No Other Darkness, exclusive extract for Richard and Judy Book Club

Someone Else's Skin is the Book of the Week over at the Richard and Judy Book Club, where they have just put this exclusive extract live online. The first two chapters of No Other Darkness, the second Marnie Rome book. If you're really cunning, you can put these two chapters together with the third chapter, which is part of the extra material at the back of the paperback of Someone Else's Skin which has the Good Housekeeping Reader's Choice tick on the cover.

Five years ago 

Fred’s crying again, a snotty noise with a whine in it, like the puppy when she’s shut outside. Archie’s the oldest, it’s his job to take care of Fred when Mum and Dad aren’t around, but he’s fed up of drying Fred’s tears and wiping Fred’s nose. Most of all, he’s fed up of telling Fred it’s going to be okay. Archie doesn’t like telling lies, especially not to his little brother.

Tweet

An exclusive interview with Marnie Rome

Written for the Richard & Judy Book Club. Click on the text to be taken to the full interview. Commander Tim Welland questions Marnie in the wake of her parents' brutal murder by her step brother. This one was tough to write, not least because it takes place five years before Marnie becomes DI Rome.

TW: We need to talk about what happened at the house yesterday, but we don’t need to do it now. It can wait until you’re feeling less . . . 

MR: I want to do it now. Please, sir. I’d rather get it done and if it helps you to make sense of what he . . . I want to get it done. 

TW: All right, detective. In that case, let’s start with how long you’ve known the suspect, Stephen Keele. 

MR: Six years. October 12th 2003. That’s when they invited me over to meet him. They’d told me they were planning to foster someone. A boy. But that’s when I met him. October 12th.

Tweet

My Fictional Heroines (for the Richard & Judy Book Club)

Featuring Violette Retancourt, Connie James, Clarice Starling, Flea Marley and more. These are my top girl crushes of all time.

Marnie Rome walked fully formed into a story I was writing two years ago. She was undercover, in biker boots and a black wig, but she was unquestionably Marnie. I recognised her at once. Later, I came to realise how many secrets she was hiding. And I came to realise that she owed a debt, in part at least, to my fictional heroines from page and TV. Not everyone on this list shares a character trait with Marnie Rome, but they are all women who’ve stayed in my head (and my heart) long after I’ve stopped reading and watching.

Tweet

Someone Else's Skin is the Featured Book in the Richard & Judy Book Club

For one week only! With exclusive material, a podcast and more! Excuse me while I go all starry-eyed and chuck confetti at passers-by.

In all seriousness, to everyone who ever told me to never give up, or nudged me to sub a story or asked me what I was writing (or bought me a coffee or gave me a hug or told me to stick at it) - Thank You. To everyone who read and reviewed the proof copies of Someone Else's Skin, and tweeted and blogged - Thank You. And if you bought a book, or recommended it to a friend, or put a nice review online - Thank You. You're the reason I got this far.

Someone Else's Skin

If you haven't already bought it, this is the perfect week to do so as there are special offers galore, especially at WH Smith where it's less than £4 a pop. I won't go as far as the lovely people at the Heswall Bookshop who instructed all their customers to give it as a Christmas present to everyone they know, but hey. For one week only, go wild.

Tweet

Richard & Judy Book Club: my Podcast for Someone Else's Skin

Here it is! What a relief to find I didn't waffle half as much as I'd feared. Even if I did confess a bit too cheerfully to having a dark mind... Lovely Richard and Judy were so enthusiastic and supportive. I loved every minute of this.
Sarah Hilary - Someone Else's Skin - Richard & Judy Book Club Podcast

Tweet