This fall, check out these noteworthy British mysteries, three with film or television connections and a fourth that\u2019s ripe for adaptation. Their authors, from both sides of the pond, weigh in on two central questions \u2014 what does it take to write a \u201cBritish\u201d crime novel and what writers would they invite for a proper British tea?<\/p>\n
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A Slowly Dying Cause<\/b><\/a> On the heels of the rebooted \u201cLynley\u201d TV series comes George\u2019s 22nd mystery set in Cornwall and featuring the unlikely pairing of the aristocratic Detective Inspector Thomas Lynley and the all-too-human Detective Sergeant Barbara Havers. Michael Lobb, 56, a Cornish tinsmith and jeweler, is found stabbed to death in his studio. Numerous flashbacks include Lobb\u2019s diary entries, which lay bare his marital infidelity and family abandonment for a second marriage to a woman not much older than his children. In addition to Wife No. 2 and a would-be business associate, suspects include the dead man\u2019s abandoned first wife and adult children as well as the workers on the Lobb property who just happen to be related to Daidre Trahair, the London veterinarian who\u2019d previously deflected Lynley\u2019s romantic overtures. <\/p>\n It takes 120 pages for Lynley himself to show up, called home on family business with Havers in tow, she on one week\u2019s enforced bereavement leave due to the death of her mother. It\u2019s a convenient setup for Lynley being called to join the investigation by the Cornish inspector on the scene and George to write with authority about a part of England she clearly loves and knows well. While readers\u2019 attention might flag over the investigation, or the novel\u2019s numerous subplots and legal machinations, George is setting a complicated trap of misdirection and a diabolical level of hiding in plain sight while exploring love and relationships from multiple vantage points. An emotional revelation promises the possibility that Lynley\u2019s cause may not be dying after all.<\/p>\n What makes a British mystery distinctive? Which begs the question: Can someone who is not from Britain write a British mystery?<\/b><\/p>\n Of course, the number one thing that makes a British mystery distinctive is that it\u2019s set in Great Britain, where police do not carry guns and where over the years homicide investigations have undergone some remarkable changes. To make that understandable and realistic for the reader, I\u2019ve interviewed many British police professionals, from detectives to press officers to constables on the street. That enables me to give the flavor of an actual police investigation without using the myriad individuals who are actually part of a homicide investigation. There is additional information that I\u2019ve had to amass on the criminal justice system, and to do this I\u2019ve interviewed barristers, solicitors, magistrates and judges. So it\u2019s definitely possible for someone who isn\u2019t British to write a British crime novel, but one has to be willing to put in the work to do it.<\/p>\n How is the recently rebooted \u201cLynley\u201d series different from the original?<\/b><\/p>\n All of the adaptations for this new series are of books that haven\u2019t been adapted before now. Also, this series is different from the original in that entirely new actors are playing the characters, and my detectives are part of a murder squad that is centered in Norwich and not in London. This is, of course, an enormous change. But I\u2019ve seen the episodes of the season in rough cut and while they differ from the novels, they\u2019re really great fun to watch and I enjoyed them thoroughly. People will be very surprised by the casting \u2014 especially of Barbara Havers \u2014 but I think both of the actors will grow on the viewer. There are moments that stand out particularly as \u201cpure Lynley\u201d and \u201cpure Havers.\u201d<\/p>\n You\u2019re inviting three British crime novelists, living or dead, to tea. Who would they be and why?<\/b><\/p>\n Oh, gosh. That\u2019s a tough one. I would definitely invite Dorothy L. Sayers as her life after Lord Peter Wimsey really interests me and I\u2019d love to know how she adjusted to it, having made Peter Wimsey so famous. I would invite Patricia Highsmith so that we could talk about \u201cRipley\u201d and how she feels about the latest adaptation of Ripley in comparison to the film with Matt Damon. I would stretch the idea of \u201cBritish crime writer\u201d to Ireland and invite Tana French to pick her brains about her gift at depicting locations so brilliantly. <\/p>\n The Impossible Fortune<\/b><\/a> In \u201cThe Thursday Murder Club\u2019s\u201d fifth outing, the Coopers Chase retirement community\u2019s amateur sleuths are in a lull after their last case. Elizabeth, a former spy, is grieving her husband; psychiatrist Ibrahim is counseling an ex-con; while Joyce is busy with her daughter\u2019s wedding. At the reception, when cybersecurity expert and best man Nick Silver confides to Elizabeth about an attempt on his life, she feels called back into action and life: \u201cFor the last year her heartbeat has felt like a machine, a mechanical pump keeping her alive against her will, but now it feels flesh.