Robert
Wilson
(NB This Questionnaire first appeared in CADS
(Crime and Detective Stories) 41, December 2001
Amended introduction 27.7.05
With
his recent series of thrillers featuring the troubled Chief Inspector Javier
Falcón, Robert Wilson, winner of the 1999 CWA Gold Dagger
(with A
Small Death in Lisbon), has continued to cement his reputation
as one of the most exciting talents on the current UK crime fiction scene.
But first there came Instruments
of Darkness (1995), the first of his four Chandler-inspired thrillers
featuring Bruce Medway, his flawed "fixer" and reluctant detective.
Neither were they the usual slavish homage, but their
writer had a point of view all his own, a tough uncompromising style, a sure
grasp of character and, in West Africa of the late 1980's, a modern equivalent
for California in the 1940's, bursting with vitality and fictional possibilities.
They are perhaps the finest series of Chandleresque thrillers
ever written by an Englishman.
Born in 1957 and a graduate (in English) of Oxford University,
he had wanted to write from an early age. But instead, feeling that he was "pretty
raw material", he both worked and travelled widely. At one time he bought
and shipped sheanut, a commodity used in both chocolate and cosmetics, out of
Cotonau, in Benin, West Africa.. That and an earlier "tramforming"
trip across Africa gave him the material he needed for his first four books.
He now lives with his wife Jane in Portugal, not far from the capital Lisbon.
Lisbon, this time in 1944, also featured heavily in The
Company of Strangers (2001), Wilson's moving spy cum love story
("a literary novel in a thriller trenchcoat" commented his US agent).
However, for the first Falcbn thriller, Wilson's favoured location moved to
Seville, Spain's Andalucian capital. That book was the spell-binding The
Blind Man of Seville (2002) and was short-listed for the 2003 Gold
Dagger. The second Falcon thriller, the equally rivetting The
Silent and the Damned (2004) came out in paperback in July 2005.
Robert Wilson is currently working on his third book to feature
Falcon. The novel will deal with terrorism, Wilson having realised that his
hero with his background, part Spanish, part Moroccan (hauntingly explored in
The
Blind Man of Seville) against a background of Andalucia's unique
mix of Hispanic and Islamic cultures, was in "the perfect position"
to address the issue, at least in its extreme quasi-Islamic version. But not
solely about terrorism: as always with Wilson, the book will also operate on
"a much more personal level". Unusually for him, Wilson says, he does
not yet have a title.
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Which
was the first book (of any type) to make a strong impression on you - and why?
As a very small kid, a Noddy story in which he ended up naked and alone in the
woods. They probably wouldn’t allow that now, Noddy being naked, but it terrified
me. As a boy I infuriated my mother by not reading at all, although by 12 I
had read most of Alistair Maclean and Hammond Innes, which didn’t count. The
first adult book to make an impression was ‘Steppenwolf’ by Hermann Hesse. Written
in the 1920s it opened up my 15 year old brain to the psychological possibilities
of the novel.
What attracted you to crime writing?
I’ve always travelled a lot and thought I might be a travel writer before that
genre got overcrowded. So the initial attraction was that it enabled me to make
use of an extraordinary setting (West Africa). It also allowed for bizarre characters,
nefarious goings-on – also a potential for humour.
Was
Instruments
of Darkness your first completed novel? Did it attract many reject
slips?
Yes. Only one rejection from Hutchinson and then Harper Collins picked it up.
Major
influences on your writing?
Raymond Chandler...a cliché I know, but true. He revealed to me how stylishly
things could be done and anybody who can make you laugh out loud 60 years later
deserves to be a major influence.
Which
comes first for you - plot, place or characters - and why?
Setting. If I have the place inside me as the starting inspiration then the
characters and story follow easily from that source. I can see people acting
within a context. I have rarely come up with a story idea or a character with
no setting.
What do you consider
to be your strongest points as a writer?
Readers tell me that I put them very definitely and powerfully in the place.
In
what skill (as a writer) would you most like to improve?
I’d like to improve enormously over the whole range of writing skills but I’ll
settle for economy and density. John Banville said that writing was the longest
apprenticeship in the world and I would agree with him except that this implies
that there is a teacher or mentor, which in most writers’ cases there isn’t.
Any
(printable) views on literary critics, particularly in the crime field?
Richard Ingrams reckons that reviewers should state their relationship with
the author at the bottom of the review. This would make buying books on the
basis of a review less risky. If I see the words ‘brilliant’ or ‘hilarious’
I know not to buy. Reviewers who seek to be cruel rather than honest always
reveal more about themselves than they do about the writer. The crime genre
is well-served by reviewers such as Philip Oakes (succinct and readable) and
Peter Guttridge (intelligent and honest) who give readers a good chance of developing
new tastes which I think should be the point of reviews.
