In the Footsteps of Lisbeth Salander

If you asked me to pick the most memorable character in the crime fiction of the 21st century, then I don't think I'd look any further than Stieg Larsson's Lisbeth Salander. She is wholly distinctive and yet somehow very much in the tradition of the maverick detective. So during a brief trip to Stockholm from which I've just returned, I enjoyed making a pilgrimage to one of her favourite hang-outs, the old beer hall Kvarnen, which features in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. And the food was excellent - they did a very good special meatballs dish, one of the local favourites.

Scandinavian noir fiction has been all the rage for more than a decade now, and yet Stockholm is a thriving and (at least from the perspective of a tourist) highly civilised city, not perhaps the most obvious setting for murder and mayhem. We were lucky to have a well informed guide, one Catherine Edwards, whose first job since graduating is as a journalist for The Local, based in Sweden.

This was my second trip to Stockholm, the first having been a one day stop during a Baltic capitals cruise, and the visit reinforced my enthusiasm for the city. There's plenty to see, far more than a few days' worth of sights. The Moderna Museet, tucked away on one of the city's many islands, is impressive, and so is the charming old town, Gamla Stan. Skansen, the world's first open air museum, is also packed with interesting things to see.

Stockholm is sometimes called "the Venice of the North", and although it's a misleading comparison, because the two cities are utterly different, with so much water, there is the chance to take some fascinating boat trips. Our voyage to the fabulous Drottningholm Palace on a sunny day was especially memorable. And so was a Father's Day dinner cooked in her flat by Catherine.

The Craft of Writing: How Long Should a Story Be?

A number of people have encouraged me to include more posts on this blog about the craft of writing, a subject I've touched on intermittently over the years. As I am currently hard at work on the next Lake District Mystery, questions about writing methods and so on are naturally uppermost in my mind, so I thought I'd run a series of posts about aspects of writing -mainly related to the crime genre, but not exclusively. In the light of responses, I'll then decide whether to continue or to focus on the range of topics that have usually featured here. I should add that I'm not seeking (or qualified) to make definitive judgments. I'm more interested in promoting constructive debate.

One issue that I do think about a good deal concerns the length of a story. Of course, there is no answer to the question 'how long should a story be?' other than 'it all depends'. But it's often worth thinking carefully about what the answer depends on. This topic is fresh in my mind having watched again that classic film Lawrence of Arabia. I first watched it as a teenager (my Dad was very keen on epics like Ben Hur and El Cid, as well as Lawrence of Arabia) and to be honest I appreciated it much more the second time around.

Given the brilliance of cast, script, desert photography, and indeed soundtrack, it's easy to see why David Lean's masterly film is widely acknowledged as a classic. Yet the fact is, it is very, very long. Would it be a worse film if it were, say, an hour shorter? Robert Bolt and Michael Wilson did a great job with the screenplay, but - and this may be a 21st century opinion - it seems to me that the film would have had even more impact had it been shorter. Yes, I know this is heresy, and I'm sure many will disagree...

Many books, similarly, can be improved if they are cut in length. This is even true of some novels, which, like Lawrence of Arabia, are wonderful. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is an example that springs to mind. Sometimes a point is made more effectively if it isn't hammered home. A very good reviewer once said of one of my early books that, much as he liked it, he felt I'd done a bit too much hammering. Overall, I thought it was fair comment, and I've tried to keep it in mind ever since. What is the right length does depend on the individual novel, short story or screenplay in question. In general, though, it's surely a good idea for the length to be the minimum needed for the writer to get across everything that he or she considers essential to the story - not the maximum space available.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - 2011 movie

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by the late Stieg Larsson is one of the most remarkable of all crime debuts. I very much admired its ambition and scale - quite breathtaking in a first novel. Lisbeth Salander is a dazzlingly original creation and I also loved the way Larsson combined elements of classic mystery fiction with a highly contemporary story-line that is absolutely crammed with plot material. I don't claim it's a perfect book, of course. What I'm not sure about in particular is whether a certain unevenness in the narrative, and e a bit of over-writing (I felt maybe as much as 100 pages could have been cut without great loss, and the result would have been an even tighter and more focused book) is due to the fact that Larsson died before publication, and may have chosen to go back to the book, and edited it down somewhat, had he lived.

I haven't seen the 2010 Swedish movie adaptation yet (but I will soon, as I recently acquired the box set of DVDs). However, I've just watched the 2011 American version, directed by David Fincher and starring Daniel Craig, and I felt - though it may verge on heresy to say so - that it was even more impressive than the book, because the need to condense the story enabled Fincher to concentrate on the core elements of the story, and he did so very effectively.

