Ten questions with J. Woollcott
Daphne du Maurier award-winning author J. Woollcott is a Canadian writer born in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Her debut novel, A Nice Place to Die, introduces Police Service of Northern Ireland detective DS Ryan McBride and his partner DS Billy Lamont and in 2021 was short-listed in the Crime Writers of Canada Awards of Excellence.
1. Please tell us about your debut novel.
A NICE PLACE TO DIE is a police procedural, set in and around Belfast, Northern Ireland.
A young woman’s body is found by a river outside Belfast and DS Ryan McBride makes a heart-wrenching discovery at the scene, a discovery he hides even though it could cost him the investigation – and his career.
Why would someone want to harm her? And is her murder connected to a rapist who’s stalking the local pubs? As Ryan untangles a web of deception and lies, his suspects die one by one, leading him to a dangerous family secret and a murderer who will stop at nothing to keep it.
And still, he harbors his secret...
I’ve tried to add some humour and a little romance, but at the heart of this is a mystery to be solved. Who killed Kathleen McGuire?
2. I’ve read that only 4% of the people who start a novel, finish writing it. Why do you think you beat the odds?
That’s a good question, and you know, I don’t really have one answer. A number of things happened at the same time to make it possible for me to write. But mainly I decided it was finally time to leave work and spend the time I needed to concentrate on my manuscript.
3. Was your debut novel the first book you wrote? (Any prior efforts hiding on your hard drive?)
Oh yes. Efforts lurking in the cupboard. The first thing I ever wrote was a paranormal mystery called Past Crimes. That never saw the light of day. Although I might bring it out and dust it off. It wasn’t a bad story I just had no clue what I was doing. I then wrote a mystery/thriller called Abducted about a young boy who is kidnapped outside Mexico City. I had taken a couple of classes by then and had gained a mentor from the Crime Writers of Canada. She helped with it and encouraged me to enter it in the CWC Unpublished Awards that year. It was longlisted and I was completely shocked, and encouraged. So I started on my current series.
4. What helped you become a better writer? Any books or resources you found helpful?
Classes and more classes! Both in person and virtual. And joining organizations like Sisters in Crime and Crime Writers of Canada. I went to a couple of conferences too. Networking is good. It’s also really important to read. I tend to read in my favourite genres now, mystery, suspense and police procedurals, but reading good books of any kind is critical.
5. What was your process like getting an agent?
I don’t have an agent. Several years ago I applied for a grant to go to a conference. One of the committee members read my first few chapters and asked to read the whole manuscript. I said yes of course, never realizing that she was a publisher. I didn’t get the grant that year, but about three years later, after Covid, she reinvited me to submit to the company and I did get a contract.
6. How did you celebrate when you learned your book would be published?
Fairly low key, a bottle of bubbly might have been involved.
7. What was the most exciting moment involving the publication of your debut novel? (The moment you first saw the cover? The call when you learned when it was being published? When you cashed your advance check?)
Friends received the book from Amazon before my copies arrived. They emailed me a photo, it was just so amazing to see it in print.
8. What’s your best advice for someone who wants to be published?
I would say do what I did. Take classes, join writing groups, start networking with other writers. And most importantly, do not send the book out until it is as good as it can be. Don’t rely on friends and family. Forget conferences and fancy coffees, spend your money on a reliable developmental editor, and then a line editor if you can.
9. What are you currently reading? Or, what's one of the best novels you've read lately?
Lots of books at once I’m afraid. The Last Girl to Die by Helen Fields. See Them Run by Marion Todd. I just finished The Ruin by Dervla McTiernan and am about to start The Good Turn by her as well. I love Sarah Stewart-Taylor, any of her books, and so many others. Tons of great mysteries out at the moment. Eliza Nellums, Jane Harper, all fabulous storytellers.
I do read male writers btw, just seem to be on a lady writer binge at the moment.
10. What are you working on now? Any projects coming out soon?
I’m glad you asked, because the second book in my Belfast Murder Series, Blood Relations, is due out in September. I’ve included a rough idea for the cover, not finished of course, it’s a work in progress, what do you think? And my publisher just sold the series to Tantor Media, so both books are coming out as Audio Books. The first audio release date is April 25 for and it’s pretty exciting, although it’s always a little frightening when you imagine someone interpreting your own words. I’m thrilled to hear that the narrator is an Irish actor who has a terrific voice. He’s narrated Stuart Neville and James Joyce - among others.
I’m also working on a new book with a conflicted hero. (Aren’t they all?)
A DESOLATE GRAVE
After his wife is shot with a bullet meant for him, Detective Inspector Connor Adair retires early and flees to his holiday cottage on Killennis Island, off Northern Ireland’s Antrim coast.
What he wants is peace and quiet to work on his painting and time to think. He desperately needs to come to terms with the role he played in his wife’s death.
What he gets is Anna, an attractive, enigmatic, woman renter nearby, and a new case. Three years earlier two teenage girls went missing from the island––and he’s asked to find them.
…Then Anna disappears.
The audio book version of A Nice Place to Die comes out April 25, 2023. To learn more about Joyce Woollcott, check out her website and follow her on Twitter.