I Remember You (22 page)

The Making of
I Remember You

I Remember You
was the third Harry Devlin book, following
All the Lonely People
and
Suspicious Minds
, but the first I started writing after becoming a published author. Confidence is a crucial ingredient in writing, and the fact that I had finally achieved publication emboldened me.

I decided that the new book would have a more elaborate storyline than its predecessors, combining a murder mystery with a significant subplot as a counterpoint to the main sequence of events. This was a way of adding value to the reader's experience, something which always seems important to me. And creating a complex plot infrastructure gave me extra confidence, which helped when I came to develop the characters and their inter-relationships.

I was ready to develop my portrayal of Harry's life, and his world beyond the scene-setting of the first two books. The starting point for this story was the idea that a crime of the present may be deeply rooted in the past. To what extent do our recollections of the past affect how we now behave? It's a fruitful area for exploration in a crime novel, and one that has continued to fascinate me. The earlier books had titles taken from 1960s pop songs, and I didn't have much trouble finding a title to reflect both theme and story. Who could forget Frank Ifield?

When my first novel was published, I was interviewed for local radio, and in those days I also had a business connection with a commercial radio station based not far from my office. So it occurred to me that a fictional radio station could provide an interesting and unusual backdrop for the story. Years earlier, I'd enjoyed the television series
Shoestring
, featuring Trevor Eve as a laid-back gumshoe who made regular appearances on a local radio show.
Shoestring
's run was all too brief, but it showed the potential of the setting for detective fiction. A good local radio station has strong and enduring connections with the community it serves, giving rise to all manner of plot possibilities. I'm surprised it hasn't been used more often.

At the time of writing the book, I'd never refused the morning newspapers on a radio show, although I did have that experience a year or two later. More recently, I did some newspaper reviewing for Legal TV, a television station whose eventual demise was not, I hope, due to my various appearances in their studios. Now that television channels, often aimed at specialised audiences, proliferate, it is surely only a question of time before a fictional channel becomes the setting of a series of crime novels - if it hasn't happened already.

I Remember You
was the first of my novels to require extensive research. I had a picture in my mind of a dramatic opening to the story, with a fire raging in the centre of Liverpool (more than 15 years later, I started another book,
The Serpent Pool
, with an even more destructive fire, but in a very different setting and with very different consequences.) One of the partners in my firm introduced me to a friend who was a firefighter, and he talked me through the process of dealing with an arson attack. The conversation left me but only with plenty of material, but a real admiration for the courage and commitment of firefighters.

Another of my partners introduced me to a family member who was a detective inspector in Merseyside Police, and I visited his station for a lengthy and enormously helpful briefing about how the police go about their work. His advice helped me, for instance, to make sure that the bombing of the car and its aftermath were presented with a degree of realism. The image of the wrecked car was powerful, and the dust jacket illustrator, Ken Leeder, used it for the artwork of the hardback edition of the book.

A third partner (there are advantages to working in a sizeable firm!) provided invaluable assistance with the legal aspects of the subplot involving the Graham-Browns. Many readers who know that I am a solicitor assume that I specialise in criminal law, but my experience since qualifying has been exclusively in the commercial and employment law sectors. Criminal, divorce and property law are all areas about which I know little more than any layperson. Paul Clarke, the partner who helped me, gave me a good deal of support and encouragement with later books in the series as well before (to my regret and his good fortune) he gave up life in the legal profession in order to live the dream in rural France. I was delighted to hear recently that he's now written a book of his own.

I enjoyed creating the character of Finbar Rogan, and amused myself by giving him one or two jokey snippets of dialogue taken from the mouth of yet another colleague who, like Finbar, was seldom at a loss for a snappy one-line. I did some research into the art of tattooing, a practice that has always seemed to me rather strange and mysterious. One subject I did not feel I wanted to research in any detail was Irish terrorism; the book was written years before the Good Friday agreement was signed, at a time when, for people in Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the possibility of becoming involved in a terrorist outrage could never be discounted; the achievement of peace in Northern Ireland has been one of the most positive developments to have occurred since this book was first published. In any event,
I Remember You
is a whodunit, adapting the conventions of classic detective fiction to a dark urban milieu, rather than a political thriller.

I enjoyed laying the clues to the solution, and the exercise of trying to distract the reader's attention from them. And, not for the last time in the Harry Devlin series, the lyric of a favourite Bacharach and David song provided one of those clues. A book by Len Deighton, albeit a spy story rather than a whodunit, provided the inspiration for the murderer's choice of a new name for a new identity.

