Q&A with Orlando Murrin

From my Q&A with Orlando Murrin, author of Knife Skills for Beginners:

How much work does your title do to take readers into the story?

I come up with dozens and dozens of titles in order to find the best. It isn’t always obvious – you have to live with them for a while, go away and come back, change your mind.

Eventually we settled on Knife Skills For Beginners because it takes you straight in – it’s a story set in an upmarket cookery school. The only doubt was that some readers might mistake it for an instruction manual for wannabe chefs. Indeed, I’ve been to a few literary events where those attending have been expecting an actual cookery demonstration, and are bemused to find me talking instead about a sophisticated murder mystery, albeit with culinary flourishes.

What's in a name?

Equally, I spend hours dreaming up (and changing) the names of my characters. They’re...[read on]

Visit Orlando Murrin's website.

The Page 69 Test: Knife Skills for Beginners.

Q&A with Orlando Murrin.

--Marshal Zeringue