One of my favourite parts of the book is how Anthony is revealed to be dead in the first few pages but we still get to hear his perspective throughout the book. Was this always the plan for him?

“It’s funny because this man is an arrogant, narcissistic dude and I was having fun with his voice and remember thinking: ‘It’s a shame that he’s going to die so early as we’ll lose that.’ I knew I didn’t want to do flashbacks, so I came up with the idea that yes, he’s dead, but we still get to hear from Anthony in the afterlife. And that’s the great joy of fiction: you can do whatever you want; there are no rules. Anthony’s afterlife scenes were probably the bits I enjoyed writing the most – making the afterlife the most boring and tedious part of the process. We all wonder what happens to us after death, and I love the idea that the afterlife is just a disappointing red tape-filled waiting room.

“This also gave Anthony another angle as it means he could see things that the other characters were doing – particularly the characters where we don’t hear their own voices. It’s not your typical kind of narration, but I loved writing it.”

There was a line where Anthony reads something that says “living your best death”, which I thought was just brilliant.

“My favourite was ‘processing your passing’, like an aspirational leaflet that told you how to process your death.”

And the fact Anthony has to figure out his own death before he’s allowed to move on in the afterlife. And he’s really annoyed about it.

“The great thing about the afterlife is that it truly humbles Anthony like nothing else. In death, the egalitarian can’t buy his way out of anything and has to follow the process like everyone else. It’s got nothing to do with how much money you have, and I think that’s the fun bit of What A Way To Go.”

Where does your love of true crime come from?

“As a kid, I read a lot of Victorian real crime accounts, which is quite weird when I look back on it. I also got into Agatha Christie and the Point Horror books and even got a subscription to a true crime magazine that I’d go pick up from the newsagents every week. But I was exposed to a bit too much of it in my teens and 20s and veered away from it as I got fed up reading about dead girls and cool, handsome detectives. Growing up, you begin to realise how crime impacts victims and their families and which victims get the attention and which don’t. So, I gave up on the true crime genre for a long time.

“But I always thought a fun thing would be to write fictionalised crime that doesn’t hurt or trigger anyone. I don’t think anyone would read my books as true-to-life. Because I do think our obsession with true crime has tipped over into something unhealthy and dangerous. I wanted to channel this interest – which a lot of people have – into something funny and that doesn’t hurt anyone. I want it to be the rich people you hate getting killed rather than women or marginalised people.”

What A Way To Go (Harper Collins, £19) by Bella Mackie is out now. Bella will join us on stage at Stylist Live on 9 November.

“I want it to be the rich people you hate getting killed rather than women”: Bella Mackie on her new novel, What A Way To Go