JANICE FROST ON HER WRITING JOURNEY FOR 'MURDER AGAINST THE ODDS'

What’s your inspiration for the book? 

One evening, I caught a story on the news about gambling addiction and its impact on the lives of those affected, which can often be devastating. Not long afterwards, I read a newspaper article about how gambling, like drugs and alcohol, can drive crime. Together, these provided the spark for Murder Against the Odds, which begins with Special Constable Jane Bell finding an abandoned baby in a park on a cold night in January. At the hospital, a nurse hands Jane a poker chip that had fallen out of the child’s swaddling. On the same night, in a different part of the city, DI Steph Warwick finds a poker chip near the body of a murdered coach driver. 

Tell us about the characters

Steph has a lot of negative vibes. She’s hard, unapproachable, distrustful, spiteful even. Her people skills are almost non-existent. 
She’s also broken and in need of fixing. A past trauma has caused her to build a wall around herself to keep people out. In the first book in the series, Murder Among Friends, Steph is at breaking point and in danger of losing her job. But people are capable of growth and change, and Steph is no exception. I hope that readers stick with her to see how her character develops.   
Jane Bell is forty-five. A widow, she’s mother to grown-up children, Norah and Patrick. She’s also a self-employed English tutor, and a part-time special constable. Jane lives in Lincoln where she has a close-knit circle of friends. Temperamentally, she is good-natured, calm and sociable, but her inquisitive and enquiring nature sometimes leads her into trouble, particularly when it comes to interfering in DI Steph Warwick’s investigations. 

Did anything surprise you during the writing process?

I’m not a planner, so I’m constantly being surprised during the writing process. Characters pop up out of nowhere and either stick around to the end or simply make a brief appearance then disappear when they’re no longer necessary to the plot. The plot changes a great deal as the story evolves, and I’m always surprised when I reach the end and everything pulls together and makes sense.

Three writers that inspire you

Elly Griffiths makes writing characters look easy when it’s really not. I love all the recurring characters in her Dr Ruth Galloway series. The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner by Scottish writer James Hogg is an early psychological thriller that inspired me to seek out more books in this genre. It’s also a compulsive read. I read it when I was in my early twenties and it still haunts me. I’m always on the lookout for the next book by Jane Harper. I love the rural Australian settings of her ‘outback noir’ novels. 
 
How do you want readers to feel when they’ve finished your book?
 
That reading my book was time well spent. And that they are ready for more!

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