Why we're watching… Attica Locke

Attica, that's an unusual name… I know. Screenwriter-turned-novelist Attica Locke was named after the 1971 uprising at the Attica State Correctional Facility in upstate New York. "My mother dearly believes that's why I have no problem saying no to people and standing up for myself," she says. It was a political family? It certainly was. Locke's parents were civil rights activists whose love came "wrapped up in a big political romance". Her lawyer father ran for mayor of Houston in 2009. So what sort of books does she write? Crime novels with, as you might expect, a strong political bent. Her first, Black Water Rising, tackled 1980s Texas and was shortlisted for the 2010 Orange Prize. The Cutting Season , due out this month, centres on a gruesome discovery on a former slave plantation. A light 'n' breezy read, then. No, but an utterly gripping one. The Cutting Season also makes some serious points about race in post-Obama America. She says… "I don't like sentences to be too pretty. I see my books as falling somewhere between John Grisham and [film director] John Sayles." We say… Searching for some deft plotting and a willingness to tackle difficult subjects? Look no further. The Cutting Season is published by Serpent's Tail on 13 September, £14.99