Вы услышите интервью. В следующих заданиях выберите правильный ответ.
1. When did Michael Duffy realise that he wanted to write a detective novel?
1) At college
2) In his forties.
3) In 2009.
2. Michael Duffy admires Harry Bosch because he is
1) clever.
2) honest.
3) obsessed with his work.
3. Why did the author use the narrative voice?
1) Australian policeman are too talkative.
2) He wanted his book to be dramatic.
3) It was required by the plot.
4. Michael Duffy calls Sydney a city of sharks because
1) it is dangerous owing to criminals.
2) it is hard to find employment there.
3) there are a lot of sharks in Sydney Harbour.
5. ‘The Simple Death’
1) is too sophisticated.
2) has got a true-life plot.
3) is really dull.
6. When Michael Duffy is writing a crime novel, he feels
1) depressed.
2) fascinated.
3) dissatisfied.
7. The reader expects a detective novel
1) to be realistic.
2) to end happily.
3) to have a specific structure.
1 – 2
2 – 3
3 – 2
4 – 1
5 – 2
6 – 2
7 – 3
Reader’s Digest: Mr. Duffy, when did you first realise you wanted to write a detective novel?
Michael Duffy: When I was at college, I had a go at literary fiction but it never worked out because I just didn’t have a subject I cared about. Then, when I turned 41, a friend of mine gave me a detective novel and I started reading crime fiction. I found I was gripped; something in the person I am responded to these books. And I thought to myself, ‘Why not give it a go?’ However, it wasn’t until 2009 that I published my first novel.
RD: What especially attracts you in crime fiction?
Michael Duffy: I love the intensity in the work of Michael Connelly, for instance: he is such a clever writer. I was hooked by Connelly’s character Harry Bosch because he’s a policeman with a sense of vocation. I know a number of policemen like that, and I think that passion for your work is something male readers in particular respond to. There are a lot of men who wish their job was just as all-consum-ing and fulfilling as fighting crime.
RD: How long does it take you to write a novel?
Michael Duffy: Usually about nine months in total. I have two stages: the first is the coffee-shop stage, where I sit down, order a coffee, make notes and plan. I do that for weeks before starting to write. The second is sitting upstairs alone and writing intensely. It blocks out the rest of the world and allows me to focus.
RD: We’ve read a huge number of Australian detective novels to make our choices for Select Editions, and ‘The Tower’ impressed us with its authentic plot and setting. How did you create this strong sense of place?
Michael Duffy: I tried to do it through the narrative voice, and it was quite a challenge! In my experience, Australian police are fairly laconic, on the job and when they’re talking about what they do. They’re rather dry and pragmatic. If I’d internalised their voices in the book, it wouldn’t have worked, it would have been too dull. So I had to create a new voice for the book that was Australian but compressed.
RD: Your next novel is also about Nicholas Troy, isn’t it?
Michael Duffy: Yes. ‘The Tower’ is the first in a series of crime novels about Sydney. I call it the city of sharks. The sunlit surface is bright and glittering, but predators swim just beneath it, ready to snatch something on the surface they like the look of. This is a beautiful place but it can be a hard one because of crime. In ‘The Simple Death’ a man falls off a ferry and dies and an elderly lady dies after a long painful illness. Could these two deaths be linked? It is this investigation that occupies Troy’s time, but he is also being troubled by a few other events in his life. He thinks a lot about the choices he makes in his work and his life, and tries to do his best. This novel is a sophisticated but hugely entertaining mystery, with a plot ripped straight out of tomorrow’s headlines.
RD: Has writing about crime disillusioned you at all, or made you cynical, over the years?
Michael Duffy: Writing about real-life crime can be depressing because you have to focus on the criminal aspects. But I’m never depressed when I’m writing a crime novel, because I’m engaged with the story and it’s really captivating. As readers, we don’t expect realism from detective fiction; we’re interested in the battle between good and bad. Some of the most important stuff in the life of the characters is actually arguments with their superiors, and problems with their day-to-day work. There’s a specific structure in a detective novel that we expect to find, just as we do in a symphony or other classic works of art. And it’s satisfying! Although nobody expects detective novels to end happily, we always find out who has committed a crime, whereas in real life, unfortunately, we often don’t!
RD: Are there any more cases for Nicholas Troy to solve?
Michael Duffy: Of course there are. I’m currently working on a new novel, and I have no plans to stop writing.
