The Fatal Art of Entertainment: Interviews With Mystery Writers - Hardcover

Herbert, Rosemary

9780816172795: The Fatal Art of Entertainment: Interviews With Mystery Writers

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 081617279X ISBN 13: 9780816172795

Publisher: G K Hall, 1994

Gathers interviews with Julian Symons, Sue Grafton, P.D. James, Tony Hillerman, John Mortimer, Catherine Aird, and Barbara Neely

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From Kirkus Reviews:

Plotting the contemporary mystery is a tough discipline--a discipline most authors of mainstream fiction would rather spare themselves--to judge from the few consensual opinions expressed in the 13 long interviews that Herbert (editor-in-chief of the forthcoming Oxford Companion to Crime and Mystery Writing) conducts with writers from P.D. James to Tony Hillerman. The group agrees on little else: Jonathan Gash describes his work as ``self-delighting,'' and Jane Langton and John Mortimer revel in their status as entertainers, but Julian Symons repeats his frequent assertion that mystery fiction is necessarily second-rate, and Patricia Cornwell bristles at being labeled a ``mystery writer'': ``I entertain by not entertaining!'' Herbert's leading questions--about the authors' backgrounds and writing habits; about the importance of place and the sense of mortality; about whether mystery fiction can attain the status of literature--though not especially penetrating (something you'd never know from her typically wide-eyed reaction to James: ``What a profound statement!''), can pay off in unexpected ways, as when Sue Grafton's description of her work habits opens up the general question of the mystery's focus, or when Robert Barnard blithely deflects one Big Question after Another. Most of the other subjects--Reginald Hill, Jeremiah Healy, Catherine Aird, and Barbara Neely--hit Herbert's softballs over the fence too. (Foreword by Antonia Fraser) -- Copyright �1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

From Library Journal:

Using a common set of questions and methodology, journalist and book reviewer Herbert has interviewed 13 mystery writers. A brief introductory essay and photograph precede each interview, whose subjects include Julian Symons, P.D. James, Robert Barnard, Sue Grafton, Barbara Neely, Tony Hillerman, John Mortimer, Patricia D. Cornwell, Jonathan Gash, Reginald Hill, Jane Langton, Jeremiah Healy, and Catherine Aird. Though the interviews are somewhat cloying in tone, they generally give a good sense of where the writer is coming from and what kind of person he or she is. Mystery fans and prospective mystery writers will find the descriptions of the writers' work habits and settings interesting. Recommended for libraries where mysteries are devoured and where creative writing is supported.
- Denise Johnson, Bradley Univ. Lib., Peoria, Ill.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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