In 2019, one year BC [Before Covid], Robert Goddard was awarded the Crime Writers Association’s highest accolade, The Diamond Dagger in London. His acceptance speech was most amusing and video footage can be accessed HERE
Many of us applauded when
Robert’s literary output veered toward [what we term] thriller fiction,
but retained the trademarks of his devious plotting, evocative characters and
memorable backdrops that framed his narratives.
His latest, is no exception -
When reading The Fine
Art of Invisible Detection under lock-down in your house, you will not require
either anti-viral hand-gel, an N-95 face-mask or a book-mark - as Goddard’s
latest is a one-sitting read, filled with vicarious thrills and a killer
dénouement.
There is one unanswered
question, to the master of the stand-alone mystery-thriller, and it relates to
Umika Wada, the invisible detective. You’ll understand the question if you
crack the spine of this book.
Read the review from Shots HERE
So, after an early read of his
latest thriller, Shots Magazine tracked down Robert Goddard, to discuss his
work -
Ali
Karim: So Robert, before we get into The
Fine Art of Invisible Detection, how have you been keeping in these weird days
of Plague and Economic Anxiety?
Robert Goddard: On a
day-to-day basis, I suppose writers’ lives have changed less than most people
since this all started. And at least now we who imagine many kinds of disaster
can’t be accused of exaggerating the things that can go wrong in the world.
Research trips have gone the way of plotting sessions in the pub, though, which
undeniably sucks a lot of fun out of life. But I’m surviving!
Ali: What mental strategies have you found help
cope with the ubiquity of Covid?
Robert: The best
distraction I can suggest from the all-enveloping topic of the virus is fiction
- the writing as well as the reading of it. Never was escapism more sorely
needed. A daily walk - even in the rain - also helps.
Ali: So, tell us why this
widowed middle-aged Japanese female detective? Where did she spring from?
Robert: Where do characters come from? I really don’t
know. But apparently, somewhere deep within my soul, there is a widowed
middle-aged Japanese woman who asks nothing more of life than to be left alone
by it but who, inevitably, isn’t going to be. I find her view of the world
bracingly pragmatic and her stubbornness - which is fundamentally what drives
her pursuit of the truth - very endearing.
Ali: And would I be
correct thinking there’s a pinch of Dame Agatha
Christie’s Miss Marple somewhere in this fiendish thriller?
Robert: I don’t think of Wada in Marple-ish
terms. I don’t even think of her as a detective. Nor does she think of herself
as one, though that’s what she ends up becoming. She somehow just is -
and was so from the moment she entered my imagination.
Robert: Is it a change of pace? Or is it an evolution? I feel as if I’m just coming into my prime as a writer. I don’t envy mathematicians or tennis players whose best years are over by the time they hit their mid-thirties. Writing over the long term turns out to be rather exhilarating. I’m certainly enjoying it.
Ali: I
was reminded of the novel YOU
ONLY LIVE TWICE, while engrossed in The
Fine Art of Invisible Detection. Fleming once defined a Thriller novel as a
narrative structured that “…one must
simply keep turning the pages…” Do you consider your work to have evolved
from historical, complex crime novels to more of what Fleming alluded to?
Robert: I don’t really
distinguish in my mind between crime, history, mystery or thriller. The story is
the story. How to tell it - how to structure it - is what takes us into
particular genre areas. And this also creates momentum. My belief is that if I
want to keep turning the pages, so will the reader.
Ali: Your work [and The Fine Art of Invisible Detection being
no exception] seems to feature the fascination of history, or rather what was
hidden? Would you care to comment?
Robert: There’s no
doubt that secrets from the past play an important role in many of my novels.
That’s partly a reflection of the way my imagination works. But it also
reflects a fundamental truth: that what we do and why we do it is embedded in
our pasts. And in many cases, there are secrets hiding there.
Ali: The character Umika
Wada is fascinating, but I’d also like to state, your
ability to craft secondary, tertiary and quaternary characters that stand-up on
the page, with just a few flourishes of the pen, adroit. So, how do you manage
a large cast of characters during the writing process?
Robert: I love my subsidiary characters. I give them
all the rights enjoyed by the major characters, which I don’t always feel is
the case in some novels I read. They’re not there just to move the story along.
They must be true to themselves. Take George Guptill in The Fine Art of
Invisible Detection. The man presented himself in the story fully-formed
and halfway through an intrusive question. He’s everything in a fellow
passenger on a long flight Wada would want to avoid. But there’s no avoiding
George! And in the end you can’t help liking him.
Ali: The ending of The
Fine Art of Invisible Detection [as well as execution] made me believe we may
see more from Wada’s world, and Japan?
Robert: It’s possible
we’ll hear more of Wada. We’ll have to wait and see what comes up. I would
undoubtedly enjoy posing another set of fiendishly complex problems for her
attention, though to stay on the right side of her I’d apologise in advance.
She appreciates courtesy.
Ali: Like many
International Thriller Novels / Films, there is often a conspiracy at the core.
What do you make of the appeal of conspiracy theories and those who become
attracted to them?
Robert: Well, there are conspiracies and then there
are conspiracy theories and those who admit the possibility of the former can’t
in all logic dismiss the latter without examining them. Covid has already
spawned many conspiracy theories. I think we all crave certainty about events
that sometimes arise from entirely chaotic circumstances. Then again, those of
us old enough to remember where we were when Kennedy was shot know that nothing
has ever been quite the same since. If the official version of events makes no
logical sense, it’s inevitable that some will speculate about where the truth
might lie.
Ali: And
the appeal of Cults, especially those that involve death?
Robert: Now, I’m as
happy as the next man to indulge in elaborate theorising about unexplained
events (see above), but cults? There I have to hold up my hand and admit
that I cannot comprehend the ability of the human mind to convince itself that
obedience to irrational commands is the key that will unlock the doors of
happiness and spiritual fulfilment. But many do just that. And then, beyond
that, the engagement in murderous activity, as with the Aum Shinrikyo cult?
Reality leaves us novelists behind at times. All we can do is try our very best
to keep up.
Ali: Just
before the world went all weird and Covid; you were awarded the 2019 CWA Diamond Dagger, so
do you feel any acceptance as being labelled a ‘crime writer’ OR are genre
boundaries irrelevant to a writer?
Robert: I really never set out to write crime novels
or thrillers or historical fiction. I just wanted to write the kinds of stories
that excited my imagination, which generally involved quite a few crimes,
psychological tension and historical themes. I’m not sure exactly what you’d
call them, but I was delighted the CWA wanted to recognise my work in the way
they did.
Ali: And
what about your reading?
Robert: My reading’s almost all research-driven,
although that can be quite far-ranging. Impulse buys haven’t happened as much
as they used to when I could browse in bookshops - a really good cover tends to
lure me in. As a result, I’m missing bookshops almost as much as I’m missing
pubs.
Ali: And
what’s next for you professionally?
Robert: Another book is
happening and it seems to be going well. But I can’t say much about it at the
moment.
Ali: Thank you for your
time.
Robert: Thank you
for the questions.
We would suggest
you mark your diaries accordingly as is released on March 18th 2021,
including on eBook and Audible platforms.
More information
about the work of Robert Goddard – CLICK HERE
and not HERE, unless you wish to
augment your wardrobe.
Shots Magazine
would like to thank Patsy Irwin of Penguin Random House for organizing this conversation
for our readers
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