Look Out For These – Theakstons Old Peculier Crime writing festival special – Number 1:Turning to crime

This is the second of my posts from the Theakstons Old Peculier crime writing festival. I went to the Friday session “Turning to crime” which featured a panel of authors who either had other day jobs, like broadcaster and columnist Mark Lawson, or had become authors despite having established careers in other fields, Tony Parsons who was a journalist, Natalie Haynes a stand-up comedian and Sarah Pinderer a teacher.  Listening to the discussion, I was quite taken with what I heard about novels from Mark Lawson and Tony Parsons. Both had written books that could be described as “novels of our time” and what really grabbed me was how the ideas came about and how the authors turned these into novels.
 

Mark Lawson’s novel “The Deaths” starts with a teaser on the first page – one of four rich families that live in big farmhouses has been slaughtered. The novel moves through a series of storytelling and flashbacks to introduce the families and their lives, revealing the reason for this horrific event. Lawson describes the novel as a social satire, looking at the lives of the 1%, that small elite group with wealth, power and influence.
 

I liked the idea of the story, but what really grabbed me was Lawson talking about his social interactions with some of the 1% he knows and finding out about the eye watering amount of money one individual owed. The idea that someone would put themselves in hock for such vast amounts of money and the emotions that drive this - desire, envy and the need for conspicuous consumption, whether cars, holidays, houses or just a lavish lifestyle struck me as great foundations for crime and a fantastic backdrop for a novel. This one’s now on my reading list and I’ll blog more when I’ve read it.
 

The second novel that I think is worth looking out for was a “possible” in my reading pile, but is now a “definite” – The Murder Bag by Tony Parsons. Parsons talked about the initial idea - seeing photographs of David Cameron, George Osborn and other Etonians/Bullingdon clubbers. He wondered about the emotions that this might arouse and was sure that there must be people who would just love to kill them all! The plot might sound a bit trite, but I found the way Parsons talked about the characters and victims – rich and powerful, but not all blessed in the same way, thoughtful and convincing. So whilst there seems to be something pleasurable about bumping them off, this novel didn’t come across as just a murder fest, but a book with well developed characters and plot.
 

I was also surprised to find that Parsons had no contract or buyer for this novel, so it represented a huge “punt” for him, working at risk on a project that might have no commercial outlet at all. Despite the risk, Parsons hasn’t skimped on the time, thought and insight needed to make this a mature novel. He talked about the time he spent mulling over the character, a whole year, and choosing the murder weapon, a Fairburn Sykes commando dagger, which made me appreciate the deep emotional content of this novel, making it an absolute must for me to read.
 
 I’ll post more later and my fellow blogger Liz Mistry is also here in Harrogate and will be also be posting soon, so do come back soon for more!
 
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