Tuesday, May 29, 2007

“Ya Wanna Do It Here Or Down The Station, Punk?” # 84: Bill Crider

Yep, it’s rubber-hose time, folks: a rapid-fire Q&A for those shifty-looking usual suspects ...
What crime novel would you most like to have written?
I'm not at all sure I can answer this. On any given day, the answer would probably be different. For today, The Big Sleep, followed closely by The Maltese Falcon and The Chill.
Who do you read for guilty pleasures?
I never consider reading to be guilty, but at the moment I'm reading the new paperback edition of Harold Robbins's The Carpetbaggers. That's about as guilty as it gets.
Most satisfying writing moment?
Any time I finish a book or story.
The best Irish crime novel is …?
Can I call The White Trilogy a single novel? That's what got me started reading Ken Bruen. I'm not really qualified to answer, though, not knowing as much as I should about the Irish crime novel. Certainly the "middle period" Jack Higgins books are wonderful stuff. Or does Higgins count? He was born in Belfast, I think.
What Irish crime novel would make a great movie?
Again I'm not really qualified to answer. How about John Connolly's Every Dead Thing? The right director might do well with that one.
Worst / best thing about being a writer?
Best: the huge royalty checks. Worst: there's a worst?
Why does John Banville use a pseudonym for writing crime?
Branding? Like, if you buy a Ford, you want a Ford. If you buy John Banville, you want "literature."
The three best words to describe your own writing are …?
Laid-back, wry, rural.

Edgar-nominated Bill Crider recently published Murder Among The OWLS

No comments:

Post a Comment

Declan Burke has published a number of novels, the most recent of which is ABSOLUTE ZERO COOL. As a journalist and critic, he writes and broadcasts on books and film for a variety of media outlets, including the Irish Times, RTE, the Irish Examiner and the Sunday Independent. He has an unfortunate habit of speaking about himself in the third person. All views expressed here are his own and are very likely to be contrary.