1--What is the title of your latest release?
NOSY NEIGHBORS
2--What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book?
Nosy Neighbors is about two neighbors at war, 77-year-old Dorothy Darling and 25-year-old Kat Bennett, who become unlikely allies when their building is threatened with demolition, and even more unlikely amateur sleuths when one of their neighbors is viciously attacked in his home.
3--How did you decide where your book was going to take place?
After much deliberation, I decided to set the story in Chalcot, a fictional village I’d written about in my first novel, THE LAST CHANCE LIBRARY. It was fun to include some little cameos from the characters featured in my first novel!
4--Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life?
I think it would be good fun to hang out with Dorothy and Kat, although they’d certainly keep me on my toes.
5--What are three words that describe your protagonist?
Dorothy is stubborn, cantankerous, and lonely. Kat is secretive, lost and kind-hearted.
6--What’s something you learned while writing this book?
I found this book the hardest of any of my books so far, but as a result I learned to trust my instincts and not give up, even when there were days where it felt impossible. And I’m so proud of the final product.
7--Do you edit as you draft or wait until you are totally done?
I usually write a ‘zero’ draft as fast as I can, and I don’t let myself edit as I go. Once that’s finished, I tend to then rewrite the whole book again from scratch, and this time I edit as I write. It might be an unconventional method, but it works for me!
8--What’s your favorite foodie indulgence?
A delicious cheeseboard, full of the stinkiest French cheeses!
9--Describe your writing space/office!
I have a desk in my living room, which is a lovely light, airy space, although I do have to contend with my children’s toys frequently being scattered across the floor.
10--Who is an author you admire?
Katherine Heiny, who manages to write real, flawed, funny people like no-one else I’ve ever read.
11--Is there a book that changed your life?
I’m not sure there’s one book, but it was the Roald Dahl books which ignited the flame for reading in me as a child – I can vividly remember devouring Matilda and the BFG and not wanting them to end.
12--Tell us about when you got “the call.” (when you found out your book was going to be published)/Or, for indie authors, when you decided to self-publish.
My book had gone to auction, and I was helping out at my kids’ school disco when I got an email from my agent telling me the outcome. I remember it vividly as Gangnam Style was playing in the background at the moment my life changed!
13--What’s your favorite genre to read?
I read pretty broadly, but if I had to pick one, I’d probably go for romcoms.
14--What’s your favorite movie?
Dead Poet’s Society, only because I must have watched it a dozen times and it still makes me sob.
15--What is your favorite season?
Autumn
16--How do you like to celebrate your birthday?
With a lie-in and cake
17--What’s a recent tv show/movie/book/podcast you highly recommend?
On TV I’m currently obsessed with The Traitors. Books wise, I’m just reading Clare Pooley’s How to Age Disgracefully which is coming out later this year and is great fun. As for podcasts, I’m a big fan of How to Fail with Elizabeth Day, where famous people discuss the ‘failures’ which made them who they are today.
18--What’s your favorite type of cuisine?
Japanese
19--What do you do when you have free time?
I love going for walks alone and meals out with family and friends.
20--What can readers expect from you next?
I’m currently writing my fourth novel which will be out in 2025. I can’t share many details yet, although I will say that it’s a mystery revolving round a book club.
Nothing brings neighbors together like someone else’s secrets… At Shelley House, the walls have ears, and they’re attached to a ragtag duo of busybodies ready to pry, snoop, and generally annoy their neighbors into solving a crime.
Seventy-seven-year-old Dorothy Darling has lived in Shelley House longer than any of the other residents, and if you take their word for it, she’s as cantankerous as they come. But Dorothy has her reasons for spying. And none of them require justifying herself to Kat Bennett.
Twenty-five-year-old Kat has never known a place where she felt truly at home, and crumbling Shelley House is no different. Her neighbors find her prickly and unapproachable, but beneath her tough exterior, Kat’s plagued by a guilty secret from her past.
When their apartments face demolition, sworn enemies Kat and Dorothy agree on just one thing: they must save their historic building. But when someone plays dirty—and one of the residents is viciously taken down—Dorothy and Kat seek justice. The police close the investigation too soon, leaving it up to the unlikely amateur sleuths—with a playful Jack Russell terrier at their side—to restore peace in their community.
Mystery Amateur Sleuth [Berkley, On Sale: April 2, 2024, Trade Paperback / e-Book, ISBN: 9780593550526 / eISBN: 9780593550533]
Freya Sampson works in television as a creator and Executive Producer. Her credits include two documentary series for the BBC about the British Royal Family, and a number of factual and entertainment series. She studied History at Cambridge University and in 2018 was shortlisted for the Exeter Novel Prize. She lives in London with her husband, two young children and an antisocial cat.
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