Mainlander is the thrilling debut set on Jersey from comedy writer Will Smith (Veep, The Thick of It) – a novel about loneliness, about not belonging and about the corroding effects of keeping secrets. Evocative and romantic, Ampuero’s The Neruda Case spans lies and truth, travelling between uneasy peace and political coup, from life to death. Brulé, a daydreamer and reluctant detective, is lost among Latin America’s uncertainties, venality and corruption while his first case introduces one of the great characters of international crime fiction. They talk to Rosie Goldsmith.