The young detective’s new adventure

JOHN A. BONELLO,

For many readers out there, the publication of a new book in the Irvin Vella detective series is as an event that draws immediate attention. ‘Irvin Vella: Il-Każ tal-maħżen mitluq’ is the fifth book in the ever-popular detective series for young readers. The series has already won three Best Children’s Book awards in the Terramaxka National Book awards. the author, speaks about his passion for writing, the secret of this success and what he has planned for future books. This is the fifth book in your Irvin Vella detective series. We’re used to seeing long-running book series abroad, but not so much in Malta. What’s the secret to Irvin’s longevity?

There are two main reasons for Irvin’s longevity, and a third secondary one. The first main reason is that readers, young and not so young, love these stories. During normal times, I am invited regularly to schools and colleges to talk to students about creative writing and the most frequently asked question by students is: Can you write more books in this series? This is a big motivator. A second reason, and crucial to any series, is that I enjoy writing these investigative and mystery novels. I enjoy planning them out, doing the research, brainstorming ways to make each novel in the series unique and interesting for the reader. So, as long as I keep enjoying doing this, I won’t stop. And lastly, I am a fan of series, especially ones where you see characters develop and where there’s an interesting over-arching back story. It‘s a technique by its own right and one I want to experiment with in the Virtual Investigator series.

Your Irvin Vella books are ‘reassuring’ mystery novels. There is no gore, no violence to speak of and most of the action is good old-fashioned legwork and cerebral deductions by Irvin and his two assistants. Was this a deliberate choice when conceiving the books?

Yes, a very deliberate choice given that the starting point of this series was a conversation over coffee with my publisher Chris Gruppetta way back in 2013, who asked me if I would be interested in writing an investigative series for a young audience. Themes, situations, plot complexity and writing style are always subjective to your target audience and I keep these points at the back of my mind whenever I embark on a new Irvin Vella mystery. I think part of the success of this series is that “reassuring” feeling, as well as Chris’ hunch that this genre would soon bloom in our market – at the time of our meeting he had just returned from a book festival in Italy where he saw a trend coming our way. He was spot on, as usual.

What does Irvin get up to in this fifth novel, ‘Il-każ tal-maħżen mitluq’?

The story starts with Irvin working a new case, then going missing. No one knows what he was working on, he left no note or message. Luca and Laura, Irvin’s twin cousins, roll up their sleeves, determined to find him. Which they do. The trail leads them to an abandoned warehouse in Ħamrun, in the area known as Tas-Samra. But when they find him, something is very wrong. Irvin has lost about two years memory from a blow to the back of his head and he doesn’t even know he has become quite a capable investigator.

This is a revelation to him, and admiring the person he has become, he sets his mind on trying to find how and why he lost his memory, thus solving his own case. Not without the help of his cousins, of course.

What were your influences, literary or otherwise, when writing this book, and indeed the series?

Specific to this book, I took an interest to retrograde amnesia after reading a sci-fi book written by a good friend and fellow author Geoff Nelder. His book is entitled Left luggage, and follows the chronicles of an alien virus that affects human memory. Another central focus point is of course the main character’s disappearance, and that is a cliche of the genre – with Irvin Vella’s series nodding continuously to cliches, I had to explore this one.

As regards influences to the series in general, these come from the literary scene (Enid Blyton’s the Five Find-outers, Kinky Friedman’s detective novels, Raymond Chandler’s Philip Marlowe novels and other classical detectives) and also from favourite TV series such as Peter Falk’s Lt. Columbo. A focal point to the series is also the setting – these novels are all set in Malta and this is an influence in itself.

What books do you read in your free time? And what are you reading right now?

The genres I love most are fantasy, sci-fi and mystery/crime thrillers. In my list of all-time favourite authors are Tolkien, Robert Jordan, Patrick Rothfuss, Andrea Camilleri, Philip Pullman, Terry Pratchett, Neil Gaiman, Douglas Adams and David Mitchell. At the moment, I am reading Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, a dystopian novel which I find very reminiscent of Orwell’s 1984. I am also halfway through The Dark Tower series by Stephen King, an amazing epic fantasy series.

You write across ages, having written and won awards for your children’s, young adult and sci-fi adult books. Do you have a favourite age or genre to write for?

It’s difficult to choose a favourite target age group – writing for children is the most satisfying because you get the best feedback from your young audience, while the young adult genre is the one I like to read most. So probably, my choice would be one of those two.

What next writing projects do you have lined up?

At the moment I am working on the next three Irvin Vella novels, with the sixth book already at a very advanced stage. These three stories will be interlinked, with a new central character introduced in book 6 being crucial to the solution of the case in book 8. It’s a ton of work, but I enjoy it so much.