DEBORAH CROMBIE: I've had such fun this week, talking about some of my favorite books and authors. And now I have one more, my friend Tony Broadbent.
SHADOWS IN THE SMOKE is the third book in his In the Smoke series, set in late 1940s London, and featuring dashing Cockney cat burglar, Jethro. You might guess how much I like Tony's books by the fact that that's my quote on the cover (Squint really hard...) What you can't see is that I'm in very good company--the blurbs on the back jacket are from Michael Connolly, Lee Child, and Jacqueline Winspear! (I'm hugely flattered to have got the front!) I'll let Tony tell you more.
DEBS: Tony, I love love love your Jethro books, and I don’t know of anyone else
writing anything similar. How did you
come up with the idea of Jethro as a character? (And it’s just Jethro—we don’t
know his last name. Will we ever learn it?)
TONY BROADBENT:Your blurb describes our Jethro to a T: ‘A rakish Cockney
cat burglar with the soul of a poet.’ Lovely stuff. Thanks ever so. Jethro is
based on the father of an old friend of mine—who I never ever met—but who
was an honest to goodness cat burglar in and around London. And as my ‘old
china’ (Cockney rhyming slang: old china = old china plate = mate) had a career
in the London theatre, I put the two together and ‘voila’—our Jethro.
The Smoke sold on the log-line: ‘To Catch A Thief—in postwar
London.’ And along with the very nice things you say about Jethro, a reviewer
for Booklist said: ‘Jethro could have been played superbly by Cary Grant. (Now if
any of the bloggeratti are unaware of Alfred Hitchcock’s masterpiece ‘To Catch
A Thief’—starring the incredible Cary Grant and the ever-lovely Grace Kelly—I
suggest they stop doing this and immediately go access their video source and
have ‘a Butcher’s hook’—as Jethro might say—more Cockney rhyming slang = to
take a look. (And if I knew Jethro’s last
name, I’d tell you, honestly I would. All I know is it probably begins
with the letter ‘H’—which I discovered by a very close reading of The Smoke.)
DEBS: And the time period is so fascinating. London in the
late forties is The Smoke. A tough place, filled with bombsites, still
in the throes of austerity. The
gangsters were not to be trifled with (the next decade would see the rise of
the Kray twins) but Jethro, who may be a creeper (cat burglar) but is as
honorable as they come, always seems to get on their bad side. But that London
had its charms as well, and a thriving vitality. When I read your Jethro books,
every detail is so perfect I feel as if I’m there. How do you get that authenticity?
TONY: That London of bombsites was there well into the Sixties—and
when I was nipper—a very young kid—my father would always take me up to
London—for the fun of it. So I actually visited many of the areas I write
about—Church Street and Petticoat Lane (street markets) in particular—and
actually saw Jack Spot—‘Spottsy’—one of the Lords of The Underworld—on Church
Street. (I wasn’t half as impressed as I was when I bumped into and met the
famous American cowboy star—Tex Ritter—at the Wembley Arena for his Wild West
Show—and he tousled my hair and said “Howdy pardner”. I blush to think that I
must’ve been in full cowboy regalia myself. But all part of the fun. And
different times, maybe, but heroes are ever important. And our ‘body
memories’—sights, sounds, smells—of time and place never really go away. All it
needs is a few nice, old black and white photographs to bring it all back. The
details—come from reading all manner of things—autobiographies of stage star
and crime star and ex-Scotland Yard coppers—newsreel, newspapers—anything and
everything.
DEBS: I think it’s quite a challenge to write long and
complex novels in the first person, but you do it very well and I think that’s
part of what gives the Jethro books such a sense of immediacy. Was that a
conscious decision? Does the line ever blur between Tony and Jethro?
TONY: The challenge in writing, of course, is to try keep your
head on straight—and only ever revealing what Jethro would actually know at any
one time. I’ve tried all manner of different ‘work-arounds’ to the problem—and
some have succeeded more than others.
And as for ‘keeping my
head on straight’ with the character of our Jethro. In my head, I always give
him the voice of the young Michael Caine—a great British actor— a man of humanity
and humor—born and bred in London—the youngsters out there will know him as
Alfred the butler in the latest ‘Dark Knight Rises’ film trilogy starring
Christian Bale as the caped crusader. (Again—our heroes are ever
important—regardless of how they might kit themselves out.) All I have to do is
read some lines of narrative in Michael Caine’s (younger, Cockney) voice and
I’m away and running, so to speak.
As for the line blurring—how can it not? That’s why I
introduced other ‘pop’ heroes of mine into the narratives—the author, Ian
Fleming; the actor David Niven; even the extraordinarily talented Michael
Bentin—one of the originators (along with Peter Sellers, Spike Milligan, and
Harry Secombe) of the ‘national obsession’ BBC radio comedy show in 1950s Britain—‘The
Goon Show’.
And so—yes—when’s all said and done, I just try conjure up
the dark streets and alleyways of the London of the late Forties and early
Fifties—and I’m away and running, itching to climb the nearest drainpipe, up
and onto the rooftops—an eye open for any open windows of interest.
DEBS: I'm going to hunt for a copy of To Catch a Thief, and a few Michael Caine movies, all the better to imagine Jethro. Readers, SHADOWS isn't out until October 16th, but the first two books in the series, THE SMOKE, and SPECTRES IN THE SMOKE, are available in trade paper and as e-books. So if you haven't made Jethro's acquaintance, here's your chance to catch up.
Or, Tony has very kindly offered to give a signed copy of the THE SMOKE to the first commenter who can translate this phrase into Cockney rhyming slang:
"I went upstairs to have a look at my wife and couldn't believe my eyes."
"I went upstairs to have a look at my wife and couldn't believe my eyes."
And Tony will give an ARC of SHADOWS IN THE SMOKE to the reader who can tell us what nickname Jethro gives to the CIA agent James Russell in SPECTRES IN THE SMOKE.
Are you up for the challenge?
Tony will be checking in today to respond to questions and comments, so do drop in and say "hi."
One last bit of Jungle Red business: Thanks to everyone who came to Lucy's party yesterday. Dee (Gram) is the winner of the Keys Cuisine cookbook and Amy is the winner of DEATH IN FOUR COURSES. Please email LucyBurdette at gmail dot com to arrange delivery.
