Peter Swanson Month!
So, its been a bit of a Peter Swanson month for me! Firstly, I had the lovely experience of meeting him at Granite Noir and got to hear him talk about his love for classic crime fiction. It also just so happened that I was also doing a buddy read on Insta for ‘Her Every Fear’ and Lulu managed to arrange to get Peter to join us in the discussion!
Also, I had to the pleasure at the start of the year of reading ‘Eight Perfect Murders’ / ‘Rules for Perfect Murders’ which has been my book of the year so far! I am thinking that it will take something very special to knock this off its perch.
Granite Noir - 23rd February 2020
It wasn’t until a few days before Granite Noir started that I realised that Peter would be attending the festival. It was actually from an Insta post that Peter put up that I realised he was even there! For those of you that don’t know about Granite Noir, is it a crime fiction festival in Aberdeen which is held every year - I recommend attending if you get if chance as they get some great participants. This year they also had Ian Rankin, Stuart MacBride, Ben Aaronovitch and many more.
Peter was on a panel with Lexie Elliot were they discussed how both their books were influenced by the golden age of crime. Lexie’s book, ‘The Missing Years’, is also excellent and I urge you to give it ago. Peter was there to talk about ‘Eight Perfect Murders’ and it is a doozy of a book. Here is a quick synopsis;
Years ago, bookseller and mystery aficionado Malcolm Kershaw compiled a list of the genre's most unsolvable murders, those that are almost impossible to crack--which he titled "Eight Perfect Murders"--chosen from among the best of the best including Agatha Christie's A. B. C. Murders, Patricia Highsmith's Strangers on a Train, Ira Levin's Death Trap, A. A. Milne's Red House Mystery, Anthony Berkeley Cox's Malice Aforethought, James M. Cain's Double Indemnity, John D. Macdonald's The Drowner, and Donna Tartt's A Secret History.
But no one is more surprised than Mal, now the owner of the Old Devils Bookstore in Boston, when an FBI agent comes knocking on his door one snowy day in February. She's looking for information about a series of unsolved murders that look eerily similar to the killings on Mal's old list. And the FBI agent isn't the only one interested in this bookseller who spends almost every night at home reading. There is killer is out there, watching his every move--a diabolical threat who knows way too much about Mal's personal history, especially the secrets he's never told anyone, even his recently deceased wife.
To protect himself, Mal begins looking into possible suspects . . . and sees a killer in everyone around him. But Mal doesn't count on the investigation leaving a trail of death in its wake. Suddenly, a series of shocking twists leaves more victims dead--and the noose around Mal's neck grows so tight he might never escape.
During the panel Peter talked about how his love for crime began in his childhood and never really left him. He extolled his love for the queen of crime Agatha Christie but also for Patricia Highsmith, who I am afraid I have never read! Something that is going to get rectified as soon as possible. Actually, it is my aim over the next couple of months to try and read all the books from which the ‘perfect murders’ have come from. I have already read the Christie ones of course but Highsmith is next on the list.
I feel as if Mal, who is the main character in ‘Eight Perfect Murders’, may be slightly autobiographical in the fact that he was a bookseller and a lot of the books Peter has admitted he read and loved as he was growing up.
Peter was asked whether you need to be ‘sociopath’ to write about them? Obviously he didn’t answer in the affirmative! He talked very eloquently about the fact you need empathy to write a good one. You need to understand that certain events in their lives may have triggered their personalities and the willingness to accept that people are made from both good and bad.
I also got to have a wee chat with him - sorry if I came off as aloof or weird! Basically I am in the middle of getting a dental implant on one of my front teeth and currently have a temporary denture on a dental plate. On the way up to Aberdeen it broke off! I was very self conscious of the fact it missing and didn’t want to look like a jakey - i.e. white trash in American speak! But thanks for being lovely anyway! I also managed to get a signed copied of this latest book a few days early.
125 Likes, 10 Comments - Peter Swanson (@petermswanson) on Instagram: "Didn't entirely embarrass myself playing the judge in the @tenfeettallaberdeen production of the..."
Peter was also involved with a ‘mock trial’ on the morning of the Sunday - something which I missed but he posted on his Instagram. Wish I had gone to see it now!
Her Every Fear - buddy read
I was also involved in a buddy read for ‘Her Every Fear’ on Instagram which had been organised by Lulu @thethrillerqueeen (someone who you should be following!) and she somehow managed to rope Peter into joining our discussion at the start of this month. Here is a quick synopsis of ‘Her Every Fear’;
Following a brutal attack, Kate Priddy makes the uncharacteristically bold decision of moving from London to Boston - in an apartment swap with her cousin, Corbin Dell.
But soon after her arrival Kate makes a shocking discovery: Corbin's next-door neighbour, Audrey Marshall, may have been murdered.
Far from home and emotionally unstable, her imagination playing out her every fear, who can Kate trust?
I loved this book and couldn’t wait to hear Peter’s thoughts and inspiration behind the book.
I asked Peter and Lulu if they minded whether I shared some of the questions and they didn’t so here are some of them!
WARNING SPOILERS ARE AHEAD!
