Katherine Howell - author interview from The Blurb

For an author with books published internationally and a swathe of awards under her belt Katherine Howell is a refreshingly down to earth lady who disarms you with her honesty and obvious disinterest in taking herself too seriously.

As an ambulance officer for 15 years, Howell has seen and experienced things that would make the toes of even the toughest blokes curl but she has come out the other side with some wonderful material for her novels and her sense of humour still intact. Her latest book Cold Justice serves up delicious courses of mystery, murder, intrigue and suspense in equal portions and fans of her character Detective Ella Marconi will not be disappointed with the third installment in the series which sees Ella working on her first cold case.

A high school student is murdered and his killer is never found. Eighteen years later, political pressure sees the murder investigation reopened. Ella tracks down Georgie Riley, the student who found the body, and who is now a paramedic. Georgie seems to be telling the truth, so then why does Ella receive an anonymous phone call insisting that Georgie knows more. The more Ella digs into the past, the more the buried secrets and lies are brought to light.

Howell started writing as a teenager and rather fancied herself as the next Stephen King writing horror stories about cults, ghosts and “spooky stuff”. It wasn’t until she became an ambulance officer when she was 20 that she started writing novels but they weren’t the ambulance novels she has enjoyed such success with. “It took me a few years to come around to the idea that I could use my experience working as an ambo in my writing but the hardest part of all was working out how I was going to use it. That took quite a while”, she says. Howell confesses that she couldn’t really figure out how police did their work so she thought the inclusion of a ghost in the story might help. “I thought ‘I know what I can do I can get a ghost to show the cop the clues’. I mean it was total crap,” she laughs.

Well it would seem she finally worked it out and with great success. Her first novel in the Ella Marconi series Frantic has been published in France, Germany, Russia, Canada, Italy and the UK and in 2008 won the Davitt Award for crime fiction. Her second novel The Darkest Hour won the people’s choice category of the Davitts in 2009. Howell admits there is a certain art to writing crime fiction. “It is tough because crime readers are very particular and they know a lot about police procedure and won’t hesitate to tell me if I get it wrong.” Howell has to risk bearing the rath of some of her more particular readers every now and then though glossing over some of the finer details of police and ambulance procedure to ensure the flow of the story is not compromised.

When writing Howell puts pen to paper and lets the creative juices take hold and generally “has no clue what is going to happen” during the course of the novel. “I spend a lot of time fumbling around and feeling frightened that I am not getting anywhere. I tried to write an outline but I just can’t do it,” she says. Howell credits a good ending as the most important part of the story and again she doesn’t know what the twists will be until she gets there herself. “That can get really scary because as the ending gets closer you think

‘Oh what am I going to do here?’ but so far it has worked out for me,” she says the smile evident in her voice.

Writers who are trying to find their feet will find solace in the fact that even successful authors like Howell question their ability as a writer. “Writing anything at all raises a lot of self doubt. A novel is such a huge and unwieldy thing and you have that little voice inside your head saying ‘I know you have done this before but you can’t do it again’ ‘You have run out of ideas this one is not going to work’. The ability to overcome that daily is hard,” she says. The blood, sweat and tears were all worth it for Howell when she was finally able to hold a copy of Frantic in her hands and see it on shelves. “I wanted to be published for so many years even all of those dud novels were part of the journey and that was the pay off of like 20 years work which was just tremendous”.

When Howell discusses her work she speaks in ‘scenes’ rather than chapters. So will we see Detective Ella Marconi on the small screen in the future? “We have had a few producers contact us and then go on and pitch to ABC and Channel 10 and then heard nothing more so I guess that is a ‘No’,” she laughs. But even without any TV deals on the cards the next few months are busy for Howell.

Between her book tour, and putting the final edits on the fourth novel in the Ella Marconi series Violent Exposure, she is heading back to university to get her PHD in creative writing to expand her writing style and portfolio. Howell says she has always struggled to write outside the crime genre. “The times that I have tried well before I know it a dead body crops up and then a bad guy and I think ‘what am I doing?’”, she stifles a giggle.

When discussing her future Howell is a realist. “I mean even if you are writing fairly well nobody knows what is going to happen down the track.” Although old fans and new ones alike will be hoping she doesn’t say goodbye to crime writing and Ella Marconi just yet.



