SIMON STEPHENSON chats to Paul Burke about his novel Sometimes People Die, Working in the NHS, scriptwriting in Hollywood, entering writing competitions, editing, medical serial killers through time and the murder house.

SOMETIMES PEOPLE DIE: The year is 1999. Returning to practice after a suspension for stealing opioids, a young Scottish doctor takes the only job he can find: a post as a senior house officer in the struggling east London hospital of St Luke’s.
Amid the maelstrom of sick patients, over-worked staff and underfunded wards a darker secret soon declares itself: too many patients are dying.
Which of the medical professionals our protagonist has encountered is behind the murders? And can our unnamed narrator’s version of the events be trusted?

SIMON STEPHENSON originally trained as a doctor and worked in London and Scotland. He previously wrote Let Not the Waves of the Sea, a memoir about the loss of his brother in the Indian ocean tsunami. It won Best First Book at the Scottish Book Awards, was a Book of the Week on BBC Radio 4, and a Daily Telegraph Book of the Year.
His first novel, Set My Heart to Five, has been optioned by Working Title Films. He currently lives in Los Angeles, where he works as a screenwriter. He originated and wrote the film The Electrical Life of Louis Wain, and wrote on Pixar’s Luca.

Recommendations:
Iain Banks - The Crow Road
Jack Jordan, Jed Mercurio

Produced by Junkyard Dog
Music courtesy of Southgate and Leigh
Crime Time

Paul Burke writes for Crime Time, Crime Fiction Lover and the European Literature Network. He is also a CWA Historical Dagger Judge 2022 .

Produced by Junkyard Dog

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