INTERVIEW WITH: MICHAEL HAMBLING, AUTHOR OF THE DCI SOPHIE ALLEN BOOKS
Q: Describe your latest book in three words.
A: Tense; Tragic; Emotional.
Q: What author, dead or alive, would you like to have dinner with?
A: Hilary Mantel. I think her Wolf Hall trilogy is beyond genius.
Q: Who would you want to play your main character in a film/tv adaptation — and why?
A: Emily Maitlis! I’ve always imagined that Sophie Allen would look like Emily. She’s also highly intelligent and incisive in her work.
Q: What is the most interesting/unique thing you've had to research for a book?
A: The opportunity to walk Dorset’s stunning Jurassic Coast, an area that provides the settings for many of my novels. There was one awful tragedy though. In November 2017 Joffe Books were about to publish my sixth novel, Evil Crimes, with its opening scene of betrayal and murder on Dancing Ledge. Then the real-life tragedy of Gaia Pope’s death occurred, with her body being discovered nearby. We felt it only right to delay publication by a couple of weeks.
Q: What are you currently reading and watching?
A: The Mirror and the Light by Hilary Mantel. I’m reading it very slowly and savouring every word, knowing that this was her final major book. It’s a tragedy that we’ll never see anything else from her extraordinary mind.
Material Girls by Kathleen Stock. I’m having to force myself to read it because I agreed to review it, a horrible task. In reality, despite her clever arguments, it’s like picking my way through a pool of poorly-disguised hatred. It breaks all the accepted norms of a serious academic study into a minority group because nowhere does she show any evidence of talking to trans people about their lived experiences. Her whole theoretical structure therefore lacks any reliable basis. How can you possibly claim to have written a serious book about gender identity if you don’t talk in an open-minded way to the people who manifest its issues?
The Faber Pocket Guide to Mozart. I love Mozart. Enough said?
The Haunch of Venison Salisbury – An A-Z History by Ruby Vitorino Moody. My favourite historic Salisbury pub, with its full history, written by a local author.
Order Michael Hambling’s latest book, HIDDEN CRIMES, here!
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