later today the spanish surrealist artist salvador dali will be controversially exhumed — to settle a paternity claim made by a catalonian tarot card reader. our arts editor will gompertz has been to visit the crypt at dali's theatre museum in figurers, where the artist been buried since his death in 1989. in the mid—1960s this was an abandoned theatre that salvador dali, a local artist, identified as the perfect place to show off all his artworks. but notjust that, to create the ultimate dali experience, a dali world which he ended up liking so much that he decided to be buried here. so when he died in 1989 his body was embalmed, placed in a coffin and he was buried here in this crypt in his theatre—museum, just beneath the old stage. but this memorial stone will not be disturbed for the exhumation, it has been decided that the best place to access the space is from above. this is the entry point,

a one—and—a—half tonne unmarked stone, a sort of door in the floor, which will be eased aside, the coffin will be removed and opened and a sample from the artist's remains will be taken. it's a process that they reckon is going to take pretty much all night. the headlines on bbc news: former us football star and actor oj simpson is granted parole after serving nine years in a nevada prison. there's been a 10% rise in recorded crime in england and wales — the largest annual increase for a decade. and brexit secretary david davis and the eu's michel barnier outline progress made in their latest round of talks. mr barnier says there remain ‘fundamental‘ disagreements" — and the uk must clarify its position on a number of issues. an update on the market numbers for you — here's how london's

and frankfurt ended the day. and in the the united states this is how the dow and the nasdaq are getting on. now it's time for meet the author. my guest today is one of the world's most popular crime writers, the rather aptly named karin slaughter. after finding fame with her first novel blindsighted, she's gone on to sell more than 35 million copies of her books, including the will trent and grant county series. her latest book is called the good daughter. it focuses on two sisters whose family is torn apart after a terrifying attack on their home, which leaves their mother dead and both of them damaged in very different ways. years later, the horrors of the past return. karin slaughter, the good daughter

links to deadly events, this terrifying attack on the family, and then 28 years later, a shooting in a school, as seen through the eyes of two sisters, sam and charlie. why was this the story you wanted to tell? about two years ago, i was writing notes about different characters, because that is what i do. it always starts with characterfor me. the character of gamma came to me. i had this great line, or i thought it was a great line about her, that i used in the book. it said she was as pale as an envelope and just as likely to cause tiny cuts in inconvenient places. so that note was in my shower actually, i've got a waterproof notebook because i'm such a nerd!

i clean my shower, but it's there in my shower. i thought about it for a couple of years every time i was in the shower, and the story started to gel in my head. i had this choice between writing a new will trent book or writing this, and i thought that will trent story isn't where i wanted to be in my head right now. but these characters just really kind of came to me and begged to be talked about. we should explain that gamma is the mother of the two sisters, and they don't always see eye to eye, do they? their relationship is quite fractious. i know you were the youngest of three sisters, i wonder how much your relationship informed the relationship we read about in the book. you know, i think with writers, it is probably the same with news presenters and interviewers, you know, everything in your life informs how you approach the work. of course, being the youngest of three girls, i knew about sister relationships, and the thing i love is, when i'm around my sisters, it's like i'm 12 years old again. i'm thinking of things i can tattle on that they've done, and even if my sister comes

to my house, she'll make lunch for me and cut the crust off my sandwich! we just fall back into those patterns. we reallyjust still see each other as those kids. sometimes i'm almost afraid she's going to hit me with a clothes hanger or something. i like writing about those relationships, because i think who we are as children really informs who we are as adults. the opening chapter of the book in particular, is very, very violent, and i wonder, do you set out to shock your readers? a long time ago a reader said to me why do you spend so much time on character development if you're just going to kill them? and i said, you wouldn't care, right, you wouldn't care if they died if you didn't care about the characters. every single person in this book has to have some sort of resonance for the reader, and i work very carefully. i think that's sometimes why people think i'm more violent than i actually am, because they very much care about who this victim is, and what it does to the family,

the community, and everyone involved in the investigation. and that's really important to me because i don't want to write about violence just for the sake of violence. i don't want to just be someone who wants to shock. i want to have it happen for a reason, and the reason is always to explore, what does crime do to communities? how does it tear people apart? how does it put them back together? it's interesting that you mentioned community because one of the things that struck me about the novel is the sense of place. it's set in this small, rural conservative community, pikeville, where everybody knows each other‘s business. is that similar to the sort of place you grew up in? it is. when i first started writing my grant county series a million years ago, i chose to write about a small town because everybody said, "write what you know." and i know small towns. i know that insularity, and the thing is though, you don't really know the people. you think you know them but then something shocking happens

and you really learn about who they are. that's the fun of writing a book like this. i know you said growing up you didn't think you fitted in. i wondered why that was? you know, ijust didn't. i remember very specifically, because i found the actual lunchbox that i carried to school years ago, and i had taped a picture of marilyn monroe after the autopsy on to the side of my lunchbox, and i remember this had an immediate effect in school and my parents were called to the school. my dad was sitting there and the principal was saying, "this is very unusual that she's done this and we are a little bit worried." my dad said, "look, she's weird, she's always been weird." you say you were weird, you were always writing as a child, weren't you? am i right that you wrote a story if cats had thumbs, about a man who had lost his thumbs in a boating accident? how old were you when you wrote that story? you know, i think i was 14. right.

