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Interview with Simon Hall, best-selling author (and BBC Crime Correspondent) of The Death Pictures and Evil Valley, his second book, which is published by Accent Press on September 16th.

Hi Simon, thanks for finding the time to answer a few questions for Books Monthly! Here goes:

BM: How did you become the crime reporter in your region in the first place? Did you graduate to it from something else, or were you thrown in at the deep end?

SH: I graduated to it from being the environment correspondent.  It's quite a change!  On my last day in environment, I covered a story about swans being covered in oil after a pollution. The next day, my first in crime, I was reporting on the murder of a baby.  Dan (the TV reporter and main character in the books) suffers a similar experience.  He likens it to the shock of being the new kid in class - going from knowing everyone and all that's happening, to knowing nothing and no one.  My solution to get up to speed with police work was to shadow a team of detectives on a major investigation.  And funnily enough, Dan does the same in the books, with some extraordinary results...

BM: Do you spend any time with the police or do you wait for them to approach you?

SH: I spend a lot of time with them.  I know all the senior detectives in the south west well now.  I call them if I need information on a story, they call me to let me know if something's going on.  Getting a case on the TV can make a huge difference in bringing witnesses forward, and helping the police to solve it.  In the books, Dan goes further and helps with the investigations themselves.  Naturally, I'm not commenting on whether that part is autobiographical!

BM: Are the crimes you report as bad as anything that's written in detective fiction? This century has thrown up a new generation of crime writers (including yourself) and the imagery seems to get more graphic as the years roll by (yourself excluded, of course). Do you think these modern writers are going out of their way to make their stories and crimes worse in order to attract people's attention?

SH: I think there has been a tendency to become more graphic, perhaps influenced by TV crime shows like CSI.  My books don't tend to be that lurid.  I don't think it's necessary.  Most horror is in the mind.  It doesn't need to be spelt out.  I like my books to be more about the characters, the quirks, cleverness and intrigue of the plot, and the criminals' motives for what they do.  I find the psychology of crime fascinating, and know that readers do too.  And yes, I have covered some horrendous cases, which are quite as bad as anything you'd find in fiction - sadly.

BM: What's the worst case you've had to report on in your region? In East Anglia we had the Ian Huntley case, of course, and the five prostitutes murdered in Ipswich.

SH: The baby murder I mentioned earlier was one.  It was extremely difficult to sit in court to hear a doctor describe the injuries suffered by a six month old boy after a sustained attack.  Another was the lengthy torture and then shotgun killing of an elderly couple in their remote petrol station.  That's stayed with me to this day, the sheer horror of what they went through.

BM: Do you find it difficult being objective when you're reporting a particularly horrific crime?

SH: Yes and no.  You don't have to be overly objective, because it wouldn't be right to report some of the most shocking cases in a neutral manner.  Empathy with the victims is an important part of reporting.  And sometimes, you can almost hear the audience baying for the criminals' blood, which makes it easier.  Also, the knowledge that my work can help catch the criminals is a reassurance.  Dan has rather more freedom in the books.  He entirely abandons all attempts at objectivity and gets stuck in to help hunt the villains, often using the remarkable power and influence of television to do so.

BM: Do you get to see police photographs, the ones that aren't released to the media> I ask this because when I was still at school back in the 1960s, I spent a day with Gloucestershire Police Force with a view to joining them (which I never did, of course!) and they showed us some very unpleasant photos to give us a flavour of what we would be letting ourselves in for. Nowhere near as bad as what's allowed to be shown now, of course, but fairly graphic nevertheless

SH: Yes, and worse, even an autopsy.  Detectives see it as a rite of passage for anyone involved in working with serious crimes.  I didn't faint, but I wasn't far off.  It's not an experience I plan to repeat.

BM: Did you use any of your expert knowledge when you wrote your own novels? I guess it would be hard not to do so, but what I'm really asking is how much expert knowledge do you acquire from your job? Do you have a tame CID officer who gives you forensic science details which might be of use, for example?

