The Pleasures and Pitfalls of a Crime Series

Today’s guest blog is by Adam Creed.  He is the author of 5 books in the DI Staffe series.  He is now Head of Writing at Liverpool John Moores University and Project Leader of Free to Write.  Kill and Tell is the fifth book in the D.I Staffe series

Anyone who has written or read a series of crime novels will know that the format comes loaded with both pleasures and pitfalls.  By the time I wrote Kill and Tell, I had been down the road three times with the second, third and fourth in the Staffe series of novels.

With a series, the author has to keep the long storylines of the main characters moving smoothly otherwise those familiar with the earlier books may switch off.  There will also be long plotlines that can’t become overburdened with undue exposition.  I can’t abide sentences such as, ‘DS Pulford, the ambitious and university-educated young sergeant who has something of a history with the attractive, orphaned WPC Chancellor, reached for his truncheon...’

As writers, we have to convey such information in an oblique way so the characters’ back-stories become apparent in a seamless fashion, woven into the action of the main plot.  The reader who is new to the series will be intrigued but hopefully not flummoxed by what has gone on before.  It’s a precarious line to tread but I always try to err on the side of pace and economy.  Readers can be trusted to fill in the gaps.

Another challenge is to take the reader to new places with each book, both in terms of the character development and the milieu that the book occupies.  Defamiliarising the world of the series is important for the writer as well as the reader and in the Staffe series; I try to operate on at least three fronts with each book.  Firstly, there is the main plot, the central crime around which the main action develops.  I also like to address a theme or social issue in each of the books and sometimes this can be a historical event such as the Battle of Cable Street in Kill and Tell or the Spanish Civil War in Death in the Sun; or it might be an exploration of a social issue, such as infertility and the right to life, in Pain of Death.  Thirdly, I aim to develop the character of at least one of the main characters in a significant way.  In Kill and Tell, DS Pulford is on remand for allegedly killing Staffe’s assailant from an earlier novel.  This directly affects Pulford, of course, but also has an impact on Staffe and Chancellor in terms of their approach to law enforcement and the notion of justice.

It is these wider reaches of the constituent novels within a series that produce rewards for both reader and writer that stand-alone novels might struggle to achieve in that they have less space within which to develop.  A series can drill deeply into the corner of the world where the action takes place, and the characters can be undressed more thoroughly, more slowly, in a way that mirrors life.

Of course, the difficulty for the writer is that not all books in the series are conceived at the outset.  Things change.  Our characters behave in unexpected ways according to the challenges we present to them.  The series can take unexpected turns, but that it a pleasure as well as a pitfall.  There are several things about Staffe that maybe I would have done differently in the first book, had I known what I know now.  But life’s not like that.

And as for Staffe and the direction he is going in?  From the outset, I had a clear view of where I wanted him to end up in the series and we are getting close to the end now.  Anyone who has read the books will know that he is driven to bring to justice the man who murdered his parents.  The events of Book 6 take him closer to facing up to Santi Extbatteria, the ETA terrorist who made and planted the bomb that killed them.  Will there be a book 7 and a book 8?  Certainly the former, but I have great admiration for Mankell and what he did with Wallender and I don’t think this is a series that will go and on.  I want the pleasures without the pitfalls, but that is easy to say, I guess, and we all know great crime writers who have found it impossible to break free from the deep joy a series of novels can offer.

More information about Adam Creed and his work can be found on his website.  You can also follow him on Twitter @damcreed and find him on Facebook. Also read the Shots' book review.

Kill and Tell  -

A reformed Sicilian criminal, Carmelo Trapani, has been kidnapped and his search for the aged Carmello leads Staffe all the way back to a terrible act at the Battle of Cable Street.  Meanwhile, Staffe's own loyal servant, DS Pulford, is in Pentonville awaiting trial for the murder of Jadus Golding, the very man who attempted to murder Staffe, leaving wounds from which Staffe is still recovering and it suits some in the hierarchy to see Pulford go down.  Can Staffe save Carmelo without leaving Pulford to the political vultures?  As he battles find the man who murdered his own assailant, pressures also mount from within and Staffe's heart falters - in every way.  His job is on the line and when he least expects it, his own past puts a gun to his head.

