How I became a crime writer

Wed, Nov 9th 2022 at 12:50 pm - 2:00 pm

Hania Allen told us. how she came to write crime novels.

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Speaker Hania Allen captivated the club members with her account of ‘How I became a Crime Writer’. Speaking without notes, she described her dream to become an astronaut (she was on a short list of 35 applicants out of an original 15,000), but became a crime writer instead by sheer chance. Holidaying at the Ice Hotel in Lapland, she was struck by what a great setting it would be for a crime in many ways, especially since the evidence would all melt in the Spring! Following some short crime-writing courses, the Ice Hotel became the basis for her first novel which she self-published on Kindle Direct and which rapidly rose to the top of the ratings. Publishers Freight Books in Glasgow took on Hania’s second book, ‘Jack in a box’ before the firm folded. This was followed by a request from Constable Fiction for a new series, 'The Polish Detective’, featuring a Polish female detective with a tall, handsome brother who is an investigative journalist. Hania based this new series in Dundee and its hinterland villages (there are many CC cameras in Dundee to prevent crime! but few in the outlying villages and countryside). The most recent novel in the series takes the protagonists to Warsaw and includes a search for a missing Chopin manuscript, but they will return to Dundee in the next book……….. Hania ended her talk by saying ‘Crime outsells every other form of novel’. Following enthusiastic questions from the floor, Flora Selwyn gave the vote of thanks.