Interview with Crime Writer Fiona Barton: S. 8, Ep. 1

The Crime Cafe

This episode of the Crime Cafe podcast features my interview with crime writer and bestselling author Fiona Barton. Check out our discussion about her work including her latest novel Local Gone Missing. And we chat a bit about Doctor Who. :) Before I bring on my guest, I’ll just remind you that the Crime Cafe has two eBooks for sale: the nine book box set and the short story anthology. You can find the buy inks for both on my website, debbimack.com under the Crime Cafe link. You can also get a free copy of either book if you become a Patreon supporter. You’ll get that and much more if you support the podcast on Patreon, along with our eternal gratitude for doing so. Check us out on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/crimecafe Debbi (00:54): But first, let me put in a good word for Blubrry podcasting. I’m a Blubrry affiliate, but that’s not the only reason I’m telling you this. I’ve been using Blubrry Podcasting as my hosting service for my podcast for years and it’s one of the best decisions I ever made. They give great customer service, you’re in complete control of your own podcast, you can run it from your own website, and it just takes a lot of the work out of podcasting for me. I find for that reason that it’s a company that I can get behind 100% and say, “You should try this.” Try Blubrry. It doesn’t require a long-term contract, and it’s just a great company, period. It also has free technical support by email, video, and phone, so you can get a human being there. Isn’t that nice? If you want to podcast, try out Blubrry. No long-term contract, excellent distribution, and great technical support, too, by email, video, and on the phone. I’ve included an affiliate link on this blog. Here's a PDF transcript of the interview. Debbi (01:46): Hi everyone. We're back with our first episode of Season Eight and I'm so excited to have with me a distinguished journalist and a New York Times bestselling author. Previously a senior writer at the Daily Mail, news editor at the Daily Telegraph and chief news reporter at the Mail on Sunday, she's had lots of experience covering crime in her 30-year journalism career. She is also, as I said, a New York Times bestselling author of The Widow, The Child, and The Suspect.. Her latest book is Local Gone Missing. I'm pleased to introduce my guest, Fiona Barton. Hi Fiona. I'm so happy. You're here today. Fiona (02:32): Hi, it's so good of you to have me on. Very pleased to be here. Debbi (02:36): Well, I'm extremely happy to have you here, and I've gotta tell you, I was looking over your books and the first two books concern your sleuth, Kate Waters, who's a journalist. Now, I suspect that a lot of that writing was inspired by your 30 years as a journalist. That's just a guess on my part. What do you have to say about that? Fiona (03:01): Pretty good guess, pretty good guess. Well, it's interesting, because when I started writing The Widow, my first book, I didn't have a reporter in it. It was about a marriage with secrets. It was gonna be told by Jean, my widow in the title. And I thought, oh, I need somebody for Jean to be telling this to. So, Kate came knocking at her door, and gradually her part in the book sort of got bigger, because I loved writing her. It was coming home, you know, she's been everywhere. I've been. And so I kept her for The Child, the second book. And she was the investigator really in the second book. And then the third book, The Suspect, she was still there, but I turned the tables on her poor lady. And she became the story and I thought at the end of The Suspect that I probably ought to let her have a lie-down. She'd been through a lot. So, I rested her and started writing about a whole new cast of characters. Well, it's interesting, because when I started writing The Widow, my first book, I didn't have a reporter in it. It was about a marriage with secrets. Debbi (04:18): Hmm. Did that lead to the book that you have now?