It’s a bleary-eyed, red-faced Hot Press interviewer who arrives at a Brook’s Hotel in Dublin to meet Jess Kidd, the London-based author who’s on a whistle-top book tour to promote the release of her second novel The Hoarder. Having just been given the book a day-and-a-half earlier by the frankly sadistic Hot Press commissioning crew, it was an all-hands-on-deck sort of 48 hours in which to absorb all 346 pages of Kidd’s genre-bending sophomore release. I’ve only just finished the thing before I’m running out to meet her.

A murder-mystery novel that veers beyond the physical realms, The Hoarder tells the tale of Maud Brennan, an underpaid careworker who tries to forge a connection with her volatile, perpetually-hoarding older patient, Mr. Flood. However, Maud gets caught up trying to expose the supernatural – and potentially criminal – secrets contained in a house where the words “spring cleaning” haven’t been mentioned since long before Ireland stopped putting in a serious challenge at the Eurovision.

“I’m so sorry to subject you to two days’ worth of clutter!” Jess laughs, as I breathlessly try to explain my dishevelled appearance.