Kill and Tell by Adam Creed is out now in paperback, £7.99 (Faber & Faber)

Books to Look Forward to From Faber and Faber

A New Town - Clairmont, Texas is home to some of the South's most wealthy and established families. When Emily Page and her husband Mike move there from New York City, so Mike can become the new sheriff, they believe that it's a place where they can build a new life for themselves. A New Start - Pregnant Emily is soon invited to a prestigious lunch hosted by local doyenne Caroline Warwick. There she meets Clairmont's rich housewives, but soon discovers that under the veneer of respectability lies shifting loyalties and dangerous secrets. A Troubled Past - When Caroline Warwick disappears, Emily wonders if any of the well-bred Southern ladies in Caroline's circle could have wanted her harmed. What was the hold that Caroline had over them and what was Caroline herself trying to hide? As Emily begins to search for clues about Caroline's disappearance, secrets from her own troubled past start to come to light. Have her problems followed her to Clairmont, or is there something more sinister going on closer to home?  Lie Still is by Julia Heaberlin and is due to be published in August 2013.

Claire DeWitt and the Bohemian Highway is the second book in the series by Sara Gran and is due to be published in July 2013.  When Paul Casablancas, Claire DeWitt's musician ex-boyfriend, is found dead in his home in San Francisco's Mission District, the police are convinced it's a simple robbery. But, as Claire knows, nothing is ever simple. With the help of her new assistant Claude, Claire follows the clues, finding possible leads to Paul's fate in other cases - a long-ago missing girl and a modern-day miniature horse theft in Marin. As visions of the past reveal the secrets of the present, Claire begins to understand the words of the enigmatic French detective Jacques Silette: 'The detective won't know what he is capable of until he encounters a mystery that pierces his own heart.'

Josephine Tey is brought face to face with her own ghosts when she inherits a remote Suffolk cottage from her godmother, the actress Hester Larkspur. Red Barn Cottage stands close to the site of one of England's most notorious nineteenth century murders, and holds a time-capsule of secrets that Josephine must unravel to solve the mysteries of Hester's life - and her death. As she gets closer to the truth, Josephine is horrified to realise that the cottage has the power to destroy the peace of a village still stained by the shame of its past. Moving between Suffolk, London and Inverness, between the popular world of melodrama and the painful crimes at its heart, "The Death of Lucy Kyte" is both an intriguing insight into the dilemmas of Tey's personal life and a disturbing story of obsession, abuse and deceit.' The Death of Lucy Kyte is by Nicola Upson and is due to be published in August 2013.

The Cry is by Helen Fitzgerald and is due to be published in September 2013.  He’s gone and telling the truth won’t bring him back…… 'Someone's stolen my baby!' When Joanna shouts for help on a lonely roadside in Australia, it sets off a police investigation that will become a media sensation and dinner-table talk across the world.  The search for baby Noah takes on a life of its own as rumours begin to circulate online and it turns out everyone has something to hide. Guilt eats away at Joanna's sanity and she and her partner slowly turn against each other. Finally Joanna starts thinking the unthinkable: could the truth be even more terrible than she suspected? And will it take another death to finally make things right?

Dead Line is by Chris Ewan and is due to be published in August 2013.And just as your plan is developing, so you're evolving, too. You're changing in ways you never would have thought possible before. But that's acceptable to you. You're prepared to do whatever it takes...Why? Because you're the specialist. And that's how you're going to succeed. What do you do if your fiancee goes missing, presumed taken? If you're Daniel Trent, a highly-trained specialist in hostage negotiation, the answer is simple: You find out who took her and you make them talk. But what if your chief suspect is kidnapped? How do you get him back quickly - and alive? Set in Marseille, "Dead Line" is a fast-paced thriller that pitches the reader into Daniel's world, as he tries desperately to secure the release of Jerome Moreau from a ruthless gang in order to interrogate him on the whereabouts of his fiancee. When things don't go according to plan however, Daniel must use all his skills and instincts to find the answers he's looking for, but will he be in time?

