Murder, She Wrote

I was on Twitter last week, in a conversation about YA books and teenage reading, and I mentioned that the twin pillars of my teenage reading years – or so it seems, looking back through rose-tinted binoculars – were Agatha Christie (right) and Sven Hassel. Which very probably explains a lot about the kinds of books I like to write now.
  Anyway, there may come a time when I write a feature about why Sven Hassel loomed so large in my imagination, but for now I’ll point you in the direction of a piece I had published last week in the Irish Examiner on the enduring – and indeed, the increasing – popularity of Dame Agatha Christie. It features contributions from Sophie Hannah, who will publish her Poirot novel THE MONOGRAM MURDERS in September, and the inimitable John Curran, who very likely knows more about Agatha Christie than anyone else on the planet.
  If you’re in the mood, you can find the feature here …

“Ya Wanna Do It Here Or Down The Station, Punk?”: Eoin McNamee

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?
If it’s in the genre heartland, any Ross McDonald Lew Archer.

What fictional character would you most like to have been?
Travis McGee in the Chookie McCall days.

Who do you read for guilty pleasures?
Sven Hassel.

Most satisfying writing moment?
Finishing THE ULTRAS.

The best Irish crime novel is …?
THE BUTCHER BOY by Pat McCabe.

What Irish crime novel would make a great movie?
All of them.

Worst / best thing about being a writer?
Worst thing is money. Best thing is apprehending the transcendent.

The pitch for your next book is …?
Lance Curran as counsel for the prosecution in the Robert the Painter case.

Who are you reading right now?
Susan Sontag, ON PHOTOGRAPHY. “... as if seeing itself, pursued with sufficient avidity and single-mindedness, could indeed reconcile the claims of truth and the need to find the world beautiful.”

God appears and says you can only write OR read. Which would it be?
Without question, write.

The three best words to describe your own writing are …?
Looking for mystery.

Eoin McNamee’s ORCHID BLUE is published by Faber and Faber.