Q&A with Peter James

 

 

Peter James is the author of the new novel The Hawk Is Dead, the latest in his Roy Grace series. James is based in the UK.

 

Q: Why did you decide to have Queen Camilla (a fan in real life of the Detective Superintendent Roy Grace series) feature in your new novel?

 

A: Queen Camilla is indeed a huge fan – which I sometimes have to pinch myself about! She publicly announced last year that my character, Roy Grace is her favourite fictional detective! 

 

A few years ago she wrote to me asking when I was going to set a Roy Grace novel in London, and I thought, well, if it is going to be London then where else other than Buckingham Palace!

 

So I came up with an idea for the story, which I sent to her and she loved it. I was then told that I would need to get it approved by Buckingham Palace Comms. To my amazement I got official approval through in 48 hours! I think Her Majesty may have had a helping hand in this….! 

 

Q: How did you research this novel, and did you learn anything that especially surprised you?

 

A: At first I thought I faced a daunting task, because for the story to work, and feel authentic I needed access to pretty much every area behind the scenes at Buckingham Palace – I’ve always been a great believer in getting things right. Readers are smart and can always tell if an author knows their subject or not. 

 

But I was genuinely surprised by the warmth and enthusiasm of so many Royal Household staff who embraced the idea of the novel and willingly showed me around, and shared little snippets with me. 

 

On my first full tour of all four floors of The Palace – down in the basement and even up on the rooftop, I was astonished just how vast it was. And just how much amazing art – paintings, sculptures, ornaments, furniture, tapestries, glassware, etc, there is. I put my Garmin on and found I had walked three and a half miles! 

 

I asked my guide on that tour, who had been on the Royal Household staff for over 15 years, how he ever learned to navigate his way around. He told me he had asked Prince Philip that question when he’d first started his job, and Philip replied, “You navigate by the paintings, dear boy!”

 

The story begins with Queen Camilla and her entourage travelling on the Royal Train to Brighton, a city on the south coast where Roy Grace is based, at the start of a two-day tour of hospices along the south coast. Disaster strikes when the train is derailed inside a tunnel just outside the city.

 

Her Majesty is fairly heroic in helping some of her injured colleagues off the train and out of the south entrance to the tunnel. As they emerge into daylight, a senior member of the Royal Household is shot dead by a sniper. 

 

Everyone assumes it was a failed assassination attempt on The Queen. Everyone except Roy Grace, who is called to investigate as the murder has taken place on his territory. He does not believe Queen Camilla was the intended target. 

 

This brings him into conflict with King Charles and the Queen herself. But when two more murders occur inside Buckingham Palace, it seems Roy Grace might be right.

 

It was fascinating to learn about the Royal Train (sadly soon to be discontinued), which has eight carriages, including a sitting room carriage, an avocado bathroom, and a bedroom suite for the Royal travellers, and is used as a kind of hotel on wheels. 

 

Overnight it is parked in a siding and guarded – it saves either of Their Majesties from having to return to Clarence House overnight on a busy trip. 

 

There are a handful of drivers specially selected and trained – and for security none of them ever know until the actual day if they are going to be assigned to drive it. The train also has a bullet hole in the floor of the dining carriage – where a Royal Protection Officer once accidentally discharged his firearm!

 

Q: How do you think Roy Grace has changed over the course of the series?

 

A: I think the biggest change for Roy is that he has finally come complete out from under the shadow of his missing wife, Sandy, which haunted him for so many years. 

 

From idolising her memory to the point where it affected his relationship with his new wife, Cleo, he’s now realized that Sandy was far from being the wonderful, adoring wife he had always thought….

 

Q: What do you hope readers take away from the story?

 

A: Well, firstly I hope readers have a really great, thrilling ride. The story has lots of intrigue, excitement, and action. One of its highlights is a very accurate chase through the corridors of Buckingham Palace, from the basement to the rooftop. 

 

Secondly, I give a lot of information about all the workings of the Royal Household – including the jealousies, the desire for medals, the struggles to get up the pecking order….

 

Thirdly, I’ve tried to show accurately some of the behind-the-scenes relationship between King Charles and Queen Camilla, and to give a little sense of the people they really are.

 

I guess above all what I’d love people to take away is a really unique behind-the-scenes peep into the workings of the Royal Household.  And to try to guess how much of it is fiction!

 

My biggest concern when I wrote the first draft what Queen Camilla would think, as she features in the book as herself very prominently – as does King Charles. My publishers printed a very early proof which I then delivered to her. I’m delighted to report she told me she loved it and did not want a single word changed!

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: I’ve always been a big fan of Arthur Hailey’s novel Hotel, written in 1965. I was in awe of his research and how he brought the inner workings of a great hotel so alive. 

 

I’m now writing my 22nd Roy Grace novel, set in a grand hotel on Brighton seafront, and drawing on some of the lessons I learned from that great master! As part of my research, I spent a day as a concierge at Brighton’s Grand Hotel – in full uniform. And I got a £5.00 tip for carry an elderly couple’s bags out to their car!

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: Season Six of Grace, the television series based on the Roy Grace novels, is currently filming, and will be on Britbox early next year. The first five seasons are all on Britbox now.

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb. Here's a previous Q&A with Peter James.