Thank you for inviting me to your blog today, Ewa to discuss one of my favourite topics, books. You have made things difficult for me by asking me to choose just five books that I would count amongst the most memorable or enjoyable I have read. This has not been easy! I write crime fiction thrillers. My first series, the DI Hunter Wilson Crime Thrillers are set in Edinburgh and the Jane Renwick Thrillers are set throughout Scotland. It is because of this that I have started with the books that first inspired my interest in crime fiction and work forward from there.

1. Five on a Treasure Island by Enid Blyton

The first of the twenty-one Famous Five books that Enid Blyton wrote was Five on a Treasure Island, first published in 1942, and I was seven when I read it. I thought it was the most exciting story I had ever read. The novel featured three siblings, Julian, Dick, Anne and their tomboy cousin Georgina, who liked to be called George, and George’s dog, Timmy. Thinking about it now, the book was quite progressive as George was insistent that she should be known as George and thought of herself as a boy. I’m sure, if the book were written today, George would be portrayed as openly transgender. I deal with transgender issues in Hunter’s Secret.  I read Five on a Treasure Island several times until my mother relented and bought me other books in the series.

• Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie

I have read many books by Agatha Christie in my time, as I’m sure most people who enjoy crime fiction have done, but the first novel of hers that I read was lent to me by my grandmother. I felt so grown up as this was the first ‘adult’ book I had read. I was probably about ten years old. The story takes place on a boat cruising down the river Nile. Now I know it is a typical ‘closed room’ book where the number of suspects is limited by the setting of the story, in this case the guests on the cruise. Christie uses this device in several of her novels including another of her most well-known books, Murder on the Orient Express. The idea of writing a novel with a ‘closed room’ scenario has stayed with me all these years. Maybe it will happen.

• Children of the Revolution by Peter Robinson

I was very blessed to count the late great Peter Robinson amongst my writing mentors. I remember the first time I met him; he had already written 21 books in his DCI Banks series, and I asked him if I should start at the beginning. Peter just laughed and said he though I should start with his most recent book and go back to read others if I liked it. He hoped his books had improved with time. I did indeed start with Children of the Revolution, which he signed to me. I treasure it still. This is a story that starts with a disgraced lecturer being found dead and proceeds to explore university politics from thirty years previously. It is a beautifully woven story. It was Peter’s influence that made me want each of my books, from Hunter’s Chase onwards, capable of standing alone.

• The Poison Tree by Erin Kelly

Another author who has been most supportive of my writing is the talented psychological thriller writer, Erin Kelly. I first met Erin at The Writers’ Summer School which takes place in Swanwick, Derbyshire in August each year. She was teaching a course and took time to read and revise the first three chapters of my first novel Hunter’s Chase. While I do not aspire to write psychological thrillers, I find the complexity and draughtsmanship of Erin’s novels gripping and could not put The Poison Tree down. I tease her that she owes me a night’s sleep. 

• Born a Crime by Trevor Noah

My last choice must be from a different genre altogether, it is Born a Crime, an autobiography by Trevor Noah. He was born, mixed race, in apartheid South Africa at a time when it was illegal for people from different ethnic backgrounds to intermingle or marry. This is a mind-set which I have never understood, and Noah educates his reader, explaining his early life so vividly that it made me laugh and cry. This book so influenced me that I try to inject humour, albeit dark humour into my novels, no matter how serious the main topic of the book.

Detective Inspector Hunter Wilson is called to the scene of a murder. DCs Tim Myerscough and Bear Zewedu found a corpse, but when Hunter arrives it has disappeared, and all is not as it seems. Hunter recalls the disappearance of a dead body thirty years earlier. The Major Incident Team is called in but sees no connection – it is too long ago. Hunter is determined to investigate the past and the present with the benefit of modern DNA testing.
Tim has other problems in his life. His father, Sir Peter Myerscough, is released from jail. He, too, remembers the earlier murder. There is no love lost between Hunter and Sir Peter. Will Hunter accept help from his nemesis to catch a killer? Hunter’s own secret is exciting and crucial to his future. Will it change his life? And can he keep Edinburgh safe?

Val Penny‘s latest sharp novel Hunter’s Secret is published by SpellBound Books, and I would like to thank Reading Between The Lines for the opportunity to read it in advance.

Val Penny an American author living with her husband and their cat in SW Scotland. She has two adult daughters of whom she is justly proud. She has an LLB degree from the University of Edinburgh and MSc degree from Napier University. She has had many various jobs, such as hairdresser, waitress, banker, azalea farmer and lecturer but has not yet achieved either of her childhood dreams of being a ballerina or owning a candy store. Until those dreams come true, she has turned her hand to writing poetry, short stories, nonfiction books, and novels.