North East India, 1923. On the broiling Night Mail from Calcutta to Jamalpur, a man is shot dead in a first class compartment. Detective Inspector Jim Stringer was sleeping in the next compartment along. Was he the intended target? Jim should have known that his secondment to the East Indian Railway, with a roving brief to inspect security arrangements, would not be the working holiday he had hoped for. The country seethes with political and racial tension. Aside from the Jamalpur shooting, someone is placing venomous snakes - including giant king cobras - in the first class compartments of the railway. Jim also has worries on the home front: his daughter has formed a connection with a Maharajah's son, who may in turn have a connection to Jim's incredibly rude colleague, the bristling Major Fisher. Jim must do everything he can to keep his family safe from harm, as he unravels the intrigues that surround him...  Night Train to Jamalpur is by Andrew Martin and is due to be published in September 2013.

  

Blue is the Night is by Eoin McNamee and is due to be published in October 2013. 1949. Lance Curran is set to prosecute a young man for a brutal murder, in the 'Robert the Painter' case, one which threatens to tear society apart. In the searing July heat, corruption and justice vie as Harry Ferguson, Judge Curran's fixer, contemplates the souls of men adrift, and his own fall from grace with the beautiful and wilful Patricia. Within three years, Curran will be a judge, his nineteen year old daughter dead, at the hands of a still unknown murderer, and his wife Doris condemned to an asylum for the rest of her days. In "Blue Is the Night", it is Doris who finally emerges from the fog of deceit and blame to cast new light into the murder of her daughter - as McNamee once again explores and dramatizes a notorious and nefarious case.

If You Were Here is by Alafair Burke and is due to be published in September 2013.  When McKenna Jordan, a magazine journalist investigating the story of the heroic and unidentified woman, finds the video footage, she thinks she recognizes her as Susan Hauptmann. But Susan disappeared without a trace ten years earlier, having just introduced McKenna to her future husband, Patrick. McKenna's complex search for her missing friend forces her to unearth secrets that lie deep in all their pasts. A sublimely plotted mystery and a devastating thriller about marriage, private security and journalistic scandal.

In the comfortable suburb where she lives, Heloise is just a mom, the youngish widow with a forgettable job who somehow never misses her son's soccer games or school plays. But in discrete hotel rooms throughout the area, she's the woman of your dreams - if you can afford her hourly fee. For more than a decade, Heloise has believed her unorthodox life to be a safe one; rigidly compartmentalized, maintaining no real friendships and trusting very few people. But now this secret life is under siege. Her once oblivious accountant is asking loaded questions about her business. Her longtime protector is hinting at new, mysterious dangers. Her employees can no longer be trusted. Her ex, the one who doesn't know he's the father of her son, is appealing his life sentence. And, one county over, another so-called 'suburban madam' has been found dead in her car, an apparent suicide...Can Heloise stay alive long enough to remake her life again, and save her son? Can she really expect to leave everything else behind? And When She Was Good is by Laura Lippman and is due to be published in June 2013.

