Author Interview: Alan Carter

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Alan Carter is the author of Prize Catch, an upcoming Beauty and Lace Club read.

We love to get to know the authors behind the book, and you can find out more about Alan in this interview:

Tell us about your book

PRIZE CATCH is an action thriller set against the backdrop of a spectacular and unforgiving Tasmanian wilderness. When Ros Chen’s partner, Niamh, is killed in a hit-and-run on a lonely country road in Tasmania the grieving widow begins to wonder whether the killing really was an accident after all.

Meanwhile, ex-soldier Sam Willard is hoping for a fresh start. He lands a labouring job at a salmon farm but soon finds himself recruited into a special team targeting anti-salmon farm activists.

With old war crimes allegations swirling and a series of terrifying attacks on environmentalists, Sam and Ros form an unlikely alliance. With murderous thugs on their trail, Sam and Ros are forced to retreat into the unforgiving Tasmanian wilderness scrambling to survive and uncover dangerous truths.

What sparked the idea for Prize Catch?

You can’t live in Southern Tasmania’s Channel country and fail to notice all the salmon farms along the coastline. Nor swim in the ocean and notice the lack of marine life close to shore.

Then when Richard Flanagan’s book Toxic appeared it was a must-read for those who care about the environment. At the same time, Mark Willacy’s Rogue Forces came out and Afghanistan war crimes allegations were in the news a lot as was the chaotic and speedy withdrawal from the country. So I began wondering. Hmmm, what if …?

How much of the place you live creates your inspiration when coming up with crime ideas?

From the very first book, it has been central to my inspiration. Prime Cut came about when I was living in Hopetoun during the mining boom and the themes of boomtime and spectacular landscape loom large.

The subsequent Fremantle-set Cato books were written once we’d moved back to Freo from Hopetoun. Likewise, Marlborough Man was written while I was living in a house in the Wakamarina Valley in NZ watching the loggers log and hearing the hunters hunt.

Now here I am in southern Tasmania and guess what? Yes, I do tend to be inspired by where I live (lucky me) but I also sometimes wonder whether it is just simpler for me to write what I know and see. Is that a sign of a lack of imagination? I know I’m in awe of those writers able to conjure up other times and places and imaginary worlds.

In what ways does this novel compare or differ from your previous work?

Starting up with new characters in a new setting is always scary. Cato and Nick have attracted their own albeit niche following but will the readers warm to these new people, this different place?

I also pushed out my own envelope a bit with the higher octane action elements of this novel. Coming from a TV documentary background I still have a tendency to rein myself in a little in a social realism sense. This time I let rip a little and enjoyed myself. I might have unleashed a monster!

What is next for Alan Carter? 

I’m neck-deep in the third Nick Chester novel set in Franz Josef NZ. Nick and Latifa are sent to the spectacular glacier town on the west coast of South Island when a body is discovered in the glacier.

Who is the victim? How did they end up in the glacier? And why?

Where can our readers follow you?

You can find me on Instagram and Facebook.

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