I am thrilled to have interviewed author Mark Pettinger, who shared with us details of his writing life, his book ‘Where Darkness Lies‘, which was released on 2nd February 2023, and answered a few fun questions. This post contains affiliate links.

Mark Pettinger is a crime fiction writer of the DCI Priest novels. His debut The Decalogue entered the Amazon Bestseller Top 100 list in December 2015, and the Top 10 on the sub-genre of ‘police procedurals’.

Fitting his writing around his ‘day job’; Mark’s writing pattern is somewhat sporadic, and he writes when he can, which currently is in hotel rooms / foyer, or in an airport lounge trying to keep one eye on the departure board to ensure he doesn’t miss his flight!

Mark’s interest in the murky world of crime started a number of years ago when he was attracted to reading true crime. He became fascinated with the exploits of the Yorkshire Ripper, Dennis Nilsen, John Wayne Gacy, Andrei Chikatilo etc. An avid reader of many genre’s, but his attention turned to favouring crime fiction; and his reading list includes Ian Rankin, Mark Billingham, Lynda La Plante, Jo Nesbo, and latterly CJ Tudor.

Mark has openly credited Ian Rankin as the primary inspiration for not only stirring his interest in reading crime fiction, but also ‘picking up the pen’.

Mark has published four hugely successful crime fiction novels: The Decalogue in 2012, Tick Tock Time’s Up in 2015, Paper Soldiers in 2020 and more recently Where Darkness Lies in February 2023.

2024 should be a busy year as Mark completes the fifth book in the DCI Priest series, and we see the introduction of DI Calvert in the start of a new series.

Being a crime fiction writer can be challenging, especially finding inspiration for those intriguing and page turning plots, after all, every possible crime has already been written about. There are only so many ways to commit murder!

That being said, I try to focus on character led plots and this is where (I hope) my stories stand out a little. Where Darkness Lies is the fourth in the DCI Priest series, so the characters are fairly well established. For this book I wanted to turn the crime story on its head, lead with the fact that we know who the guilty party is right at the outset. A different approach to a ‘whodunnit’

I am definitely a planner and not a pantser. I use a large white board and create my stories like a spider diagram, starting with central theme/plot then branching and adding detail on characters, events, timelines, sub-plots etc. I plan almost every detail before I start writing.

The title for the book came as the very last decision. The manuscript went out to Beta readers, proof-reader, editor etc as ‘Untitled’. I insist on naming the book myself and it can take several weeks before that lightbulb moment, and a short 2/3/4 word title captures exactly what I want to say in a title.

Where Darkness Lies is the fourth book in the DCI Priest series, so the characters have been established for quite some time now. The core characters, plus all the story specific and peripheral characters are all made up (obviously!) but it would be fair to say that a number of surnames may have crept in from people I know, or have known, over the years. I have to say that I chose ‘Priest’ as the surname of the protagonist as it sounds great as a TV series, like Morse, Rebus, Grace etc.

I have two main sources for research, firstly, the internet. Let’s be honest, we can find out pretty much anything on the internet. If we need a graphical description of a mortuary room, there are many images, documents and reference points available on the internet.

Secondly, I do have a friend who is a retired police officer (Chief Inspector), so using his knowledge and experience to check ‘this procedure’ or ‘that terminology’ certainly helps with the general authenticity of the storyline.

I read many genres, but it was crime fiction that truly got me hooked and provided the inspiration to start writing. During many long car/train/plane journeys I listened to many audiobooks from established authors such as Ian Rankin, Linda La Plante etc and I started to think about stories, plots and characters and maybe, just maybe, I could write a book myself.

It is a lengthy process for me because I am not a full time writer and I fit my writing around my ‘day job’. On average the end to end process is two years. During this two year period there may be peaks when I write 1000 words a day for a sustained period of time. Then there are the quiet times where I might not write a single word for a 4-6 weeks.

Gripping page turner

Within the genre that I write (crime fiction / police procedural) it is probably finding a new twist on a previously told story – that story being ‘a crime, any crime’. That’s why I try to ensure that the book focusses as much on the characters as it does the plot.

If you’re looking for a new police procedural / detective series (and you already love Rebus, Thorne, Grace, Tennison), DCI Priest is the man for you. Follow Priest and his team as they work their way through a number of investigations, each with the obligatory plot twist.

No, sorry. Just me.

Yes. I have to write in complete silence. I envy writers who can listen to music at the same time – too distracting for me. As I have a ‘day job’ I do fit my writing in around this, so I can be found writing in café, hotel bars or airport lounges.

As noted above, it can literally be anywhere in the world.

Not sure that I’m too photogenic for TV, so I would probably be one of the uniformed police officers in the background, quietly tapping on a computer.

‘There’s a distinct lack of animals in your books, especially birds, why is that?’

A big thank you to Mark Pettinger for sharing his writing life with us and for a wonderful interview.