What would happen if you swiped right on a serial killer?

Luke, aged 44, who lives in London, said: “Don’t Swipe Right poses the question: ‘What would happen if you swiped right on a serial killer?’ It’s a twisty, fast-paced and darkly hilarious modern murder mystery set in the equally terrifying and mystifying world of online dating.

"Gwen Turner, reeling from a disastrous break-up, is on a mission to move on as fast as possible. The only problem? Each man she meets is even more toxic than the last. Luckily for Gwen, she can simply unmatch and never have to think about them again. That is, until she matches with a killer who is intent on murdering all the men she’s previously dated. Realising each of her terrible dates may contain a clue to the identity of the murderer, Gwen is forced to race across Eastbourne to track them down – before the killer does. It’s a funny book, but hopefully it’s also got the twists and turns of a classic whodunnit that will keep readers turning the pages. Also, there aren’t many crime books where all the victims are men! I spent many glorious summer weekends in Eastbourne, and while I never encountered a serial killer there, I thought it would be the perfect location for a thriller. I tried to include a few of the town’s famous landmarks and capture the faded seaside glamour of the place. If you liked Bella Mackie’s How To Kill Your Family, Apple TV’s Bad Sisters or Netflix’s You, I think you’ll love Don’t Swipe Right.

“I spent the best part of a decade going on many, many dates, downloading every dating app on the app store. And for a while, it was fun. I met a lot of interesting people and tried everything from mini-golf, comedy clubs and wine tasting to baking classes, salsa dancing, board game cafes and rock climbing – and one truly terrible interactive improvisational theatre performance that still haunts me to this day.

“But I started to see how dating apps could make people seem very disposable as there was always another person waiting in the wings if things didn’t immediately work out. I thought this would be the good basis for a murder mystery – what if dates really were literally disposable? And what if someone was using a dating app to find victims? I liked the idea of hiding clues in each of Gwen’s dates, so she’d be forced to re-live the awful dates that she’d tried so hard to forget and also to think about the real people behind the dating app profiles. I was able to recreate some of the terrible dating stories I’d heard – and a few of my own – which hopefully means parts of the book will ring true to everyone who’s ever wanted to climb out the bathroom window halfway through a Sloppy Giuseppe at Pizza Express.

Luke is a journalist who’s worked on TV shows like This Morning, Loose Women, The One Show and Steph’s Packed Lunch, as well as writing for magazines like Cosmopolitan and Glamour: “I started my journalism career writing for real life magazines, interviewing people from all over the world about the terrifying, hilarious and heart-breaking things that had happened to them and also funny things their pets had done. Like many journalists, I always wanted to write a book but it wasn’t until the pandemic that I had time to do it!

“I always loved reading murder mysteries, but at the time, there didn’t seem to be many set in the world I lived in, aimed at people like me. I liked the idea of mixing my two favourite genres – rom-coms and thrillers – to make a truly millennial murder mystery.”