AK Benedict on the seafront in St Leonards (photo: Erica Smith).

Meet AK Benedict

Tonight (Thursday 25 April) Alexandra Benedict, a.k.a. AK Benedict, is opening the riart Grrrls series of events celebrating women authors at Claremont Studios in Kings Road, St Leonards. HOT’s Erica Smith asks AK about her latest book, The Beauty of Murder, published by Orion.

Q: Tell me about you – is this your first novel? How long have you been writing?
This is my first published novel, although I wrote another years ago that should probably stay unpublished! I’ve been writing stories since I was four, so thirty-one years. Blimey.

Q: Tell us about your book (without spoiling the ending, of course…)
The Beauty of Murder is a speculative crime thriller set in Cambridge involving philosophy, physics, gingerbread and a serial killer with all the time in the world.
Stephen Killigan, newly appointed philosophy lecturer at Sepulchre College, stumbles upon the body of a murdered beauty queen and is drawn into a deadly experiment that will cause him to question his sanity and the nature of reality.

Q: What inspired you to base your story in Cambridge
I was a student at Cambridge and was inspired by so much there – from eccentric professors to lectures that skated between subjects to bizarre experiences. Late one night, after an interesting mix of drinks in the bar, I took a shortcut through the narrow streets that wind behind King’s Parade. Hearing footsteps behind me, I walked faster. The footsteps quickened and echoed around the small courtyard. No one was behind me. I ran back to my halls of residence and slammed the door. And that was when I had the idea of a time-travelling serial killer stalking the streets of the city. I spent the rest of my time at Cambridge feeling that, in certain streets at certain times of the day, I could step from one century into another. The stones of the city have absorbed so much history and so many lives.

Q: How does living in Hastings compare to living in Oxford/Cambridge?
The Old Town has a similar feel to Cambridge – there are streets and twittens where I feel transported to the sixteenth or seventeenth centuries. I love wandering up and down the East Hill and West Hill through narrow alleys, catching the stories that lurk there. Hastings is just as much an inspiring a place to live and work as Cambridge – the sea is always there to give perspective and there are so many wonderful, eccentric and friendly people living here. There is also a beautiful seam of creation and acceptance running through the town. I love it.

Q: Anything else you want to share with HOT readers?
I’m opening the wonderful riart Grrrls Female Author Series of talks tonight (Thursday 25 April) at Claremont Studios, King’s Road, St Leonards, from 7.30–9.30pm. I’ll also be signing copies of The Beauty of Murder in Waterstones, Priory Meadow, on Saturday 25 May. Come and keep me company!

Both events are free. There are details of the riart Grrrls event here.
You can read Chris Connelly’s review of The Beauty of Murder for HOT here.

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