Some frequently asked questions about the Stringer Novels.
Q. How many Stringer novels are there?
A. Currently there are three complete novels and one work in progress. The complete novels are The Word in the Street, Fool's Mate, and The Dog That Didn't Bark. The 'work in progress' is This Way Madness Lies. I have already outlined two further novels, provisionally entitled Each Way Bet and Out of the Box. Extracts from these novels will appear on this site as soon as they are written.
As I have new ideas for Stringer novels all the time, I am sure that I am going to be adding to that list soon.
Q. Is 'Paradise,' the location of the Stringer novels, based on any real place?
A. Certainly not. Rather it is a conflation of many depressed inner city areas the world over. There are aspects of Paradise that are like the East End of London, aspects that are like the Lower East Side of New York, aspects that are like the suburbs of Shanghai. Basically, Paradise represents the least attractive aspects of urban life as it can be experienced anywhere in the world.
Also, as I portray the local police force as being irredeemably corrupt, it seemed sensible not to base Paradise on any actual place in case the real police (probably quite rightly) took exception to how they were being portrayed in the novels. (I believe that Raymond Chandler used a similar excuse to explain why, in his novels, Los Angeles is called 'Bay City'.)
Incidentally, the name 'Paradise' (as I am sure you have already gathered) is intended to be ironic.
Q. Are the Stringer novels set in the present?
A. Actually, they are set in the near future, somewhere between eighteen months to two years away from the present - the 'present' in this case being the moment when you are reading this. They portray a future in which social cohesion has broken down to an even greater degree than at present. Like the possible future portrayed Orwell's 1984, it is a future that we could avoid if we really want to.
In two years time the novels will still be set eighteen months to two years in the future.
Q. Stringer is unique amongst literary detectives in that he's not particularly clever. Why is this?
A. Long, long ago I wondered why detectives in literature were always so annoyingly damn clever. Of course, they had to have a certain amount of intelligence in order to solve the crimes; but making the detective an intellectual prodigy who was able to spot clues and eliminate red herrings with an ease that the rest of us reserve for breathing does strike me as being a bit of a cheat.
So I thought: Is it possible to write a novel about a detective who's not very bright. One who blunders into situations without thinking ahead, one who's more interested in protecting his own skin than being heroic; a detective who - in short - is a normal human being just like the rest of us. So Stringer was born, and sent off to solve his first crime.
And when he did solve the crime, probably the only person who was more surprised about it than me was Stringer himself.
On the other hand - although comedy is one of the aims of these novels - I did not want Stringer to be a clone of Inspector Clouseau, so I had to maintain a careful balance. So although he makes mistakes (as we all do) and sometimes jumps to the wrong conclusion (as we all do), he's certainly no clown. Although he doesn't always show it, deep down he's a decent person, and will always do the right thing in the end.
Q. Unlike most other crime fiction, there are very few murders in the Stringer novels. Why is this?
A. Murder is a terrible crime, and it has always seemed rather distasteful to me that authors should use murder as a pretext for a piece of work that is essentially an entertainment. Also, there are a great many other unpleasant crimes that have been unjustly neglected by crime writers, such as the exploitation of illegal immigrants as portrayed in The Word on the Street.
This Way Madness Lies, when it has been completed, is likely to have a higher quota than usual of corpses.
Although the novels have their flights of fancy, I have taken care that they are always rooted firmly in reality; and in reality, it would be very unlikely that a private detective of Stringer's level of skill and competence would ever have the opportunity to investigate such a serious crime as murder.
Q. Does Stringer have a first name?
A. He does, but like some other eminent detectives in literature, he prefers to keep it a secret.
Q. The Stringer novels seem to be full of grammatical errors. Is this deliberate?
A. Grammatical errors? Oh, I suppose you mean the way that the narrative can't make up its mind whether it's in the past or the present tense. Stringer has never been entirely in control of his own life; and even when he tries to write about it, he's not quite in control of the language he uses, either.
Q. Should we believe everything that Stringer tells us?
A. Probably not. He is what literary critics would call an 'unreliable narrator' - and the fact that he only writes what I tell him to write is probably even less grounds for taking anything he says at face value.
Q. Stringer often talks about his old Dad, but he never mentions his Mother. Why is this?
A. His memories of his mother are very painful to him. One day, however, he's going to have to face up to them.
Q. In the novels, Stringer is definitely single. Has he ever had a girlfriend?
A. He has, although none of his relationships lasted very long. Many of his love affairs have been unrequited. In one of the proposed novels (Out of the Box) Stringer finally meets the woman of his dreams. The novel is not exactly going to be a romance, however.
Q. How can I read a complete Stringer novel in its entirety?
A. I'm afraid that you can't, not yet, because none of the novels have been published. If any publisher or agent reading this would like to correct this oversight, then they can contact me directly.
Q. Have you written anything other than the Stringer novels?
A. Yes I have. Amongst my other novels is an epic Second World War story called The Street of the Malcontents. I have also written short stories, radio plays, and film scripts.
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© 2003 Richard Young. All rights reserved.