Sometimes the inspiration for a book arrives when you’re least looking for it...
Last year I booked to go to Crete, to celebrate my brother’s 50th birthday. We were staying in a resort called Kato Gouves, on the north east coast, and although I have been to Crete many times, I’d never stayed at this end of the island before.
A couple of months before we were due to go, I had dinner with my lovely publisher and when they heard about my holiday plans, they suggested Crete might make a wonderful setting for a future thriller.
Suddenly I began looking at everything slightly differently.
We went in September, which was still very much holiday season. The hotels were busy, the restaurants and tavernas were open, tourists filled the streets in the evenings and there was that lovely relaxed feeling you get in a Mediterranean resort towards the end of summer. But because I already knew I wanted my book to take place later in the year, I found myself imagining what those same streets would feel like in November.
How would it feel when the tourists disappeared? When the hotels had closed, the lights were out in the restaurants and the little seasonal shops were shuttered for winter? A place that felt warm, welcoming in September could become very different once it was almost empty. And for a thriller writer, that was irresistible.
I spoke to members of the hotel staff and, chatted to local taverna owners about what happened once the tourist season ended. They explained that by the end of October much of the resort effectively shuts down. Many seasonal workers leave, some travelling elsewhere for the winter, and only a scattering of places remain open for local residents. That contrast became one of the biggest inspirations for The House Swap.
I loved the idea of taking somewhere associated with sunshine, holidays and escape, then stripping away the crowds and putting my protagonist, Poppy, there almost alone. The sea and the beautiful Cretan landscape were still there, but without the bustle of summer they could feel isolated rather than idyllic.
I went to Crete for a birthday celebration, but somewhere along the way, I found the perfect place to set a nightmare.
Pick up your copy of The House Swap today: https://mybook.to/houseswap