What is the title of your latest release?
WITCH TRIAL
What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book?
It’s the story of a modern-day murder trial of two teenage girls who believe they are witches.
How did you decide where your book was going to take place?
Edinburgh was the perfect setting because it has a long and fascinating history of witch trials and also because it’s a very beautiful place.
Would you hang out with your heroine in real life?
No chance.
What are three words that describe your hero?
Flawed, arrogant, troubled.
What’s something you learned while writing this book?
There are no opening speeches in criminal trials in Scotland.
Do you edit as you draft or wait until you are totally done?
A little as I go along but the main edit happens after I’ve finished the first draft. That’s when the real work begins.
What’s your favorite foodie indulgence?
Dark chocolate.
Describe your writing space/office!
I write in bed! My office is a lovely space full of books and plants, but I find bed the best space for inspiration.
Who is an author you admire?
Muriel Spark
Is there a book that changed your life?
APPLE TREE YARD by Louise Doughty because it made me realize that readers might be interested in legal thrillers which is now what I write
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.
I was in the middle of having a manicure in my house with lovely Laura the beautician who lives on my street. I knew my book was out on submission and so I was checking and rechecking my emails every two minutes, even as she was trying to paint my nails. My agent emailed me to say that we had received a world rights six figure pre-empt from Headline in the UK and that we had one hour to decide (punchy or what!). We said yes and I have never regretted that decision.
What’s your favorite genre to read?
Crime. Of course!
What’s your favorite movie?
Legally Blonde
What is your favorite season?
I love both spring and the fall. Cherry blossom and autumn leaves!
How do you like to celebrate your birthday?
Dinner at a lovely restaurant with my family.
What’s a recent tv show/movie/book/podcast you highly recommend?
THEY SAY A GIRL DIED HERE by Sarah Pinborough is the perfect read for the season – dark and creepy with a lot of heart
What’s your favorite type of cuisine?
Mediterranean
What do you do when you have free time?
I read whenever I can
What can readers expect from you next?
I am working on the sequel to WITCH TRIAL – it will pick up ten years from when the book finishes as I really want to know what happens next for the characters.
Internationally bestselling author Harriet Tyce returns with a page-turning thriller involving three teenage girls, one murdered classmate, and a chilling modern-day witch trial that will leave readers breathless.
Let the Witch Trial begin . . .
When eighteen-year-old Christian Shaw is found dead in a park, the city of Edinburgh is stunned—and the shock only deepens when police charge her best friends, Eliza Lawson and Isobel Smyth, with the murder. As social media explodes in a tizzy of theories and headlines scream for justice, rumors of bullying are overshadowed by something more wicked and frightening: whispers of dark rituals, feverish obsession, and a teenage pact gone wrong.
When the trial begins, everyone in Edinburgh clamors for a front-row ticket to the show: to look upon the murderous Eliza and Isobel with their own eyes. Everyone, that is, but Matthew Phillips, a respected heart surgeon picked for the jury. But, as the trial unfolds—and the girls’ lawyers offer a surprising and unsettling defense—the reluctant Matthew finds himself questioning everything: the motives, the evidence, even his own judgement. Then he begins to have strange visions of terrifying things—hallucinations he tells himself. After all, witchcraft isn’t real . . . or is it?
Who is telling the truth? Who can be trusted?
And what really happened to Christian Shaw?
Horror | Thriller Paranormal - Supernatural [ Harper Perennial, On Sale: September 29, 2026, Paperback / e-Book / audiobook, ISBN: 9780063492936 / eISBN: 9780063492943 ]
HARRIET TYCE grew up in Edinburgh. She studied English at Oxford University and Law at City University before working as a criminal barrister for nearly a decade. She lives in London.
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