Author Bella Mackie is back on familiar ground in her new novel: mysterious deaths of the super-rich.
She first made a name for herself with the 2021 novel How To Kill Your Family, told from the perspective of serial killer Grace Bernard, who’s set on revenge against her family.
Her debut work of fiction was so successful, it sold over one million copies in the UK alone, the paperback version spent 47 weeks in the top 10, and it is now being adapted into a Netflix series starring The Queen’s Gambit actor Anya Taylor-Joy.
Mackie’s latest novel, What A Way To Go, follows the aftermath of the death of super-wealthy businessman Anthony Wistern, skewered by a lamppost at his 60th birthday party. It’s told from multiple perspectives, including his family members (who soon fall under suspicion of foul play) and an amateur true- crime sleuth who’s keen to get to the bottom of things.
With the wild success of her first work of fiction, London-based Mackie, 41, who is married to Radio 1 presenter Greg James, felt the pressure even more keenly for her second novel.
We speak to Mackie about dealing with criticism, why she thinks we’re all so obsessed with true crime and how it feels to have Golden Globe-winning actor Taylor-Joy bringing her first novel to life…
How did you deal with the pressure of writing book number two?
“Not well – I think I dealt with it very badly. I have to say, writing a book is not like working down the mines – it’s not a hard job. But I did feel a huge amount of pressure, because how can you not?
“You think there’s no way it’s going to be as successful as last time, it just can’t be. You think, Oh my God, I’m going to be a one-hit wonder, it’s going to be a flop, blah, blah, blah. So there’s a lot of that in your head at the time.
“Also, because I’m such an anxious person, I’m never going to see the optimistic side of things… The second book is always hard – then when you get to the third one, you know what you’re doing by then, so I’m waiting for that. I’m waiting to know what I’m doing.”
How do you deal with criticism?
“It does affect me… A stranger’s throwaway comment – sometimes that, more than a person you know, can really stay with you.
“After the last book came out, I spent a long time writing something I thought people wanted. Thinking, what would people want out of the next book? Ultimately, it just didn’t work, because my editor was like, ‘You’re not writing what you want to write – you’re writing for an audience that you didn’t think about last time, because you were untested’. So I had to rewrite the entire thing and write it from what I wanted.
“I think the only healthy thing to remind yourself when writing anything, or doing any job, I guess, is that you do your job and it goes out into the world – then it’s nothing to do with you, really. I don’t look at Goodreads or whatever, because I know there’ll be loads of people who hate it. But that’s not my business, is it? I’ve done my bit, then the reader does their bit.”
What inspired your latest book?
“I was thinking about the rise of true crime amateur detectives – people that use social media to follow their favourite true-crime stories. I was completely fascinated by those people – I guess it’s like a parasocial relationship, they get really involved with either a criminal or victim. To me, it’s bleeding into conspiracy theories, misinformation, disinformation – all that kind of stuff.
“And when I started writing that, I realised I wanted there to be another angle. I’m always interested in writing about toxic families, and I was thinking a lot about Robert Maxwell. I was thinking about him because of Ghislaine Maxwell, and her name being in the news again.
“She was famously his favourite, and I thought – what does that do to the family of a very wealthy father, all the siblings think they’re getting an inheritance, but one is the favourite? What happens when someone like that dies in disgrace? What happens to that family? So I mashed those two things together and came up with What A Way To Go.”
Why do you think we’re so obsessed with true crime?
“People have written thousands of really interesting think pieces about why people, especially women, are so interested in true crime. There are all answers I agree with – teaching yourself to be safe, that thrill of being safe in your house watching something scary, that feeling of identifying with a victim, maybe she looks like you, or she’s from a place like you are, all those kind of things.
“But inherently, the thing we maybe miss is that we are animals. I don’t think it’s always a benign or harmless kind of natural thing. I think there is a part of us that likes seeing people get killed, which is a really uncomfortable thing to say, and most people wouldn’t want to admit that.
“It’s really not that long ago, public hangings and people being stoned to death in the streets. We think of it as the ancient past, but it really wasn’t that long ago that people would go watch public hangings or executions.
“I think there is a vicious part of ourselves, and watching true crime – it’s sanitised, and it allows you to not recognise that part of yourself… But actually, I think there is a really dark part of people that likes seeing other people – doesn’t wish it – but enjoys the horror of the situation and the violence without having to be a part of it.”
How does it feel to have How To Kill Your Family adapted for the small screen?
“I’m not doing it, so I get to watch it as a viewer. No doubt it won’t be like the book was, in many ways – I’m very hands-off, I’m not writing it. So I’m as excited as anyone else would be to see what it looks like on screen.
“[Anya Taylor-Joy] is astonishing – she’s a phenomenon, just unbelievable. But it’s weird, because in my head I can’t ever picture the exact person who would play a character… So it’s a totally new world.”
What A Way To Go by Bella Mackie is published in hardback by The Borough Press, priced £20. Available September 12.
