FISH FINGER PIES AND FIENDISH PLOT TWISTS

Multi-award-winning crime writer Karin Brynard’s latest book, Homeland, will be published in English later this month.

You probably couldn’t ask for better training as a crime writer in South Africa than to start out as a political journalist. Karin Brynard covered everything from marches and riots to the release of Nelson Mandela. About 10 years ago, she set aside that career to pursue her passion for crime fiction (she’d fallen in love with Hercule Poirot at the age of 13). Now three books in, Karin is already regarded as a master of the genre – if you haven’t yet read her books, you’re in for a treat. Start at Weeping Waters. You won’t look up until you’ve read all three. Why crime fiction? I love reading it. I think I might have started right after I cut my milk teeth. Like many children of my generation, we started off with the rough stuff – the Bible. Take the story of Cain and Abel, the first recorded murder right there! Jokes aside, I love the range and variety made possible by this genre – from cosy entertainment to hard-boiled and noir, and even further along to social inquiry and comment all the

way up to fine literary works produced by the likes of Julian Barnes (Arthur & George), Charles Dickens (Bleak House) and Umberto Eco (The Name of the Rose).

To me, the mark of a good crime novel is not only the usual elements of entertainment – nail-biting suspense, interesting characters and an intelligent plot et al – but also its ability to probe human motive as well as the fault lines in a society. What do you think of the Staunch Book Prize, launched this year (‘to recognise thrillers in which no woman is beaten, stalked, raped, sexually exploited, or murdered’)? I agree with the sentiment. There should be greater awareness of the

often exploitative and gratuitous nature of violence against women in thriller writing. The founders of the Staunch Prize believe that this type of fiction, with often pornographic descriptions of sexual and bodily abuse, has reached ‘a ridiculous high’. But I can hardly imagine that female victims should disappear completely from crime. That would be truly strange and abnormal.

This genre abounds with female writers, and I know most of us write in such a way that our work will heighten awareness; we want to remind our readers of the fact that women are murdered and raped and abused in awful ways by men.

So we cannot not write about it. I think it’s entirely possible to have women victims without being exploitative, without using it for shock value, or as a tool to enhance tension or to push sales.

Another way of dealing with this issue is to create strong female main characters. Many writers do so – for example, Sue Grafton (Kinsey Millhone), Patricia Cornwell (Kay Scarpetta) or Sally Andrew (Tannie Maria). I love the way in which Stieg Larsson used his female protaganist, Lisbeth Salander, in the Millenium Trilogy, turning her from sexual victim into the kick-ass techno-genius/avengingangel sleuth.

If you could make someone simply disappear and never be found out, would you? Who?

Only in fiction, I suppose. I’m afraid I’m rather boring that way… I just don’t hate anyone enough. On top of that, I wouldn’t have the nerve. But imagining it in fiction, that I can do. Push a guy down a disused old well? Easy-peasy. I could spend days plotting and planning the details – I did exactly that in Homeland.

But if I had to defend myself... a completely different kettle of fish. In real life, I’ve been mugged and attacked a number of times, and almost every time I found myself fighting back like a demon, even giving chase when the guy gave up and ran away! I once chased a burglar out of the yard and down the street with a frying pan.

You can invite four people to your dinner party, alive or dead. Who are they?

Marianne Thamm, German chancellor Angela Merkel, Tannie Evita Bezuidenhout and Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu (all alive). Thamm, because she’s funny and fearless and a fantastic storyteller. Merkel because she’s considered the de facto leader of the free world, the ‘last adult in the room’ of international politics. Evita – the one white Boere auntie with street cred. The Arch (Tutu) will be turning the water into wine and swinging from the chandelier. That would be for a dinner someone else cooked.

If I had to do the cooking, I’d invite guys like Stalin, Genghis Khan and Idi Amin together with the entire Monty Python team.

Do you cook?

I prefer to defrost and warm up. But I can make a mean fish finger pie…

When do you write best?

When the deadline has nicely passed and the editor threatens court action. Otherwise, once I’ve established a rhythm and have a good stretch of time without interruptions.

Do you have a daily routine?

Because I’m very disorganised, I try to stick to a rigorous routine. I get up at 5am, make coffee and try to get started. By 7am I take a long walk, trying to get as close to five kilometres as I can within an hour.

The rest of the day I spend working. At the moment I’m trying to find my way back to working again after suffering a huge loss. Grieving and working aren’t good bedmates.

How well do you sleep at night?

I was born an insomniac, but I’ve learned a few tricks to help me relax. Counting sheep is not one of them. So I listen to audiobooks of writers like Tolstoy.

TV box set or movie?

TV box set, of course. I’m lucky to be alive in the golden era of television, with phenomena like Netflix producing quality series like Alias

Grace and Narcos. There are also great Scandi series like The Killing and The Bridge. Give me the time to binge-watch a good series – I’ll even ‘cook’ the popcorn myself.

Can you ever turn your brain off?

Only when I binge-watch a TV series. Otherwise I try meditating for half an hour each morning. Sadly, it underlines the fact that watching TV is the only way to zone out.

Who are your favourite writers?

In general all people who have enough courage, willpower and determination to finish a book in the first place. But seriously: the late Peter Temple is one of my favourite crime writers. He’s an ex-Saffer who lived and wrote in Australia and gave a new meaning to literary crime with books like Truth and The

Broken Shore. I also adore Lee Child for the sheer audacity of turning a modernday cowboy – Jack Reacher – into one of the most succesful crime characters of our time. Also Robert Harris, writer of Fatherland, Enigma and The Fear Index. Locally, I love, love, love Deon Meyer, Sally Andrew, Mike Nicol and Michelle Rowe, to name just some of our internationally acclaimed crime writers.

Dogs or cats?

Both.

Small town or big city?

Could I choose outer space, instead? Otherwise the veld, preferably the Kalahari, the Karoo and the Bushveld, in that order. I love small towns for their honest and quiet living, and big cities like Joburg for their cultural vividness and excitement. I guess I’m rather tasteless. I love both and all.

Has the fact that you were a journalist helped or hindered your fiction?

I think it’s helped tremendously. I spent more than 30 years digging those trenches, doing the apprenticeship. Some of the best lessons I learnt? Stay humble in this craft, grow a thick skin and be brave, do thorough research, keep asking questions… keep learning.

What would you like to tell your 16-year-old self?

Keep on trying, things will be okay. Be kind, always.

Do you like camping?

Love it. Sleeping under the stars, experiencing the vast silence of the desert, meeting the wonderful souls who inhabit the Kalahari – people like the late San leader Oom Dawid Kruiper. And chatting to him on top of a red sand dune in the shade of an ancient camel thorn tree.

The best advice you’ve been given?

Live consciously and cherish moments – you never know when they’re your last…