ACA: Hopefully most therapists don't have to solve crimes in their daily life — but what drew you two into the crime genre?

Annabel practises EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing) in her work as a therapist, and EMDR therapists have to play detective, to work out how a client got to be the way they are. Because EMDR is a memory reconciliation therapy, it's crucial we reach the touchstone, early memories that are driving a client's behaviour. In Mind Over Murder, the information crucial to cracking the case comes mostly from client EMDR sessions. IFS (Internal Family System therapy), which our protagonist Janna also uses, is very good at connecting with someone’s lost, wounded inner child, known as an exile. Spotting those in people is key to being a good therapist and detective. Therapists are observers and listeners, drawing on deep intuition too. Janna has a very good bullshit monitor – all key skills for a detective.

ACA: Why are counselling techniques so useful in decoding people?

In EMDR, we try to access memories that were stored in the first place with traumatic associations, and enable the client to reprocess them so they become more comfortable to live with. Along the way, clients can ’see’ the experience, often from childhood, all over again. One familiar metaphor has them travelling through their memory as if on a train, looking out of the windows and noticing different aspects. They realise what’s been disturbing them, often for years, then install positive beliefs about themselves. Literally “getting past your past”, so you remember it but it doesn’t bother you. Without that, they can remain stuck, repeatedly acting out their traumas; and that can be harmful, to themselves and others – which is (without wanting to give too much away!) one of the plot factors in Mind Over Murder.

ACA: Therapists are, after all, just ordinary people. How would you describe Janna's experience solving crimes but also being human in her grief and anger at Daniel's death?

Janna is motivated by her therapy vocation but also by a keen sense of justice. Like Annabel, she is a journalist-turned-therapist. And like us, she and Daniel met and fell in love when both were appointed as new reporters – in their case on the Oxford Mail. They worked together before realising they were not destined to be a couple after all. But in what turns out to be their final conversation, Daniel gets her to promise to “pick up” a big story he’s working on. So when he dies, she is left with that tantalising clue, and her investigative instincts will not let her rest until she picks up the trail and follows it to the end. Janna uses her anger as a motivation but working it out is also like bargaining in the cycle of grief, people can’t grieve until they know what’s happened to a loved one. This is why the Truth and Reconciliation Commission was so important in South Africa after apartheid.

ACA: What is it about EMDR and IFS that's so important to both the protagonist and people's own journeys through life?

Janna hears from one client (whose connection with the case becomes clear only later) about their early life experiences – the significance of which emerges when she eventually figures out how Daniel was killed, why, how and by whom. It's the power of EMDR to reconsolidate such memories that can have life-changing effects, enabling people to journey through life in greater comfort and fulfilment of their potential. For some clients, they are inaccessible, since powerful protector parts guard the approaches to them. That's why Internal Family Systems, with its concept and language of parts, is a helpful supplement or interweaving resource with EMDR.

What are you hoping readers enjoy or learn from the book?

Hopefully readers will gain more understanding of the potential of EMDR psychotherapy, as well as having fun with Janna as she braves various perils to crack the case. Ideas often occur to Janna when she’s on her bike or cooking a meal, so you never know when the next plot line is coming… Also we hope readers are inspired to be courageous in life, follow their instincts and care about community and social justice.