We chat with Kate Weston, author and ex-stand-up comic about her latest YA mystery, Murder on a Summer Break. This follows Kerry and Annie after their sleuthing hijinks in Murder on a School Night as they gatecrash the influencer section of a summer festival, which soon turns deadly. The series blends feminist messaging that empowers readers with hilarious moments, great characterisation and of course plots that will keep you reading through the night.
Hi Kate, thank you for joining us today! Can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and your latest book Murder on a Summer Break?
Hi! Thank you for inviting me to do this! I’m an ex-stand-up comedian (I still gig from time to time but not often) who writes funny (I hope) books. My first book Diary of a Confused Feminist published in 2020 with a sequel in 2022. Murder on a School Night published in 2023 and Murder on a Summer Break is the sequel to that! I also published my first book for adults this year called You May Now Kill the Bride.
At the start of Murder on a Summer Break, we’re almost a year on from when Annie and Kerry first had to turn detective to solve the Menstrual Murders in their little village of Barbourough. Now they’re known as The Tampon Two (Mostly only by Annie, who’s trying hard to make the nickname stick!), and they’re at an influencer festival called The Festival of Fame on their friend Heather’s farm. Annie’s decided she wants to be an influencer so she’s very excited about meeting and mixing with everyone – Kerry’s maybe slightly less excited – but the whole experience is thwarted when one of the influencers turns up dead. Then the Tampon Two have to get on the case and stop the killer from striking again!
I loved being back with Kerry and Annie! Were there any moments or characters you really enjoyed writing or exploring further in this sequel?
There is a character called Timmy who’s one of the influencers. Timmy is so awful that I absolutely relished in writing him. No matter what situation came up, it felt like Timmy was naturally able to do something terrible. The influencer characters provided me with a lot of good opportunities to play about– which is one of my favourite things to do. I also enjoyed exploring Annie’s character a bit more, especially giving her a romance of her own. I liked giving her a bit more space to grow as a character in her own right, separately from Kerry.
Social media and influencing are key themes in the book – what drew you to writing about these topics and what message would you like readers to come away with?
Honestly, I went through a phase of spending a lot of time on TikTok in the mornings especially around 2020/2021. I would somehow find myself staring at videos of other people’s lives and day to day routines, trying to get the dopamine hit I was searching for. I needed the motivation to try and make my own life feel better to me, and watching other people live happily (at least to the viewer) sort of filled a gap at first. But it soon wore off and had the opposite effect, yet I still couldn’t look away or stop comparing myself to them. And when I really drilled down into it, I realised that people in those videos might be just as miserable as I am. We’re only seeing a tiny snapshot that’s been edited and curated and although we feel like we’re watching these people’s lives in great detail and we end up having a kind of para-social relationship with them, we actually don’t know anything about them at all, especially not about how happy they are.
I think I’d like readers to come away knowing that things you see online aren’t always an accurate representation of a person’s life. That comparing yourself to a small snapshot of someone’s day isn’t helpful and that you can never really make assumptions or pre-conceived ideas about who a person is until you get to know them.
Across your books, you have a wickedly funny and distinctive sense of humour. Where does this come from and how do you keep that balance between comedy and mystery?
Ah thank you, that’s so kind! I think a lot of keeping the balance it is down to having a good and very patient editor who can gently say to me “While that joke’s very funny Kate, maybe you should take it out to keep some tension here?” I am never offended…not much anyway. As for where the sense of humour comes from, I think stand-up comedy helped. As does having friends and family who are funny. It’s good to have people to bounce off of in your life. I think when you’re writing and you get really into things though, sometimes you can forget what’s funny. You just sort of lose perspective and that’s where again, you need an editor to come in and say “Yes that’s funny. What do you mean you were going to delete it?!” and also kindly tell you when it’s not working.
What songs would you consider to be the soundtrack for the series?
I think both Annie and Kerry would love Taylor Swift. Annie would also be in her BRAT Charli XCX era this summer too though. Whereas Kerry would be listening to all of the Tortured Poets Department on loop over and over again. I think she’d have a few different versions of the LP. Scott probably gave her at least one of them. In the first book I also had some classics in there too: Push it by Salt-N-Pepa, China in Your Hand by T’Pau, Watermelon Sugar by Harry Styles and of course, Rihanna’s Umbrella-ella-ella. So those would have to be in there for sure.
Do you have any dream castings for a film or TV adaptation of Murder on a Summer Break?
I couldn’t even imagine! There are so many great YA adaptions at the moment, I’d probably just end up suggesting a mash up of the casts of Heartstopper, A Good Girls Guide to Murder and Geek Girl. I feel like those casts are all so spot on.
What books have you enjoyed so far this year and are there any that you can’t wait to get your hands on?
I have just read Last Seen Online by Lauren James which was INCREDIBLE. I love, love, loved it. Read it very fast. The same for Annie LeBlanc is Not Dead Yet by Molly Morris, which I’m probably talking about far too much now, because I keep answering this question with this book. But, honestly it was such a good read. Such a unique story and the friendship in it was just *chef’s kiss*.
I think the book I’m most excited about (I can barely contain myself) is Jaqueline Wilson’s Think Again. I’m going to read all the Girls books again for the millionth time in preparation for it, and I will most likely turn my phone off and lock myself away somewhere the moment that book lands in my thirsty little paws.
If possible, can you share a little about what you are currently working on or any upcoming projects you have?
I am working on a couple of things that I’m actually not allowed to talk about yet. I feel so top secret. But hopefully more will be revealed…soon.
Finally, if you could only describe Murder on a Summer Break in five words, what would they be?
Silly, murderous, dangerous, ridiculous, and content (as in the stuff people make for social media…not content the feeling…I don’t think I’ve made any of the characters in this book feel content…).
