Crawley author offers Murder All Inclusive

The new one is his fourth book, with his last book, 46% Better Than Dave, shortlisted for the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize for Comic Fiction 2020.

The book centres on Freddie Winters, a miserable, second-rate crime writer who appeared in Alastair’s second book Killing Dylan. When Freddie Winters finds himself invited to a luxurious writers’ retreat in Spain, all he wants to do is sit by the pool, get drunk and ignore all the amateur writers he’s supposed to be teaching. But then someone starts killing off the other authors. And before he knows it, Freddie is the prime suspect. To clear his name, and save his own life, Freddie has to put his detective skills to work once again.

“I first got the idea for this book while I was on holiday in Tenerife,” Alastair says. “Killing Dylan had come out not long before and the character of Freddie Winters, who also appears in that book, was still very much in my mind. I was lazing by the pool and thinking how Freddie would behave in the same location. I wondered how he might interact with people by the pool, in his own inimitable fashion.

“I imagined him overindulging at the buffet and drinking too much alcohol. I found myself coming up with funny little scenarios of Freddie getting himself into trouble and I just thought it would make for a good book, seeing him in these sorts of surroundings and how he would react. I then started thinking about why Freddie would be there and what sort of things might be going on. And, of course, I wondered what sort of crimes might take place and what murders he might have to solve. The idea kept circling around in my brain for a while. I actually ended up writing another book, 46% Better Than Dave, while I kept thinking about it. Then I returned to it, filled in all the blanks in the story and wrote it.”

Murder All Inclusive, Alastair says, is “a fun, funny book which will have you laughing out loud. There are plenty of twists which will keep you guessing until the end. It’s a good comfort read in a tough climate. It also gives good holiday vibes.”

Alastair has written three novels: The Unexpected Vacation of George Thring, Killing Dylan and 46% Better Than Dave. He has spent the past 20 years writing for a variety of magazines, websites and corporate clients. His work has spanned many different paths, from jetting off to cities around the world to writing about dating advice, data centres, technology and the exciting world of flooring. He also once wrote an agony advice column posing as Elvis Presley's ghost.

Alastair is already working on his next novel: “It’s a speculative thriller, with a comedic twist, set in a not-too-distant future. There’s quite a big technology element to the plot. But, of course, it will still be funny.”

Murder All Inclusive is now available in paperback from Amazon and is priced at £9.99. A Kindle version is also available.