Ask the Author: Cari Hunter
Answered Questions (7)
Cari Hunter
Thank *you* for taking the time to leave me a note! It's lovely to get such enthusiastic feedback. I love Jo and her motley crew, they're such good fun to write and I couldn't be happier that I've been able to hang out with them for the last couple of years. I hope you enjoy the rest of the book.
Cari Hunter
Hiya Aleksandra. I'm glad you found the podcast an interesting listen. The good news, if you do enjoy my books, is that they're all available on Audible. The even better news is they have an absolutely terrific narrator in Nicola Victoria Vincent, who's done all of mine with the exception of Snowbound.
I think I'd recommend you try either No Good Reason or Unbreakable. No Good Reason is the first in the Dark Peak crime series, and they're my most popular set of books. Unbreakable is a standalone thriller that's just a really good read, and it is brilliant on audio. It also introduces Jo Shaw who's the lead character in my latest series, which starts with A Calculated Risk and continues in its sequel The Stolen Girl (to be published in June.) Hope that helps!
I think I'd recommend you try either No Good Reason or Unbreakable. No Good Reason is the first in the Dark Peak crime series, and they're my most popular set of books. Unbreakable is a standalone thriller that's just a really good read, and it is brilliant on audio. It also introduces Jo Shaw who's the lead character in my latest series, which starts with A Calculated Risk and continues in its sequel The Stolen Girl (to be published in June.) Hope that helps!
Cari Hunter
Hiya. I would never say never to a fourth instalment, but it's very unlikely at this point. I know the series has a lot of fans and I absolutely loved writing the books, but I also loved where A Quiet Death left things and, to be honest, I'd be scared of mucking things up by writing a fourth book. I don't know whether you've seen it already, but there's a short festive story on my blog (https://carihunter.wordpress.com/2018...) which gives a little insight into where Sanne and Meg are a year or so later.
Cari Hunter
Hiya Jeannine. Cheers for reading!
I appreciate your comment about developing other team members in the Dark Peak, but that's difficult to manage in a series that's essentially a two-header. Meg and San are the only characters with a point of view, so any development has to come from their scenes. The more POVs you start to include, the more diluted the development of your leads so I do tend to keep the focus on them. As the series progresses, I think there is more insight and a little more background given to some of the incidental characters, but the books remain very much focused on Sanne and Meg and their relationship. Eleanor does get a POV in A Quiet Death, which means she can have her own scenes where Meg and San don't appear, and she was a very interesting character to bring some background to.
As for the Dark Peak area being similar to someplace in the USA, I'm afraid, as a Brit, that I'm not the best person to answer that question! I'm not sure whether there are wide expanses of boggy peat covered, grit stone hills over there. I don't think I've ever had anyone mention them to me, but that doesn't rule their existence out entirely.
I appreciate your comment about developing other team members in the Dark Peak, but that's difficult to manage in a series that's essentially a two-header. Meg and San are the only characters with a point of view, so any development has to come from their scenes. The more POVs you start to include, the more diluted the development of your leads so I do tend to keep the focus on them. As the series progresses, I think there is more insight and a little more background given to some of the incidental characters, but the books remain very much focused on Sanne and Meg and their relationship. Eleanor does get a POV in A Quiet Death, which means she can have her own scenes where Meg and San don't appear, and she was a very interesting character to bring some background to.
As for the Dark Peak area being similar to someplace in the USA, I'm afraid, as a Brit, that I'm not the best person to answer that question! I'm not sure whether there are wide expanses of boggy peat covered, grit stone hills over there. I don't think I've ever had anyone mention them to me, but that doesn't rule their existence out entirely.
Cari Hunter
Hiya, thanks for the Q!
I did all sorts of research for the book. A lot of my early reading was around the Rotherham cases of child sexual exploitation. It was a notorious criminal investigation over here in the UK - something that turned out to be the tip of a very large iceberg - and I knew I wanted to touch upon the issues related to race/racism and the police in 'A Quiet Death'. I also read around the work of Modern Slavery Human Trafficking Units (which became Russ' MST) and trafficking in general - how the gangs operate, who the typical victims are, etc (As ever, WikiP was invaluable! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_t...)
Other helpful bits and pieces included this document on so called "Honour killings" http://henryjacksonsociety.org/wp-con... and a few more dubious googles to find out which far right groups are currently operating in the UK!
I'm fortunate in that I work in an area with large Pakistani and Bangladeshi communities so I had my own experience to draw upon in describing houses and customs and problems that the police may encounter when trying to interview.
I also had to teach myself how to treat a massive bleed from an ulcer, and various gruesome details about decomposition and time of death.
Unfortunately, the case mentioned in the book about the young lass held in the cellar for years was a real one. I remembered reading about the trial some years ago and obviously, it bore some relevance to the events in the novel. http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.u...
Favourite research, as ever, was food-related. I was trying to choose something for the Pakistani mother-in-law to cook for Sanne and found lots of lovely options. I went with chai and bhajis in the end but I really was spoiled for choice :-)
I did all sorts of research for the book. A lot of my early reading was around the Rotherham cases of child sexual exploitation. It was a notorious criminal investigation over here in the UK - something that turned out to be the tip of a very large iceberg - and I knew I wanted to touch upon the issues related to race/racism and the police in 'A Quiet Death'. I also read around the work of Modern Slavery Human Trafficking Units (which became Russ' MST) and trafficking in general - how the gangs operate, who the typical victims are, etc (As ever, WikiP was invaluable! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_t...)
Other helpful bits and pieces included this document on so called "Honour killings" http://henryjacksonsociety.org/wp-con... and a few more dubious googles to find out which far right groups are currently operating in the UK!
I'm fortunate in that I work in an area with large Pakistani and Bangladeshi communities so I had my own experience to draw upon in describing houses and customs and problems that the police may encounter when trying to interview.
I also had to teach myself how to treat a massive bleed from an ulcer, and various gruesome details about decomposition and time of death.
Unfortunately, the case mentioned in the book about the young lass held in the cellar for years was a real one. I remembered reading about the trial some years ago and obviously, it bore some relevance to the events in the novel. http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.u...
Favourite research, as ever, was food-related. I was trying to choose something for the Pakistani mother-in-law to cook for Sanne and found lots of lovely options. I went with chai and bhajis in the end but I really was spoiled for choice :-)
Cari Hunter
Hiya. Do you mean a paperback version? If so it's out in paperback - you should be able to get it from the Bold Strokes site and Amazon. It's also available as an audio book. Cheers for reading!
Cari Hunter
Ooh, my first - not asked by Goodreads - question! (thank you :-) )
The book title does relate to what takes place during the course of the story, but I wouldn't say that the events were due to random chance, more that there wasn't any legitimate kind of reason for them happening, and that once set in motion, the whole thing snowballed into something far more horrific than such a tiny trigger ever deserved. Hence 'No Good Reason' - once the reader realises what motivated the crime, the title should hopefully make sense.
The book title does relate to what takes place during the course of the story, but I wouldn't say that the events were due to random chance, more that there wasn't any legitimate kind of reason for them happening, and that once set in motion, the whole thing snowballed into something far more horrific than such a tiny trigger ever deserved. Hence 'No Good Reason' - once the reader realises what motivated the crime, the title should hopefully make sense.
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