After three years in the wilderness, hardboiled reporter Gerry Conway is back at his desk at the Glasgow Tribune. But three years is a long time on newspapers and things have changed - readers are dwindling, budgets are tightening, and the Trib's once rigorous standards are slipping. Once the paper's star reporter, Conway now plays second fiddle to his former protege, crime reporter Martin Moir. But when Moir goes AWOL as a big story breaks, Conway is dispatched to cover a gangland shooting. And when Moir's body turns up in a flooded quarry, Conway is drawn deeper into the city's criminal underworld as he looks for the truth about his colleague's death. Braving the hostility of gangsters, ambitious politicians and his own newspaper bosses, Conway discovers he still has what it takes to break a big story. But this is a story not everyone wants to hear as the city prepares to host the Commonwealth Games and the country gears up for a make-or-break referendum on independence. In this, the second book in the Conway Trilogy, Liam McIlvanney explores the murky interface of crime and politics in the New Scotland. Where the Dead Men Go is due to be published in September 2013.

  

A reformed Sicilian criminal, Carmelo Trapani, has been kidnapped and his search for the the aged Carmello leads Staffe all the way back to a terrible act at the Battle of Cable Street. Meanwhile, Staffe's own loyal servant,, DS Pulford, is in Pentonville awaiting trial for the murder of Jadus Golding, the very man who attempted to murder Staffe, leaving wounds from which Staffe is still recovering and it suits some in the heirarchy to see Pulford go down. Can Staffe save Carmelo without leaving Pulford to the political vultures? As he battles find the man who murdered his own assailant, pressures also mount from within and Staffe's heart falters - in every way. His job is on the line and when he least expects it, his own past puts a gun to his head. Hailed as 'London's answer to The Wire', "Kill And Tell" takes the "Staffe" series up a notch and into the very highest echelon of contemporary crime writing.  Kill and Tell is by Adam Creed and is due to be published in October 2013.

Limehouse, 1880: Dancing girls are going missing from 'Paradise' - the criminal manor with ruthless efficiency by the ferocious Lady Ginger. Seventeen-year-old music hall seamstress Kitty Peck finds herself reluctantly drawn into a web of blackmail, depravity and murder when The Lady devises a singular scheme to discover the truth. But as Kitty's scandalous and terrifying act becomes the talk of London, she finds herself facing someone even more deadly and horrifying than The Lady. Bold, impetuous and blessed with more brains than she cares to admit, it soon becomes apparent that it's up to the unlikely team of Kitty and her stagehand friend, Lucca, to unravel the truth and ensure that more girls do not meet with a similar fate. But are Kitty's courage and common sense and Lucca's book learning a match for the monster in the shadows? Their investigations take them from the gin-fuelled halls and doss houses of the East End to the champagne-fuelled galleries of the West End. Take nothing at face value: Kitty is about to step out on a path of discovery that changes everything...  Kitty Peck and the Music Hall Murders is by Kate Griffin and is due to be published in July 2013.

Forthcoming books to look forward to from Faber & Faber

It's Detroit, 1971. Harry Levin, scrap metal dealer and holocaust survivor, learns that his daughter has been killed in a car accident. Travelling to Washington DC, he's told by Detective Taggart that the German diplomat,who was drunk, has been released and afforded immunity; he will never face charges. So Harry is left with only one option - to discover the identity of this man, follow him back to Munich and hunt him down. The first of a two-hander, Peter Leonard's new novel is a classic cat-and-mouse thriller. Told with swagger, brutal humour and not a little violence, it follows a good man who is forced to return to the horrors of his past. Voices of the Dead is due to be published in January 2012

Driving home from a party with his girlfriend and brother, all of them drunk and high on stolen pills, Billy Blackmore accidentally hits someone in the night. In a panic, they all decide to drive off. But the next day Billy wakes to find he has to cover the story for the local paper. It turns out the dead man was Edinburgh's biggest crime lord and, as Billy struggles with what he's done, he is sucked into a nightmare of guilt, retribution and violence. From the author of the acclaimed "Smokeheads", "Hit & Run" is another pitch-black psychological thriller. Hit & Run is by Doug Johnstone and is due to be published in March 2012.

