Harriet Tyce: ‘No jury in the land would be able to crack The Traitors’

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Harriet Tyce has had a busy year! After recently appearing on the popular show The Traitors and causing a stir with her strategic gameplay, she’s back to writing the crime novels she’s known for.

Alexandra Oliva’s debut novel, Blood Orange, came out in 2019 and quickly became a bestseller, establishing her as a promising new voice in crime fiction. However, her newest book, Witch Trial, released today, February 26th, is generating even more buzz.

Tyce says the anticipation surrounding her upcoming novel is incredibly high. ‘It’s always exciting when a book is about to be released, but this time it feels much bigger and more intense,’ she told TopMob just days before publication.

Witch Trial follows the courtroom drama of two girls accused of murdering their friend, Christian. The story unfolds as the jury pieces together the events, struggling to understand the increasingly unbelievable details – and when supernatural elements emerge, it challenges their perceptions of reality.

I remember my editor suggesting I tackle a book about teenage serial killers, but honestly, it wasn’t the ‘serial killer’ part that grabbed me. It was the idea of a teenager on trial, a kid facing these incredibly serious charges, that really stuck with me and became the seed for the novel.

I was really fascinated by the whole concept of juries – what makes each person on it tick and how they contribute to the decision-making process. I was missing one final piece for a story I had in mind, and it surprisingly came to me while watching a performance of The Crucible. Seeing that play sparked the supernatural element I needed to really bring everything together.

I’ve always been scared of supernatural stories and had never explored them before. Working on this project was definitely frightening, but in a good way. It was exciting to learn about completely new subjects and dive into unfamiliar territory.

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A mysterious story unfolding in Scotland, with hints of the supernatural and a group of diverse individuals trying to uncover the truth – it strongly resembles what we’ve recently seen from Tyce on The Traitors.

She chuckled, explaining, “It’s wild – I finished almost a full first draft of my project on Halloween 2024, and then applied for The Traitors in mid-December! That gave me about six weeks of completely free time.”

I’ve been a huge fan of this show since day one, and I’m totally captivated by all its classic spooky themes and supernatural elements. It just felt inevitable that someone would eventually turn it into a novel, honestly!

Even though ‘zeitgeist’ is a terrible word, many books and movies reflect the spirit of the times, so it’s not surprising my book touches on similar themes. The really strange thing is actually ending up on the television show.

Throughout The Traitors, the cast essentially acts like a jury, much like the characters in Tyce’s book, Witch Trial. The Faithful contestants are constantly trying to uncover the Traitors, but unlike the characters in the book, they have very little solid evidence to go on.

What’s difficult about the roundtable discussions in The Traitors is that you’re forced to rely entirely on gut feelings. Making decisions with so little concrete evidence is incredibly challenging – a jury wouldn’t be able to reach a verdict with the information we have because there’s simply nothing substantial to work with.

I was right to trust my intuition, but relying on gut feelings alone isn’t enough to prove someone committed a crime…

Tyce is interested in continuing to write stories with supernatural elements, possibly a sequel to Witch Trial. She’s also starting to incorporate ideas from her experience playing the game Traitors into her writing.

I was completely drawn in – it felt like I was actually living the story, and everyone around me was too. What really struck me was how skillfully they built the world and kept us focused solely on the experience, letting us lose ourselves completely in the game. It was brilliant!

It’s definitely just a game, and I know that. But when you’re involved day in and day out, it can feel incredibly important, like the stakes are really high. I’m curious about what happens to people who get too caught up in it and can’t regain perspective.

Tyce has had a remarkably full year, and her readers might see some of those experiences reflected in a future thriller novel.

On my bookshelf with… Harriet Tyce

Discovering the books of Dorothy L. Sayers, particularly the Harriet Vane mysteries, is what inspired me to become a writer. I find detective and crime fiction to be incredibly captivating.

I really admire David Nicholls’s novel, One Day – it’s a book I wish I had written myself. It’s brilliantly simple; the core idea is so clever, it’s amazing no one thought of it before. Unfortunately, the TV adaptation was really disappointing, and I found myself crying while watching it.

If you’re looking for a truly captivating book, I have to recommend ‘Rivals’ by Jilly Cooper. Honestly, it’s just a fantastic read – so much fun! It completely swept me away, and the recent adaptation proves how great the story really is. I think it’s the kind of book that can make anyone forget about judging books by their genre – it’s simply brilliant.

I’m currently reading Helen Garner’s diaries, which have made me miss the days of letter writing before everyone had phones! I’m also a judge for the Crime Writers’ Association, so I’m going through a lot of short story collections by crime authors. I’m also reading “Blank Canvas” by Grace Murray – it’s a compelling story about a college student who pretends her father has died. It’s really well-written, but the author is close in age to my son, which is a little unsettling!

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Let me tell you about Helen Daly – she’s a real driving force behind the scenes at TopMob. As Deputy Digital Editor, she’s the one spearheading all their new online projects and making sure things run smoothly from a business perspective. Before TopMob, she cut her teeth as a Deputy TV Editor for a major national publication. And she’s not just a practical editor; she’s got the academic background to back it up, with degrees in English Literature and Media & Journalism from Newcastle University. It’s clear she brings a well-rounded perspective to the table.

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2026-02-26 12:35