Eventually, the manuscript was complete, and I sent it off to my publishers with high hopes. Although my debut novel, inevitably, had gone through numerous revisions after its first submission, the follow-up had needed only a limited amount of editing. However, I received a rude awakening when my editor, Kate Callaghan, responded with a detailed note setting out a significant number of editorial comments, dealing with which would require major surgery to the manuscript. My initial consternation gave way before long to realism: Kate's suggestions were excellent, and adopting the majority of them was bound to improve the quality of the book. For, although authors need to have confidence in their work, they also need a mindset that welcomes constructive criticism - and criticism is much more welcome before a book is published, when one has the chance to address it, than afterwards! However accomplished and experienced an author may be, it is a mistake, in my opinion, not to be receptive to the possibility of improving a book, even one which has already been the subject of careful rewriting.

So I set to work. I decided that the revisions should be extensive. One minor character (who existed only to be killed in the bomb blast) was eliminated altogether. And, inevitably, making a change in one part of a book entails making a raft of consequential changes. It took longer than I would have wished to finish the rewriting, but with hindsight, I'm very glad that I spent the time. And when I talk about the importance of confidence on the part of a writer, that confidence includes having trust and confidence in one's agent and editing, and their advice. I can't claim that I accept that advice on every single occasion, but I always think very carefully before taking any decision to stick to my guns. If there is a collective will for the book to be as successful as possible, there is a much better chance of producing a novel that readers will enjoy. And there's no doubt that I have benefited over the years from strong relationships both with my agent, Mandy Little, and a number of editors, certainly including Kate. She left the world of publishing to raise a family a good many years ago, but we're still in contact, and I still appreciate the support she gave me - perhaps above all when helping me to revamp
I Remember You
.

Meet Martin Edwards

Martin Edwards is an award-winning crime writer whose fifth and most recent Lake District Mystery, featuring DCI Hannah Scarlett and Daniel Kind, is
The Hanging Wood
, published in 2011. Earlier books in the series are
The Coffin Trail
(short-listed for the Theakston's prize for best British crime novel of 2006)
, The Cipher Garden, The Arsenic Labyrinth
(short-listed for the Lakeland Book of the Year award in 2008) and
The Serpent Pool
.

Martin has written eight novels about lawyer Harry Devlin, the first of which,
All the Lonely People
, was short-listed for the CWA John Creasey Memorial Dagger for the best first crime novel of the year. In addition he has published a stand-alone novel of psychological suspense,
Take My Breath Away
, and a much acclaimed novel featuring Dr Crippen,
Dancing for the Hangman
.
The latest Devlin novel,
Waterloo Sunset
, appeared in 2008.

Martin completed Bill Knox's last book,
The Lazarus Widow
, and has published a collection of short stories,
Where Do You Find Your Ideas? and other stories
; ‘Test Drive' was short-listed for the CWA Short Story Dagger in 2006, while ‘The Bookbinder's Apprentice' won the same Dagger in 2008.

A well-known commentator on crime fiction, he has edited 20 anthologies and published eight non-fiction books, including a study of homicide investigation,
Urge to Kill
.In 2008 he was elected to membership of the prestigious Detection Club. He was subsequently appointed Archivist to the Detection Club, and is also Archivist to the Crime Writers' Association. He received the Red Herring Award for services to the CWA in 2011.

In his spare time Martin is a partner in a national law firm, Weightmans LLP. His website is
www.martinedwardsbooks.com
and his blog
www.doyouwriteunderyourownname.blogspot.
com/

Bibliography

Harry Devlin Series

All the Lonely People
(1991)

Suspicious Minds
(1992)

I Remember You
(1993)

Yesterday's Papers
(1994)

Eve of Destruction
(1996)

The Devil in Disguise
(1998)

First Cut Is the Deepest
(1999)

Waterloo Sunset
(2008).

Lake District Mysteries

The Coffin Trail
(2004)

The Cipher Garden
(2005)

The Arsenic Labyrinth
(2007).

The Serpent Pool
(2010)

The Hanging Wood
(2011)

Other Novels

The Lazarus Widow
(with Bill Knox) (1999)

Take My Breath Away
(2002)

Dancing for the Hangman
(2008)

Collected Short stories

Where Do You Find Your Ideas? and Other Stories
(2001)

Anthologies edited

Northern Blood
(1992)

Northern Blood 2
(1995)

Anglian Blood
(with Robert Church) (1995)

Perfectly Criminal
(1996)

Whydunit?
(1997)

Past Crimes
(1998)

Northern Blood 3
(1998)

Missing Persons
(1999)

Scenes of Crime
(2000)

Murder Squad
(2001)

Green for Danger
(2003)

Mysterious Pleasures
(2003)

Crime in the City
(2004)

Crime on the Move
(2005)

I.D.: crimes of identity
(2006)

The Trinity Cat and other mysteries
(with Sue Feder) (2006)

M.O.: crimes of practice
(2008)

Original Sins
(2010)

Best Eaten Cold
(2011)

Guilty Consciences
(2011)

Non-fiction

Understanding Computer Contracts
(1983)

Understanding Dismissal Law
(two editions)

Managing Redundancies
(1986)

Executive Survival
(two editions)

Careers in the Law
(six editions)

Know-How for Employment Lawyers
(with others) (1995)

Urge to Kill
(2002)

Tolley's Equal Opportunities Handbook
(four editions)

Martin Edwards: an Appreciation

by Michael Jecks

Both as a crime writer and as a keen exponent of the genre, Martin Edwards has long been sought out by his peers, and is now becoming recognised as a contemporary crime author at the top of his form.

