Please Welcome Novelist Eliot Pattison

with Eliot Pattison

We are delighted to welcome novelist Eliot Pattison to Omnimystery News today.

Eliot is the author of the Edgar Award-winning series featuring exiled Chinese inspector Shan Tao Yun, the seventh book of which is Mandarin Gate (Minotaur Books, November 2012 hardcover and ebook formats).

We recently had a chance to talk to Eliot about his books.

— ♦ —

Omnimystery News: Why did you choose to write a series of mysteries featuring a recurring character?

Photo provided courtesy of
Eliot Pattison

Eliot Pattison: As the lead character in my Shan series took shape on paper, I realized very early in the process that the depth of both Shan's character and his context in modern Tibet would take more than one volume to flesh out. Mandarin Gate is the seventh in the series and so far I have only scratched the surface. Ultimately it is the characters who drive a novel, and drive the reader's interest, and Shan is a character who deserves the depth that only a series can provide.

OMN: Why, out of all the possible venues, would you write a mystery series set in Tibet?

EP: Broadly I could say it is because Tibet has dramatic people, dramatic landscape, and dramatic politics, but the setting is not the only one qualifying on those points. What drove me to select Tibet for my venue and backstory was my feeling, after traveling extensively around the planet, that Tibet has a vitally important message which is too often overlooked in the West. There is a great joy and harmony among Tibetans that has very little to do with what we in the West link to happiness. They are technologically poor but spiritually rich, intellectually sophisticated but materially impoverished. Year after year they endure unspeakable acts or repression, which is very much part of the plot of Mandarin Gate — the adversity they face merits much more attention on the world stage than it receives today.

OMN: Why did you choose a Chinese protagonist instead of a native Tibetan for this series?

EP: Having a main character who is Chinese allows my readers to learn about Tibet from the eyes of an outsider. It also allows me to explore the effects of China's presence in Tibet on the Chinese themselves. The stern face of the officials who are dismantling this ancient society is sometimes cracked with guilt and shame, which play a role in all my books. In addition, I am a great admirer of Chinese history and traditional culture and having a Chinese protagonist allows me to thread those elements into my stories. In Mandarin Gate, for example, Shan's knowledge of China's imperial court ritual helps him form a bond with Chinese exiles which becomes vital the storyline.

OMN: We've read several of the books in this series and found them to be extraordinary stories told within the context of a mystery. How would you characterize your books?

EP: I have always found it fascinating to find how many ways booksellers and reviewers characterize my books. Suspense, thriller, police procedural, mainstream mystery and literary mystery have all been used to categorize my Shan novels. I've never been convinced the label placed on books by booksellers and critics makes a meaningful difference to readers. I had one editor who declared that my books had created a whole new genre of "campaign thrillers" due to the way a political message is woven into their plots.

OMN: Many readers have a mental image of what the series character looks like. Indeed, it's likely you have a mental image yourself of the character. If any of your books were to be adapted for television or film, who do you see playing the part?

EP: Since my lead characters are Chinese and Tibetan, the range of actors known in the West who might be candidates is quite limited. I do have a clear mental image of my lead characters. I don't think a writer can breathe life into their characters without an intimate knowledge of who they are. I know aspects of my lead characters which have actually never appeared in my books. A strong character becomes a companion for the writer, and my books have become journeys on which I travel together with these companions. Once my characters are deeply developed, they being begin to develop and drive the plot almost on their own.

OMN: What are your hobbies, interests outside of writing fiction? Do any of these activities find their way into your books?

EP: I have never accepted the old adage that every writer ultimately just writes about their own lives, but I do believe that the writer's interests and predilections inevitably wind up reflected on the page. I have had a life-long interest in Asian culture and history as well as Buddhism, and certainly these interests are reflected on the pages of my Shan novels; in fact I use the novels as a focus for digging even deeper into those aspects, driving me to learn more. Each of my novels has a particular theme like Tibetan medicine, Tibetan reincarnation, and Tibetan art and I have done research to supplement my knowledge on those respective points for each book. Likewise my interest in early American history energizes my Duncan McCallum series, which is set in 18th century America.

OMN: How do you engage with your readers?

EP: Readers connect with me through my website, and after ten novels in translation in twenty languages I enjoy dialogue with readers from all over the world. I am always excited to hear the many different perspectives on my books that come out in these conversations. One of the aspects that keeps me committed to continue writing the Shan books are the recurring statements that the books have actually had a deep spiritual impact on them and/or converted them into active supporters of the Tibet.

OMN: What's next for you?

EP: I look forward to continuing with my two existing series and hopefully turning my standalone mystery Ashes of the Earth — set in post-apocalyptic America — into a series. I am fortunate to have developed characters who keep pushing me and my readers to come back for more.

— ♦ —

Described as "a writer of faraway mysteries", Eliot Pattison's travel and interests span a million miles of global trekking, visiting every continent but Antarctica. An international lawyer by training, he brings his social and cultural concerns to his fiction and has written several books and dozens of articles on legal and business topics, published on three continents. He is the author of the Edgar Award-winning Inspector Shan Series, the Bone Rattler series, and Ashes of the Earth, the first novel in a new dystopian series. But his sentiments for Tibet and the Tibetan resistance run deep. His Inspector Shan books have been characterized as a new "campaign thriller" genre for the way they weave significant social and political themes into their plots. Translated into twenty languages, the books have been adapted to radio dramas and become popular on the black market in China.

A former resident of Boston and Washington, Pattison resides on an 18th century farm in Pennsylvania with his wife, three children, and an ever-expanding menagerie of animals.

To learn more about the author and his books, visit his website at EliotPattison.com.

— ♦ —

Mandarin Gate
Eliot Pattison
A Shan Tao Yun Mystery (7th in series)
Publisher: Minotaur Books

A thriller that navigates the explosive political and religious landscape of Tibet …

In an earlier time, Shan Tao Yun was an Inspector stationed in Beijing. But he lost his position, his family and his freedom when he ran afoul of a powerful figure high in the Chinese government. Released unofficially from the work camp to which he'd been sentenced, Shan has been living in remote mountains of Tibet with a group of outlawed Buddhist monks. Without status, official identity, or the freedom to return to his former home in Beijing, Shan has just begun to settle into his menial job as an inspector of irrigation and sewer ditches in a remote Tibetan township when he encounters a wrenching crime scene.

Strewn across the grounds of an old Buddhist temple undergoing restoration are the bodies of two unidentified men and a Tibetan nun. Shan quickly realizes that the murders pose a riddle the Chinese police might in fact be trying to cover up. When he discovers that a nearby village has been converted into a new internment camp for Tibetan dissidents arrested in Beijing's latest pacification campaign, Shan recognizes the dangerous landscape he has entered.

To find justice for the victims and to protect an American woman who witnessed the murders, Shan must navigate through the treacherous worlds of the internment camp, the local criminal gang, and the government's rabid pacification teams, while coping with his growing doubts about his own identity and role in Tibet.