Roy Innes

Roy Innes is a retired eye physician and surgeon. His early penchant for the arts, buried for years in the world of science, was rekindled upon retirement. At that time, he enrolled in the Humber School for Writers program and, under the mentorship of literary notable Olive Senior, wrote his first novel, Murder in the Monashees, which was released in 2005 to excellent reviews. Equally at home in the city or the wilds, Innes is an avid hunter, a lover of classical music, and, belied by his skinny frame, a gourmand. He lives on BC’s lush Gabriola Island with his wife, Barrie, and his daughter’s cat.

The second installment of the Corporal Blakemore mystery series, West End Murders, was released in May 2008. See below for a preview of this great title, and click here to listen to Roy Innes' interview on CBC's All Points West with Jo-Ann Roberts, where he discusses the making of West End Murders and the Inspector Coswell Series.

West End Murders: The Post-Mortem
Roy Innes on writing the second installment of The Inspector Coswell Series

How it started

When my first crime novel, Murder in the Monashees, was published, it never entered my head to do a sequel. I’d already started two completely different works: a young adult mystery and a psychological thriller. Encouragement to pen a sequel, however, came from many quarters and so I set about writing West End Murders. I wanted to feature the characters that had gone over so well with readers of Murder in the Monashees, but I felt I needed something completely different to make the new novel work. I settled on a change of setting and placed the characters in the antithesis of outback Bear Creek, the metropolis of Vancouver. Once I’d done that, the writing moved along nicely. Scenes, plot, and new characters all just popped into my head.
   
The struggle

Storytelling and good writing, unfortunately, do not go hand-in-hand. I’ve always struggled with the mechanics of the craft, and the more I delve into the subject and the more advice I receive, the tougher it gets. Some time ago I read a quotation in the Globe and Mail from Raymond Carver that describes this problem well:   

“Everything a writer learns about the art or craft of fiction takes just a little away from his need or desire to write at all. In the end he knows all the tricks and has nothing to say.”

In all humility (I consider Raymond Carver the best wordsmith of the twentieth century), I’d add one phrase to this: “…or is afraid to say it.” Creating is one thing; exposing one’s creation to the public is another.

The urge to perfect can slow one’s writing to a crawl. Getting West End Murders ready for submission was a long, hard slog.

Where am I in the book?

I’m everywhere, hidden for the most part, but there nevertheless. Pure fiction, I think, is rare. An author’s personality, life experiences, likes and dislikes form every page. When Paul Blakemore’s name comes up on my screen, it’s accompanied by an image of an old RCMP golf buddy, a Corporal Al. I vividly recall his quirks, his speech, his physical appearance, and I simply wrote those in. Sergeant Burns came easily, a policeman I’ve known since my youth. Even the minor characters are based on real people. I’ve distorted them all, of course; the real people are too real for the novel’s purposes.

I do come to the surface in a number of places: Doctors Benson and Mueller reflect my own residency and my later teaching years. Coswell’s motion sickness is me all over and I curse the rocking conveyances just as he does. His gourmand tastes are mine as well — bringing up all those menus on the internet gave me great pleasure.

The settings

This proved to be a minor problem. I worked in downtown Vancouver for twenty-five years but left there in the early nineties. The YMCA then was exactly as I described, but progress eventually won out and there is a posh new facility on the old site. The original Y served my writing purposes much better and so I kept it. San Francisco, too, dates back. I haven’t visited it for almost ten years, and I’ve never been to Sacramento. The wonderful world of cyberspace, however, enables me to be right up to date. Googling is as good as being there, visually speaking. The restaurant that Coswell took Cindy to has a virtual tour on its website. I actually panned right into the corner where the two sat.

I’ve changed the names of famous restaurants and chefs using plays on words or literal translations, a fun puzzle for readers who know the establishments.

I left the Sylvia Hotel unaltered. It truly is a piece of Vancouver history and I didn’t want it confused with anything else.

The “salute” performed by the American jet fighter pilots over Comox is a real event, best seen while playing the adjacent golf course.

Forensics

As in Murder in the Monashees, I’ve used some poetic license here. The medical descriptions are accurate (my area of expertise), but the computer data sections are, for the most part, fiction. I’m not a Luddite in this field, but I’m far from expert. Guns I am familiar with, both as part of my hunting life and as a recreational target-shooter at the local gun club.

Sports

I’ve been a climber, albeit a rank amateur. My oldest son and my daughter are serious climbers, hence the “Australian Stop Descender.” The golf sequence, though, is all me. I love the game and enjoyed getting the foursome together on the Balmoral, a fictional Vancouver golf course fashioned after one of the beauties on Marine Drive.

Stanley Park, its trails and the seawall, are more than a little familiar to me. I was a compulsive runner and put in many, many miles there. I altered the topography only slightly to serve the plot.

Political issues

One critic wrote of Murder in the Monashees that I did not, in her opinion, develop adequately the issues brought up in the novel. She didn’t specify which issues, but I presume she meant the environmental ones.

My answer to her is that I write novels like these solely to entertain, not to preach. There are many issues in West End Murders — gay rights, our justice system and right-wing fanaticism — but I use them for plot purposes only. If the characters expound on these from time to time, I let them do so, but it’s they, not me, who bring them up.

Humour

I admire authors like Jeffery Deaver who can keep the tension going from page one to the end without letup. Personally, however, I prefer a breather from time to time and humour serves that best, in my opinion. I make no apologies, therefore, for the comic relief scattered throughout West End Murders. I write what I like to read.

Fiction vs. fact

The ranks of Lieutenant in the Vancouver City Police force and Chief Inspector in the RCMP are fictional. The actual ranking system in both forces is complicated, with terminology unfamiliar to the average reader: corps sergeant major, commissioner, superintendent, chief constable, etc. I acquiesced to TV conventions.

Errata

Real aficionados of crime writing love finding tiny errors and I’m sure I’ve unintentionally provided a few in West End Murders. Enjoy the hunt.

Pulling names out of the air is part of fiction writing and familiar ones come to mind first. None are intended to relate to actual people; they’re just names. Occasionally embarrassing slips occur: I discovered, to my dismay, that there actually is an Inspector Ward of the RCMP and I don’t know him from Adam. I hope he isn’t a crime novel reader.

Where next?

I’ll finish the two novels I’m working on now, but I’ve rather enjoyed Coswell et al. again. I think next I might move them back into the bush, the Cariboo, perhaps. This time, Coswell will be the fish out of water. Blakemore and Burns joining him there could make for an interesting combination. I’ve just returned from a moose hunt in that region and have tons of background material.