A Conversation with Crime Novelist Deborah Crombie

with Deborah Crombie

We are delighted to welcome crime novelist Deborah Crombie to Omnimystery News today.

Deborah's latest Duncan Kincaid and Gemma James mystery is The Sound of Broken Glass (William Morrow; February 2013 hardcover, audio and ebook formats and now available as a trade paperback).

We recently had the opportunity to catch up with the author to discuss her books.

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Omnimystery News: The Sound of Broken Glass is the fifteenth book in your series. What is it about series mysteries that appeals to you as an author?

Photo provided courtesy of
Deborah Crombie

Deborah Crombie: I chose a recurring character — or in my case, recurring characters — because I like reading about recurring characters. I love the sense of dropping in on old friends to see what they're up to. And as inexperienced as I was when I wrote the first book in what is now a fifteen-going-on-sixteen book series, I felt very strongly that I did NOT want my characters to be static. I wanted them to grow emotionally, have relationships, deal with personal challenges. That has certainly been the case, although I could not have predicted much of what's happened in the course of the series.

OMN: Into what mystery genre do you place your books?

DC: I would call my books British detective novels. Although my detectives are serving police officers, many of the cases in the books impact my characters in a personal way that is outside the usual scope of a police procedural. And I think labeling the books as police procedurals is limiting in terms of attracting readers.

OMN: Tell us something about The Sound of Broken Glass that isn't mentioned in the publisher's synopsis.

DC: The recording studio featured in several scenes in Crystal Palace (which is in far south London) is a real place called Antenna Studios. It's very cool, and Florence Welch of Florence and the Machine started her career here.

OMN: Give us a synopsis of the book in a tweet.

DC: Rock guitarist suspect in murder. Will tunes clear him or kill him? #TheSoundofBrokenGlass

OMN: How much of your own personal or professional experience have you included in your books?

DC: I don't think I have ever based a character entirely on someone I know, although there are snippets here and there. And I've never based a story entirely on a real event, although real events often serve as jumping off points. For instance, in Water Like a Stone, I read a newspaper story about a couple who had bought a house in west Texas. When they began to remodel, they found the remains of infant about a year old in the wall. I immediately thought, "What happened to this child? How did no one notice this baby was missing?" That child became the baby that Duncan's sister Juliet finds entombed in the wall of dairy barn she's remodeling in Cheshire.

OMN: Describe your writing process, and has it changed over the years?

DC: I start with a synopsis, then create a story board of the main story lines, and sketches of the major characters. From there I will move to a chapter/scene outline, but that always shifts as I write. The cast of characters always expands, and sometimes the story takes unexpected directions, although it almost always ends up where I intended. I've written the last couple of books in Scrivener, which I love, and I find I am doing my outlining in shorter segments within the software.

OMN: And where do you usually write?

Photo provided courtesy of Deborah Crombie

DC: I move around the house. I have an upstairs office/study, but often in the summer write in the sunporch so I can look out into the garden. The last few months I've been writing in the downstairs guest room, as our older dog is not mangaging too many trips up and down the steep stairs and she likes to be with me. Is there such a thing as organized clutter? I like a lot of personal stuff around me — photos, journals, little things that relate to the book.

OMN: How do you go about researching the plot points of your books?

DC: Because I don't live where my books are set, I always make research trips to England when I'm planning a book. Several times I've been lucky enough to finish a book while there. So I do "on the ground" research, and I also make good use of books and maps (What did I do before Google maps???) and the internet. And I often consult experts on specific topics. My most challenging AND most exciting research I've done would be the rowing in No Mark Upon Her. I knew nothing. I learned a tremendous amount. And I got to go out in a rowing scull with an Olympic gold medalist rower which was terrifying and wonderful.

And I had a great time learning all about guitars and getting current with music for The Sound of Broken Glass.

OMN: How did you go about selecting the title for the book? And were you involved with the cover design?

DC: Ah, The Sound of Broken Glass. One of my favorite titles, although I have had people correct me and say you you can't hear broken glass. It's metaphoric. Part of the background of the book is the history of the Crystal Palace in south London which burned to the ground in one terrible night in 1936. And the core of the story has to do with shattered relationships. And rock music, and there is a rock song called "I Love the Sound of Breaking Glass."

My publisher's art department did a brilliant job on the cover. It looks like shattered glass. And it's three-dimensional, which you don't realize if you have the digital version. You can actually feel the shards …

OMN: How true are you to your English settings?