What is your definition of writing Heaven? And writing Hell?
Number one Hell is handing over a finished typescript to my wife (who is my
first reader). It makes me feel desperate and weak. I identified with Stephen
King when his wife chided him for ‘being so needy.’ Number two Hell is hearing
my wife’s editing pencil scratch over the page. Heaven is waking up at 3am and
working out a scene in my head so totally that I can get up at 5am and write
the whole thing out without stopping and barely having to think. I have one
or two scenes per book like that.
How
do you relax?
I cook for friends and garden and when two years ago my wife got seriously worried
about me overworking she booted me out of the house to go and play pool with
a neighbour. My chess partner is moving closer to me so that will become a new
distraction.
Which
newspaper(s) do you read regularly?
I get all my current affairs from three sources: Newsweek, the Observer and
the BBC World Service.
What
book(s) are you reading at the moment?
‘The
Human Stain’ and ‘American
Pastoral’ (Philip Roth); ‘Tunnel
Visions’ (Christopher Ross); ‘Forty
Words for Sorrow’ (Giles Blunt).
Which
new(ish) writer have you most enjoyed reading recently?
Jake Arnott’s ‘The Long Firm’ - great writing, great characters.
'Desert
Island' films, plays and/or music?
Movies to see over and over again are rare but given that I’d be up for some
humour I’d go for ‘Some Like it Hot’, ‘I’m Alright Jack’ and ‘Working Girl’.
‘The Godfather’(s) could come and a few epics like ‘Dr Zhivago’ and ‘Lawrence
of Arabia’. Oh and ‘To Have and Have Not’ for that Lauren Bacall/ Humpty Bogart
on-screen chemistry. I get the works of Shakespeare (BC: not on my desert island,
you don't! You get the complete works of Conan Doyle...) so I’d go for paintings
rather than plays. Anything by Velasquez, Rembrandt and Vermeer. Some Jackson
Pollock, a Hopper or two but they might depress me and normally I’d go for Gauguin
but he might be too close to home. Music would have to include ‘I’m just a Gigolo’
by Louis Prima (sad, funny and weirdly life enhancing), Paul Simon, some Salsa,
High Life, Rai, Mozart, Mahler and Albinoni’s Adagio for when I bury myself
under the lone palm tree.
A
favourite book shop?
John Sandoe Books, Blacklands Terrace, off the Kings Road. Of the chains I think
Ottakers light and display their books extremely well. I like any bookshop where
the staff’s knowledge extends to more than operating the cash register.
Are
you in favour of the death penalty for murder?
No. Personal vengeance has no history of satisfaction, why should state vengeance?
The number of lengthy wrongful imprisonments recently uncovered should be enough
to persuade anybody that the death penalty is a risky policy.
Which
living person do you most admire?
Nelson Mandela - another cliché but again true. He’s been a phenomenal political
presence as well as someone of great humanity who has proved himself to be deeply
human too.
Who or what makes you laugh? 
My friends make me laugh harder than any professional comedian. Ordinary people
are very funny, intentionally or otherwise. I overheard a woman at Tate Modern
standing in front of a speckled painting and saying “That looks just like those
non-slip tiles you get in disabled people’s lifts.”
What
depresses you most about contemporary Britain?
The absurd expense of having a good time, the aggression on the streets after
pub closing time and the demise of decent TV.
What
excites you most about contemporary Britain?
The relentless creativity of its multicultured people; the phenomenal variety
of high quality entertainment; a cool pint of Hook Norton bitter.
Which
single thing would improve the quality of your life?
Central heating.
Which
non-crime book would you most like to have written?
‘Love
in the Time of Cholera’ by Gabriel García Márquez.
Which
crime novel would you most like to have written? And why? I’d have
been very happy to have written either ‘An
Instance of the Fingerpost’ or ‘Miss
Smilla’s Feeling for Snow’ – outstanding original works full of inspiration
and intensity.
Which,
of your own work to date, is the book which you consider came off best?
I’m still some way from writing anything that I would say has come off perfectly
although each book has been a step forward so at this point I would have to
say ‘The
Company of Strangers’ but wait and see.
************************************************
The
Silent and the Damned ...................................................................................Review
- Bob
Cornwell
The
Blind Man of Seville .......................................................................................Review
- Bob
Cornwell
The
Company Of Strangers
A
Small Death in Lisbon .......................................................................................Review
- Mat Cowared / Val
McDermid
A
Darkening Stain
Blood
is Dirt
Instruments
of Darkness
The
Big Killing
TW would like to thank CADS
(Crime and Detective Stories) and Bob Cornwell for permision to present
the Robert Wilson Questionnaire