The List of Suspicious Things

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Carr, formerly part of the London Library Emerging Author scheme, revealed how a chance discovery about a time in Mary Stuart’s life led her to explore the friendships and loves of the fated monarch. The Tower, a feminist historical debut set during Mary Queen of Scots’ imprisonment in Lochleven Castle, is out in February 2024. Meanwhile Jennie, who lives in Somerset, will continue studying for her PhD at the University of Bristol. Protagonist – does your main character share traits with another? Are they of a similar type? A tortured artist? A stand-up comedian? A reclusive young woman? Think about your book as a whole and consider the aspects identified earlier in this blogpost. Some useful prompts to think about are:

Yes. It would be to create your own little writing bubble, where you very much manage/limit how much you take on in terms of views on publishing as an industry/what sells/how difficult it is to get an agent etc. These are all things that any writer who wants to be traditionally published will have to face, but if you take on too much of that while you are writing, it can really demotivate you. Save that for later, focus on the writing first.I’m not going to go into the outlining process in full here because that would take another article’s worth (and more) of information. However, if you’ve followed the steps above, you’re halfway there. You just need to organize your clues into an events list, and then have your protagonist take action throughout the story.

I'd heard a lot about The List of Suspicious Things on social media and so was thrilled to get the opportunity to read it. It's set in Yorkshire in 1979, Margaret Thatcher is Prime Minister and women are living in fear of the Yorkshire Ripper. When 12 year old Miv's family begin to talk of moving down south, Miv, with the help of her best friend Sharon, is determined to find the Yorkshire Ripper so her family can remain in Yorkshire. A prize-winning, spine-tingling gothic suspense novel based on a real-life murder trial in 1897 West Virginia The event brought together journalists, publishers, authors and retailers at the Hoxton Hotel in London. She said: “My own childhood was haunted by the Yorkshire Ripper and I wanted to write a novel that captured the atmosphere of the time and the shadow he cast over the community, while also celebrating human resilience and the power of connection.The premise – does your book have a similar start point/hook as another one? For example, my debut has two young girls trying to solve a mystery (therefore one of my comp titles is The Trouble with Goats and Sheep) As well as getting The List of Suspicious Things ready for publication (eeek!) I am writing another novel as part of my Creative Writing PhD. I also have aspirations to write a true-crime/memoir hybrid (after loving The Fact of a Body by Alex Marzano-Lesnevich). Jennie gave herself six months to make a success from writing. After a few scrunched up manuscripts, Jennie leant on her love of true crime and hit upon her idea for The List of Suspicious Things. Soon her pen was ablaze.

This is where you connect your characters and their motivations. You can make the victim innocent of misdeeds or hateful and mean. Perhaps, they’ve been stalking their ex-wife or husband? The ex-wife’s new partner takes offense to this and murders them. Naturally, you’ll write down all of this information, but you won’t divulge it all upfront. The deep, reverberating wounds caused by The Yorkshire Ripper were relayed in Miv's story, with victims' real names interwoven with the main work of fiction. It was believable and suitably honoured the memories of those who died, with Sharon's emotionally mature outlook (which saw the victims as women) complimenting Miv's more determined and factual perspective as she sought to catch The Ripper. It was a wonderful example of how two different outlooks and personalities can both create friction, but still manage to work together, with the bonds of friendship ultimately winning out.You know when you just know a book is going to be huge, that a talented new author has burst on the scene?? Well, here we have it. First of all, the characterisation is exemplary. I love Miv and she’s an unforgettable character and yes, you could say she’s obsessive but she’s only looking for distraction from difficulties at home. Miv has good instincts even if she doesn’t entirely understand what she sees which is certainly true at the start when her naivety is clear to see but not at the end. Her friendships are a thing of beauty especially with the lovely Sharon, the “Terrible Twosome” and their friendship is wonderful. It isn’t all plain sailing by any stretch as they witness some cruelty and meanness that beggars belief but sadly is all too believable. All the characters spring to life, even the ones you’d rather didn’t.

The hunt for the evil Yorkshire Ripper inevitably means there are some dark themes and the storyline also includes racism, bullying and some domestic violence too. It captures West Yorkshire to perfection especially in the context of the late 70’s and early ‘80’s with its derelict satanic mills of Blake’s poem, with its ghosts of the past, the attitudes and gossip of a small town with firmly entrenched views. You definitely feel the tension and fear of the hunt for Peter Sutcliffe, I was in Yorkshire at the time though not the West, but we all felt the fear. Yet, despite all the obvious darkness, there’s Miv, wonderful Miv. You watch her grow up and you just know she’s going to be a fine young woman and one you’d most certainly want to know. Although this book dealt with tragedy and grave topics, Godfrey managed to blend enough moments of warmth and intimacy to prompt more emotions than sadness in the reader. Friendship was a key theme and consistently precipitated reflection as to how Miv's relationships would unfold. The final conclusion is memorable, heartfelt and marvellous.

Table of contents

As a child of the 80s and a born and bred Yorkshire lass, as soon as I read the first line of this book, I knew I was going to love it. It invoked childhood memories of growing up in Yorkshire - the dialect, the accents and growing up in a small community. A conflict and stakes. Jessica is recently divorced and doesn’t want to trust anyone–she’s focusing on her little bakery in the new small town she’s moved to. But when one of her customers drops dead after eating a donut in her store, Jessica’s bakery might be in trouble. If Jessica doesn’t open up, she’ll never solve the murder and saved her bakery.