Philip Gooden

Latest Release

Interview

Can you give some background details on your crime series?

My Elizabethan series featuring Nick Revill uses Shakespeare's Globe theatre as background. The plays are full of colour and violence, as were the streets of London at the time, and I have woven a series of mysteries incorporating Shakespeare's plays. A second series is set in the Victorian period with a lawyer (!) as the hero/detective.

Characterisation or plot, which do you think is more important?

Both, is the short answer. People won't read on unless they feel engaged with the characters. On the other hand, in a genre like crime and mystery, plot is pretty important.

Do you have a clear structure or plot development when you are writing or are you sometimes surprised by who the killer turns out to be?

The overall outline will be clear but I don't usually know who the killer is. Or, if I think I do at the start, my ideas will change as I go along. There's a logic to this - if the writer doesn't know, then the reader certainly shouldn't be able to guess. And one goes back afterwards to tweak things and make it look prearranged.

View the whole Nick Revill series.