Neil Cross discusses LUTHER: THE CALLING - his prequel novel to his hit TV series

It's been a pretty terrific past year plus for Wellington-based crime novelist and screenwriter Neil Cross. The first season of the cop drama he created and wrote, Luther, earned Golden Globe and Emmy nominations for its star, Idris Elba, and secured Cross a prestigious Edgar Award. Cross was also a finalist for the inaugural Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Crime novel, for his 2009 novel BURIAL, and then in the past fortnight he was named amongst the finalists for the 2011 Ngaio Marsh Award, for his novel CAPTURED.

On top of that the recent second season of Luther was received very well in the UK, with big ratings and plenty of positive reviews - moreso than the first season, which divided critics and viewers a little, despite the overall acclaim. Cross has also been working on a number of other projects for TV and film, and then in the past couple of days his latest novel, inspired by his TV series, has been released in the UK - LUTHER: THE CALLING. Here's the blurb:

"Meet Detective Chief Inspector John Luther.


He's a murder detective. A near-genius. He's brilliant; he's intense; he's instinctive. He's obsessional.

He's dangerous.

DCI John Luther has an extraordinary clearance rate. He commands outstanding loyalty from friends and colleagues. Nobody who ever stood at his side has a bad word to say about him. And yet there are rumours that DCI Luther is bad - not corrupt, not on the take, but tormented. Luther seethes with a hidden fury that at times he can barely control. Sometimes it sends him to the brink of madness, making him do things he shouldn't; things way beyond the limits of the law.

Luther: The Calling, the first in a new series of novels featuring DCI John Luther, takes us into Luther's past and into his mind. It is the story of the case that tore his personal and professional relationships apart and propelled him over the precipice. Beyond fury, beyond vengeance. All the way to murder."
 
I really enjoyed the TV show (see my review of the award-winning first season here), and I've really enjoyed Cross's novels previously, so I am looking forward to reading LUTHER: THE CALLING.
 
You can watch a short clip of Cross discussing the novel, above.
 
Comments welcome.