William Shaw’s fiction has been shortlisted for the CWA Historical Dagger and a Barry Award and long-listed for the CWA Gold Dagger plus twice for the Theakston’s Prize. His DS Alexandra Cupidi series – and the standalone bestseller The Birdwatcher – are set in Dungeness Kent. He also writes the acclaimed Breen & Tozer crime series set in sixties London. He worked as a journalist for over twenty years and lives in Brighton. His eighth book, Grave’s End, the latest in his Alex Cupidi series, was published in July by Riverrun.
Hi William how lovely to see you in my virtual cocktail lounge. I’m on a winner here as I don’t have to pay for the drinks. However what can I get you at the bar?
W: Oh. I’ve brought my own hip flask of rhubarb gin, as it happens.
You obviously didn’t trust my selection of beverages! I hope that isn’t to do with where we first met in real life?
W: Waterstones, Brighton, I believe. Around 2012 or 2013. It was for a book launch, but I can’t remember which one. There was wine, wasn’t there? Probably snacks.
There’s always wine and, of course, we’ve met up at many book launches since as well as at CrimeFest and Morecambe & Vice. First impressions?
W: Smiles a lot. Slightly shorter than me.
I’m beginning to feel like Hermia in these interviews. Any points in common?
W: We both write books, for starters.
And we’ve both worked as journalists. Thinking about book festivals, what would be your dream panel (at any event) – subject, fellow panelists or a Q&A with someone you have met or would love to meet?
W: Innua Ellams because I’ve seen a couple of his plays recently and they’re so good. The last was Three Sisters just before lockdown. C. L. Taylor, who I’ve never been on a panel with – but she seems both wise and funny which is my ideal combination. Marina Hyde for similar reasons.
Sounds great. I love your Alex Cupidi series although I haven’t read the latest one, so tell me about Grave’s End.
W: In Grave’s End, an unidentified cadaver is found in a freezer in an unoccupied luxury house. No one seems to know or care who it is or who placed it there. When DS Alexandra Cupidi is handed the case, she can have no idea it will lead her to a series of murderous cover-ups and buried secrets. Namely the discovery of the skeleton of public-school boy, Trevor Grey, beneath a housing development. His disappearance twenty five years earlier had almost passed unnoticed. But as evidence surfaces that his fate was linked to long suppressed rumours of sexual abuse, Cupidi, her teenage daughter Zoe and her friend Bill South find themselves up against powerful forces who will try to silence them.
I’m looking forward to reading that. What are you working on now?
W: I am half way through a standalone set at sea that is filled with VERY bad rich people and there’s a storm coming and I’m not at all sure how they’re going to get out of this. No date yet for that one. Plus my next in the Alex Cupidi series has just gone off to the copy editors and involves trawler-men, but still doesn’t have a title. Titles are hell.
You’ve certainly been busy writing-wise but what are you most looking forward to when lockdown is finally lifted?
W: I play in a ceilidh band. Even when lockdown is lifted I think it’s going to be a long time before we get to do anything like that again, sadly. Weird to say that you miss crowded rooms, isn’t it?
It is. What has lockdown made you think about/want to do?
W: I’ve been doing all sorts of DIY-ish stuff. I built some hefty raised beds and I’ve been restoring cane chairs. Not very crime fiction, is it?
I still remember the lovely bookcase you made for free books outside your house! Thank you so much for joining me here, William, and I look forward to meeting up when all this is over.
You can find out more about William Shaw and his books here and follow him in Twitter: @william1shaw