C J Daugherty’s BBC Radio World Service Interview

Emily Webb interviews Christi for Outlook, the BBC World Service radio programme.

In this intimate, moving and revealing interview, Christi talks about her childhood, and how books helped her to escape her abusive childhood home. At the age of 8, Christi discovered reading, which became her “magic carpet ride” away from her violent, gun-obsessed father on the long hunting trips he forced his family to take.

She remembers her favourite books from childhood, including Ruth Chew, Cherry Ames and Julia Sauer, and explains how Chitty Chitty Bang Bang is the reason she ended up living in England! She also talks about her first job as a crime reporter in Savannah, Georgia, and how she used a police scanner to get the scoop on the best stories.

She reveals some of the inspiration for her award-winning series Night School, and the parallels between her and her Echo Killing series character Harper McClain.