Booklover interview: Paul Cleave

Each week in the Herald on Sunday (one of the New Zealand publications I review crime fiction for), books editor Nicky Pellegrino includes a quickfire 'Booklover' interview with an author or other famous person - asking them about the books they're reading, their favourites of all time, and more.

This past weekend, along with my monthly round-up of crime fiction picks (read here), the Booklover interview was also crime fiction-centric, with 2011 Ngaio Marsh Award winner Paul Cleave sharing his thoughts on various books. Cleave's most recent novel, COLLECTING COOPER, was published in the USA a few months ago, and I understand has just been released in Germany under the title DIE TOTEN SAMMLER (and has already hit the bestseller list there).

In the interview Cleave shares that the book that changed him was MIND HUNTER by John Douglas, a former FBI criminal profiler. "He's the guy who helped create the FBI Behavioural Science Unit," says Cleave, who at the time was concentrating on horror fiction as a budding author. "I read that book about 12 years ago. This guy pointed out that the real horror is crime. I read his books and then wrote The Cleaner."

You can read Cleave's full Booklover interview, including comments on the books he loves most, is reading now, will read next, and more, on the Herald website here.