BOOKS Q&A: Kate Ellis

Kate Ellis was born in Liverpool and studied drama in Manchester. Kate was awarded the Crime Writers' Association Dagger in the Library award in 2019 and has been twice nominated for the CWA Short Story Dagger. She has also been nominated for the Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year. Kate was elected a member of The Detection Club in 2014. 

Name a book that . . .  

 . . . inspired you as a child

Enid Blyton's mystery stories certainly put me on the road to being a crime writer. Also Anya Seton's Katherine inspired my love of history. A family friend gave it to me when I was ill (just because the name was spelled the same as mine) and I reread it many times. 

. . . inspires you now

Josephine Tey's The Daughter of Time and Ruth Rendell's (as Barbara Vine) A Fatal Inversion 

. . . surprised you

Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall trilogy. Although I love history I didn't think anyone could make the story of Thomas Cromwell (in three lengthy volumes) so absolutely riveting

. . . makes you cry 

 It has to be Thomas Hardy's Tess of the D'Urbervilles. I studied it for A level (as a sentimental teenager) and the end is heartrending. 

. . . makes you laugh 

 Simon Brett's Sicken and so Die had me in stitches. I studied drama and his depiction of an avant garde production of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night was hilarious. I also can't stop chuckling at LC Tyler's great 'Herring' series. 

. . . makes you think until your head hurts

This is a difficult one. I loved Reginald Hill's Dialogues of the Dead. It was such a brilliant puzzle full of obscure words, all in the entertaining company of Andy Dalziel. It's one of those books I wish I'd been clever enough to write. 

. . . you’ve always meant to read but never quite got around to 

War and Peace. I enjoyed Anna Karenina and intended to read War and Peace but never did.   

. . . you couldn’t finish 

I usually try to finish most books I start. 

. . . you recommend to others 

Certainly Dialogues of the Dead and On Beulah Height (also by Reginald Hill) 

. . . made you miss your bus/tram/train stop 

 I don't think this has ever happened to me but I could easily get absorbed in any of the books I've mentioned.