Interview: Jo Spain

I sat down with Jo Spain (right) a couple of weeks ago to interview her for the Irish Times. As is generally the case with crime writers (on this side of the pond, at least), Jo’s first introduction to crime fiction came courtesy of Enid Blyton:

Dirty Little Secrets is Jo Spain’s sixth novel in four years, with all five to date becoming bestsellers. It’s a prodigious output, and one that can be directly traced back to a precocious five-year-old devouring Enid Blyton stories in a bid to escape her “grim surroundings” in North Dublin’s Belcamp.
  “The people, yes, there was a lot of love, a lot of humour,” says Spain, “but aesthetically it wasn’t pleasant. There was a field beside us where dead horses would be dumped. I got attacked by a dog once, and the next day the family who owned the dog slit its throat and dumped it in the field rather than pay the vet’s bill. Meanwhile, I was reading Enid Blyton, and I was on Kirrin Island, and Aunt Fanny was making me toasted crumpets . . . I used to dream of midnight feasts. Enid Blyton,” she laughs, “made me hungry all the time.”

  For the rest of the interview, clickety-click here …