I’m thrilled to be part of the Blogtour for Holly’s new book, The Hunt and The Kill published by Bloomsbury Raven on 8th July.
Tell me about your latest book and why we should read it?
The Hunt and The Kill is the third book in the Casey Benedict series. Casey is an undercover journalist who follows the story wherever it takes her – and this time it plunges her into the dark side of the pharmaceutical industry. It’s a thrilling page-turner that takes the reader from London to Mauritius to Zimbabwe.
If someone was to write your life story what would the title be?
Ha – my poor editor would tell you that I am not fantastic at coming up with titles at the best of times. We usually go through several permutations for each of my books! My life story..! I don’t know. Something like “Of the frying pan” probably!
What’s the strangest fan question or request you’ve received?
Someone asked me to include their name in my next book and their name suited one of the characters, so I did.
If you could co-write with anyone in the world (alive or dead) who would it be?
I love Iris Murdoch’s writing, and think she’d be a fascinating person to spend time with. She had an extraordinary mind.
Tell me something nobody else knows about you (yet!).
I still feel a bit grown up when I sit in the front seat of a car (I know. I know.)
Finally please recommend 3 books that you have recently read and tell me why you’ve chosen these.
We Are All Birds of Uganda by Hafsa Zayyan – I knew very little about the lives of Asian Ugandans, and this is a beautiful portrayal of lives turned upside and swept from one continent to the next.
The Lightseekers by Femi Kayode – I love the idea of an investigative psychologist, and this is a clever, intriguing look at life in Nigerian universities.
The Last House on Needless Street by Catriona Ward – such a brilliant genre defying book – and a beautifully written novel.
HOLLY WATT
An award-winning investigative journalist, Holly Watt was part of the team who broke the MPs expenses scandal and has also worked on the Panama Papers. She has written for the Sunday Times, the Daily Telegraph and the Guardian. Her debut novel To The Lions, the first in the Casey Benedict series,won the CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger, was shortlisted for the Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing Prize and the Capital Crime Amazon Publishing Readers’ Awards., and was a 2019 Thriller of the Year in the Sunday Times, Times and Guardian. @holly_watt
Here are just a few things Holly experienced during her time as an investigative journalist:
- Being the first to open a copy of MPs’ Expenses data
- Watching the Prime Minister answer questions about her story from Parliament’s Press Gallery
- Flying on Air Force One
- Chasing pirates around the Indian Ocean
- Hoping a Chinook wouldn’t crash into a forward operating base in Afghanistan
- Holding a Fabergé Egg
- War games in the Arctic
- Her grinning face on Page 3 of the Sun
- Getting lost in a nuclear shelter under one of Gaddafi’s palaces.
- The Panama Papers
- The Rohingya camps in southern Bangladesh
- Accidentally ending up in the front row of London Fashion Week.
- The last night ever in Camp Bastion