Death in the Sun is by Adam Creed and is due to be published in June 2012. In Almagen, a small village in the Andalucian mountains, Staffe nurses himself back from the brink of death. His idyllic new life in Spain appeals and Staffe is becoming a part of the community. One day his friend, Manolo, takes Staffe to visit Almeria and tells him about a body that has been found buried in an old greenhouse by the Mediterranean. Staffe becomes inexorably drawn to the case and befriends a journalist, Raul, who presents the killing as a simple case of drug-trafficking gone wrong, but it soon emerges that this murder mirrors the methods of torture used during Spain's brutal civil war. When Raul plunges to his death in a drunken car crash, Almagen’s own secret past slowly rises to the surface, bringing with it family feuds and an expatriate ménage of a famous British artist, a Vietnam war vet, and a beautiful German heiress. Between the sierra and the sea, everyone seems to want to bury the past – except Staffe, who's new life is threatened as he refuses to abandon his investigation. Once unearthed, the past refuses to go away and the closer the unseen enemy gets, the more Staffe’s own past haunts him – torn and trapped by two so different worlds, and closer than ever to the man who murdered his parents.

"A Dark Redemption" introduces DI Jack Carrigan and DS Geneva Miller as they investigate the brutal rape and murder of a young Ugandan student. Plunged into an underworld of illegal immigrant communities, they discover that the murdered girl's studies at a London College may have threatened to reveal things that some people will go to any lengths to keep secret...Unflinching, inventive and intelligent, "A Dark Redemption" explores a sinister case that will force DI Carrigan to face up to his past and DS Miller to confront what path she wants her future to follow. A Dark Redemption is by Stav Sherez and is due to be published in February 2012.

Siberian Red is the third book in the Inspector Pekkala series by Sam Eastland and is due to be published in February 2012 It's September 1939. The Second World War has begun. Even as the fighting rages in, Stalin's long time obsession with the missing treasure of Tsar Nicholas II is rekindled. An informant claims to have information about the whereabouts of the man entrusted by the Tsar with hiding his gold. As the news of the informant reaches Stalin, however, the man is knifed to death. Stalin summons Pekkala to the Kremlin and orders him to solve the murder. To accomplish his mission, he must return to Borodok, the notorious Gulag where he himself spent many years as a prisoner. There, he must pose as a inmate in order to unravel the mystery ...As he returns to the nightmares of his past, is this a mission too far for the great Pekkala?

It's summer, 1936. The writer, Josephine Tey, joins her friends in the holiday village of Portmeirion to celebrate her fortieth birthday. Alfred Hitchcock and his wife, Alma Reville, are there to sign a deal to film Josephine's novel, "A Shilling for Candles", and Hitchcock has one or two tricks up his sleeve to keep the holiday party entertained - and expose their deepest fears. But things get out of hand when one of Hollywood's leading actresses is brutally slashed to death in a cemetery near the village. The following day, as fear and suspicion take over in a setting where nothing - and no one - is quite what it seems, Chief Inspector Archie Penrose becomes increasingly unsatisfied with the way the investigation is ultimately resolved. Several years later, another horrific murder, again linked to a Hitchcock movie, drives Penrose back to the scene of the original crime to uncover the shocking truth. "Fear in the Sunlight" is the fourth detective novel following the life and work of Golden Age writer, Josephine Tey by Nicola Upson and is due to be published in April 2012

Baghdad 1917. Captain Jim Stringer, invalided from the Western Front, has been dispatched to investigate what looks like a nasty case of treason. He arrives to find a city on the point of insurrection, his cover apparently blown - and his only contact lying dead with flies in his eyes. As Baghdad swelters in a particularly torrid summer, the heat alone threatens the lives of the British soldiers who occupy the city. The recently ejected Turks are still a danger - and many of the local Arabs are none too friendly either. For Jim, who is not particularly good in warm weather, the situation grows pricklier by the day. Aside from his investigation, he is working on the railways around the city. His boss is the charming, enigmatic Lieutenant-Colonel Shepherd, who presides over the gracious dining society called The Baghdad Railway Club - and who may or may not be a Turkish agent. Jim's search for the truth brings him up against murderous violence in a heat-dazed, labyrinthine city where an enemy awaits around every corner. The Baghdad Railway Club is by Andrew Martin whose novels have been short-listed for the Ellis Peters Historical Award and the CWA Dagger in the Library. The Baghdad Railway Club is due to be published in June 2012

