The Inspiration for Blink of an Eye: The Joy of Revisiting a Misspent Youth by Louisa Scarr

The Inspiration for Blink of an Eye: The Joy of Revisiting a Misspent Youth

Louisa Scarr

How well do you remember your university years? Those first months away – the majority of your belongings still at home, reaching out with trepidation to these strange new people you have been thrust together with. Learning how to fend for yourself – how to cook, use a washing machine, clean. (Maybe not that last one.) Working out how many pints you can drink before you throw up. (Answer: four to six.) And how do you get home at three a.m. when your last fiver went on a few pints? (You walk. However long it takes.)

You know nothing about your new housemates, but you share the same desire for fun and staying up to two in the morning drinking. And that’s all that matters.

Like Sara, Sam, Meg, Mike and Alex in Blink of an Eye, I too went to the University of Southampton, and lived in a grotty student house in Portswood. I went to The Hobbit, and Jesters, and drunk pints of a lurid green cocktail called a Juicy Lucy, the contents of which are still unknown.

It was these strange, bewildering, blissful years I wanted to explore in Blink of an Eye – along with the close friendships forged as a result.

But all that was twenty years ago. To jog my memory, I turned to a bafflingly extensive collection of large red albums: the whole three years, documented, in blurry six by fours. That was the time of 35mm film and trips to Boots to get them developed. There was no editing back then.

I spent a wonderful few days raking through these, all in the name of research. The criss-cross of beautiful young things passing through our house. Five of us lived there, but visitors were so commonplace it felt like more. There was usually someone sleeping on our sofa, or on someone’s floor. The more the merrier – there was even space for James, the pet rat. 

There was snogging, there was flirting. There was falling in love after only a wink across the dance floor. There were the boyfriends we tried to forget, and the ones that evolved into husbands. There were nights out and dancing until dawn; there were nine a.m. lectures we failed to attend.

It was a brilliant three years.

But I was writing a crime novel, and happy, well-adjusted adults don’t make for an exciting plot. Sara, Sam, Meg, Mike and Alex were best friends and I wanted to explore this time in their lives, and what these people would do should the worst happen. How would they react – would they bond together, or would it break them? And if that crime was discovered twenty years later, how might things have changed? Would long-held grudges have festered or been forgiven? Would lost love rekindle?

Of course, my photographic library wouldn’t help me here. It was down to my imagination to write the book and to fill in the gaps that the geographic cross-over couldn’t cover. 

Because we have no secrets in our past, no crimes we had to cover up.

Or so we’d like you to believe…

—

Author Bio:

Louisa Scarr is the author of the Butler and West crime series, published by Canelo Crime, beginning with Last Place You Look and Under a Dark Cloud. The latest, Blink of an Eye, is out on 19th May and can be preordered here. 

Louisa studied Psychology at the University of Southampton and has lived in and around the city ever since. She works as a freelance copywriter and editor, and when she’s not writing, she can be found pounding the streets in running shoes or swimming in muddy lakes. 

You can follow her on Twitter @paperclipgirl and on Instagram as @louisascarrwriter.

 

BLINK OF AN EYE

Five friends meet. Only four come home.

On Christmas morning, DS Robin Butler has no plans to celebrate. He’ll be glad to get back to work – a wish that comes true sooner than he anticipates. A dog walker at a local beach has discovered five unresponsive people strewn across the shingle. By the time Robin arrives, one is pronounced dead, and the other four are being treated in hospital.

DC Freya West is less than pleased when the romantic day with her boyfriend is scuppered, but duty calls. As she and Butler speak to those involved, it’s clear something is being left unsaid. They claim they are friends, and that they don’t know how one of the group was killed. But why are they so cagey?

A cold case investigation unlocks some answers about the history between the beach-going gang, yet they’re tight-lipped about what prompted them to meet on Christmas Eve. Butler and West are getting nowhere, and their partnership is about to face another test. When Freya wants to come clean about events in her past, it’s not just her neck on the line, but Robin’s too. Can their relationship survive if their pact of silence is broken?

The thrilling new instalment from policing’s most dauntless duo. Perfect for fans of Cara Hunter, Jane Casey and Susie Steiner.

BUY HERE

 

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