Which novel has Peter James taken on holiday for 40 years and never enjoyed
… are you reading?
Simon Beckett’s Boneyard. His first crime thriller, The Chemistry of Death, impressed me greatly; I knew I was reading an extremely talented new author. He has had great success ever since, and that’s because his writing never disappoints. Even though I’m only a few chapters into this new episode, I know I’m having a good time!
The book to which James owes his career
…would you go to a deserted island?
If I could only pick one novel, it would be Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse Five. Telling about New York ophthalmologist Billy Pilgrim fighting in the Second World War, witnessing the fire bombardment of Dresden, and unwittingly turning into a time traveler after surviving an air disaster, Vonnegut’s sarcastic view of life and his laughter-filled sense of humor would support me in my dark moments.
But the book I definitely have to buy is The Oxford Dictionary Of Quotations, which has been my friend and constant companion since my school days. This is a treasure trove very wisely chosen to extract so much intelligence, wisdom, philosophy and pure common sense from so many people, from the great to the unknown.
…did he give you a reading error first?
My father read three novels a week, and I grew up in a house full of books.
My first memory of adult fiction was Lawrence Durrell’s The Alexandria Quartet. I was amazed by them. However, the book that gave me the habit of reading and to which I owe my career is Graham Greene’s Brighton Rock. It tells the story of Pinky, a charmingly evil 17-year-old gangster in charge of a group of middle-aged misfit criminals. He is a murderer but also a devout Catholic who fears eternal damnation. Psychologically speaking, it has the darkest ending of any novel I know. I read this when I was 14 and immediately promised myself that one day I would try to write a crime novel set in my hometown of Brighton.
…did it catch you cold?
Tolstoy’s War and Peace. I have dutifully taken this book on every holiday for the last 40 years, and each time I return it arrives with only a few chapters read. I don’t know what it is – it’s definitely not Russian names like some try and I devoured Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment. Maybe one day in the next 40 years…
The Falcon is Dead (Pan, £9.99) by Peter James is now available in paperback
