James Lee Burke

The podcast ‘Debut’ is the story behind the story of The Ghost of Helen Addison. That is to say that it traces my steps from my initial stirrings as a writer and then the initial inception of the book, right through my developing the novel, to getting it published and beyond. Anyway, Neil ‘Whitey’ White of BackPage media who produced the podcast and conducted most of the interviews, drew out a significant moment in my personal narrative. In 2003 I was visiting friends from my London days in Melbourne, and one of them kindly lent me her car in order that I could drive the Great Ocean Road, which straddles a section of the southern coastline of Australia. I stopped for the night in some town or village – I forget the name of the place – and having finished whatever book I had my nose in found myself with nothing to read (this being the days before Kindles). I remember entering a bookshop and being unable to find anything I wanted, and the young man who worked there expertly recommended James Lee Burke, the American crime writer. The book was Jolie Blon’s Bounce, then the latest in the Louisiana-set series starring Dave Robicheaux, and starring one of the most disturbing, get-under-your-skin baddies I have ever encountered in literature: one Legion Guidry. Up until then I hadn’t really been much of a crime fiction fan. My older brother John had adored Agatha Christie as a teenager, and I enjoyed a good few of his books back then (a box containing a sizeable chunk of her crime canon still sits in my mother’s attic). Apart from that, I only read the occasional crime novel. Discovering James Lee Burke changed all that, because I was blown away by his talent, and also by the fact that the genre could be so literary and elegant, and could be used to express such deep ideas. There were extraordinary characters, Cormac McCarthy-esque descriptions of the physical world, rugged moral landscapes and, most of all, existential explorations to the point that the narrative could brush against the supernatural. I have since read all of the Robicheaux novels and most of Burke’s other works, and because of him read a lot more crime than I otherwise would have. Most importantly, and although the idea wouldn’t germinate until seven years after that chance visit to that Aussie bookshop, there is no doubt in my mind that without having read Burke I would never have come up with Leo Moran or The Ghost of Helen Addison. I just wouldn’t have guessed at what you can aim for in crime fiction.
By the way, I should point out that Neil of Backpage is a fellow James Lee Burke apostle; he is an avid crime reader but I believe Burke is his hero. Neil, as sports-publishing business partner of my good pal (and co-author of the Road to Lisbon) Martin Greig, was one of the initial people to read (a first draft of) Helen Addison (then entitled The Killing of Helen Addison.) Neil really liked my efforts, and because we shared the same tastes his opinion meant a great deal to me. Also, back then I had barely met him, and therefore I knew he wasn’t speaking from a position of conscious or unconscious bias in my favour, so it was very encouraging to get his feedback, and all authors need a wee bit of a boost in their early stages. So thanks, Whitey.