The biggest thing I've done was get help

AUTHOR AND FORMER JUNIOR DOCTOR ADAM KAY DISCUSSES HIS DEBUT NOVEL AND OPENS UP ABOUT HIS MENTAL HEALTH. BY HANNAH STEPHENSON

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A HOSPITAL is a perfect setting for a murder, agrees former junior doctor Adam Kay, author of This Is Going To Hurt, the bestselling memoir which was turned into a TV adaptation starring Ben Whishaw.

“I can’t be the only person who at medical school was thinking, ‘Oh, if I was a murderer that would be a good way to do it” quips the 45-year-old former doctor-turned-comedian and writer.

He’s now written his debut novel, A Particularly Nasty Case, a funny, acerbic and twisty crime caper with rude bits and quite a lot of swearing.

“It opens in a gay sauna so it can’t be ‘cosy crime! It’s funny crime?” he muses, when asked if he’s joining the genre spearheaded by Richard Osman and the Rev Richard Coles.

“I’m honoured to share a shelf with any crime writer called Richard,” he says wryly, “but I don’t think anyone ever makes any noise by trying to cover old ground. I like the idea that I've found my own version. Certainly if it can sit on the bestseller lists with the Richards, I’m very happy.”