Here’s an interesting fact about new crime fiction author Martin Sterling. He grew up in Hyde, just near Manchester, where serial killer Harold Shipman was a local GP. In fact, Martin’s family knew five of Shipman’s victims, including one of his childminders. Now, that on its own isn’t qualification to become a thriller writer, but Martin has had plenty of practice at the keyboard. He wrote Coronation Street scripts for 17 years and 4114 episodes, during which time the programme won a BAFTA. Before that, he worked with Eric Morecambe’s son, Gary, penning four books together. He’s worked as a freelance journalist and has written a book with ghost hunter Yvette Fielding. Yep, it was a ghostwriting assignment.

For us here on Crime Fiction Lover, Martin’s first crime novel is big news. We Create Monsters looks tasty, and it’s based on his time writing on Coronation Street. In the book, you’ll discover a fictional show called Villiers Court and the stars of this particular soap opera are deadly serious about their fame, their egos and their secrets. When one of them is killed, it’s up to DI Kate Stiles to investigate.

We invited Martin to join us for an interview. We Create Monsters is out on 7 October 2025.

What are crime fiction lovers going to love about We Create Monsters?
I hope they’ll enjoy the unique media setting. It’s accurate, if a little heightened for dramatic reasons. I’ve exaggerated some elements for the story – the casual drug use isn’t quite as rampant in the industry as it is amongst the cast and crew of Villiers Court – but if anything I’ve underplayed the exploitation of young people, which I’m afraid goes on all the time. The television industry can be fun and rewarding, but it can also be toxic, which makes it the perfect setting for a crime novel. I’ve always said working in TV is like swimming with sharks. It’s fine while you’re all swimming in the same direction, but the minute there’s blood in the water, there’s a feeding frenzy. We all know from the headlines that TV has more than its share of predators – or monsters.

Who is Kate Stiles? What inspired her and how have you developed her as our protagonist?
Kate wasn’t intended to be the main character and I didn’t set out to write a series. The book was originally a one-off crime novel about an actor accused of murdering a co-star and setting out to prove his innocence. Kate was the investigating officer, but she jumped off the page every time I was writing her and everything really clicked into place when I put her centre stage. I haven’t based her on anyone as such but I shared a flat with a serving GMP officer in Manchester for several years, so much of the Kate’s attitude to police work was inspired by him. I also liked the idea that she was a bit wild in her youth and could have gone down the wrong path – it’s what makes her more liberal now.

Because I was writing for very strong female characters on the Street, I don’t find it hard to write for Kate. In fact, she’d fit right in on Coronation Street!

Villiers Court sounds like it might be a wonderful pastiche of Coronation Street. What are some of the things we’ll see in the dark underbelly of soap opera production?
Villiers Court isn’t Coronation Street, and that’s clear in the book. Instead, I made it a microcosm of the TV industry itself. Corrie, like all the soaps, is declining slowly and I’ll be surprised if they’re all still here in ten years. But Villiers Court is dying faster, much in the same way linear TV is dying. The fear of the axe in television, which is always there, makes people behave in extreme ways, and that’s what I tap into.

Writing for Coronation Street is fantastic grounding for a crime writer, or any writer. On that team, you must write for some many different characters: male, female, straight, gay, ninety-year-old pensioners and three-year-old kids. And such is the pace that you learn to write very fast, very succinctly. There’s no time for writers’ block when you have a deadline. I killed many characters in my time on the cobbles and murdered quite a few of those. In fact, they always gave me the funerals to write, never the weddings. I intend to carry that training on into my novels.

And who are some of the other characters we’ll meet, starting with the victim?
There’s a high body count but the main victim is Jamie Clint, a malignant narcissistic soap actor loathed by everyone. In my first draft, he was female but far too many women end up on mortuary slabs in crime fiction. I also found I was writing the character too much as the archetypal soap bitch. The sex swap made him far more interesting. We also meet Akin James, who is Kate’s immediate superior and friend. He’s Nigerian and gay and will be a series regular. He’s a joy to write. The other major character is an actor, Pete Tyson; he was killed off in Villiers Court five years ago but has been brought back from the dead to boost failing ratings. Kate gets close to him, but then he becomes the prime suspect.

Will the past and present stars of Coronation Street enjoy this novel?
I hope they enjoy it. I’m sure they’ll be amused by the depiction of the TV industry in it, although the characters aren’t based on any real-life people; instead, they are media types, who’ll be familiar not just to the people in the industry. I mention Coronation Street a few times in the novel, and EastEnders and Emmerdale, but only to root it in some kind of reality. The cast and crew will certainly recognise MediaCity. It’s often used as a filming location but I don’t believe it’s ever been used as the location for a crime story like this before.

What’s Kate really up against as she gets deeper into her investigation?
Kate’s street wise and usually follows her gut instincts. She’s hampered by her DS Eve Vallie, who’s recently transferred to Manchester from the Met and has no time for intuition. Eve is fiercely ambitious and wastes no opportunity to make Kate look foolish. If Eve ever stuck a knife in your back, she’d make sure your fingers were on the handle. Kate screws up terribly at one point, and Eve is there to twist that knife. Added to this, the murder makes headline news and Kate is under the media spotlight to get a result. The cult of celebrity runs through the book.

There’s a fun and witty side to the novel, but what are some of the more important themes you wanted to explore?
Manchester is changing and evolving at a rate many can’t keep up with. I know a lot of locals loathe the skyscrapers being thrown up and call the city ‘Manchattan’ – not fondly. At the same, the legacy media landscape is collapsing and broadcast television is on its knees. Both are integral to the book and nothing unsettles a character more than their environment collapsing around them. So these were very fertile themes to explore. I was also fascinated by how actors can be so many different people at once and how hard it would be for a detective investigating a murder when all her suspects are actors. 

Could this itself become a television production? If so, who would you imagine playing Kate?
Definitely. I always write visually – seeing the scenes play out in my head. That comes from my many years as a storyliner: the storyline document for an episode of Coronation Street is written as five pages of beats written in present tense prose. So We Create Monsters could be adapted quite easily. One character describes Kate as looking like the 1960s Italian movie star Lucianna Paluzzi, and that’s who I had in my mind when I was writing her. 

Which books and authors in the world of crime fiction have inspired you, and what are you reading at the moment?
My all-time favourite writer is Ian Fleming, and he’s influenced me a lot. In terms of crime writers I never fail to be impressed by Agatha Christie. My stage thriller Framed in 2005 was described by one critic as “Agatha Christie on speed”, which was a huge thrill. PD James is another favourite, and I really like Elly Griffiths and Ann Cleeves. I’m currently reading the new Mick Herron; he’s a remarkable writer.

What’s next for Martin Sterling and what’s next for Kate Stiles?
I’ve got three more Kate Stiles books planned and am well into writing the second. She’ll find herself in New York, a city I know so well, and the events there will have shattering implications when she returns to Manchester. There’s a character introduced in the second book who may well inspire a spin-off series, set in New York. I love being there and writing about it. I have also got ideas for a couple of other non-Stiles books.

We Create Monsters is released on 7 October 2025. Get your copy using our Amazon links below.