9mm: An interview with Liam McIlvanney

I must apologise for being a little tardy on new 9mm interview postings this year, after the 44 instalments of 9mm quickfire author interviews that were shared here on Crime Watch during March to November 2010, and only one new 2011 interview published thusfar (the terrific John Burdett, creator of the Sonchai Jitpleecheep series - read here)

I have conducted a few more interviews, but have been a little preoccupied and hadn't posted many yet. But for those of you who are fans of the series, never fear, it is still ongoing, and we have some more terrific interviews on the horizon, including acclaimed bestseller Robert Crais, Edgar Award winner CJ Box, and Christchurch's Steve Malley.

And now it is time to once again polish off the gun and point it towards a creator of tales mysterious and thrilling. Thanks to everyone for their comments and feedback on the series so far - I really appreciate it, as I know many of the participating authors do as well.

For those new to this rodeo, 9mm consists of the same 9 Murder Mystery questions put to a variety of New Zealand and international crime, thriller, and mystery authors. It’s been fun seeing the variety of answers the authors give to the questions - both in terms of great personal anecdotes and insights, and comparing the influences etc that many authors share. I hope you have all been enjoying the series as much as I (and the authors) have been. Suggestions are always welcome as to who else you'd like to see interviewed.

Today I am very pleased to share the thoughts and answers of another terrific new-ish writer with you; Dunedin-based literary thriller writer Liam McIlvanney, who moonlights as a Professor of Scottish literature and culture during the day. McIlvanney wrote one of my favourite novels of 2009, ALL THE COLOURS OF THE TOWN, a truly terrific debut thriller.

You can read my Weekend Herald article on McIlvanney here, and Sarah Gumbley's review of ALL THE COLOURS OF THE TOWN for Crime Watch, here.

But for now, the Scotsman Professor turned Dunedinite stares down the barrel of 9mm.


Who is your favourite recurring crime fiction hero/detective?
Philip Marlowe.

What was the very first book you remember reading and really loving, and why?
It may have been Treasure Island. I loved the characters (Blind Pew, Long John Silver, Ben Gunn) and the Black Spot and 'Pieces of Eight' and 'Fifteen men on the dead man's chest' and, of course, the map.

Before your debut crime novel, what else had you written (if anything) unpublished manuscripts, short stories, articles?
I had written quite a bit of 'literary' fiction - mainly fragments and vignettes that never seemed to go anywhere. I needed the discipline of the thriller form and the tight linear plot to get a novel finished.

Outside of writing, and touring and promotional commitments, what do you really like to do, leisure and activity-wise?
I enjoy playing football and playing with my four sons.

What is one thing that visitors to your hometown should do, that isn't in the tourist brochures, or perhaps they wouldn't initially consider?
My home town is Kilmarnock in Ayrshire. Visitors should probably avoid it. No, that's not fair: they should have a single nougat in the Forum Cafe and a pint of heavy in the Kay Park Tavern on their way to see the whale's jawbone in the Dick Institute museum on London Road.

If your life was a movie, which actor could you see playing you?
Ken Stott.

Of your writing, which is your favourite, and why?
I've only written one novel, so the choice is easy.

What was your initial reaction, and how did you celebrate, when you were first accepted for publication? Or when you first saw your debut story in book form on a bookseller's shelf?
I poured myself a Lagavulin and smoked a Romeo y Julieta Churchill.

What is the strangest or most unusual experience you have had at a book signing, author event, or literary festival?
Being introduced at the Mitchell Theatre in Glasgow by a woman who used to babysit for me in the 1970s.


Thank you Liam McIlvanney. We really appreciate you taking the time to talk with Crime Watch.

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Have you read ALL THE COLOURS OF THE TOWN? What do you think of McIlvanney's writing? Do you like crime fiction set amongst situations/places packed with real life conflict, past and present? Comments appreciated.

Liam McIlvanney and Maurice Gee make IMPAC longlist

Since the announcement earlier this week of the longlist for the 2011 International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, touted as "the largest and most international prize of its kind", reviewers and books commentators around the world have been taking a closer look at the variety of titles that made the list. Which books from their country made it? Which books from authors or genres they prefer or rate? etc. Click on the image above to check out the IMPAC website and full list.

Ngaio Marsh Award judge and renowned book expert Graham Beattie has noted the six New Zealand books that made the list (see here), while J.Kingston Pierce of the always-excellent The Rap Sheet states that at least the crime fiction genre has been represented in this literary-leaning award, with several titles "that can be properly classified as crime fiction or thrillers" on the 162-book long list - including books by Anne Cleeves, Giles Blunt, William Boyd, and Luiz Alfredo Garcia-Roza (see here).

One of the New Zealand books Beattie mentions is Maurice Gee's ACCESS ROAD, which is often shelved in the crime section in many bookstores, and probably sits in that literary fiction/crime fiction overlap - it's not blatantly a detective, cop, or crime novel, so doesn't "sit neatly" or obviously within the genre, but it is a brooding mystery that is centred on crime and violence (historic and current). You can read my review of ACCESS ROAD for WildTomato magazine here.

The book was also strongly praised by some of the judges for the inaugural Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Crime Novel. "The tension was thick throughout," said one international judge. "I loved the central character, and the subplots of love and ageing and death were gripping and moving. The prose was simply beautiful without being distracting and the landscape was clearly evoked. The last third, in which the true villain of the book was revealed, was terrifiying."

Along with the New Zealand books noted by Graham Beattie, and the crime and thriller titles mentioned by The Rap Sheet, there was another long-listee that I think is well worth highlighting for fans of great crime and thriller fiction, antipodean and otherwise; ALL THE COLOURS OF THE TOWN by Dunedin-based author Liam McIlvanney.

It's great to see ALL THE COLOURS OF THE TOWN on the long list - I think it's a terrific novel, and one of the best crime/thriller debuts I've read in the past few years. As such, I'm very much looking forward to the next novel from McIlvanney (the son of famed Scottish writer William McIlvanney, who penned the influential Laidlaw series).

ALL THE COLOURS OF THE TOWN is a literary thriller centred on Glasgow political journalist Gerry Conway, who receives a tip-off about the unsavoury past of the Scottish Justice Minister, one of his best sources. Initially unimpressed, Conway is eventually drawn into a journey from Glasgow to Belfast, attempting to uncover a shocking story laced with sectarian violence and dangerous secrets.

You can read a review of the novel by Sarah Gumbley here, and my interview with McIlvanney for the Weekend Herald newspaper late last year, here.

So congratulations to Maurice Gee and Liam McIlvanney, authors at the opposite ends of the experience spectrum when it comes to their novel-writing careers - but both flying the flag well for crime and thriller fiction, if leaning literary, penned by New Zealand-based writers.

The IMPAC is the world’s richest literary award, with a prize pot of €100,000; it is open to novels published in any language as long as they have also been published in English translation. Nominations come from libraries around the world, with libraries in 126 cities in 43 countries taking part this year.The shortlist will be announced April 2011 and the winner will be revealed in June next year. The award, managed by Dublin City Libraries, is sponsored by IMPAC, an international management consultancy with offices in Dublin. You can read more here.