Kate Rhodes: ‘My stepsons helped me research dating’

Cambridge author Kate Rhodes is returning to the Scilly Isles with her detective hero DI Ben Kitto for a sixth outing with her new novel, The Brutal Tide.

Kate, who is a stepmother to three grown-up sons admits she has mined them for advice about the trials of dating to inform the progress of Ben’s love life.

And now with her hero about to become a dad, she has been asking them what it is like to be an older first-time father too.

Kate says: “I wanted Ben to be an older dad. I think that’s what’s happening these days. Life is so expensive for young people that they’re putting off those decisions like starting a family until much much later than my generation did. A lot of my friends just jumped in and had kids in their 20s. And yet he’s waiting till he’s almost 40 to have his first child. Which I think is not that unusual now.

“My stepson had his first child at 39. And I think it’s simply because he just took that along to sort of find himself in a good position to bring a child into the world.

“I do talk to them. I’ve had some really good advice. I’ve got three stepsons between the ages of 38 and 43. So they’re exactly the same age as Ben and they have been a constant source of research. My character Ben struggled to get a girlfriend and one of my stepsons would be very quick to admit that it took him a while to get confident about asking women out on dates. He was hilariously funny talking about his terrible dating.”

Of course being a grandparent means being in the firing line for catching Covid, which Kate and her husband Dave have both experiences.

She said: ”When you have grandkids you almost inevitably are going to get Covid because children don’t even know they’ve got it. But after a year of not seeing our grandkids we just thought this is ridiculous, we have just got to start living again. You’re not really living if you’re not seeing the people you love. You’ve got to embrace life.

“I love being a writer, don’t get me wrong. It’s an absolute honour. But it is an isolated life because you’re having to sit at your desk for seven, eight hours a day, and if you don’t watch it, you can lose out on seeing the people you care about. I’ve been trying to get out a bit more.”

The pandemic and catching Covid twice has meant that this summer will be the first time in four years that Kate has returned to the Scilly Isles and she is very much looking forward to the visit.

She says: “I can’t wait to go back - it has been too long. I didn’t want this book to be a pandemic novel, but I think, inevitably, themes from the pandemic like social isolation and health anxiety crept into the book anyway.

“I think it’s got a flavour of that period when were all very locked down. Because to be honest with you in winter on the islands, life can feel quite locked down anyway. You can’t access the islands. You can’t get the ferry over there. Your only choice is to go by plane or helicopter. And if there’s any bad weather at all then they just don’t fly so you can get stuck on them. You always know it’s bad when the ferries between the islands stop sailing so not only can you not get to the mainland, you can’t even travel a mile by ferry to one of the neighboring islands.

“I have a very good friend who lives out there, Rachel Greenlaw, who is also a novelist and we keep in touch and she emails me photos and she said at one point she hadn’t been off her island for four months.”

In Kate’s new book, The Brutal Tide, Ben and his girlfriend Nina are distracted by the imminent birth of their first child, but it’s the wrong time for Ben to drop his guard as his past is about to catch up with him.

Ben has made many enemies in his time working as an undercover officer for the Met police, none more ruthless and calculating than gang leader Craig Travis.

Travis has longed to make Kitto pay for his role in getting him convicted – and that day has finally arrived. Now, a killer is heading for the Scilly Isles, one who has waited a long time for revenge.

With Kitto busy investigating the discovery of a body on the islands and looking forward to becoming a dad, his defences are down.

Kate says: “We know that Ben spent 10 years as an undercover cop trying to infiltrate gangs. And so he’s a very interesting character in that he’s had two lives. But the killer who’s coming after him is the daughter of one of the gang leaders that he put away. And her absolutely evil father has trained her how to be an assassin. So she’s shamelessly violent because she wants to avenge her father.

“I wanted to have these two stories running in tandem because while all of that’s going on, and she’s working her way down through the UK to come and find Ben in Cornwall. He’s actually uncovered a body which has been there for 20 years and clearly must belong to an islander. So he’s got his own local investigation going on, which is about buried secrets amongst the community, but his own secrets are bubbling to the surface as well.”

Although Ben lost his father at a young age, she didn’t want him to be a typical tortured detective with a sad past.

She said: “He’s got ghosts, and I love writing about characters who are slightly haunted, it gives them depth, I think. But I’ve got a bit sick of all those cops on the telly, who were tortured by their alcoholism or their terrible relationships or their gambling habit.

“I just wanted to make him an ordinary guy, who has a few skeletons in his closet, but nothing unusual. And he’s looking for love. He’s a decent man, trying to do a good job, trying to find a good life for himself. I just wanted to make him an every man, I suppose.”

The books have been picked up by a TV company who look set to start filming a TV series based on Kate’s stories.

She says: “The world of TV just moves so much slower than the publishing world. So when they first optioned the series I had literally just written the first book and now I’m just finishing book number seven. So yeah, it’s moving slowly. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing. I’m an executive producer and it’s given me a chance to be quite involved in scripts with the first series that they’re pitching. So you have to remain optimistic that it will see the light of day.”

The actor slated to play DI Ben Kitto is Billy Howle, who has starred in On Chesil Beach and appeared in The Outlaw King.

“He’s quite fantastically handsome, so if they do get him I’ll be well chuffed,” says Kate.

The Brutal Tide by Kate Rhodes is published by Simon and Schuster, priced £8.99.