Readers Place

Lindsey Davis interview/review

Of course I would like to think part of it is due to me… To my mind the audience was always there, but publishers were afraid ancient periods were somehow ‘too difficult’.

TV has done a lot to help; programmes like ‘The Time Team’ and historical documentaries have shown that people have an appetite for even the remote past. Re-enactors like the Ermine Street Guard contributed. And there is more interest in the classical languages than is generally supposed – infant schools are teaching Latin in lunch breaks, for instance, (Minimus programme), and lots of my readers get inspired to learn Latin or to study the classical world.

1. What makes this period so interesting to you?

The fact that we had the Romans in Britain has to be important. I much enjoyed writing the British section of The Silver Pigs (and eventually returned Falco to Britain for ‘A Body in the Bath House’ and ‘The Jupiter Myth’, which are set in Chichester and London.) As an ex-civil servant, I am fascinated by how the vast Roman Empire was run. It is very significant that my character Flavius Hilaris is a ‘good’ bureaucrat! I return to the theme of running the Empire many times in the series. And then so many aspects of Roman life appeal to me: the food, the engineering, the lawcourts, the fact that – unlike in ancient Greek society – women played an equal part in marriage and were allowed to socialize.

1. How do you go about researching your books?

To some extent it is an on-going process and I have now been doing it for nearly twenty years! I read everything I can ever find about the period, I visit sites and museums, I read the ancient literature. I like, if possible, to visit the place where a particular book is mainly set.

Once I decide on the theme of a book, I then concentrate on that. I let the research inspire me; I get ideas as I go along from what I’ve seen or read, rather than the other way round. Sometimes an idea will stay with me for years before I have a chance to use it. The key is to be thorough in finding out as much as you can – but then to select only the details that are necessary to the story, not to be lured into relating every single fact.

1. What do you enjoy most (and least) about being a writer? There can’t be much better fun than creative writing as your job.

I like the freedom to do it when and how I like. I enjoy having a good reputation, there’s no doubt about that. While I say I am a born student, wanting to loaf around all day, in fact I do really enjoy the last three months of writing, when I am up against my deadline and concentrating wholly on the book. I work very hard then. If I wasn’t writing a series, which has a certain security, I would worry a great deal about whether the book I was working on would sell. A writer can spend a year or more on a project, then find the time was wasted and there is no money to pay the bills… And I hate it when people say, ‘Oh I’ve always wanted to write’, as if it’s just a hobby and anyone can do it. I have always wanted to tap-dance, but I wouldn’t dream of saying so to a professional dancer.

1. How does Falco differ from the classic private eye? And what do you like about him?

I often say the main reason he differs is that he hasn’t read the books about the other guys, so he doesn’t know the rules… But although he overturns stereotypes, I set out to make him a classic gumshoe character; that was part of the joke. I wanted him to be cynical and streetwise, to have a dark past, to be sneered at by society but underneath it a good man who is very good at his job. I like him for all of those reasons, including the fact that he makes his own way in the world. I like his humour, his tenacity, his love for his wife (as Helena becomes) and his children, and the dog who adopts him. I like the fact he will struggle to right wrongs even when the Establishment tries to ignore the wrongs – which of course is a classic characteristic of the private eye.

1. What do you think a reading group should discuss about Falco as a character and The Silver Pigs as a novel?

I feel as if I am setting an exam! Well, here are some ideas:
1) Falco is a 1940s gumshoe set two thousand years ago for a joke. The Silver Pigs was an experiment, though clearly it worked (there are now 17!) So why does it work? Are there any problems with the idea?
2) What are the advantages and disadvantages of a first person narrative for this kind of book?
3) If I tell you the original plan was that Helena Justina would be the master-mind of the conspiracy, why do you think I changed my mind? And can you see the moment when I did so?
4) Some people love historical novels, others tell me they ‘never read them’. Discuss!
5) How well do you think the Roman setting works for the crime genre? Are there obvious disadvantages and advantages for the author?
6) What do you feel about humour?
7) Sosia Camillina becomes the classic dead blonde. Killing her was one of the hardest things I have ever done in fiction. Discuss this, and consider why I thought it was important to go ahead.
8) As I wrote subsequent books, it became clear that many readers prefer hearing about Falco’s family and friends, while the actual crimes and investigations are secondary. Is this just because of the way I write, or does it say something about the reasons why people read?

1. Do you have a favourite book and what are you currently reading?

My favourite novels are: Sterne’s Tristram Shandy, Stella Gibbons’ Cold Comfort Farm and Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. I am currently reading Terry Pratchett’s Guards, Guards, a book about Roman medicine (aargh), and watching Yes, Minister on DVD.

1. What are you currently working on?

A modern short story for the Anniversary Anthology of the Detection Club.