The Expats is the debut novel by Chris Pavone. When her husband accepts a new job in Luxembourg Kate Morrow thinks she is leaving her top-secret life in the CIA behind. It’s the perfect opportunity for her family to start again as expatriates in a genteel, European city with a new home, new friends and a new life. But when Kate and her husband, Dexter, are befriended by another American couple, Julia and Bill, Kate can’t help but sense that they may not be who they say they are. Charming and sociable, they are also vague about their past in ways that Kate, as ex-CIA, knows intelligence operatives have to be. With Dexter immersed in work – where he is developing a top secret banking security system – Kate is left to try and unravel the deception for herself.

New books to look forward to from Faber and Faber

Andrew Martin whose “Jim Stringer” Railway Detective series has been shortlisted twice for the Ellis Peters Historical Dagger returns with the seventh book in the series – The Somme Stations. Jim Stringer finds that death is still close to hand when a member of his unit has been found dead even before they have left the country to go to France as part of the Railway Pals. Clearly there is someone within the ranks at the bottom of this. However, Jim soon finds himself under suspicion when all the evidence points in his direction. The Somme Station is due to be published in March 2011.

The Red Coffin sees the return of Inspector Pekkala originally introduced to readers in the debut novel Eye of the Tsar. Pekkala is asked to investigate the murder of a secretive and eccentric architect who was designing “the Red Coffin”. The Red Coffin by Sam Eastland is due to be published in February 2011.

Adam Creed’s third book in the D.I. Staffe series Pain of Death is due to be published in April 2011. D.I. Will Waggstaffe finds himself amidst Whitehall’s clubland and Soho when burlesque singer Kerry Degg is found after being held captive whilst giving birth to a baby.

Sara Gran’s novel City of the Dead introduces readers to Claire DeWitt an unusual private investigator when she is asked to investigate the disappearance of New Orleans Assistant District Attorney who has been missing since Hurricane Katrina. City of the Dead is due for publication in June 2011.

Smokeheads by Doug Johnstone is a story of four friends, one weekend and gallons of whisky. Four friends find their weekend spiralling out of control when they become involved with a young divorcee and her young sister along with the ex-husband who is not only a control freak but also the local police. Smokeheads is due for release in March 2011

Tobias Jones returns with his bee-keeping private investigator Castagnetti who is asked by a client to find out who set fire to his car. His investigation takes him into the murky and seedy world of the construction industry in northern Italy. White Death the second book in the series featuring Castagnetti is due for publication in May 2011.

All He Saw Was the Girl by Peter Leonard is actually two narratives which come together in the backstreets of Italy’s oldest city. Firstly in Rome where two American exchange students become involved in a violent street gang and in Detroit where a secret service agent’s wife has an affair with a Mafia enforcer. All He Saw Was the Girl is due for publication in January 2011.

The St Petersburg novels by R N Morris featuring Magistrate Porfiry Petrovich returns with The Cleansing Flame, which sees the Magistrate looking into an investigation featuring radicals who are seeking to fan the flames of revolution. Furthermore a junior Magistrate finds his loyalties divided when he agrees to infiltrate a terrorist cell. The Cleansing Flame will be published in May 2011.

Christopher Wakling’s The Devil’s Mask is an historical crime novel set just after the abolition of the slave trade in Bristol. Inigo Bright a lawyer whilst dealing with a request from his boss to reconcile years of port fees and import duties finds himself caught up in a secret that will have a devastating effect not only on his family but also his work as well. The Devil’s Mask is published in June 2011.