... makes a very welcome return to the blog this week. Hi, Alice, thanks for being here and I think you have something very different for us today...
The Perfect Widow is
quite a departure for me. I’ve written
seven cozy crime novels, starting with Death in Dulwich. They are gently humorous whodunits set in a
‘yummy mummy’ world. The Perfect Widow
is, by contrast, a chilling read about a woman who may or may not be a ruthless
killer.
Although the books are
quite different in tone, they do all explore some central themes I find really
compelling. I am fascinated by the fact
that we all tell lies, to protect ourselves or our families. Often these are unconscious and harmless.
Sometimes they are not. I’m also always
interested to know how far people will go to preserve a life they love. I like to push my characters to extremes and
see what they will do – so that we don’t have to go there ourselves!
I’ve long been a fan of
the domestic noir genre. Ever since
reading Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier I’ve been intrigued by what goes on at the
centre of the home. It should be the
place where we feel safest but often, very sadly, it turns out to be the most
dangerous place in the world.
Statistics show that three women a week are currently being killed in
the UK by their partners. These crimes
usually occur behind closed doors.
As well as hopefully
providing people with a gripping read, domestic thrillers often provide a
mirror to things that should, or should not, be happening to readers
themselves. They can be a guide to
forms of abuse and control that are not right, but which can be hard to spot
from the inside. Partners who exercise
coercive control, for instance, often ramp it up very slowly, so that by the
time the situation becomes entrenched, it is difficult for its victim to see it
clearly for what it is, much less escape.
We often shut our eyes to what may or may not be happening in other
peoples’ relationships – the ‘clumsy’ friends who are always walking into
doors, for instance – but domestic noir books can help by sounding alarm bells.
I don’t think it’s any
coincidence that most writers of, and readers of, domestic noir are women. We know this stuff from the inside out. We live it.
Why, then, do we still consider it entertainment? The shock of the twist, the bump of your
heart rate as the heroine faces peril – it is all designed to be
unrelaxing. But there is always a
denouement, and I haven’t read a psychological thriller yet where the
perpetrator gets off Scott free. In a
world where rapists and abusers routinely escape justice, it’s no wonder that
we find this sort of ending supremely satisfying. I hope readers will enjoy my own contribution to the genre!
about the author... Before turning to crime, Alice Castle was a feature writer on national newspapers including the Daily Express, The Times and The Daily Telegraph. Alice writes psychological thrillers for HQDigital under the name A.M. Castle. The first, The Perfect Widow, was published in November 2019. She also writes the Death in Dulwich cozy crime series for Darkstroke/Crooked Cat as Alice Castle. The seventh in the series, The Slayings in Sydenham, came out in December 2019. Alice lives in south London and is married with two children, two step-children and two cats.
You can find her books on Amazon and Death in Dulwich is also available as an Audio Book
Hi Angela, thanks so much for having me back to your lovely blog this morning, great to be here chatting about The Perfect Widow xx
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