DC: I try to be very true to the real geography — it's one of the things I love most about writing the books. Although I will sometimes change the name of a place where a fictional murder has been committed.

OMN: If you could travel anywhere in the world, all expenses paid, to research a setting, where would that be?

DC: I've always wanted to go to Africa, and lately have been watching a TV series, Strike Back, in which the first few seasons were filmed primarily in South Africa. I'd love to go there, and to Kenya and Tanzania. Maybe I could send my detectives on a luxury safari …

OMN: What are some of your outside interests? And have any of these found their way into your books?

DC: I love to read. I love my German Shepherd dogs, and my cats. I love to walk. I love my garden. I love to cook. And travel. And listen to music. My characters get to do most of these things, too.

OMN: Complete this sentence for us: "I am a crime novelist and thus I am also …".

DC: I am a crime novelist and thus I am also a little weird.

OMN: What advice might you offer to aspiring writers?

DC: Read a lot. Write a lot. Write things you would want to read. Don't follow the market.

OMN: What kind of feedback do you most enjoy receiving from your readers?

DC: I love getting readers' feedback on the developments in my continuing characters stories.

OMN: After fifteen books in this series, do you have a mental image of what Duncan Kincaid and Gemma James look like? And if so, what actors would you select to play the parts in a film or television adaptation?

DC: I have a very strong mental image, but have never quite been able to match it to specific actors.

OMN: What kinds of books did you read when you were young?

DC: I read mystery, but my first real love was fantasy and sci-fi. But for some reason those genres don't tempt me as a writer. I like the structure of the crime novel, and the examination of character.

OMN: And what do you read now for pleasure?

DC: I have very catholic taste. I read crime and some "women's fiction" although I despise the term. I read fantasy and sci-fi. I'm a huge fan of Jim Butcher's Harry Dresden novels. And I can't wait for Deborah Harkness's third book to come out this summer.

OMN: Are there any specific authors that may have influenced how and what you write today?

DC: I particularly admired PD James, Reginald Hill, and Peter Robinson.

OMN: What kinds of films do you enjoy watching?

DC: I love action films. Probably not what you'd expect for someone who writes talky, character driven books, but maybe I like them because of the change of pace. I love the Bourne trilogy. I love the Daniel Craig Bond films. But if my books are influenced by anything, it would be British television crime dramas.

OMN: Do you have any favorite crime drama series characters?

DC: I've just heard that Lewis is coming back for six episodes. So, Lewis and Hathaway from Lewis. Rachel Bailey and Janet Scott from Scott and Bailey. And, of course, Sherlock Holmes and John Watson from Sherlock.

OMN: Create a Top 5 list on any subject.

DC: Top 5 Things to Do in London:

1) Portobello Market;
2) Have champagne at Searcy's Champagne Bar in St. Pancras International;
3) Take the Big Bus tour, from the top deck on a nice day;
4) Walk through Soho and Covent Garden on a clear night when the moon is full; and
5) Stand on Putney Bridge and watch the scullers go out from the rowing clubs.

OMN: What's next for you?

DC: I'm going to London for almost a month in May, researching the next book, and just soaking up the atmosphere!

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Deborah Crombie grew up near Dallas, Texas, but from a child always had the inexplicable feeling that she belonged in England. After earning a Bachelor's degree in Biology from Austin College in Sherman, Texas, she made her first trip to Britain and felt she'd come home. She later lived in both Chester, England, and Edinburgh, Scotland, where she failed to make as good a use of being cold and poor as JK Rowling.

It was not until almost a decade later that, living once more in Texas and raising her small daughter, she had the idea for her first novel, a mystery set in Yorkshire. She had no credentials other than a desire to write and a severe case of homesickness for Britain. A Share in Death, published in 1993, was honored with a Macavity Award as Best First Novel.

The author still lives in Texas but spends several months out of the year in Britain, maintaining a precarious balance between the two, and occasionally confusing her cultural references. For more information about Deborah, please visit her website at Deborah Crombie.com or find her on Facebook and Twitter.

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The Sound of Broken Glass
Deborah Crombie
A Duncan Kincaid and Gemma James Mystery

Scotland Yard detectives Duncan Kincaid and Gemma James are on the case in a captivating mystery that blends a murder from the past with a powerful danger in the present.

When Detective Inspector James joins forces with Detective Inspector Melody Talbot to solve the murder of an esteemed barrister, their investigation leads them to realize that nothing is what it seems — with the crime they’re investigating and their own lives.