Craig really is a good actor - one of Cheshire's best! - and he puts in a characteristically strong performance as the journalist with a conscience who tries to solve a series of killings of women dating back many years. I also felt that Christopher Plummer was excellent as the elderly tycoon who hires him - one thing's for sure, The Sound of Music this movie ain't. Special praise goes to Rooney Mara, who tackles the enormously challenging role of Lisbeth Salander with aplomb.  

Fincher makes some of Larsson's points about crimes committed by powerful men against women (depressingly very topical in light of current horrifying allegations about the late Jimmy Savile) but he doesn't do so in a heavy-handed way. As a result, the film grips from start to finish, despite the unusual and convoluted plot. I really enjoyed it.

How long should a crime novel be?

There’s little doubt that – as a generalisation – crime novels have grown fatter over the years. Jessica Mann pointed out a while back that, in days gone by, a typical crime novel was not much more than 60,000 words long; she pointed to many of the old green Penguins to illustrate her point. But things have change. Compare, for instance, the early Reginald Hill books with his more recent publications. The latter are much longer – yet equally fine, I hasten to add. But length is not always synonymous with quality.

This trend towards obesity is driven, primarily, by publishers’ requirements, but no doubt the publishers would say they are only responding to consumer demand. A writer like Robert Barnard, for instance, tends to stick to relatively short books. But Stieg Larsson’s success has not been hindered the bulkiness of his three novels. Some have opined, though, that Larsson’s books might not have been harmed by a bit of judicious cutting. And much as I liked The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, I think the book could easily have been shortened.

I know of one successful writer of historical mysteries whose publisher insisted that she increase the already substantial word count of her books. And a fellow lawyer once told me that he judged the value of a book by its size. Which shocked me at least as much as those who judge the quality of a novel by its cover.

Personally I have a slight prejudice as both a reader and a writer for books that are not too long. But of course there are plenty of exceptions – Reg Hill’s work is but one example. All the same, I do think that the quality of plenty of crime novels might be improved by some cutting. Most stories have a natural length, and it does them no favours to increase it.

The Man Who Left Too Soon

Ever since Stieg Larsson’s first novel, The Girl with the Dragon Tatttoo, was posthumously published to enormous acclaim, first in his native Sweden, and before long around the world, Larsson mania has gripped the world of crime fiction world. This is in part because of the excellence of his Millennium trilogy, but also because of the remarkable story surrounding it, not least the tragic fact that the author died before he became a global phenomenon. I must say that I am really looking forward to watching the film version of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.

Now Barry Forshaw has published Larsson’s biography, neatly titled The Man Who Left Too Soon, published by John Blake Publishing. One of the features of the book is that the author has called upon various contemporary crime writers to share their thoughts about Larsson and his work, and I should declare that I am one of them. Even so, I think it is reasonable for me to say that this is a book that will contain a great deal of interest for Larsson fans – even if they skip the page of so devoted to my ruminations!

Barry Forshaw is a very experienced journalist with a deep knowledge of the crime genre, who was until recently Vice Chair of the Crime Writers’ Association. He has reviewed widely, and I first came across him through his editorship of Crime Time, an excellent resource. Barry also wrote The Rough Guide to Crime Fiction and the wonderful (again, I must admit to having contributed a few essays, but the rest of it is definitely wonderful!) British Crime Writing: An Encyclopaedia. He is an excellent choice for authorship of a book of this kind, and I can’t imagine that Larsson’s admirers, and those interested in finding out more about him, will be disappointed by this timely publication

Mystery Islands

I love islands – especially small ones. They seem to me to be tranquil places, yet full of mystery. The best Golden Age detective story (in my opinion) is set on a small island – Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None. And the enduring appeal of the island setting is highlighted by the success of Stieg Larsson’s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.

For years, my favourite island has been Herm, in the English Channel, a marvellous little place, but now it has been displaced at the top of my list by Holy Island, aka Lindisfarne (not to be confused with the 1970s folk/rock group of the same name), off the coast of Northumberland, not far from the Scottish border.

Staying overnight in the Old Manor House, right next to the ancient priory, was a great experience. The weather was glorious and that meant plenty of opportunity to explore the main sights, even though time ran out before it was possible to roam to some of the less visited parts of the island.

Holy Island is a place of pilgrimage, and no wonder. I found it utterly fascinating. I am not aware that it has featured in any mystery novels, though perhaps Ellis Peters or Peter Tremayne may have set medieval stories there. But it would be a perfect setting for a modern day mystery in the classic mould.