\u201d Silver\u2019s subsequent disappearance and the bombing death of his business partner, Holly Lewis, reveals the pair was in the throes of selling a small fortune in bitcoin. That surfaces suspects aplenty and serves as a counterpoint to the TMC members\u2019 various other crime-related concerns. \u201cThe impossible Fortune\u201d strains at times to manage its numerous plot threads and twists; that\u2019s one of the quirkier hallmarks of Osman\u2019s writing. But does that detract from the novel\u2019s overarching message about the value of love, in all its forms, in the lives of these always-endearing characters? That would be impossible.<\/p>\n What makes a British crime novel distinctive? Which invites the question: Can someone who is not British write one? <\/b><\/p>\n British people are far too polite to ever tell the truth about anything, which makes us all potential murderers. The moment a British person says to a neighbour, \u201cWell, your garden is looking lovely today, Geoffrey,\u201d you know for certain that Geoffrey is about to be murdered with a pickaxe.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Thursday Murder Club\u201d has been brought to the screen for the first time. How involved were you in the book-to-screen adaptation?<\/b><\/p>\n I chose not to get involved in the film and leave it to the professionals. My job is to give everything in my head and heart into writing the books. The film is like a lovely bonus. Like a grandchild instead of a child, I get all of the fun with none of the responsibility.<\/p>\n You\u2019re inviting three British crime novelists, living or dead, to tea. Who would they be and why?<\/b><\/p>\n Great question. Dorothy L. Sayers \u2014 I think of her as \u201cthe hipster Agatha Christie\u201d \u2014 Ian Rankin and, if I\u2019m allowed to include him as a crime writer (surely George Smiley is one of the great detectives?), John Le Carr\u00e9.<\/p>\n The Killing Stones<\/b><\/a> Ann Cleeves reportedly ended the Shetland mysteries with 2018\u2019s \u201cWild Fire,\u201d although Detective Inspector Jimmy Perez\u2019s colleagues, led by DI Ruth Calder, continue in the TV series. (A 10th season is forthcoming on BritBox.) But readers were left wondering was this the end of Perez and his pregnant lover and superior officer, Willow Reeves, who by the end of \u201cWild Fire\u201d had moved to Orkney \u2014 some 150 miles southwest of Shetland? So was Cleeves, who has now given Perez and Reeves a reprieve and readers a case that reintroduces the couple. Archie Stout, Perez\u2019s oldest friend, is missing from his home on isolated Westray. Jimmy travels by boat from their home on the Orkney mainland to investigate and discovers his friend\u2019s body close to an archaeological dig, a nearby stone artifact with spiral carvings the presumed weapon. As the case unfolds, so does the reader\u2019s understanding of how Jimmy and his growing family have become intrinsically bonded to the Orcadian people and land, rich with history and customs. Skillfully and compassionately told, \u201cThe Killing Stones\u201d may have been conceived as a standalone, but there are enough revelations about Orcadian culture and these emotionally engaging detectives for readers to hope for another Perez and Reeves mystery, and soon.<\/p>\n Why come back to Jimmy Perez after a long hiatus?<\/b><\/p>\n I thought I\u2019d seen the last of Jimmy, but I felt a longing to go north again, a sort of homesickness. It occurred to me that it would be fun to explore Jimmy in a different set of islands, with his partner, Willow, as his boss. And it was interesting coming back to a character I believed I\u2019d left behind and looking at him from a new perspective, putting him within different communities within Orkney, developing a new community to which he could belong. I\u2019m definitely tempted now to continue writing about Jimmy and Willow. He might even develop a sense of humour! <\/p>\n For you, what makes a British crime novel distinctive? Which invites the question: Can someone who is not British write one?<\/b><\/p>\n As a Brit from the south of England, I have the same dilemma when I\u2019m writing about Orkney. It\u2019s the small details that make a book credible and authentic. I need to spend time walking in locals\u2019 footsteps and listening to their preoccupations. I couldn\u2019t write a book set in a place I\u2019d never visited.<\/p>\n You\u2019re inviting three British crime novelists, living or dead, to tea. Who would they be and why?<\/b><\/p>\n Vaseem Khan, Mick Herron and Val McDermid. They\u2019re all alive, all good writers and great fun. They\u2019ve moved British crime-writing away from its traditional subject matter. Though I suspect that Val and Mick might prefer beer to tea.<\/p>\n (Timothy Greenfield-Sanders)<\/p>\n The Hidden City<\/b><\/a>
By Elizabeth George
Viking: 656 page, $32
Out now <\/p>\n <\/p>\n
By Richard Osman
Pamela Dorman Books: 368 Pages, $30
Sept. 30<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
By Ann Cleeves
Minotaur: 384 pages, $29
Sept. 30<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
By Charles Finch
Minotaur: 288 pages, $29
Nov. 4<\/p>\n