Blind Fury (47 page)
Authors: Lynda La Plante
Tags: #Fiction, #General, #Mystery & Detective, #Police Procedural
A C
ONVERSATION WITH
L
YNDA
L
A
P
LANTE
You’ve created a very strong and determined recurring female lead in Anna Travis. What was your inspiration for her character? Did you model her after someone in your life, or even yourself?
My inspiration for Anna Travis came from a visit to a murder site. I had been invited by the Metropolitan murder squad to visit numerous murder sites over the years so I wasn’t expecting something new. However, it is important to maintain my good working relationship with the police force, so I felt I should attend.
Whilst there I met a young female detective who had never been on a murder site or seen a cadaver before, and she was feeling very sick. The female victim was very decomposed and had been dumped on waste ground.
I started to talk to the officer and found her so delightful and honest that I decided it would be really interesting to build a series around an inexperienced young female detective and to follow her career. Anna Travis was born.
I don’t model any character from my novels on myself but I do use some of my own emotions and experiences, but most of all I concentrate on facts.
The majority of your previous work falls into the crime fiction category. What drew you to this genre initially and what has kept you coming back?
I think the simple reason that I base so much of my work on crime fiction is because I am commissioned to do so. It boils down to what the networks want from me. Also my publisher plays a major part in wanting more of certain characters, and as I am well known for crime fiction I continue to produce it.
What motivated you to write
Blind Fury
? Was there a particular message you wanted to send to your readers with this story? If so, what was it?
Blind Fury was inspired after a particularly chilling interview with a prisoner. He was sentenced to life for the murder of two young teenagers. He was very unpleasant, gloating and very eager to give me his history. At one interview when I asked why he had chosen his victims as they were from very different backgrounds, he explained in detail. He said he patrolled London high streets like Oxford Street, Putney High Street, Kingston shopping mall, etc. He went at night and paid close attention to the lit-up windows of cafes. He maintained that seeing a young girl sitting alone was what caught his attention. He could monitor if they were accompanied or alone and follow them when they left the cafe. He virtually insinuated that they were “asking” to be picked up. The fact that he actually believed they were “waiting for him” was so sickening, and I loathed my subsequent interviews with him.
What I found so chilling was that by simply having a cup of coffee and inadvertently choosing a window seat an innocent young woman could have just signed her death contract. The opening chapter in
Blind Fury
sees a young girl sitting in a cafe and the attacker making his move on her. She escapes because she is waiting for her boyfriend. If the girl had not been with her boyfriend, she could easily have been Cameron Welsh’s third victim.
It’s clear from page one that you are very familiar with police procedure and criminal investigations. Do you have any prior experience in the field yourself? How did you go about researching the delicate intricacies of detective work?
My first television series was called
Widows.
When I was commissioned to write it I had no experience whatsoever in any form
of police procedures. So I went straight to the source, visited police stations and gained many friends. I also became a prison visitor and spent many hours with forensic scientists and pathologists. The success of that series made me realize my methods and instincts were good and to always go the same route. Often I was told by various detectives that they found crime novels and television series unrealistic with writers and producers exercising what they call “dramatic license” when it comes to procedure. I don’t. If these professionals are willing to give me their time because they want to see realism portrayed, then I will never abuse their time. Now I have a former high-ranking detective working on my research team which is invaluable when it comes to accuracy.
Throughout the book you’re constantly challenging the reader’s perception of gender roles in the workplace. What did you hope to accomplish in doing so?
I didn’t deliberately set out to write something that was going to challenge my readers’ perception of gender roles in the workplace but I’m glad it did.
Prime Suspect
brought a very experienced female detective to the screen. As a result of endemic discrimination she had a very tough time proving herself capable of handling a murder enquiry. Nowadays there is not as much discrimination against female officers and there are many female commanders and numerous high-ranking female detectives. Again, I always go to the source and work alongside a female chief superintendant who I have watched move up the ranks.
What do you think is the most important thing Anna discovers about life and about herself? If you could give Anna one piece of advice, what would it be?
The only advice I would give to Anna is that she must have some kind of a private life. Her career is very dominant and time consuming. When she does in fact discover life outside the station it is tragically cut short.
In your career thus far, you’ve written in a variety of different formats. What is your creative process like writing a full-length novel compared to a screenplay or a television script? What do the different experiences have in common in terms of your emotional involvement as an author?
Writing for a television series is very different from writing a novel. The freedom of a novel means if I want to, I can describe two helicopters and five patrol cars. In the current television adaptation of
Deadly Intent
it is very interesting see how the script alters from the novel. I have to make cuts and lose characters because of budget constraints. My emotional involvement with both novels and screenplays is exactly the same. It has to be. I often have to fight for certain things to remain when we discuss the finances about a stunt, etc.
You seem to have a strong opinion of the prison system as implied in
Blind Fury
. What do you think needs to be addressed to improve the current structure and methods of criminal imprisonment?
I have strong opinions on the present prison system. I also wrote a television series called
The Govenor
based on a prison and the female govenor. I spent almost a year researching in prisons and talking to officers, etc., and I believe I do have a considerable knowledge of the current structure within the prison system. I don’t think rehabilitation should be immediately offered to the inmates
on their arrival. They take a long time to adjust and should have to earn their perks. Over and over again I was told by officers that the prisoners actually rule the prisons. Health and safety rules have become farcical when the prisoners are incarcerated for crimes they have committed—i.e., against their victims’ health and safety. In all the time I spent working within the prisons I never met or confronted one inmate who showed me any remorse. The difference between the US prisons and the UK is that in the US killers serve life without parole. It has been determined that prisoners without a parole date or possibility of release will create problems within the system. I think we need harsher sentences, tougher rules, and to allow only the prisoners who genuinely work toward rehabilitation to have the many perks on offer. That includes education, computer training, even physical freedom to work out in gyms, in other words they must earn and subsequently want to reform.
Anna and Langton have a very complicated and seemingly unfinished relationship. What’s next for the two of them? Do they have more stories to tell?
The relationship between Anna Travis and Langton has gone through many changes. He is her superior in rank, and it is frowned upon for junior officers to have any kind of relationship with their superior officers. Langton is a troubled man but an exceptional officer. However, they could never have had a future together. What they have eventually is a strong working friendship. He admires her, as she does him. Anna grows more and more aware of Langton’s faults as their working relationship progresses. As she moves up the ranks, she is often forced to confront his decisions. Eventually there will be a clash, but he is clever enough to embroil her in his devious methods, making it difficult for her to expose him. However, when that clash comes Langton will be a very dangerous and devious oppositional force.
What are you working on now? Is there another Anna Travis novel in the works?
At the moment I am finishing up the next Anna Travis novel. We have just filmed
Deadly Intent
and hopefully the next one to hit the screens will be
Silent Scream.
It is a great experience for me to see the characters grow. I enjoy working on both the screenplays and the novels equally. My next book involves a beloved son and fiance who is reported missing. A blood pool beside the victim’s bed swings the enquiry towards a murder investigation. The key question is to whom does the pool of blood belong?
E
NHANCE
Y
OUR
B
OOK
C
LUB
1.
Blind Fury
takes place in and around London. Give your book club some British flair by serving tea and other traditional English goodies at your next meeting.
2. Anna’s—and the other detectives’—appearances and personal styles aren’t clearly illustrated, leaving her person up to the reader’s imagination. Ask each of your book club members to dress up like one of the characters. Then go around the room and explain your costume choices.
3. Detectives often brainstorm in an incident room and list clues on a communal white or chalk board. Set up your meeting space like an incident room and debate each discussion question as if it were a clue in a case.
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