Andrea Mara: How to make friends when you plan murders for a living

Writing books about the darkest of deeds led Andrea Mara to befriend a group of evil geniuses with hearts of gold

Despite spending their days plotting unsolvable murders, crime writers are secretly truly lovely people, says Andrea Mara.

Backstabbing, gossiping, revenge and betrayal; it’s all there between the pages of any given crime novel. But what about the writers behind those novels? Is it all rivalry and backbiting there too? Or can crime authors — arguably competing for the same space on the shelf — ever really be friends?

To my relief, having entered the world of Irish crime (the fictional kind) I’ve found the latter to be true; despite writing about the darkest deeds one human can do to another, despite spending their days researching untraceable poisons and plotting unsolvable murders, crime writers are secretly truly lovely people.