New York Times bestselling author Antony Johnston, spoke to me about falling backwards into video game writing, meeting Atomic Blonde’s Charlize Theron, and his new interactive whodunit Can You Solve the Murder?

Antony Johnston is the award-winning, New York Times bestselling author of over fifty books, graphic novels, and comic series, including the popular Dog Sitter Detective murder mysteries. He adapted his graphic novel, The Coldest City, into the multi-million-dollar blockbuster movie Atomic Blonde, which he also co-produced.

His latest novel, Can You Solve the Murder? (Penguin Books; On Sale: 7/1), is described as “An interactive whodunit where you choose which suspects to question, which leads to follow, and ultimately, who to accuse.”

Kirkus Reviews wrote of the book, “A Choose Your Own Adventure–style novel for willing and agile grownups….as interactive as readers who don’t play video games are likely to find.­”

Antony is also a celebrated video games writer, and is credited with many franchise-defining titles, and a former vice chair of the Crime Writers’ Association.

[Discover The Writer Files Extra: Get 'The Writer Files' Podcast Delivered Straight to Your Inbox at writerfiles.fm]

[If you’re a fan of The Writer Files, please click FOLLOW to automatically see new interviews. And drop us a rating or a review wherever you listen]

In this file Antony Johnston and I discussed:

How writing graphic novels and comics lead to a 20-year parallel career in video games

Why the Atomic Blonde adaptation gave him space to write novels

His love of storytelling and having never taken a creative writing course

Bringing the video games and crime writing worlds together

How to write and publish an interactive “game book”

And a lot more!

Show Notes:

antonyjohnston.com

Can You Solve the Murder?: An Interactive Crime Novel by Antony Johnston (Amazon)

Antony Johnston: Solving This Crime Is No Cakewalk - Writer’s Digest Interview

The Organized Writer

Antony Johnston on Bluesky

Antony Johnston on Threads

Antony Johnston on Twitter/X

Antony Johnston on Facebook

Antony Johnston on Mastodon

Antony Johnston on Instagram

Kelton Reid on Twitter

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices