June 2004, part 1

THE VARIOUS HAUNTS OF MEN was number 7 in the INDEPENDENT newspaper's list of Bestselling hardback books this week.. it is also climbing fast up amazon.co.uk charts.

This is great considering the sniffiness of some of the reviews. There is something to be said about these… I've no intention of answering back. If people don't like a book, then fine, they should say so… though any book review, good or bad, is only one person's opinion. I was slightly shocked to see that a very bad review indeed in The Guardian was by a writer who just happens to have a crime novel of his own published in the same week as mine. In those circumstances, the only thing to do is not to review anyone else's crime novel at all. If you do, you lay yourself upon to all sorts of charges.

But the puzzling reviews, and which I would like to answer, are those like the one from the excellent Anita Brookner in The Spectator.

She is always an intelligent, thoughtful and fair-minded reviewer. No hidden agendas with her. Whether she likes a book or not, the author can be sure they have been given a careful read and her full attention and that above all they will not fail to learn something from what she has written about them.

But she spent much of her review (read it online at www.spectator.co.uk, issue for the week ending June 12th ) asking herself why I had turned to crime writing and being somewhat baffled about the fact.

A friend summed up things as follows. ‘ You might just as well ask why Lewis Carroll wrote ALICE IN WONDERLAND after previously having written only mathematical treatises.’ Indeed.
But my answers are as follows, for anyone who wants to know.

1. I don't like to repeat myself or to stand still. Have always tried exploring new genres as a writer and why stop now ?
2. I needed some fun.. a day off.. some play.. and for all that it tackles some very very serious matters, writing crime novels has been FUN. I wrote fast and enjoyed every moment of it.
3. I wanted to say things about contemporary life.. and although my fictional place may seem old-fashioned, it is actually full of people leading the sort of lives thousands still do….I wanted to write about NOW and needed to find a contemporary form in which to do it.
4. My hero, Graham Greene, divided his work into Fiction and Entertainments.. and I do the same. My literary fictions are one thing and they come unbidden, they are gifts from I know not where… entertainments are concoctions.. I think them into existence consciously and I know exactly where they come from.

Why should I go on writing the same sort of thing ? Why not have a bash at something new. ? William Trevor, that great living writer, said of me that I don't like being pigeon-holed.. ‘pigeon holes are for the birds.’ Precisely.

But because I have been writing some crime novels doesn't mean that is all I am now going to do for the rest of my life. Why do people think it is ? A mystery.

STOP PRESS.

One of the best recent television crime series was WAKING THE DEAD, with a stunning cast including TREVOR EVE, SHEILA JOHNSTON and CLAIRE GOOSE.

The creator of the series and scriptwriter for them all was BARBARA MACHIN.

I am absolutely thrilled that it is BARBARA MACHIN who is writing the script adaptation for TV of THE VARIOUS HAUNTS OF MEN and, I hope, the rest of the Simon Serrailler crime novels when they are televised.

WATCH THIS SPACE FOR NEWS OF WHEN IT WILL BE ON.

THE WOMAN IN BLACK… recently celebrated its 15th year at THE FORTUNE THEATRE LONDON. It now goes into its 16th !!

THE BOY WHO TAUGHT THE BEEKEEPER TO READ.. my latest collection of short stories, was published last week in paperback. It has had some fantastic reviews.. everyone has been generous to it. The latest top review was in THE INDEPENDENT, where it was given 5 stars.. see the review online at www.independent.co.uk and key in my name or the title of the book under Search..

Enough crowing for now.. I hope all of you who have been doing my books for GCSE and AS level have been given a good lot of questions by the examiners and.. just think, YOU WILL NEVER HAVE TO READ I'M THE KING OF THE CASTLE AGAIN !

SUSAN INTERVIEWED BY JACKIE McGLONE IN THE SCOTSMAN on SATURDAY JUNE 12TH... TO READ THIS GO TO www.thescotsman.co.uk for that date.

SUSAN HILL