Chiswick author Stav Sherez describes his brand of crime fiction as “tourist noir”. He spoke to Will Gore about his latest book, The Black Monastery, and his upcoming appearance at this weekend’s Chiswick Book Festival, where he will take part in a panel discussion, The Perfect Crime – From Page to Screen.

Will Gore: What is The Black Monastery about?

Stav Sherez: It is about two writers – one is a successful British crime writer called Kitty Carson who is unhappy with her work and her husband so she goes away to a Greek island on a whim. Following her is a stalker and budding writer Jason who wants to show his manuscript to her. They stumble upon the murder of a couple of tourists that happened just before they arrived near what is known as the Black Monastery. A detective who worked on similar murders 33 years before spots the connection and it all goes from there.

WG: Why choose Greece as the book’s setting?

SS: I’ve been there on holiday a few times and have always found it a sinister place! With all the stuff we read in the papers about British yobs up to no good while on holiday, I wanted to look at how the islanders feel towards the tourists who they rely on for survival but are also totally ruining their home.

WG: So with your first book also set abroad (the action of The Devil’s Playground took place in Holland) is a pattern emerging?

SS: It is part of my tourist noir genre – you go on holiday and really bad things happen to you – but stylistically it is very different from The Devil’s Playground. Sentences are much shorter and it is more rhythmical and repetitive. The style that I use aims to reflect the landscape in which the novel is set, so Greece, with its sharp light and square buildings, needed a quick rhythm.

WG: The Black Monastery has had some great reviews – you must be happy?

SS: They always say reviewers will be kind about your first book and then have their claws out for the second one but I’ve been really lucky.

WG: It was a long time coming – are you pleased to finally have it out in the book shops?

SS: I worked on it on and off for three years so it is nice to think I don’t have to make any more changes to it. Up until the moment you hand it in you are thinking, what can I do to make it better?

WG: Are you looking forward to your appearance at the Chiswick Book Festival, right on your doorstep?

SS: Very much so. I was surprised when that came up. There is the dog show on the same day and I’m obsessed with dogs so I’ll try and make that, too. My new book is partly set in Chiswick so it’s fun to be back in the area. I went to school at Latymer and it is an area I’ve known and then forgotten about over the past 20 years.

The Perfect Crime – From Page to Screen, with Stav Sherez, Sophie Hannah, Roy Mitchell and Dan Waddell, St Michael’s and All Angels Parish Hall upstairs, September 27, 4pm, admission by day pass.