Interview with Samantha Goodwin, Author of Murder at Macbeth

The Indie Crime Scene is pleased to interview Samantha Goodwin, author of Murder at Macbeth, first in the D.I. Robson mystery series. This interview was conducted by Dennis Chekalov.

1. When did you decide to become a writer?

I’ve always wanted to be a writer for as long as I can remember! I’ve written stories ever since I was about 5 years old. Releasing my own novel has been a lifelong dream for me and it was my husband, Chris, who finally convinced me that I could do it.

2. Please tell us about your business career. Has it influenced your writing? How?

In my day job I work as a Chartered Marketing Manager for a national charity that supports people with learning disabilities. I’ve worked in marketing and communications for over a decade and writing has always been a fundamental part of my job, from being the editor of their UK-wide magazine to creating press releases and promotional materials.

My business career definitely has influenced my writing, mainly because marketing puts a lot of focus on your target audience and coming up with the best communication for them. I used that approach in my fiction writing by focusing very much on my readers and crafting an intriguing murder mystery novel full of twists they won’t see coming.

3. Who is DI Finley Robson? You describe him as a disillusioned man. Why?

D.I. Finley Robson leads the murder investigation. He is smart and resourceful, with an uncanny ability for getting to the bottom of the toughest cases. However, he is also feeling rather jaded and disillusioned with the police force because he is struggling to overcome his own troubled past. He definitely has his own demons that he is fighting and finds the unusual theatrical case resonates deeply with him. To reveal any more would give away some key spoilers…

4. What’s the story of DS Nadia Zahra? How and why did she become a DS?

D.S Nadia Zahra is Robson’s tenacious, no-nonsense partner who has risen quickly through the ranks to become one of the youngest detectives at the London Metropolitan police force. Fiercely loyal, she maintains a healthy disregard for bureaucracy and is a force to be reckoned with.

She is a Muslim and her parents were refugees so she had to deal with a lot of small-minded racism in her childhood but she is very driven in the pursuit of justice, hence why she became a detective. In modern society I’ve found there is still a lot of negativity surrounding Muslims, so I wanted her to be a really strong female character to challenge some people’s preconceptions.

5. What is the relationship between your main characters? Is there a romantic subplot in your story?

Robson definitely has a lot of admiration for Zahra and they have a great working relationship. There isn’t a romantic subplot for the detectives (yet!) but the same cannot be said for the cast of suspects being interviewed…

6. Your first novel was longlisted for the international Flash 500 Novel Award. Did you expect such recognition?

I was absolutely thrilled to be longlisted, I certainly didn’t expect it! In fact, I never cease to be amazed by the positive recognition that I have received from other authors and book bloggers. My most exciting moment to date was receiving a glowing testimonial from the No.1 bestselling crime author Joy Ellis who said she loved my book! To get such positive feedback from an author I have admired for years was incredible.

7. Are you planning to continue the series about Robson and Zahra? Do you already have a plan for your next book?

I’ve specifically left it open so that the series can indeed continue. I think there would be a lot of scope to develop those detective characters further. Although I don’t have a plan for my next book just yet – I recently became a new mum so am taking my time on the writing front at present.

8. What’s your favorite part of writing? The least favorite part?

I personally love the first draft process when I’m coming up with all the new ideas. There are loads of twists in the second half of my novel, so I actually wrote it backwards in some sense as I got really swept up in writing all the revelations first and then backtracked to lay down some of the foundations for the story in the first half.

My least favourite part is the proof-reading stage; it gets quite monotonous rereading the same book and feels a lot less dynamic than working on editing it when you are refining the story more.

9. Reviewers call your book “a classic whodunit”; what would you say are the main features of this sub-genre?

For me the main feature of a ‘whodunit’ is the puzzle surrounding who the murderer is. That core question lies at the heart of the story and everything stems from that. Other classic features involve the gradual introduction of clues and then inevitably some unexpected twists as red herrings are presented which misdirect away from who actually committed the crime.

Ultimately the reader goes on a journey trying to work out what happened alongside the detectives. I personally find it incredibly satisfying when you work out who the culprit is before it’s revealed and I think the best whodunits are the ones that you end up thinking about even when you’re not reading the book!

10. In your opinion, should the mystery genre evolve, reflecting the changes in culture and society, or remain true to its classical traditions?

I think there is probably a place for both classical and modern mysteries as readers vary so widely in their different tastes, so it would be impossible to come up with one approach that would suit everyone.

Interestingly I think Murder at Macbeth falls somewhere inbetween, as it has been described as “a classic whodunit that entertains in true Poirot style, with a real period feel to it despite the mention of mod cons”, by Carol Deeley, author of the Britannica series. I think that is quite an apt, succinct description as I definitely aimed for a classic storytelling approach, but also incorporated modern elements such as the mystery of why the murder victim deleted all of her social media accounts prior to starting university. And I’m so flattered to be compared to Agatha Christie, who is in my opinion one of the best crime authors of all time.

 

About Samantha Goodwin:

Samantha Goodwin has written professionally for her business career as a Chartered Marketing Manager for over a decade before turning her hand to fiction. As an avid crime fiction fan, she regularly participates in the renowned Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival in Harrogate and completed their prestigious Crime Writing Creative Workshop. She also relishes attending literature festivals across the country as well as engaging in numerous online writing communities.

Keen to support upcoming authors, Samantha recently launched the #IndieWritingWisdom initiative on Instagram to collate and share inspiring, original quotes from a wide range of different writers to encourage others.

When she is not writing, Samantha enjoys reading, countryside walks, movies, musicals and almost all chocolate (but controversially not Oreos). She lives in Leeds with her husband, Chris, and son, Jack.

Murder at Macbeth is her first novel and was longlisted for the international Flash 500 Novel Award in 2017.

 

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