Born in Knutsford, Cheshire, Martin went to school in Northwich before taking a first class honours degree in law at Balliol College, Oxford. From there he went on to join a law firm and is now a highly respected lawyer specializing in employment law. He is the author of Tottel's
Equal Opportunities Handbook
, 4th edition, 2007.

Early in his career, he began writing professional articles and completed his first book at 27, covering the purchase of business computers. His non-fiction work continues with over 1000 articles in newspapers and magazines, and seven books dedicated to the law (two of which were co-authored).

His life of crime began a little later with the Harry Devlin series, set in Liverpool. The first of his series,
All The Lonely People
(1991), was shortlisted for the CWA John Creasey Memorial Dagger for the first work of crime fiction by a new writer. With the advent of his second novel, Martin Edwards was becoming recognised as a writer of imagination and flair. This and subsequent books also referenced song titles from his youth.

The Harry Devlin books demonstrate a great sympathy for Liverpool, past and present, with gritty, realistic stories. ‘Liverpool is a city with a tremendous resilience of spirit and character,' he says in
Scene of the Crime,
(2002). Although his protagonist is a self-effacing Scousers with a dry wit, Edwards is not a writer for the faint-hearted. ‘His gifts are of the more classical variety - there are points in his novels when I think I'm reading Graham Greene,' wrote Ed Gorman, while
Crime Time
magazine said ‘The novels successfully combine the style of the traditional English detective story with a darker noir sensibility.'

More recently Martin Edwards has moved into the Lake District with mystery stories featuring an historian, Daniel Kind, and DCI Hannah Scarlett. The first of these,
The Coffin Trail
, was short listed for the Theakston's Old Peculier Crime Novel of the year 2006.

In this book Martin Edwards made good use of his legal knowledge. DCI Hannah Scarlett is in charge of a cold case review unit, attempting to solve old crimes, and when Daniel Kind moves into a new house, seeking a fresh start in the idyllic setting of the Lake District, he and she are drawn together by the murder of a young woman. The killer, who died before he could be convicted, used to live in Kind's new cottage.

Not only does Edwards manage to demonstrate a detailed knowledge of the law (which he is careful never to force upon the reader), with the Lake District mysteries he has managed to bring the locations to vivid life. He has a skill for acute description which is rare - especially amongst those who are more commonly used to writing about city life.

More recently Edwards has published
Take My Breath Away
, a stand-alone psychological suspense novel, which offers a satiric portrait of an upmarket London law firm eerily reminiscent of Tony Blair's New Labour government.

Utilising his legal experience, he has written articles about actual crimes.
Catching Killers
was an illustrated book describing how police officers work on a homicide case all the way from the crime scene itself to presenting evidence in court.

When the writer Bill Knox died, Edwards was asked by his publisher to help complete his final manuscript, on which Knox had been working until days before his death. Bill Knox's method of writing was to hone each separate section of his books before moving on to the next, so Martin was left with the main thrust of the story, together with some jotted notes and newspaper clippings. From these he managed to complete
The Lazarus Widow
in an unusal departure for him.

More conventionally, Martin Edwards is a prolific writer of short stories. He has published the anthology
Where Do You Find Your Ideas?
which offers a mix of Harry Devlin tales mingled with historical and psychological short stories. His
Test Drive
was short listed for the CWA Short Story Dagger.

Edwards edits the regular CWA anthologies of short stories. These works have included
Green for Danger
, and
I.D. Crimes of Identity
, which included his own unusual and notable story
InDex
. In 2003 he also edited the CWA's
Mysterious Pleasures
anthology, which was a collection of the Golden Dagger winners' short stories to celebrate the CWA's Golden Jubilee.

A founder member of the performance and writing group, Murder Squad, Martin Edwards has found the time to edit their two anthologies.

When not writing and editing, Edwards is an enthusiastic reader and collector of crime fiction. He reviews for magazines, books and websites, and his essays have appeared in many collections.

He is the chairman of the CWA's nominations sub-committee for the Cartier Diamond Dagger Award, the world's most prestigious award for crime writing.

Martin Edwards is one of those rare creatures, a crime-writer's crime-writer. His plotting is as subtle as any, his writing deft and fluid, his characterisation precise, and his descriptions of the locations give the reader the impression that they could almost walk along the land blindfolded. He brings them all to life.

(An earlier version of this article appeared in
British Crime Writing: An Encyclopaedia,
edited by Barry Forshaw)