My last few thrillers have had a common thread – wealthy people, social satire, a group of friends with dark secrets. This time I wanted to do something even darker and more serious. I had never written about a serial killer before, and wanted to find a way to do that which was respectful and not sensationalist.
The First Girl is the story of Karen, a writer who has made a life in New York after fleeing her hometown in South Yorkshire. She was hounded from the country after helping send her best friend – many say boyfriend, but it was more complicated than that – to prison for murdering multiple women. Even though Karen was the one to call the police on Aaron Hughes, people accuse her of protecting him for years. That she must have known. How could she not?
Now Karen has a memoir coming out that will tell her side – but before it can be published, a young woman goes missing in her hometown, with all the hallmarks of the ‘Bagman’ – the tabloid name given to Hughes. How could he be involved, when he’s been in prison for ten years? But if it’s not him, then someone knows the secrets of his crimes, details never released to the public, such as the mysterious symbol he left at the scene, carved into his victims’ bodies. Karen must go back to help solve this case, and face the demons and lies of her past.
To research the book, I focused on the wives and girlfriends of killers, the women who loved them and were vilified for it. Rose West, who joined in with her husband’s crimes. Sonia Sutcliffe, wife of the Yorkshire Ripper, who stood by him to the end but said she had never suspected him. Liz Kendall, Ted Bundy’s girlfriend, who did suspect him but not enough to be sure, and also let him play happy families with her and her daughter. Maxine Carr, who was persuaded to lie to protect her murderous boyfriend. She had to go into hiding and even get plastic surgery to change her appearance. I was fascinated by the way in which women are blamed for men’s crimes, and have to carry the burden of why didn’t you know. Why didn’t you stop this.
I also did a lot of research about killers in general, and learned that in the UK they rarely make it to as many murders as American ones do, but that police incompetence, such as in the Ripper case, can let them go free for years. That several murderers such as BTK and the Zodiac killer did leave symbols at their crime scenes, so that was plausible too. I write in the book too about true crime fans, and the pull that such murders have over us, a dark prurience whether we like to admit it or not. We are fascinated by serial killers, but when we paint them as brilliant fiends we ignore the fact they are just men, and that if they don’t get caught it’s usually just through luck, being inadvertently protected, and not being caught when the opportunity arises.
The First Girl is published by Thomas & Mercer
