My life in books: S.A. Dunphy

Your favourite book of all time? 

David Copperfield by Charles Dickens.  I re-read it regularly, and always feel sad when it's finished.  I find that I actually miss spending time with the characters.

Book that made you become a writer? 

Anthony Bourdain's Kitchen Confidential showed me what could be done with a non-fiction title, and was a real blueprint for my own first book.

Book you would recommend to people? 

People ask me a lot about how to write books.  I usually direct them to Stephen King's On Writing, which is  beautifully crafted and isn't just about writing, but reading, too.

Best book to start a book club? 

I'd go for a Lee Child novel - he's an author who appeals to readers of both genders, and the first in the Reacher series, Killing Floor, is as perfect a piece of thriller writing as you'll find.

Favourite author? 

Robert B Parker, author of the long-running Spenser crime series, as well as the Jesse Stone and Virgil Cole books is my comfort read - I've probably re-read the Spenser books five or six times (and he wrote 40 of them!).

Favourite classic book? 

John Wyndham's books have always been a huge influence on me, and The Midwich Cuckoos is my favourite. I find its atmosphere of gradually approaching doom irresistible.  

Book you wished you'd written?

When I was asked by my publishers to try my hand at crime fiction they suggested a few books I should read.  Among them was Liz Nugent's Unravelling Oliver.  I think it's fair to say it both inspired and devastated me: I was torn between wanting to immediately rush to my keyboard and get working and knowing right away that I would never be able to create something so perfect.  I've read it three times and I still feel the same.

Why She Ran by SA Dunphy (Hachette Ireland) is out now