National Library Day
Saturday 4 February was National Library day in
the UK.
I had the pleasure of attending Stockton Central Library for a talk and book
signing by Peter Robinson, the creator of the Inspector Banks detective/mystery
series - http://www.inspectorbanks.com/.
The event had been ‘sold out’ but the first
snow of the winter resulted in some empty seats. Fortunately Peter had only
travelled from the town of Richmond, Yorkshire not
that many miles away; he had left his home in Toronto earlier in the week and, as he said,
had just about got over the jet lag.
Peter’s first library, that used by Alan
Bennett and novelist Barbara Taylor Bradford, was at Armley in Leeds, West Yorkshire.
Before the Poison
For his talk Peter chose to explain that his
latest book ‘Before the Poison’ was not part of the Banks series. The
inspiration for the story came from a rundown house he found beyond the old
racecourse at Richmond.
At one time there had been limekilns in the area; in the book the house became
Kilnsgate. Somewhat creepy, a love story of the past and present ‘Before the
Poison’ covers the life of Grace Elizabeth Fox hanged in 1953 for poisoning her
husband. Chris Lowe who has returned to live at Kilnsgate becomes entrapped by
Grace’s story and comes to believe she did not poison her husband.
Peter Robinson explained how he incorporated
Grace’s journal in the book. He read an extract which covered Grace’s
experience as a Queen Alexandra’s nurse during the fall of Singapore to the Japanese in WWII.
Question and Answer Session
Interestingly Peter does not know who the
murderer is when he starts a Banks book. He may be three-quarters of the way
through before he decides who is the culprit. He does not have an outline or
plan for his novels, nor character profiles.
He described the recent TV episodes with
Stephen Tompkinson playing Alan Banks as two hours of mindless entertainment.
He finds the TV version not to be the way he would do it. He believes
Tompkinson is growing into the part but is too tall to be the Banks he wrote
about.
The Eastvale location is based on a combination
of Richmond and Ripon; TV scenes use Otley, near
Leeds.
His best place for writing is in a cottage
overlooking a lake north of Toronto.
At Richmond he
writes in the guest bedroom. He is not one to write while travelling or in
hotels.
His next Banks book is to be based in Tallin, Estonia
with the title ‘Watch in the Dark’ about a girl who goes missing while on a hen
party in the city.
When asked how many drafts he produces before a
novel is complete, Peter said his first draft has already been revised as he
goes back to change details as he goes along. He may produce a further draft
before the book is read by his wife, and his editors. The final version will
then go to the copy editors. Effectively he has three goes at each book. He
finds that writing with computers encourages you to make revisions as you go
along.
When asked about his favourite authors Peter
mentioned Michael Connelly, Mark Billingham and Ian Rankin. He mentioned
specifically ‘The Greatcoat’ a ghost story by Helen Dunmore. He uses a Kindle
for convenience while travelling, but agrees the e-readers will not replace
books. Peter is also reading Alan Hunter’s books featuring the detective George
Gently and stressed that the TV stories are nothing like the book.
Note:
‘Before the Poison’ is to be
published in hardback in the USA
on 7 February.
