Fiona Barton

As a journalist, I've been a professional watcher, picking up the body language and verbal tics that make us individuals and interesting to others. ”

The righting of historic wrongs has chimed with something fundamental in me since I was a young reader. I love the forensic skills, the psychological insights, and the sheer bloody-mindedness of various detectives - professional or accidental - inching toward the truth of a long-buried secret. ”

Yes, there are bad apples, but I do feel journalists do a good job, often in very difficult circumstances. ”

It was this fascination with hidden lives, I suspect, that led me to journalism; seeking to uncover the truth about people became a job. ”

I chose to write from different perspectives despite its complexity because it is what I have always done as a journalist. ”

I can't think whether I've actually interviewed the widow of a crime suspect. Obviously, I've interviewed members of the families of people who've been accused of things. ”

Over the years, I've interviewed the victims, the guilty, the famous, the important, and the ordinary people affected by tragedy or good fortune. But strangely, it is not always the people in the spotlight that have stayed with me. It is often those on the periphery, the bit players in the drama, that continue to haunt. ”

For most of us, our protective lies or omissions are so insignificant that being found out would be only mildly embarrassing. But for some of us, our secret may threaten to destroy everything. And that is food and drink to a novelist. ”

Mental health is something that I'm very interested in. ”

It's amazing to me that journalists are held in such low esteem. ”