An interview with local bestselling author Joy Ellis

Upon the release of her new audiobook, One More to Die, Lincolnshire Today spoke with Joy Ellis, the Lincolnshire Fens-based crime thriller author. Having written more than 30 novels, including three series, Joy’s success can be seen in 12 UK #1 best-sellers, with her works selling over 3.7 million copies in English and translated into 14 languages.

Could you tell me a little bit about yourself and your journey to becoming a published author?

We came to live in Lincolnshire from Surrey in the millennium and I started thinking about writing as soon as we got here and I saw the location. We were wandering around the lanes one misty evening, and I thought “this is the perfect setting for a crime novel.” I started writing in earnest around five years after that. We’d retired, were enjoying ourselves, and I realised that writing is what I really wanted to do, so I buckled down and got absolutely nowhere for years. I sent books off, got loads of rejections, and became very unhappy about it. I had two books taken by a publisher who mainly dealt with hardbacks for libraries which were very expensive and very short print runs, but I knew that wasn’t the way I wanted to go. As soon as I decided it was time to give up, as I was wasting my life and that of my partner Jacqueline, I had an amazing phone call from Jasper Joffe of Joffe Books. He had picked up one of my books that I’d put on Kindle. He said he loved it and asked if I would join them. From that moment I never looked back.

You have chosen the Lincolnshire Fens as a setting for your stories for some time. How does living in Lincolnshire encourage or influence your writing?

Almost all of my books are set here. Frankly, The Fens are one of the main characters. They literally are based around The Fens and everything about them. I don’t think they would be the same anywhere else. This is just such a different kind of landscape and it’s perfect for my characters and my books.

Your new audiobook, One More to Die, has just been released on Audible, could you tell us about it and why you think people would enjoy it?

I think they’ll enjoy it for the narrator alone. Hayley Atwell (Agent Carter, Mission: Impossible, Captain America), who is a massive star, is so good. I’m delighted she said she’d do this. She has the perfect voice for my lead character, Detective Inspector Kate Carter. She’s investigating a murder but suddenly realises she has attracted a stalker and without giving too much away, it’s two things running in parallel. She’s trying to work whilst being stalked, which is very scary, and then it all gets too much. It gets quite exciting, shall we say, and because it’s a novella, where you have to get quite a lot into a short space of time, it has plenty of pace.

What inspired you to write One More to Die and what was the process of writing it like?

The process of writing was really good with One More to Die. There’s something about writing novellas; it’s very immediate and once you’ve got an idea in your head it flows very well because it’s not like mapping out a full-length novel. I really enjoyed this one. I’ve also always wanted to do a particular character who is a DI and very, very efficient, but she’s two people. At home she’s going around in her hoody and has wild kids, mad dogs and lots of cats. She’s a completely different person to who she is at work. I loved that because you can bounce backwards and forwards, and of course when somebody like this stalker intervenes and cuts into both of her lives, she finds it difficult to cope. They’ve taken away her family life and are also interfering with a murder investigation, so it provided great tension for me to work with.

What do you think it is that keeps drawing you back to writing crime thrillers?

Partly because my partner Jacqueline is a retired police officer, which helps a lot because I have a sort of in-house consultant for police procedurals, which is massive. But they also fascinate me; I’ve always loved reading mysteries since I was tiny. Put my mysteries with Jacqueline’s career and we’ve turned out with police procedurals!

You’ve written numerous books, including three series. What keeps your creative cogs turning?

Oh, heaven knows! It’s as much a surprise to me as it is anyone else, believe me! It’s little things; some tiny thing that sows a seed. I’m one of these writers that doesn’t plot or plan very carefully or lay everything out and know where everything is going. I literally write chapter one with an idea in my head and off we go. It’s kind of organic, I think.

Your series Jackman and Evans is currently being developed for television, starring Richard Armitage as DI Rowan Jackman. Do you remember how you felt upon hearing the news? 

I was just over the moon. It’s a dream. I know it will be ‘based on’, rather than being the exact books, but because Richard Armitage is already my narrator for the Jackman series, I know he knows my character. He’s such a nice man and came up here to see The Fens and talk to me about my characters before he even narrated the audiobooks because he wanted to get it right, and I admire that because he is such a busy man. I can’t wait to see it. A lot of things will change, but I hope it’s done sympathetically. They have a very good screenwriter, one of the best, so let’s hope with a great cast it’ll do well!

Do you have any advice for aspiring Lincolnshire authors?

It’s very rewarding but be prepared. You’ve got to have that passion that will carry you through the bad times and when you get rejection slips back, as everyone does. Before I planned to give in, I probably had been writing for over 10 years. That’s a lot of time to commit to something, but heavens I am really pleased I did.

Do you have any other future book releases on the horizon?

I have another in the DI Nikki Galena series coming out later this year and I’m writing the next Jackman as we speak.

Where can people find you?

I have a really good website designed by a lovely young man who works for me, Luke. He’s very creative and does fabulous things on Facebook, including teasers for the next books coming out. So go through Facebook and the website, or through Joffe Books or Audible.

Is there anything else you want to add?

A thank you to everyone. We writers would be absolutely nowhere without the readers, and they have been so supportive to me. We’ve got a massive base of people who follow us. I love them all. I also want to give a huge thank you to Jasper Joffe, for trusting me and taking the books. We’ve been working together now for eight years, and he’s been a fabulous publisher. He really cares about his authors. It’s been a fantastic journey so far, and now I’m of an age I’m certainly not planning on giving up!

One More to Die is available now, exclusively on Audible.