The Cliff House: One hen weekend, seven secrets… but only one worth killing for

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The chapters alternate between the viewpoints of each of the protagonists and, when they split up in search of the kidnapped woman, each begins to wonder if they’ve been paired with the intended target, but, at the same time, guiltily accepting the target could be them. Chris Brookmyre is a prolific author of crime fiction and one half of the highly successful Ambrose Parry writing partnership along with his wife Marisa Haetzman. The extent to which you might enjoy this convoluted and twisty tale will very much depend on your willingness to suspend disbelief. The initial set up is a little far fetched however at around the halfway point it stretches the bounds of credulity to beyond breaking point, and by the conclusion it's just plain ludicrous. This is a special novel. A brilliant, original, up-to-the-minute tale with all of the dark, edgy, humorous brilliance we’ve come to expect from one of the finest crime fiction writers in the world’ Conversations on the Coast has a slightly different format to other literary festivals. with one author talk a week, spread out over a month rather than a cluster of events.

Chris Brookmyre's latest psychological thriller is set on Clachan Geal, a small remote Scottish island on the edge of the Atlantic, a beautiful, windswept place on which is located an exclusive, luxurious and expensive mansion for hire, with attractions such as an infinity pool and golf course. Jen is a successful business woman who has recently sold Muffin Finer, although she remains the head of the company, leaving her an extremely wealthy woman. She is engaged to be married for the second time to her fiance, Zaki Hussain, although she has a few niggles about him. She has booked the island mansion from the owner, property developer, single mother Lauren, for the celebration of her hen night with a group of female friends, each of whom it is trailed from the beginning, are women with closely guarded secrets.

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Jennifer is forty-two and getting married for the second time, but that doesn’t mean she can’t go all out for her bachelorette weekend. She’s taking her closest friends to the kind of place that has a years-long waiting list for a booking: three days of super-exclusive luxury accommodation on a remote Scottish island. So excited by the complicated means of transport required to get to the island, no one gives much thought to the implications for getting off again, especially if the weather should turn. But why would they? They’re in for a time they will never forget. Just not for the reasons they imagine. As we talk on the phone, he is preparing for an event in Edinburgh with his appearance at Conversations on the Coast coming up next week. I recommend The Cut SO HIGHLY! A fast-paced thriller, lovely characters, [and] it kept me guessing’

He spoke to Nora McElhone about his latest novel The Cliff House ahead of his appearance at The East Neuk Literary Festival on November 8.

Locked room location

This book was pretty good, though with a storyline quite similar to a lot of other recent books. The story centers on Jen, who is getting married and invites a bunch of her girlfriends to a mansion on a secluded island for her bachelorette party. It becomes clear that someone has murderous intentions, but who and why?

You are often inspired by locations – sometimes it is imagining what might take place in that location or sometimes it is something about the atmosphere that suggests something.

I still enjoyed it, but I have read better executions of a similar story, like Guest List, for example. The great Scottish outdoors is where Chris does a lot of his plotting for his novels. “I like being outdoors I like walking,” he says.