@thethrillerqueen - Her Every Fear deals a lot with the idea of yoyeurism and creepy neighbours lurking around. Did any weird neighbours in your everyday life inspire you to write certain characters? Have you ever had a problem with a neighbour or anything shady happening in your neighbourhood that inspired you to write this novel?
I have always been interested in voyeurism, and it probably has more to do with movies - Rear Window for one - than any real life experience. I have always been obsessed with people watching other people without them knowing!
@whatthisreadthat - Out of all of your novels so far, which one was your most challenging to write? You always love such complex storylines so I am curious about the process.
Honestly, Her Every Fear was really hard, because of the different narrative threads. At one point, I had it all messed up, characters doing things at the wrong time. The editing process was a nightmare. I had to make a calendar. I should have started the calendar at the very beginning of the book.
@webookedup - First, I love your work and so happy you joined us! Eight Perfect Murders is SO good and I can’t wait for everyone to experience it. My question is this: what made you kill off Corbin? Is it because he was bound to rot in jail anyways? Or it would have been too much of a happy ending? You really made the reader (me at least!) like him, so I was sad he died.
That’s so interesting that so many of you liked Corbin! Ultimately, he was a tragic figure, I think and thats why he died. Also, I think it is important as a thriller write to be ruthless with your characters. Not just for the book you’re writing but for all your books. Be unpredictable!
@booknook8756 - I just asked when he first got the idea for the novel. Do you have quite a few ideas in your mind already or does it just come to you?
This book came from two ideas. First, I wanted to do an apartment thriller, a book that felt claustrophobic, a woman wondering about a murder in her apartment building. Second, I always was interested in the idea of alpha and beta killers. Two men (boys) who influenced each other in the act of killing. I put them together and got Her Every Fear.
@laurenreadsalott - Kinda random but at any point in the concept of the novel did you think of switching either Henry or Corbins gender? As a female I think I would have been more willing to do a swap like this with a female family member.
Great question about the gender swap! I think the answer has to be no, that I wanted my killer to be two men. That was partly because I’d just written two books were the killer was a female, and partly that I wanted to explore the idea of a lone woman in a strange and scary situation.
@thrillerbookreview - Did you have to do a lot of research into sociopathic behaviour before writing the character of Henry?
@what_emily_read - I had practically the same question lined up! Any research into forensic psychology?
Another good question. I did do some research into the idea I mentioned earlier, about alpha and beta murders. An amazing book is Columbine, about the two boys who did the school shooting. Hard reading, but so fascinating. Columbine by Dave Cullen.
@thethrillerqueeen - Usually when authors decide to write unreliable narrators that suffer from mental illness, I don’t feel that I can relate to them despite my anxiety. However, you made Kate’s character very likeable and also authentic in the sense of the everyday fears she has. What kind of research did you have to do on mental illness in order to build such an understandable character?
Kate is based in part on my own experience with anxiety issues, including social anxiety and panic attacks. Im better now, but it used to be terrible. Her little mantra she says to herself is what I use when I feel anxious. here’s an article I wrote about mental heath in crime fiction.
https://cmereads.com/the-new-vulnerability-in-the-mystery-genre/
@webookedup - Which of your other novels had a personal element? I’ve read them all so now Im curious!
There are little parts of myself in lots of books, but I think my most autobiographical character is in Eight Perfect Murders. Malcolm doesn’t have my life story (thank god) but he definitely has my reading habits!
@booksbybindu (me!) - At what point in your writing process do you know that this is going to work as a premise? Do you give up on ideas or battle through till you have a narrative?
I do a lot of thinking about all my books before I write them, so I always start writing at a point when I feel like I have a full complex book to write. But there are a couple of times when I’ve given up halfway through. Its always a struggle. All books are hard to write.
@booksbybindu - Can I as why the two titles for the new book? Its Eight Perfect Murders in the US and Rules for Perfect numbers here in the UK.
Yes, my new books has a different title in the UK and the US. My editors didn’t agree. Each wanted a different title. I had nothing to do with it.
@sammycatspires - To go back on Henry. Was it especially had to write through the eyes of s sociopath? Like an actor find it hard on certain roles? How do you get to that kind of space?
Honestly, I kind of love writing through the eyes of a sociopath. As a writer I do two things. First, I remove all those moral boundaries that normally get in the way of people’s actions. Second I do try and figure out what made them that way. Its important as a writer to have empathy for all your characters. Even if they’re evil. I don’t know how to get into the headspace of a sociopath. Its just opening yourself up to imagination, in a way. Listening to creepy music sometimes helps.
@thethrillerqueeen - I had a question about Henry. At what point did you decide to include his gross habits (drinking milk from the gallon / using Kate’s toothbrush, etc)? Aside from being a true psychopath, he’s kind of disgusting. Because of my anxiety, I have some fears and pet peeves in regards to people and my personal space. Just wondering if you have any of the same kind of pet peeves as me and thats why you included those actions?
Oh yeah. Henry is awful. When I was writing about him I was just trying to imagine the nastiest things and have him embody them.
@alexatthelake - Who would you like to see cast in a movie version?
Good question. I’ll say Armie Hammer as Corbin. Alice Vikander as Kate and Adam Driver as Alan.
