It took thirty years and three failed novels for the author to find the audience his writing deserves but William Shaw is now a successful crime writer. He worked as a journalist for over twenty years and lives in Brighton.
His standalone bestseller The Birdwatcher and his DS Alexandra Cupidi series are set in Dungeness, Kent. He also wrote the acclaimed Breen & Tozer crime series set in sixties London.
William started his talk with a comment he had received from one of his readers who had spotted that in The Birdwatcher, Alex receives a phone call in The Britannia Inn when he knew that in reality there was no signal available at the Inn. William observed that it is very important to get details right. This caused much hilarity. “This is the real challenge of writing books set in a known location; they are inspiring but come with pitfalls as people have preconceived ideas of what the place is like as they know it. You are dealing with a danger zone but that challenges me. That’s why I write about real places when I am writing about murder.
“Crime fiction is such a powerful genre in our time and in the last decade it has carried on becoming more and more popular. In 2017/18 crime fiction had started to outsell all other fiction put together.”
His talk was fascinating and engaging, as are his books, and we learnt some interesting facts about William: “I realised that I have this thing called aphantasia: I don’t have a mind’s eye. I always thought it was a metaphor. When people say, ‘I see this in my mind’s eye,’ I thought, ‘No, you don’t!’ Because I don’t see anything when I close my eyes and imagine things. And I didn’t realise that other people did.”
It is therefore hard to understand how William can transport his readers with such clarity to his desolate and varied locations with such ease. The Birdwatcher, a dark and intelligent thriller, is set in Dungeness and the desolate and haunting landscape is beautifully depicted – and yet he cannot visualise it.
There were people from near and far who had come to hear William speak and they thoroughly enjoyed the talk.
Image Credits: Kt bruce .