My first novel, Don’t Stand
So Close, is categorized as crime. When
I started writing the story, I hadn’t set out to write a crime novel, but then
a series of crimes came to lie at the heart of the story. Stella Davies is a
psychologist working as an expert witness in custody cases. She confronts her
worst nightmare when she begins to unravel the case of a troubled teenage girl
whose parents accuse each other of abuse.
Here are five other crime novels where the central character is not
a detective, and which have inspired me:
1.
I’m Not Scared by Niccolo Ammaniti
This
novel is translated from the Italian, and was a bestseller. The hero is Michele Amitrano, a nine-year-old boy living in a tiny village who
discovers a terrible secret involving blackmail and murder that changes his
view of his family and shatters the innocence of his childhood. I love novels
that surprise me, and this one does on so many levels. It is exquisitely
written, completely different from anything I’ve ever read before and despite
the fact that I usually don’t choose novels with child narrators, this one tops
my list of favourites.
2.
Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier
With its gothic undertones and domestic setting, this is my favourite
psychological suspense novel. Much of the action takes place inside Manderley,
a remote country house. A new bride – whose name we never learn – becomes increasingly
isolated and insecure as the memory of her husband’s deceased first wife casts
a powerful influence over the present. The forbidding housekeeper, Mrs Danvers,
also contrives to make the young bride’s life a misery.
3.
Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter by Tom Franklin
I’m
cheating slightly here because one of the main characters in this novel is a detective.
The story takes place in a small Mississippi town, where a teenage girl
disappeared 20 years before while on a date with one Larry Ott. Because
of a lack of evidence, Larry was never convicted, but the town’s residents have
shunned him ever since. Twenty years later, the crime is re-investigated when someone
tries to kill the reclusive Ott and another young woman goes missing. This is a
beautifully written and intricately plotted mystery which centres around an
unspoken secret that hangs over the lives of two men - one black, one white.
The police
procedural aspect soon fades into the background as the characters take centre
stage and the policeman and criminal find they are bound together in ways they did
not suspect.
4.
Marathon Man by William Goldman
William Goldman is a
screenwriter and a novelist. The protagonist in this crime thriller is marathon
runner Tom Levy, and his running is both literal and metaphorical as he tries
to distance himself from the scandal of his famous father's suicide. A visit
from his older brother plunges him into a violent world of assassins, espionage
and torture, and he is forced to race for his life. Warning: traumatic scenes
involving a dentist. The pace of this novel is extraordinary, you simply have to
know what happens next At the same time the tenderness in the relationship
between the brothers is compelling.
5.
When the Bough Breaks by Jonathan Kellerman
Jonathan Kellerman’s books, involving psychologist Alex Delaware,
are a particular inspiration because, like me, Kellerman is a psychologist, who
also writes psychological textbooks. There are now more than 30 novels in the
series featuring fictional psychologist Alex Delaware. I’ve picked the first
ever in the series, When the Bough Breaks,
which focuses in part on his training as a psychologist and his introduction to
detective Milo Sturgis.
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