DEBORAH CROMBIE: I have loved being gripped by Lucy's and Rhys's wonderful excerpts this week, and it's made me a bit envious of their single viewpoint narratives. It's so thrilling, as a reader and as a writer, to get caught up in one person's voice. But in my books, as soon as I really get my steam up, it's time to switch to another character. I can't imagine, however, giving up Duncan or Gemma, or any of the other viewpoints that insinuate themselves into one of my stories, but the juggling can be a challenge.
There's also the issue of having two equal detective protagonists who are no longer professional partners. In A BITTER FEAST, I solved this by having Gemma, Duncan, and my other two main characters, Melody and Doug, all work together on a busman's holiday sort of case where none of them had official standing. In GARDEN OF LAMENTATIONS Duncan and Gemma had two entirely separate cases. (My editor said it should have been two books!) In some of the novels, Gemma has the official case, and I have had to find a way for Duncan to help out. But in the book-in-progress, the official case is Duncan's, and I need Gemma to play an important part, too.
Duncan calls her in at the beginning of the investigation because she and Melody are working on a knife crime task force and the murder is a stabbing. And then, a little later, we find that the victim has a connection with the Kincaid/James family friends, Wesley and Betty Howard, so that involves Gemma in another aspect.
But, wait, there's more! In this little snippet, Duncan and Doug have interviewed the manager of a bar in London's Soho. They are driving back to Holborn Police Station through Chinatown and the theater district, so here's a photo to put you in the scene.
“Wanker,” said Doug as he fastened his seat belt. “What a poser. Who does he think he is, James Dean?” He frowned. “Or was it Paul Newman who wore the white t-shirts?”
Kincaid grinned. “Maybe you’re thinking of Brando. Since when did you become a classic film buff?”
“Bugger all else to do these days,” muttered Doug, signaling as he eased the Astra round the bend at the bottom of Archer Street and back into the traffic flow in Shaftesbury Avenue. “But, whatever, I still think Mr. Jonathan Gibbs is a tosser. I didn’t believe a word of that bollocks about his sister—or anything else he said, for that matter.”
Kincaid considered this. “You spent some time with Tully Gibbs. Would you say she had a penchant for drama?”
“No. Not at all. Her reactions seemed pretty straight ahead to me. Normal shock. Normal grief. And she didn’t try to make it all about her, either. Like some people.”
It seemed to Kincaid that Doug’s reaction to Jon Gibbs was a little extreme, but he trusted his sergeant’s instincts. “I don’t think Gibbs is telling us the whole truth, I agree. I don’t believe he didn’t know why Sasha wanted to talk to him about her little brother. He’d have denied knowing anything about it if he hadn’t guessed Tully had already told us.
“We should take a closer look at both siblings. Or maybe I should say, all the siblings, so as to include Tyler Johnson.” Kincaid thought for a moment. “And I’d like to know more about what goes on at Gibbs’ club on a busy Saturday night.”
“Well, we can’t check it out in person,” said Doug. “Not if Gibbs is working the floor and we want to be circumspect. What about Melody?”
“Probably not a good idea, on the off chance that Tully Gibbs frequents the club. Tully would recognize her.” Kincaid could ask Sidana to do it, but on his life he couldn’t imagine her fitting into the trendy club scene. Did she own any clothing other than white blouses and dark skirts? And what on earth did the woman do in her off hours?
Not that it was any of his concern. Or not by the book, at least, but in reality, he’d learned that a team functioned better when its leader knew the other members well enough to have some sense of their personal lives. Maybe he’d been remiss in not making more effort with Sidana.
His two detective constables were too new to be tasked with a job that probably wouldn’t be sanctioned by the brass—and he didn’t yet know how good either of them were at playing a role. Simon Gikas could do it, Kincaid thought--he had quite the man-about-town persona--but he didn’t want to pull Simon away from his computers.
To tell the truth, there was only one person he trusted to read a situation as accurately as he could himself, and to not get herself in trouble in the process—his wife.
Now I can't wait to see what Gemma thinks about having her Saturday night spoken for, without a thought for whatever she might have had planned! But a little undercover op--what fun!
What do you think, readers, about multiple viewpoints versus single viewpoint? Do you have a preference, or do you just dive in and enjoy? (That would be me!)
