Tyneside-based author Matt Wesolowski has garnered a loyal crime fiction following by thinking outside of the box, and in our third featured interview from Dr Jacky Collins’ entertaining The Doctor will see you now series, he explains how serendipity has played a part in his success.

Matt hit the ground running with Six Stories, a book he wrote as something of an experiment, and one which took him out of his horror genre comfort zone. He pitched it to a Bloody Scotland panel – and for an author who had never pitched anything before, it was a baptism of fire. But in a happy ending, the book was picked up by Karen Sullivan at Orenda Books and the rest is history.

What’s innovative about Matt’s series is that it toys with the notion of true crime. The stories are presented as true crime, and use the same devices such as podcast scripts and documentation, but are fictional. Since conception, podcaster protagonist Scott King has appeared in several more books including Hydra and Changeling, both of which are recommended by Crime Fiction Lover.

In this fascinating and wide-ranging video interview, Matt reveals how he perceives his main protagonist, how folklore plays a big part in his writing, and the inspiration provided by a mummified rat squashed into a Newcastle pavement…

Watch the video, and then perhaps grab a copy of one of Matt’s books.