Every Tuesday, get to know a bit about the stories behind the books you love, and discover your next favourite novel.

Zilla: We have Peter Darbyshire here with a wild, magnetic fantasy novel, The Mona Lisa Sacrifice. Peter, can you tell us a bit about the book—and the rest of the trilogy?

Peter: The Mona Lisa Sacrifice kicks off the Cross series of supernatural thrillers, where the immortal rogue Cross moves through a hidden world of faerie, gorgons, ghosts and more to stop a war among fallen angels. Cross is no hero but he may be the only one who can stop the end of the world.

Zilla: What inspired you to write this book?

Peter: When I was in university I read an Old English poem called “The Dream of the Rood,” which told the story of Christ’s crucifixion from the cross’s point of view. It was such an interesting angle that it stuck with me. Years later, I was thinking about it again and I had this idea: what if Christ’s body was like that cross? Something that held his spirit but then remained behind when he left our world? And what if another soul somehow came to occupy that body after the Ascension? That’s how I came up with the character of Cross, an immortal, drunk, thieving murderous angel killer who’s the one you really want to handle your supernatural problems.

Zilla: Were you inspired by an image when you wrote this?

Peter: I’ve long found the Mona Lisa painting to be rather eerie — to me it’s like a portrait of someone not quite human in an alien landscape. So when I was looking for the first story for Cross, I knew it had to involve the Mona Lisa but with a magical twist. I made the book The Mona Lisa Sacrifice centre around the weird entity the painting is supposedly based upon in Cross’s world. There are actually a number of paintings that appear in the book, and Cross even manages to get himself trapped inside one of them!

Zilla: Did you do much research for this book?

Peter: I did a lot of research for The Mona Lisa Sacrifice and the other books in the Cross series (The Dead Hamlets and The Apocalypse Ark). They are set in our world and involve key moments in history as well as real people from history — Shakespeare and Christopher Marlowe, for instance. So I wanted to make sure I got all the details right, so that when people read my version of Shakespeare wielding a magical quill that gives him the power to change reality or ink that grants immortality, they’ll be willing to buy that magical element because everything else is so real.

Zilla: What’s your next writing project?

Peter: I’m about to tackle the edits for the fourth book in my Cross series, which is out later in 2025. After that I’ll be starting the fifth book in the series. Hopefully there’s many more books to come!

Zilla: Thanks for sharing your story and your process. We’re looking forward to reading! Where can the Night Beats community find you and your book?

Peter: You can find me and links to buy my books at peterdarbyshire.com. I can also be found at the usual social haunts with the handle @peterdarbyshire.