Tell us about your latest thriller, The Stranger Inside
The Stranger Inside is about a woman whose life completely unravels when she’s framed for her husband’s murder. She’s imprisoned, separated from her child and left to piece together what really happened from behind bars. But when she realises her daughter may be in danger too, she makes the desperate choice to escape. This story is my most fast-paced.
You’ve just signed a big UK and US deal for your next novel, Beautiful Liars. What’s the storyline?
Beautiful Liars is set in Dalkey, a place that looks idyllic from the outside, privileged, and picture-perfect. But beneath that surface, things quietly break apart when 17-year-old Saskia Foley vanishes during what was meant to be a harmless game of dares in the woods. It follows three mothers, each tied to the incident, each protecting her own child. And there are wolves.
Your debut novel, Breaking, was shortlisted for the 2023 CWA John Creasey Dagger Award. What’s it about?
Breaking follows Mirren Fitzpatrick, whose child goes missing while on holiday in the Florida Keys. As the search intensifies and the media spotlight grows, the story becomes less about the child and more about what the mother is hiding, and what the world expects her to be.
You benefited from the advice of writer friends Andrea Mara and Glenn Meade. Tell us more
Andrea and I became friends when our sons were in the same class at school. We got talking, and when I told her I’d always wanted to write fiction, she encouraged me to go ahead and just start. Glenn told me if it doesn’t move you, it won’t move the reader. That line has guided a lot of what I write.
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Your second novel, The Returned, draws on a real-life event: a fire that destroyed your home
We came home to find our house on fire. I had a newborn and two toddlers at the time so we were lucky no one was hurt, but I still have flashbacks to the melted toys and smashed glass everywhere. Channelling that reality into The Returned felt cathartic.
Has your journalism background influenced your fiction?
As a journalist, you witness the extremes of human behaviour. Every day you are covering stories of grief, joy, resilience and cruelty. You see people in their rawest moments, and I often wanted to change the endings of the stories I covered. Fiction gave me that freedom.
What are your career highlights so far?
Seeing Breaking on a bookshop shelf for the first time will always be special. Being shortlisted for the Dagger Award in London. More recently, getting the call about Beautiful Liars being picked up in both the UK and US was incredible. It was evening time so I had to get dressed and walk down to the local Texaco to buy a bottle of bubbles and 7Up for the kids!
How important is setting in your novels?
My time as a travel journalist gave me access to some amazing places that left a deep impression on me. I love writing books that feel rooted in a specific atmosphere.
What projects are you working on now?
Right now I’m launching The Stranger Inside, which I think makes for a great, pacy summer read. Then I’ll start writing the next book.
Have you ever made a literary pilgrimage?
My dad brought me to Corleone in Sicily, the original Godfather house.
What’s the best writing advice you’ve heard?
Write drunk, edit sober. That’s more of a metaphor than a lifestyle choice.
Who do you admire the most?
People who keep going when things are hard.
You’re supreme ruler for a day. What law do you pass or abolish?
I’d abolish “thank you” texts in the school WhatsApp after birthday parties.
Could you recommend a book, podcast and film?
The Night I Killed Him by Gill Perdue. Gill writes with heart as well as tension, which is rare in crime fiction. Film wise, my daughter is making me watch all the Final Destination movies. The Nobody Zone is an atmospheric true-crime podcast about a man who may or may not have been a serial killer in London in the 1980s.
Which public event affected you most in recent years?
The death of Ashling Murphy. I still think about her and her family.
The most remarkable place you’ve visited?
Whitehaven Beach in Australia.
Your most treasured possession?
My gold locket. My laptop, because it holds everything from my brain. And a sign from my late father’s first pub that says “Cassidy’s”.
The most beautiful book you own?
A beautifully bound edition of A Little Princess, a very special gift.
Dream dinner party guests?
Stephen King, because he’s a master storyteller with a deep understanding of people and fear. I’d invite Joan Didion for her razor-sharp observations. Phoebe Waller-Bridge, who created Fleabag, for her wit. I’d also want Gillian Flynn there because I’d say she’s deliciously dark. And I’d have to have Andrea Mara and Catherine Ryan Howard there to gossip about everyone over wine when they leave.
Best and worst things about where you live?
The best thing is that I’m only 10 minutes from the sea. The worst thing is that I’m a 10 whole minutes from the sea.
Your favourite quotation?
“Let everything happen to you: beauty and terror. Just keep going. No feeling is final.” I like this quote by Rainer Maria Rilke because it’s so beautifully brutal about how life is a little of everything all at once.
Your favourite fictional character?
Patricia Highsmith’s Tom Ripley. Ripley does terrible things yet we still root for him. I’ve also always loved Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll. Alice has such a strong sense of self. She’s grounded, yet whimsical and intellectually curious, without being naive. I relate to those contrasts.
A book to make me laugh?
Dial A for Aunties by Jesse Q Sutanto is such good fun.
A book that moved you to tears?
Poor by Katriona O’Sullivan. I found her honesty completely affecting.
The Stranger Inside is published by Canelo Crime
