Bristol author’s new book inspired by historic Brislington murder

Former journalist Emily Koch drew on her memories of a brutal 2013 murder in What July Knew
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The latest novel by bestselling Bristol author Emily Koch was inspired by the murder of a Brislington man a decade ago.

What July Knew is a moving family mystery set in the 1990s about a girl trying to solve the mystery of her mother’s death.

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Ten-year-old July Hooper knows 18 facts about her mum – but not the truth of what has happened to her. Now, in the summer of 1995, that’s about to change.

But the idea for the book didn’t begin with July, its loveable central character. It started with a local news story Emily had covered back in 2013, when she worked as a local newspaper reporter, about the horrific murder of Bijan Ebrahimi in Brislington.

Emily said: “Bijan was killed by a vigilante mob of neighbours who wrongly believed he was a paedophile. I’ve thought of him often and about what happens when communities get the wrong idea about one of their own. What happens when neighbours turn on each other? What is the fallout of vigilante justice?”

Over the years, that idea intertwined with memories of an incident with Nikki, Emily’s former next door neighbour in Bishopston.

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Emily said: “One day, several years ago, I heard a heavily pregnant Nikki cry out through the party wall. I thought I was going to have to deliver her baby! It later became clear that I had overreacted, but it made me think, what if…? I can’t say much more about that without spoilers!”

What July Knew by Emily Koch is published this weekWhat July Knew by Emily Koch is published this week
What July Knew by Emily Koch is published this week

The decision to set the book in the 1990s came later, as a reaction to the pandemic – Emily started writing What July Knew during the first lockdown.

She said: “I ran away from the present and escaped to the 1990s, when I grew up. It worked for the book and it worked for me personally – it was comforting to spend those hours each day living in a world of lava lamps, Judy Blume novels, Flumps and The Body Shop White Musk perfume.”

Emily is an award-winning author of two previous novels, If I Die Before I Wake and Keep Him Close. Her books have made the shortlist for the Crime Writers’ Association Steel Dagger award, won a French crime fiction award, been longlisted for the Authors’ Club Best First Novel Award, and been selected as a Waterstones Thriller of the Month.

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What July Knew will be released in hardback, e-book and audio formats on February 9.

A limited number of signed and personalised copies are available for pre-order from Bristol bookshop Max Minerva’s on Henleaze Road.

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