Venomous Reads

Viper Books publishes books with bite: everything from crime and thrillers to mysterious gothic fiction. From renowned established authors to exciting new voices, we strive to publish the best and brightest in the genre.

This spring Viper Books are publishing a trio of incredible, very different books: Call Me Mummy by Tina Baker, The Last House on Needless Street by Catriona Ward, and The Plague Letters by V.L. Valentine.

In this Spring Showcase, publisher Miranda Jewess interviews all three authors and asks her burning questions about their books and the writing process.

Call Me Mummy is an emotionally charged psychological thriller that takes the abducted-child plotline to a whole new level. Chosen as Netgalley’s Book of the Month, we know this is going to be a reader firm favourite. This is Tina Baker’s debut novel, partly inspired by her own unsuccessful attempts to have a child. Tina was brought up in a caravan after her mother, a fairground traveller, fell pregnant by a window cleaner. After leaving the bright lights of Coalville, she came to London and worked as a journalist and broadcaster for thirty years. She’s probably best known as a television critic for the BBC and GMTV. Follow Tina on Twitter: @tinabakerbooks

The Last House on Needless Street is an immersive and gripping read, delivering twist after twist: this is the must-read gothic thriller of 2021, endorsed by Stephen King. It’s so good you’ll read it twice. The author, Catriona Ward, was born in Washington, DC and grew up in the US, Kenya, Madagascar, Yemen, and Morocco. Her debut Rawblood won Best Horror Novel at the 2016 British Fantasy Awards, and was a WHSmith Fresh Talent title. Little Eve won the Shirley Jackson Award, was a Guardian best book of 2018 and won the Best Horror Novel at the 2019 British Fantasy Awards. Follow Catriona on Twitter: @catrionaward

The Plague Letters sees a serial killer stalks London during the Great Plague of 1665 in this highly inventive historical thriller by V.L. Valentine. A senior science editor at National Public Radio in Washington, D.C. where she has led award-winning coverage of global disease outbreaks including Ebola and the Zika virus – The Plague Letters is her first novel. V.L. Valentine’s non-fiction has been published by NPR, The New York Times, The Smithsonian Channel and Science Magazine. Follow V.L. Valentine on Twitter: @valentinevikki