The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
AUTHOR INTERVIEW
Femi Kayode tells Caroline Lindsay about his debut crime thriller Lightseekers
Thanks to his father, Femi Kayode has been writing for as long as he can remember. “My dad especially encouraged the writing of essays to improve penmanship and grammar,” he says.
He started taking it seriously at university when he got involved in several stage productions as an actor.
“I wrote my first play in my sophomore (second) year, and since then never looked back. I have written for different forms and having a day job in advertising has exposed me to various genres and multiple platforms,” says Femi, who also trained as a clinical psychologist.
His debut crime thriller Lightseekers follows the investigative process of Dr Philip Taiwo, who is called on by a powerful banker to investigate the public torture and murder of three undergraduates in a university town in southern Nigeria.
“Philip is not a detective. He’s an investigative psychologist, an academic more interested in figuring out the why of a crime rather than actually solving it,” explains Femi.
“But when he gets to the place where the crime was committed over a year earlier, he soon realises that the murder of what the media calls the Okriki Three isn’t as straightforward as he thought.
“With the help of a streetwise driver and chaperone, Philip must work against those actively conspiring against him to piece together the truth of what happened to these students, so as to get to the why,” he continues.
“His investigation pitches him against several obstacles, many informed by the circumstances that came together to even make the crime possible in the first place. And consistently, there is the imminent danger of the true source of the violent act who is a damaged, dangerous villain and a master at manipulation and mayhem.
“The story itself was inspired by the true-life necklace killing of four undergraduates in Nigeria, and because I couldn’t do a non-fiction novel for my
creative writing thesis at UEA, I used this as the basis for my crime fiction novel.”
Femi’s writing is inspired by “human beings and the fault lines along the concept of humanity”. He says: “Injustice creates a helplessness in me, so I have to write to do something about it. Also, I think love – in all its shapes and manifestations, the idea of it and what people will do for it – inspires me a lot.”
He has some top tips for writing a top thriller: “Get in late, get out early. Never underestimate the power of putting your hero in mortal danger. Love all your characters, even the bad guys. Death is not the worst thing that can happen, and most important: writing a female character who cries when in danger should be your first warning that you are on the wrong side of history.”
Currently studying for a PhD, the dad of two teenage boys (and three dogs) is also writing book two in the series, and adds: “I love watching movies and talking/writing about them. I cook a lot and believe good food has nothing to do with hunger – as my waistline will attest.
“I want to take a poetry class and maybe dancing, if I can convince my wife to join me. And I can’t wait to go to Nigeria, hug everyone I see and eat my mum’s cooking.”