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AFTER hosting the Wozzon Comedy Club in York’s City Screen basement for several years, York comedian Stewart McDowall has turned his attention to murder with his debut crime novel, The Murder Option, now published by Darkstroke Books. “It’s a tense crime story so there’s no laughs in it,” says Stewart, “but a lot of people said that about my stand-up.” Stewart took inspiration from the widely acclaimed crime novelist Mark Billingham, who is also a comedian. “There are a lot of similarities between a gripping crime story and a stand-up routine,” says Stewart. “It’s all about grabbing the reader’s attention in the first thirty seconds, and then not letting them fall asleep.” ....
I know what youâre thinking; that doesnât make any sense. How can it be? Allow me to explain⦠The year is 2002 and I get a phone call from a friend. He tells me that some guy heâs working with has just handed his notice in so I should go for his job. My friend and âsome guyâ are employed by The Wave and Swansea Sound, bonded local radio stations here in south Wales where I live. At the time, I was working in Waterstones bookshop, so you could say that already had a career in literature. Kind of. But here was a chance to be a writer by profession. You see, what my friend and âsome guyâ did at these stations was write commercial radio scripts. Well, I listened to those stations and I would hear the ads that went out on air. I can do that, I thought. So I went for it. ....