Krill follows a man struggling in life after his wife left him who meets an enigmatic artist offering him a chance at redemption in exchange for a favor. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?

I studied modern history at Balliol College, Oxford, and have always been interested in populist totalitarianism in Europe in the early to mid-20th century. The genesis of Krill was speculation about what a Hitler figure would look like in the digital age. I was convinced of one thing – he or she would be unlike anything we might expect. I’m pleased that this doesn’t become apparent until well into the book. I finished the first draft eight years ago and put the book aside for a while, traumatised that so much of what I predicted was coming to pass; reality really did mirror my fiction. And despite the passage of time, the premise remains as relevant today as when I first wrote it.

Was there anything from your own life that you put into the characters in your novel?

Plenty. I grew up in a political family and spent a life running businesses before turning to writing/revising full time. But we all invest much of ourselves in our work whether we acknowledge it or not, do we not?

What were some themes that were important for you to explore in this book?

Many including love – unrequited and requited – obsession, loss, despair, humour, hubris, power, ambition, redemption, cats.

I find a problem in well-written stories in that I always want there to be another book to keep the story going. Is there a second book planned?

I have another, very different, Crazy Crime novel (Elliefant’s Graveyard – The Curious Case of The Throatslit Man) scheduled for publication in spring, with two sequels to follow. I am revising three detective/legal novels set in the music industry (where I spent my working life) and am working on a series of short stories that will be given away on my website and various online sales portals in the first few months of 2024. Subject to demand, I have the bones of a sequel to Krill mapped out, drawing on Oliver Cromwell and The English Revolution.

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