Lynda La Plante CBE is a celebrated British author, screenwriter, and former actress, best known for creating the acclaimed TV crime series Prime Suspect and Widows. Originally a RADA-trained actress, she transitioned to writing, producing prolific, award-winning crime thrillers and over 40 bestselling novels.

James Lee Burke is a New York Times bestselling author, three-time winner of the Edgar Award as well as the Grand Master Award from Mystery Writers of America, winner of the CWA Diamond Dagger and Gold Dagger and the Grand Prix de Littérature Policière, and the recipient of the Guggenheim Fellowship for Creative Arts in Fiction.

Interview with James Lee Burke

James was interviewed by debut author and CWA Secretary, Roxie Key.

What is the first crime story you remember reading, and was this a catalyst for you?
The Hardy Boys were wonderful. During the war years the library truck came to our neighborhood on Thursday afternoon. Every kid ran to it. In many ways it was a grand time, despite the war.

When was the moment you knew that writing fiction was going to be more than a hobby?
I never wanted to be anything other than an artist, either a painter or a writer or a singer.

How has your own life experience affected the novels you write?
Living in the South, particularly Louisiana, is a gift from God to any artist. The American South is an echo of Dear Old Dixie. The Confederate flag is the Cross of Bonnie Scotland. Every book I’ve written comes out of the fourteenth century, for good or bad. Robin Hood is right there.

What did you buy with your first royalties cheque?
I bought some decent groceries.

What have you found is the best thing about being an author?
You can dip your hand in eternity. How many people can do that?

Who has helped you the most along the way, and how?
My family are my greatest helpers. The hard years were indeed hard years, and my wife Pearl and Jim and Andree and Pamala and Alafair were always behind me.

As a crime writer, what would you like to be remembered for?
With all respect I don’t see my work as that of a crime writer. Art is Art, and at the center of my art is evil. My characters are the symbols of it, and those symbols are those that would enslave their fellow men and women and destroy their Earth. Right now, we are on the bloody edge of infinity.

If you were asked to advise someone who was starting out as a crime writer now, what would you say?
I would say write what you know about. Good writers are good listeners. The story is right there on the wind. Get on the subway and listen to wheels clicking. You’ll find the story.

If you could go back and change one thing about your debut novel, what would it be?
The Earth does not need to remember me. However, I hope they remember my work. I’m proud of it because I wrote as well as I could and as honestly as I could. In regard to regret, my first book was written through a glass darkly, between my twenty-first and twenty-third years, and I wrote most of it on an oil pipeline. The New York Times gave me a six-column banner review. However, I still regret a young man’s view through dark glasses. The Big Man has treated me pretty well.

What’s the next exciting thing happening for you?
Right now, I’m waiting for the published release of THE HADACOL BOOGIE. This baby rocks, and I mean it rocks.