passed her formative years in the lands beyond the Arctic circle, developing pack skills, excellent night vision and an ability to survive on raw protein. Ideally equipped for a life on Fleet Street, she then became a journalist.

Her first novel, The Wicked Girls, was published by Sphere, in 2012, and achieved widespread acclaim and word-of-mouth bestsellerdom. In 2013 it was shortlisted for an ITW award, and included in Stephen King's Ten Best Books of the Year list. It was published by Penguin in the US in 2013, and is shortlisted for an Edgar Allen Poe award.

The Killer Next Door, described by The Sun as "nasty, compelling and original", was released as an ebook in 2013, and will come out as a paperback in June 2014.

Alex herself is a figment of the imagination of the novelist and sometime journalist Serena Mackesy. If you're interested in a more truthful biog, an FAQ and other books, visit her website, here.  (All book and author information taken from Goodreads)

Advance Praise:

“If you read Alex Marwood's The Wicked Girls, her new one—THE KILLER NEXT DOOR—is even better. Scary as hell. Great characters.”—Stephen King

“A taut, fascinating tale that's not for the weak of stomach… [Alex Marwood] not only creates a cast of memorable characters, but also ratchets up the suspense, leaving readers to dread what might be around the next corner. Many writers shine at characterization or at creating tension; the trick is in successfully combining the two. In this case, readers will care what happens to Collette and the rest of the boarders while simultaneously waiting for the literary axe to fall. Marwood…proves she's got staying power in this addictive tale.”

—Kirkus, Starred Review

“If the author’s first book explored how poverty and abuse can make monsters of men, then this new novel will have readers peering suspiciously at the neighbors and wondering just what’s behind their closed doors. This tightly plotted story grabs readers from the opening paragraphs and will keep them up far too late at night. Highly recommended for fans of Laura Lippman, Tana French, and Gillian Flynn.”

—Library Journal, Starred Review

 

Author Guest Post + Giveaway: Someone Else's Skin by Sarah Hilary

Hey everyone! Today I'm doing a spotlight feature on a new thriller by Sarah Hilary - and she was kind enough to write a guest post for me! Read on for more info on the book and for Sarah's post about her leading lady - Marnie Rome.

Someone Else's Skin: Introducing Detective Inspector Marnie Rome

Author: Sarah Hilary

Genre: Mystery/Thriller

Release Date: June 24, 2014

Publisher: Penguin

Description:

Some secrets keep you safe, others will destroy you...

Detective Inspector Marnie Rome. Dependable; fierce; brilliant at her job; a rising star in the ranks. Everyone knows how Marnie fought to come back from the murder of her parents, but very few know what is going on below the surface. Because Marnie has secrets she won't share with anyone.

But then so does everyone. Certainly those in the women's shelter Marnie and Detective Sergeant Noah Jake visit on that fateful day. The day when they arrive to interview a resident, only to find one of the women's husbands, who shouldn't have been there, lying stabbed on the floor.

As Marnie and Noah investigate the crime further, events begin to spiral and the violence escalates. Everyone is keeping secrets, some for survival and some, they suspect, to disguise who they really are under their skin.

Now, if Marnie is going to find the truth she will have to face her own demons head on. Because the time has come for secrets to be revealed...

Meet Marnie Rome

Sherlock Holmes, Tom Ripley and Clarice Starling all played a part in how I write Detective Inspector Marnie Rome, the chief protagonist in Someone Else’s Skin. Sherlock got in first, whispering in my ear when I was ten, about the appeal of a hero with hidden depths. Tom Ripley convinced me that a good character could be bad. But it wasn’t until I read The Silence of the Lambs and witnessed Clarice Starling’s unique brand of courage, full of very human cracks, that inspiration really took hold. 

Looking back, it all seems terribly logical; all roads led to Marnie Rome. But there was a time when I didn’t know she existed, and a time when I thought she was a straight-die detective without secrets of any kind. Perhaps there was a clue in the way she arrived (in a story that came before Someone Else’s Skin): biker-booted, hiding behind contact lenses. It took a bit of digging to scratch beneath her surface. Marnie doesn’t give up her secrets easily and she has a talent for surprising me, which I hope means she surprises readers, too. 

I don’t believe in characters who ‘write themselves’, in case you were imagining something of that sort. Sooner or later you have to sit down and write them yourself. But Marnie has a habit of standing at my shoulder as I write, and shaking her head when I get stuff wrong (like the time I was about to give her a third cup of coffee and she pointed out that what she actually wanted was a Peroni). Conan Doyle ended up hating Sherlock Holmes, which doesn’t usually happen unless your character has taken on a life of his or her own.

When the book came out in the UK, someone asked me how hard it was to balance Marnie’s character traits, “She’s psychologically damaged, yet incredibly strong.” Well, I associate strong characters with survival – Marnie’s trauma made her the woman she is; not just strong but compassionate, too. My grandmother, who survived a Japanese PoW camp as a young mother, always said that the trauma she suffered made her a stronger (and better) person. So I think in my mind, the two go hand in hand. 

I’m excited and a little nervous about introducing Marnie to a new world of readers in the US. There will be people who don’t like her, of course. She can be prickly, single-minded; even cagey. But for those who take the time to get to know her, I hope there is a treat in store: a heroine who’s human and unique. Flawed, yes, but in all the right ways. I like to think she and Clarice Starling would get on a storm. 

Sarah Hilary lives in Bath, England, with her husband and daughter, where she writes quirky copy for a well-loved travel publisher. She’s also worked as a bookseller, and with the Royal Navy. An award-winning short-story writer, she won the Cheshire Prize for Literature in 2012. SOMEONE ELSE’S SKIN is her first novel. 

Visit her at https://www.facebook.com/Sarah.Hilary.Author

  Giveaway: The wonderful people at Penguin are allowing me to give away (1) finished copy of Someone Else's Skin to a lucky reader! Open to US only!

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