February 28, 2025

Imran Mahmood, author of 'Finding Sophie' - Crime writing lawyer discusses our changing attention span, pursuading a jury, and getting the words down

52 minutes

Imran Mahmood has 30 years experience as a criminal defence lawyer, working on all manner of high-profile cases. He's taken that knowledge and forged a successful 2nd career as a crime writer. His debut, 'You Don't Know Me', was presented as a closing argument to a jury. It was long-listed for the Theakston Crime Novel of the year, the CWA Gold Dagger in 2017, and was a BBC Radio 2 Book Club Choice. It's been adapted for a BBC/ Netflix Crime Drama.

He followed that up with 'I Know What I Saw', which was a Sunday Times Crime Novel of the Month, and is now back with 'Finding Sophie'. It's about Harry and Zara, parents struggling to come to terms with their daughter who is missing. The police are unable to find any leads and they're growing ever more frantic and obsessed with their supicious neighbour who won't answer the door.

We discuss his busy life as a barrister with a young family, and why he's chosen to spend what little free time he has writing novels. You can hear how both jobs have affected each other, why talking to a jury has helped novel writing, and why he thinks his greatest skill is simply getting words down.

This week's episode is supported by Scribe Shadow, a game-changing tool for writers trying to reach international readers. Find out more at app.scribeschadow.com

Get a copy of Imran's book at uk.bookshop.org/shop/writersroutine

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By Dan Simpson

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