Hi Richard Montanari. What happens in your life since our last interview (avril 2011) ?
Quite a bit has happened, especially on the writing front. I recently signed with Little, Brown, who will publish my books in both the United Kingdom and the United States. The sixth book in my Philadelphia series (the next book after THE ECHO MAN, titled THE KILLING ROOM), came out last year and was a top ten bestseller. The seventh book in the series, titled THE STOLEN ONES, was released just last month in hardcover in the UK. It will be published in the US in February 2014. I am hard at work on the next book in the series, as well as a short story featuring the men and women in the homicide unit of the Philadelphia Police Department.
The Echo Man, your new novel, will publish in September in France in cherche midi editeur, can you talk about it ?
As with much of my work, the story is a bit difficult to describe, for fear of giving away the twists and turns of the plot. I can say that detectives Kevin Byrne and Jessica Balzano are faced with one of the most difficult and chilling investigations of their careers. One by one, bodies are being discovered around the city of Philadelphia, and the detectives soon discover that someone is re-creating unsolved homicides from the city’s past. As they begin to peel away layers of the killer’s plan it becomes clear that there is something far more sinister at work. I’ve always been fascinated with the notion — some would call it a belief — that energy, especially negative energy, stays behind when something evil happens. In every room where murder has been done, on every blood soaked battlefield, there is a psychic residue that defies time. I began to wonder if there are people who could stand in such a spot and hear the screams, weeks and months and even decades later. This is the terrible, and terrifying, ability of The Echo Man.
Cinema, carnival, magic trick, religious practice, your novels are in very different universes. In The Echo Man, you talk about the world of classic music, why this choice ?
In all my books I’ve tried to bring my readers into new worlds. They may be worlds with which readers are quite familiar, but I try to shine a light in a dark corner of that world and hopefully illuminate something new. I have an interest in cinema, carnivals, magic, classical music, and, having been raised a Catholic, the rites and rituals of the Catholic Church. I begin each novel with the premise, and hope, that I will learn new things, and in turn take the reader on a brief journey of discovery.
The Echo Man’s scenario is particularly smart and surprising, how had you this idea?
When I began my research into classical music, I wondered if any of the great works followed a specific narrative. I knew that there were symphonies written on specific topics, created to evoke a time or a mood or a specific series of events, but I wasn’t sure if there were major works that followed a plot. I knew that “Peter and the Wolf” had a storyline, and that instruments in the orchestra represented the various animals, but that was about it. When I visited the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia I learned the difference between absolute music (where comprehension depends solely on the piece’s structure, not on any narrative), and program music (music overtly inspired by a nonmusical idea). It opened up a new world of possibilities for my story. When I discovered the work of Camille Saint-Saëns, I was enthralled.
How do you start the writing of your novels ?
The first step in my process is always to determine the killer’s pathology. In other words, why is he doing what he is doing? There are certain required steps in the writing of all procedurals — a body is found, police are called, investigators show up at the crime scene — so my main series characters need to be on their game early in the story. That’s the prevailing theory, anyway. Kevin Byrne, and to some extent Jessica Balzano, don’t always play by the rules. This is certainly true of my killers. Once I know what motivates my villain, and through what shattered glass he views the world, the story begins to take shape.
Byrne and Balzano are a lovable duo with a great potential, have you received proposals to make a screen adaptation someday ?
There has been a lot of interest over the last few years, both in producing a feature film, as well as a television miniseries. Unfortunately, in this day and age, the development of material for film and television is extremely expensive, and some of the world’s best-selling authors, in the crime genre and others, have not had films produced from their work. I would love to see a dark and haunting miniseries produced, beginning with THE ROSARY GIRLS. One lives in hope. One keeps writing.Which are your plans ? A travel in France to meet your readers :) ?
I would love to come back to France. It has been many years. I think we should start a letter writing campaign to demand my presence! J
Thanks a lot, Richard Montanari. One word to finish ?
The word is "ennui". It has nothing to do with this interview, but French is such a beautiful language. I love that word. It takes at least five words in English to define
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