Katherine Howell - interview Latest release: Cold Justice Publisher: Macmillan Australia Price: $25.00
	Detective works For an author with books published internationally and a swathe of awards under her belt Katherine Howell is a refreshingly down to earth lady who disarms you with her honesty and obvious disinterest in taking herself too seriously. As an ambulance officer for 15 years, Howell has seen and experienced things that would make the toes of even the toughest blokes curl but she has come out the other side with some wonderful material for her novels and her sense of humour still intact. Her latest book Cold Justice serves up delicious courses of mystery, murder, intrigue and suspense in equal portions and fans of her character Detective Ella Marconi will not be disappointed with the third installment in the series which sees Ella working on her first cold case. A high school student is murdered and his killer is never found. Eighteen years later, political pressure sees the murder investigation reopened. Ella tracks down Georgie Riley, the student who found the body, and who is now a paramedic. Georgie seems to be telling the truth, so then why does Ella receive an anonymous phone call insisting that Georgie knows more. The more Ella digs into the past, the more the buried secrets and lies are brought to light. Howell started writing as a teenager and rather fancied herself as the next Stephen King writing horror stories about cults, ghosts and “spooky stuff”. It wasn’t until she became an ambulance officer when she was 20 that she started writing novels but they weren’t the ambulance novels she has enjoyed such success with. “It took me a few years to come around to the idea that I could use my experience working as an ambo in my writing but the hardest part of all was working out how I was going to use it. That took quite a while”, she says. Howell confesses that she couldn’t really figure out how police did their work so she thought the inclusion of a ghost in the story might help. “I thought ‘I know what I can do I can get a ghost to show the cop the clues’. I mean it was total crap,” she laughs. Well it would seem she finally worked it out and with great success. Her first novel in the Ella Marconi series Frantic has been published in France, Germany, Russia, Canada, Italy and the UK and in 2008 won the Davitt Award for crime fiction. Her second novel The Darkest Hour won the people’s choice category of the Davitts in 2009. Howell admits there is a certain art to writing crime fiction. “It is tough because crime readers are very particular and they know a lot about police procedure and won’t hesitate to tell me if I get it wrong.” Howell has to risk bearing the rath of some of her more particular readers every now and then though glossing over some of the finer details of police and ambulance procedure to ensure the flow of the story is not compromised. When writing Howell puts pen to paper and lets the creative juices take hold and generally “has no clue what is going to happen” during the course of the novel. “I spend a lot of time fumbling around and feeling frightened that I am not getting anywhere. I tried to write an outline but I just can’t do it,” she says. Howell credits a good ending as the most important part of the story and again she doesn’t know what the twists will be until she gets there herself. “That can get really scary because as the ending gets closer you think ‘Oh what am I going to do here?’ but so far it has worked out for me,” she says the smile evident in her voice. Writers who are trying to find their feet will find solace in the fact that even successful authors like Howell question their ability as a writer. “Writing anything at all raises a lot of self doubt. A novel is such a huge and unwieldy thing and you have that little voice inside your head saying ‘I know you have done this before but you can’t do it again’ ‘You have run out of ideas this one is not going to work’. The ability to overcome that daily is hard,” she says. The blood, sweat and tears were all worth it for Howell when she was finally able to hold a copy of Frantic in her hands and see it on shelves. “I wanted to be published for so many years even all of those dud novels were part of the journey and that was the pay off of like 20 years work which was just tremendous”. When Howell discusses her work she speaks in ‘scenes’ rather than chapters. So will we see Detective Ella Marconi on the small screen in the future? “We have had a few producers contact us and then go on and pitch to ABC and Channel 10 and then heard nothing more so I guess that is a ‘No’,” she laughs. But even without any TV deals on the cards the next few months are busy for Howell. Between her book tour, and putting the final edits on the fourth novel in the Ella Marconi series Violent Exposure, she is heading back to university to get her PHD in creative writing to expand her writing style and portfolio. Howell says she has always struggled to write outside the crime genre. “The times that I have tried well before I know it a dead body crops up and then a bad guy and I think ‘what am I doing?’”, she stifles a giggle. When discussing her future Howell is a realist. “I mean even if you are writing fairly well nobody knows what is going to happen down the track.” Although old fans and new ones alike will be hoping she doesn’t say goodbye to crime writing and Ella Marconi just yet. Lisa O'Donnell