A Slice of Cake With... Howard Linskey

This week I am thrilled to be having a slice of cake with author Howard Linskey.

Howard is an author with Penguin Random House. Prior to becoming a full-time author, he led a number of different lives featuring a wide variety of jobs, including barman, journalist, catering manager and marketing manager for a celebrity chef, as well as in a variety of sales and account management roles. He can confirm that writing books definitely beats working for a living.

Howard started writing many moons ago and was first published in the Newcastle United football fanzine, 'The Mag'. He then became a journalist and wrote for regional newspapers. Howard has also written for magazines, websites and was once the English Premier League football correspondent for a Malaysian magazine.  He's stopped all of that nonsense now, preferring to make up stuff instead and call himself an author.

What kind of books do you write?

My books usually contain mysteries. Each one features a character who has been killed or has gone missing. DS Ian Bradshaw and investigative journalists Helen Norton and Tom Carney have to work together to uncover the truth and find out what has happened to those people. Hopefully, the books keep you guessing, as you try to work it all out for yourself. My main characters are often placed in peril or put under immense strain, which makes for good drama I think. If you want to write a good story it’s not a bad idea to create some characters people will hopefully care about then throw problems at them.

Can you describe your writing why?

I have always felt the need to communicate and express myself and I find good stories fascinating. I now enjoy writing my own stories for others and it is a very satisfying thing to see them published then learn that you have (hopefully) entertained large numbers of people along the way. It makes all of the hard work worthwhile. I have been writing for years now, starting with football fanzines then newspapers, magazines, websites and finally books. I’ve had eight published so far, with two more coming in 2019 and I can’t imagine stopping. Hopefully, I will be doing this for a long time to come.  

Share with us your favourite passage from the book you enjoyed writing the most.

It’s very hard to choose a favourite when you have put so much time and effort into all of them. I’ll go for my last one as a writer, which is my current one if you are a reader (the one I am writing now won’t be out until next year). Hopefully, the opening of ‘The Chosen Ones’ wets the appetite.

“When Eva woke, imprisoned in a large metal box, the one thing that terrified her more than the prospect of her captor returning was the thought that he might not. Then she would be trapped here for good, or at least until she ran out of the things she needed most; food, water, air.”

Tell us about your latest project

The Chosen Ones starts when Eva Dunbar wakes in a large metal box. She has no idea who has taken her. She has no way out. She isn't the first young woman to disappear. And with no leads Detective Ian Bradshaw has precious little time. When at last a body is found, the police hope the tragic discovery might at least provide a clue that will help them finally find the kidnapper. But then they identify the body - and realise the case is more twisted than they ever imagined...

What is your favourite cake?

I’ve got to go for chocolate. I’m a bit of a chocoholic and only the thought of being massively obese prevents me from eating large quantities of it every day.  Depressingly, nearly everything I really like appears to be bad for me; bacon, beer, chocolate and cake. In fact, that’s my condemned man’s final meal right there; a bacon butty with a pint of beer and a massive slice of chocolate cake to follow before you lead me to the gallows. 

Well, I think I can just about manage to make some chocolate cake, Howard! 

You can keep in touch with Howard on Twitter @howardlinksey and visit his website for all the latest news.

Join me next week when I will be having a slice of cake with artist Ian Bristow, grilling them gently about their writing life and of course sharing their favourite cake.

If you would like to take part in A Slice of Cake With... please fill in the form found here. I'd be delighted to have you.

Claire Buss is a multi-genre author and poet, completely addicted to cake. Find all her books on Amazon. Join the discussion in her Facebook group Buss's Book Stop.