One Of Us Is Dead, the landmark 20th novel in the Brighton-based Detective Superintendent Roy Grace series by Peter James, hits the book shops on September 24.
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00:00Good afternoon, my name is Phil Hewitt, Group Arts Editor at Sussex Newspapers, always fabulous
00:06to speak to Peter James. Now, we're speaking in momentous time because it's Roy Grace's
00:12book number 20, which is a phenomenal achievement. And Peter, you were saying that when you started
00:17Roy Grace, it was a deal for two books. You weren't necessarily thinking it would go beyond
00:22that. What happened that you're now celebrating the publication number 20, and you're well
00:30through number 21?
00:31It's about to finish number 21. And I can't believe it. So it's like over 20 years of
00:36Roy Grace. And yeah, originally, I was, my publishers approached me through my agents
00:42and had Peter ever thought of writing a crime series featuring a new detective. And at that
00:50time, I had become very friendly with a guy called David Gaylor, who was a detective chief
00:56superintendent, head of major crime for Sussex. And we'd become good mates. I thought he would
01:01be the ideal model for Roy Grace. Doesn't look like him, but just the way he operated,
01:06the way he worked. He's a little, he was quite quirky in a good way. So I went to him and
01:12I said, how do you feel like being a fictional cop? And he loved the idea. And we've kind
01:18of worked together on the books, and he reads every 150 pages and says, Roy Grace wouldn't
01:23do this, he'd do that. And the other police characters, he's kind of...
01:28Is that, that's a key part of the success, that it has been so authentic, hasn't it?
01:34Yeah, I think that's, it's a huge part. I remember I was being on a radio interview,
01:38I was done a book tour in New Zealand, and I walked into this radio studio, and the guy said,
01:43I hear you're the guy who gets it right. And I love that.
01:48That's the biggest compliment, isn't it?
01:50But I think people love the characters too. I mean, I get...
01:54I was going to say, the interplay between them, isn't it? The connection.
01:57I get an email, I'm not joking, I get an email about once a week from a police officer somewhere
02:02in the world, saying, we have a Norman Potting in our office.
02:06They still exist, do they?
02:09Yep.
02:10But Norman Potting has been a little bit toned down from the earlier books.
02:13He's toned down a lot, actually. I remember Martin Richards, the previous chief constable
02:19of Sussex, was a big fan. And he said, I just think, just tone Norman a little bit down.
02:24You want to keep him, but the way he is at the moment, he wouldn't survive very long on the
02:29force. But I think that it's the combination, what my readers seem to love is the combination
02:34of the characters. That's great. I'm very lucky there's such warmth between
02:39the characters on screen. But in the pages of the books, I've tried to portray that.
02:45I always joke, I say, I was unlucky enough to have a member of my family murdered.
02:50Roy Grace is the detective I'd want running the investigation.
02:54Absolutely. But the lovely thing is that each book stands alone, doesn't it? Of course.
02:59But the really fabulous thing about the books is that I think as a reader,
03:04we enjoy the development of the characters, don't we? The relationship with Roy Grace
03:10finding love and all the mystery about his missing wife. But the books, the people move on, don't they?
03:16They do. It's kind of, I guess, like a crime soap opera at one level.
03:24I was a big fan of Agatha Christie and Poirot when I was a kid. But their books,
03:35they are exactly the same book after book. They're not impacted by anything that goes on.
03:41You've got the same Miss Marple at the end of 20 books as at the beginning. Whereas what I've
03:47tried to do is to have the characters impacted by what happens, their lives impacted.
03:54And how they move on. And also I've tried to show what it really is like to be a police officer.
04:01You know, that you turn up at the most horrific crime scene and then you go home and you bathe
04:09your kids and put them to bed and cook the supper for you and your wife or the other way around.
04:16But, you know, there is, there are so many, the great line I once heard, which is the police and
04:23the other emergency service workers are ordinary people doing extraordinary things. And I love,
04:30I find that fascinating too. And trying to show readers through all the different kinds of
04:39crimes and issues they get into, what it really is like to be a cop.
04:43Absolutely. And you have the police suggesting themes to you. So how much
04:47longer can this go on? Are you eyeing up 25, 30? Well, is there a target in mind? Or are you just
04:54open-minded to keep going?
04:56There is no target. I think as long as my wonderful readers are enjoying the books and sales are still
05:02sort of growing around the world, I'm going to keep going. I think that, you know, I think that
05:06I'm going to keep going. I think that, I remember, you know, a big last one was Conan Doyle, you know,
05:12who got fed up with Sherlock Holmes and wanted to kill him off. And then he couldn't create anything
05:17as successful. So he had to sort of implausibly bring him back.
05:22But you're not tempted to shove Grace off the rifle and back full centre.
05:27No, I really like him. I can't, he's almost like, I remember every time I sit down to start a new
05:32book, I go, you know, hi Roy, how's Cleo? You know, hi Norman, who have you pissed off this week?
05:39Like, I love writing and, you know, I love learning stuff, you know. So, you know, with each book,
05:48I've got a lot to tell you about the next one I'm writing at the moment, which is
05:52top secret. We're going to have some fun talking about that in the new year.
05:56Fantastic. Well, congratulations on reaching 20. Phenomenal. It also makes you realise how
06:02quickly 20 years flash by, doesn't it? Yeah, what happened?
06:07I think we've linked. You get younger each time I see you, so that's okay.
06:11Thank you very much. You're saying the right things, as indeed do you.
06:15Great to speak to you again. Thank you.