Meeting A Theakston Old Peculier Crime Author: Simon Mason

Simon Mason has a wealth of interesting anecdotes to share: his father was a professional footballer and captain of Sheffield United; his mother was a sex therapist; he has publicly been hissed at; admits he doesn't read much crime; and he expresses gratitude to Chief Inspector Morse! And if that’s not enough, like all good crime writers he has a reveal at the end.

So, where do I begin? I nervously start with his background growing up in the “friendly and wonderful” city of Sheffield and whether his parent's professional life gave him ideas for plot lines.

The amicable Mason laughs and tells me that when the information about his parents appeared on the jacket of his first novel, his mother called to say, “For God's sake, can you get rid of that? It all sounds like a circus act.”
That aside, he says he has never written directly out of that sort of experience. "Obviously, your upbringing informs who you are and what you do.”

When someone thinks, 'Oh my God, that person did that,' their attention immediately becomes captivated as they seek to understand the circumstances...He has a soft spot for Sheffield, as I do, having studied at the university, but the author of what Mason calls “The Ryan Books” uses Oxford, the home of his alma mater, as the base for his storylines.

He confides that “it wasn’t until I was about 20,000 words in that I suddenly thought to myself, Why the hell am I writing a crime novel set in Oxford? It’s like the least original thing I could do.”

Mason thought he couldn't bother to undo the 20,000 words he had already committed to paper, but he was worried his editor would think he was foolish to continue. Fortunately, his editor gave his approval, allowing him to publish his debut novel in the series A Killing in November.

“Nearly all the reviewers used Morse as a peg to hang their reviews on. He particularly liked the ‘Think Morse, but Think Different’ platitude.

During an Oxford Literary Festival event - Writing in the Shadow of Morse - the audience hissed at him when they disappointingly learned Mason had never read, seen, or known anything about Morse.

“I thought they were going to demand their money back,” he says with a smile.

“I was lucky; it turned out not to be the blunder I thought it was, so I'm grateful to Morse.”

I am intrigued to know why he uses two central characters with the same surname and alliterative first names.

“Ray and Ryan are obviously a very mismatched pair—the chalk and cheese of the station. But the shear difference between them comes out most strongly when you put the chalk and cheese next to each other. Giving them the same surname was a way to put them close to each other and allow readers to notice the same name, but it also made them realise how different they are.

“It was a mechanical, plot-driven device. At the onset of A Killing in November, we encounter Ray Wilkins, the esteemed member of the Thames Valley Constabulary, who has already established himself within the force. Following a tense incident with the Bishop of Salisbury, Ryan Wilkins leaves Wiltshire.

“There’s a call out to a detective to go to a college in Oxford. I describe it as the snootiest and most exclusive of the Oxford colleges, with a famously pompous provost. The provost discovers a dead body in his study, prompting a call for Ray Wilkins, who possesses the necessary background, suavity, and articulate qualities to handle the situation. However, due to the unexpected appearance of a new R Wilkins on the list, Thames Valley Constabulary sends the wrong R Wilkins. Ryan hates privilege and has a massive chip on his shoulder, and has to interview the provost at Barnabas Hall. Part of the plot involves the administrative confusion.

Like many crime writers, Mason likes the satisfying appeal of resolving a mystery, and he believes that human beings have an innate interest in wrongdoing.

"When someone thinks, 'Oh my God, that person did that,' their attention immediately becomes captivated as they seek to understand the circumstances, the victim's fate, and the course of justice. We are all attuned to the idea of wrongdoing, and I think it's connected to the notions of justice and injustice and lack of fairness.”

Mason puts a lot of thought into creating the mystery, as he likes to give his readers a satisfying end.

“It's quite intricate putting it together, and so I do spend a lot of time at the beginning thinking about how everything will fit together.”

He tells me that it doesn’t directly involve a plan, but rather that he is testing lots of general propositions. Is this sort of story and group of characters going to be interesting?

"As I begin to fill in the details, I must test those propositions, leading to the creation of a plan. I strive to create excitement for the reader as part of the planning process, which includes elements such as misdirection, concealment, and sudden revelation. This requires extensive planning, even if it means modifying the plan during the composition phase if I find it's not quite working," Mason says.

I try to imagine how the characters might develop on their own terms. What will they do, and how will their circumstances lead them to the next stage of the plot?When we start discussing events that influence ideas for his book or whether his plots are wholly fictional, we both conclude that they can’t be wholly fictional because there's so much influence from real life.

In A Broken Afternoon, which features on the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year 2024 long list, Mason uses an investigatory storyline with the disappearance of a very appealing-looking four-year-old girl who's gone missing from her very exclusive private nursery in north Oxford.

“I was aware as I was writing it that there were echoes of Madeline McCann because I was deliberately creating a very newsworthy sort of story that would capture the public attention for sort of the reasons that Madeline McCann did as well, I think, when she disappeared.

"As a larger point, I'm trying to write what I would call realistic fiction, and I've got to create a sense of reality.

That's why I incorporate numerous real-world references, especially concerning the settings and events, all of which serve as shared information. I'm deliberately trying to represent the real world by inserting it in a fictional story that might be plausible on its own terms.”

Mason points out in what he describes as a new-age type of response that he is not thinking consciously and that he must not miss direction or place red herrings; it is rather more like a daydreaming process.

“I try to imagine how the characters might develop on their own terms. What will they do, and how will their circumstances lead them to the next stage of the plot? Once I've daydreamed about it, I apply a bit of conscious analysis and ask myself, "Yeah, but is it interesting to anyone?" If not, I discard it. But if it is, then perhaps I can build on it and determine its next steps.

After discovering that Mason had not read any Morse, I asked if he had read much crime fiction. Mason admits that he hasn't read much crime fiction but quickly clarifies, "I don't avoid crime fiction for any snobbish reasons; I tend to read classics and a lot of poetry, but I do like Lee Child; he's fantastic; the pace is so fast, and his books are full of misdirection. I enjoy Raymond Chandler's evocation of Los Angeles and Simenon (the Belgian writer best known for his fictional detective Jules Maigret), a wonderful novelist.

I think of all these writers as having the sort of literary virtues that excite any reader: character and page-turning, plotted-out story qualities.

The Wilkins appeared for the third time earlier this year, and Mason has another book out in January, as well as a contract for two more.

“I really like writing these books, and I'd love to continue to be dependent on reader satisfaction. In September, I will simultaneously publish two more books about missing persons, both of which are mysteries but not crimes.

As we conclude we chat again about Sheffield, and Mason reveals an idea for a new story.

"I would like to write a novel about Sheffield United's famous very fat goalkeeper, William 'Fatty' Foulke, who played in the early 20th century when the team were sort of great around 1901/02. It was the time when the Ripper could have been around.

“I've long wanted to make ‘Fatty’ into a detective in his spare time.”

Well, you read it here first.

Simon Mason is longlisted for the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year 2024 for The Broken Afternoon (riverrun; Quercus)

The Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Award is presented by Harrogate International Festivals and sponsored by T&R Theakston Ltd, in partnership with Waterstones and Daily Express, and is open to full-length crime novels published in paperback between 1 May 2023 to 30 April 2024.The shortlist is announced on Thursday 13 June after which the public are invited to vote for the winner at www.harrogatetheakstoncrimeaward.com. The winner will be revealed on the opening night of Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival, Thursday 18 July, receiving £3,000 and a handmade, engraved beer barrel provided by T&R Theakston Ltd.