with Sylvie Granotier
We are delighted to welcome back mystery author Sylvie Granotier to Omnimystery News.
Last week we featured an excerpt from Sylvie's first crime novel to be translated into English, The Paris Lawyer (Le French Book), which was the winner of Le prix Sang d'encre in 2011. First published in the US in 2012 as an ebook, it is now available in trade paperback format.
Today we are delighted that she took time out of her busy schedule to talk with us more about her books.
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Omnimystery News: When developing the storyline for a new book, how do you decide between a stand-alone and a series title?
Photo provided courtesy of
Sylvie Granotier
Sylvie Granotier: Normally I write stand-alone novels because my curiosity pushes me to explore various aspects of society, from celebrities to homeless people, from Paris and rural France, from the upper classes and marginal people. In each story, a new hero takes root. In addition, I work with different narrative structures. I like to play with tenses, for example.
Then Catherine Monsigny happened: she's an emotionally wounded rookie criminal attorney with a strong potential as a heroine. A writer friend recommended I keep her, which is both limiting — she defines the kind of story being written — and comforting, because I know her well. With her as a heroine, I have the opportunity to follow my attorney friends in court and behind the scenes, and attorneys have contact with every imaginable aspect of society. I intend to continue with her, and to alternate with stand-alone novels.
OMN: Into what genre do you place your books?
SG: The French find me borderline and hard to categorize. I consider my books to be psychological thrillers. I have affinities with Ruth Rendell, for example.
OMN: Tell us something about The Paris Lawyer that isn't mentioned in the publisher's synopsis.
SG: The Paris Lawyer recounts the harsh resolution of an old murder: a woman was killed in front of her little girl, who then grows up to become an attorney who defends murderers. It is this paradox that will help her solve the mystery of her mother's death.
OMN: Describe your writing process for us.
SG: I start with a basic situation that has enough matter to it to create a story that I want to explore. It's a little like right before the Big Bang. It seems like nothing, just potential, and then, if all goes well, the surprises come — from the best to the worst, and the contrary.
OMN: How important is setting to the story?
SG: The Paris Lawyer is not only set in Paris. It is also very specifically linked to a region of France I love called Creuse. All of the places described in the book are real, and I wanted to describe them in detail, which was a new exercise for me. I did, however, change place names because of the violence that occurs there in the story. I cannot write a story in a place that I do not know intimately. Fiction takes root in reality through the setting.
OMN: What is the best advice you've received as an author?
SG: From Billy Wilder: "Let the audience add up two plus two. They'll love you forever." It is good advice for someone like me, who tends to make sure all the t's are crossed. From writer Anne Dillard: "Some novels begin with the second chapter." She helped me save time when I understood that the first chapter was often a warm-up for me as a writer, but not useful for readers.
OMN: Do you have any favorite series characters?
SG: You mean, the man of my life: Smiley, the character created by John le Carré.
OMN: What's next for you?
SG: I just finished a novel that will come out in France in fall. It's called Ogre. The story came to me while I was attending a fascinating trial. I was listening to the witnesses: the victim and the rapist, and a whole world of characters came to me — they were people that logically should never have met, and that fate led to this place. I knew I had the matter for a novel. I'm also working on an original screenplay — a romantic comedy about aging, à la Capra if things turn out the way I hope they do.
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Author, screenwriter and actress Sylvie Granotier loves to weave plots that send shivers up your spine. She was born in Algeria and grew up in Paris and Morocco. She studied literature and theater in Paris, then set off traveling — the United States, Brazil, Afghanistan, and elsewhere, ending with a tour of Europe. She wound up in Paris again, an actress, with a job and some recognition. But she is a writer at heart.
For more information about Sylvie, please visit her author page on the Le French Book website.
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The Paris Lawyer
Sylvie Granotier
A Psychological Thriller
As a child, she was the only witness to a heinous crime. Now, Catherine Monsigny is an ambitious rookie attorney in Paris, working for a well-known firm. On the side, she does pro bono work and hits the jackpot: a major felony case that could boost her career. A black woman is accused of poisoning her rich farmer husband in a peaceful village in central France, where nothing ever happens.
While preparing the case, Catherine's own past comes back with a vengeance. She is determined to search for the truth in both her case and her own life. Who can she believe? And can you ever escape from your past?
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