She’s best known for the critically acclaimed Ziba MacKenzie series, but Victoria Selman used lockdown to come up with her first standalone novel Truly, Darkly, Deeply – uncharted territory for an author who describes herself as a planner. “I know where my stories are going, but don’t always know the pitstops along the way,” she confesses to Dr Jacky Collins in the latest The Doctor Will See You Now video interview.
Victoria describes her book as exploring “…a serial killer’s legacy through the eyes of his daughter.” Set across two timelines in Hampstead, London, it asks the question: “What would you do in their place? How would you judge?” she says, adding, “I didn’t want to celebrate the killer in any way – I wanted to shine a light on the victims.”
Enjoy a chat that covers everything from home schooling to torture porn and Wuthering Heights. Victoria has another standalone in the pipeline, and is pausing the MacKenzie series for the time being. Meanwhile you can catch her podcasts, which are produced with Crime Fiction Lover contributor Paul Burke. And if that’s not exciting enough, Victoria and Jacky have a competition for a signed copy of Truly Darkly Deeply. Details are in the video, but you’ll need to be watching it on the YouTube site to enter.