#MurderOnTheBeach Tour: James Dawson's Cruel Summer Dream Cast

Hello, my lovelies! Today I have the pleasure of being the next stop on the #MurderOnTheBeach blog tour, celebrating the release of the final book in Kate Atkinson's trilogy - Soul Storm - and, as you could probably tell from the title, James Dawson's fabulous Cruel Summer, which he has kindly taken the time to dream cast for our enjoyment this fine (or possibly not fine, I don't know) Friday! Also, thanks James for writing a book about beautiful people so I had an excuse to trawl the internet for pictures of beautiful people. Though I will say that it was really hard finding a picture of Rob Evans wearing clothes. Rob Evans really hates wearing shirts.

I’m always wary of dreamcasting blogs because it removes some of the fun of the reader picturing the characters, HOWEVER, as I already made the Janey Bradshaw suspect files on my own site – with pictures – I don’t see the harm in casting the fake film version of Cruel Summer!

I’d love to see a film adaptation of Cruel Summer – it’d be a gloriously sun-drenched, sexy murder mystery! As such we’d need a cast of beautiful, devious young things!

Here’s my dream cast with a little bit about each character:

Antonia Thomas as Alisha Cole – Alisha, it has to be said, is a bit of a hot mess. She’s off the rails in a big way and I think the Misfits actress would capture Alisha’s loneliness and vulnerability.

Douglas Booth as Ryan Hayward – Ryan is such a unique character, it’d need a unique talent. Ryan is devious, arch and witty and I adored Booth in Worried About The Boy, so I think he’d be perfect.

Sophie Turner as Katie Grant – I always had Turner in mind when I wrote Katie, the innocent redhead. Katie is the ultimate girl-next-door and I love Turner in Game Of Thrones.

Rob Evans as Greg Cole – Alisha’s twin needs to be as beautiful as his sister so let’s cast model and ANTM judge Rob Evans. Can he act? Who cares – have you seen him? Greg needs to be brash, gorgeous and arrogant.

Joe Dempsie as Ben Murdoch – When writing romantic hero Ben I had young Ashton Kutcher in mind, but alas, he’s way to old to play Ben these days. In his place I cast Skinsand Game of Thronesstar Dempsie, who I think could sufficiently melt our hearts.

Taylor Momsen as Roxanne Dent – Momsen was always Rox as I wrote the book – pouty, bitchy and laconic. I wonder if she can do a British accent…to be honest I don’t care if she can't.

Frankie Sandford as Erin Smith – Again, I have no idea if the Saturdays singer can actually act, but she was very much who I had in mind as I was writing sweet little Erin.

Jessica Brown Findlay as Janey Bradshaw– As you may already know, Cruel Summer is all about ‘who killed Janey Bradshaw’, so this is a vital role as the dearly departed Janey reoccurs through flashbacks throughout the book…I’m a huge fan of Brown Findlay’s husky tones.

Of course, once you’ve read the book, I need to know your casting choices and don’t be scared to make dream-cast pictures for the Fierce Fiction Tumblr! Get creative! Use either my choices or your own and use quotes from the book, I’d LOVE to see your art work.