and i had this great teacher, an english teacher, who introduced me to flannery o'connor. as this little girl growing up in a small southern town. there were a lot of messages we got like, always sit with your legs crossed, and don't be too loud, let the boys talk, and don't let them know how smart you are. don't be interested in things that are not ladylike. then i read flannery o'connor and i thought, wow, this is the pattern i want to follow, someone who speaks their mind, and more importantly, as a writer, who writes the way people talk. the colloquial language in there was very much like my family and everybody around me. itjust gave me this understanding that women can talk about these things, and you should really tell the story you want to tell. i really took that message home with me, and this was my homage to o'connor when i wrote that. of course, she probably didn't imagine a man without thumbs, but it was my way of doing it.

you have been writing since you were a child, as i said, you wanted to be a writer, but you got diverted into doing otherjobs. why was that? you know, when i graduated high school, and was going to college, my dad said to me, actually on my graduation day, he said, "you know, i'm so proud of you. you can do anything you want but you can't live at home." financial independence was his main goal, which i think is a laudable thing for a parent to want their kid to be successful. so i was an exterminator, i painted houses. hold on, an exterminator, of what? of insects. so you did these otherjobs, and then you decide to take the plunge and become a writer full—time? how did that happen? it didn't really happen that way. i never thought i could call myself an author until i was published. all along, even through these jobs i was writing, working on stories, sending stuff to agents, trying to get something in a magazine or something like that.

and it took probably eight years. i had the goal that i wanted to be published by the time i was 30, and it came at 29, so i was right under that. it was really a struggle and trying to find my voice actually is what it took, just writing really bad stories before i could write the good ones. what made you decide it was thrillers and crime thrillers in particular that you wanted to write? i think really if you are a writer it kind of chooses you, what kind of stories you're going to tell. my first book i got with my agent was actually historical fiction. i grew up in georgia, i was a woman, i thought i had to write the next gone with the wind. even that, it had a lot of crime in itfor a southern historicalfiction novel. no one wanted to publish it. i asked my agent, what should i do now, and she said i think you should write whatever you want to write. i stopped thinking i had to write a certain way and i really embraced what i loved reading which was thrillers.

so final question, is karin slaughter your real name? it is. i got beaten up in school a lot for it so i think i have earned it. karin slaughter, great to talk to you, many thanks. thank you. good evening a fresh feeling day with sunny spells and some showers. this is how we ended the day in cou nty this is how we ended the day in county armagh. plenty of shower clouds and these satellite images, clear skies across many parts with some speckled cloud bringing heavy showers particularly in the west. some more persistent rain across the north—east scotland but that will clearly have the frontal system pushes off to the north—east and the

next area of low pressure works and to be south—east tonight. things turning when they were outbreaks of rain across wales and the south—east of england and northern ireland as well. for the east and north we should have mostly clear skies and the temperature holding at around 11-16 but the temperature holding at around 11—16 but through the day tomorrow this area of low pressure brings us lots of wet weather across the south of england and wales. they are not particularly heavy in the morning but strong southerly winds and southerly skies. from northern ireland a wet and windy start to the morning so rush hour could well see a lot of surface water and spray. scotla nd a lot of surface water and spray. scotland has an improved day with much more sunshine and we have seen particularly across central parts and one or two showers to the south—west with it'll quite breezy. the strongest wind and heaviest rain across wales and the south of england where we could see some disruption to traffic. further east,

23 across the london region and sunny skies across north—east england and scotland. as for the open we are likely to see the wind increasing through the day with the cloud and that will bring the chance of rain through the afternoon. for the weekend, heavy showers around and quite breezy but not a complete wash—out. saturday we still have a slow—moving area of low pressure with the winds circulating around the south—east of england and wales. elsewhere, showers making their way gradually north and east, hit and miss for saturday. best of the dry weather across the north of scotland. sunday you're more likely to catch the heavy downpours and some sunshine in between. hello, i'm ros atkins, this is outside source. just over an hour ago, this happened. oj simpson has been

granted early release by a parole board. he has served nine years for armed robbery. us and european officials say they've shut down the largest marketplace on the darkweb. this is the largest dark market web page takedown in world history. jeff sessions has been scolded by donald trump over his decision to stand down from any russian investigations.