As a fictional protagonist she gets readers turning pages.įive Kate Daniels stories are now in the shops, a sixth is due out next year and on January I, when many people were probably nursing hangovers, Mari was planning to start work on a seventh. That book introduces Detective Chief Inspector Kate Daniels, of Northumbria Police, as she tackles her first case as senior investigating officer, a brutal murder on Newcastle Quayside.Īs a detective, Kate’s no slouch at solving cases. Just three years after New Writing North backed her with a Northern Writers’ Award in 2010, her first novel, The Murder Wall, landed the Polari First Book Prize. Mari is fast establishing herself in the front rank of up-and-coming British crime writers. She adds: “Most murders do get solved because the police will just keep going and going, looking at what they already know and gradually adding to it.” “Then it’s about talking to their friends and family about what might have gone wrong before – whether they had an argument or were involved in some sort of dispute.” when they were last seen and what happened between then and their body being discovered. “They always say it’s the timeline that’s important. “You’ve got to start with the victim and where they’ve been before,” says Mari, serving up a welcoming cup of coffee which I’m now hoping isn’t laced with something fatal and untraceable.

In real policing, you ignore the mundane at your peril.īut given that most murderers, and not just firearm-toting grannies, presumably do not bump someone off with a view to getting caught, how would the police go about solving the ‘perfect’ murder? One of the characters in Mari’s new novel, The Silent Room, uses the invisible granny ploy to extract vital information – from the company that monitors a supermarket carpark, would you believe?

You should try it – it works.”īeware the vengeful granny with a rifle and a slow-moving car. My granny is always banging on about being invisible. In answer to the question “How would you commit the perfect murder?” she replies: “Don’t you mean, how did I?”Īnd she offers a question herself: “Did I mention the disguise?”Īnd the answer: “I was wearing the cloak of old age. On the website of publisher Pan Macmillan, Mari Hannah goes into detail, including her motive (revenge), her weapon of choice (rifle) and her getaway vehicle (nondescript, false plates). In a nice house up a leafy lane in the Tyne Valley I am discussing the perfect murder with a woman who seems to know a great deal about such things.

The Murder Wall by Mari Hannah