SH: I have lots of CID officers who not only like to read my books, but have now also started suggesting plots!  They're very helpful in making sure the policing procedures I describe are accurate, and also that I don't give anything away which could aid a criminal.  It would be more than a little embarrassing to have to report on a case that I helped to create.  I was going to acknowledge some of them in The Death Pictures, but was forbidden from doing so - they said their Chief Constable wouldn't be happy! 

BM: Are you committed to crime novels or will you tackle another genre some day? Do you have interests in anything other than crime when it comes to fiction/non fiction?

SH: I can't see beyond crime at the moment.  I'm enjoying it too much!  I've got outline plots for at least another four or five tvdetective novels after Evil Valley.  The next will probably be about the sordid world of sexual misdemeanour, corruption, blackmail and revenge, and will draw in Dan and Adam (Dan's detective friend) on a personal level, due to the less than scrupulous way they've carried out previous investigations.  The ideas are coming together nicely.

BM: How difficult was it getting your first book published? Was it your first book or do you have a couple of MSS in a box in the attic that were rejected?

SH: It was difficult.  The market out there is very tight at the moment.  It was probably my third or fourth attempt at writing a book.  I think what sold it was the unique angle, the TV reporter turning detective.  It seems to have caught on in the public imagination.  I think that's because the books also give an insight into the chaotic life of a TV reporter, and work on the basis that, at a basic level, the arts of the journalist and detective are fairly similar - ask the right questions, cut through the spin and lies and deceit, read the reactions, get to the hidden truth.

BM: How much of your time do you spend working on your writing? Any plans to go full-time, for example?

SH: I normally do a couple of hours a day, usually from about 6 in the morning, before I'm scrambled to a story.  More at the weekends, which tend to be quieter for news. I'm happy writing alongside being a reporter at the moment.  I still love covering the bizarre range of stories that surface - plus I need the inspiration for more plots!

BM: What other literature do you get to read?

SH: Mostly crime.  I do like a bit of poetry too, the gentler type, like Housman and Betjeman.  Also Victorian novelists like Hardy and Dickens.  Also plays.  The drama in a good play is so enjoyable.

BM: Any childhood favourites, books you still have in your collection?

SH: Roald Dahl.  Wonderful imagination!  And Dr Seuss and his fabulous rhymes.  Edward Lear too.  I think his work helped to create the books' Dirty El, Dan's friend the scurrilous paparazzo with a penchant for awful rhymes.

BM: What do you do to relax? What type of music do you like? I should think there are plenty of places to go for a nice walk where you live (just as where I live, of course!)

SH: I keep fit, running around the River Exe (I live in Exeter), going to the gym and walking on Dartmoor - that's partly research too, as it's Dan's favourite place to take his beloved dog Rutherford.  It's a great landscape to find inspiration - somewhere Dan often goes to think through a case.  As for music, I like a whole range.  60's stuff is a favourite, as is the 80's (my era!).  For lyrics, the beautiful imagery of Paul Simon's songs are hard to beat.  They're simply poetry in music.

BM: Did you always want to be a novelist or is it something you graduated to after becoming a journalist?

SH:  I think I always had an itch to do it, but never knew what to write about.  It was only when I was shunted from environment to crime that the catalyst came.  The TV reporter who turns detective. I can now confess I had the idea on honeymoon, four years ago.  Naturally, I always reassure my wife Jess that it's because she is my muse, and certainly not due to boredom so soon after getting married!

BM: Do you think being a journalist helped you in any way in preparing your novels for publication?

SH: Not really.  The writing is so very different.  Journalism is stark and factual.  Writing a novel is a very different art.  Most TV reports I write contain perhaps two hundred words.  It's quite another challenge to try to entertain a reader for a hundred thousand and more.

BM: If you could take five books with you to your desert island, what would they be?

SH: Great Expectations, The Mayor of Casterbridge, Down and Out in Paris and London, and if I may cheat a little on the last two - Collected Plays of Arthur Miller and Collected Poems of AE Housman.

BM: Simon, thanks again for your time. I wish you every success with EVIL VALLEY and everything else you're up to!

SH: My pleasure.  Thanks for your support and interest.