Published by graham on Mon, 07/01/2013 - 18:06
Graham Hurley’s motivation for basing his
latest crime story on Regatta Court been
revealed in an exclusive in the Quay Digest.
These last few years, he has shared countless
offshore and upriver expeditions with
a bunch of like-minded veterans from the
Exmouth Rowing Club. He also happens
to write crime thrillers for a living. And
one ill-judged morning a couple of years
back, these two passions of his – scribing
and oaring – collided head-on with consequences
now available at Best Books on The Parade.
In retrospect, Graham said “we should never have
launched. A four metre tide was roaring out of the
estuary. A southerly wind was strengthening by the
minute. The chop off the dock was already
spectacular, curtained by sudden flurries of rain. By
the time we were abeam Regatta House, it was far too
late to turn back. Making a turn in these conditions
would be suicidal. Commit or die. In these
circumstances, two things happen. The first is that we
all go quiet. This, to risk a pun, is almost unheard-of.
The second, if you’re wise, is to think of anything but
the consequences of a capsize. Drifting seawards in
early spring does nothing for your sense of humour, let
alone the reputation of the club. And so it was that I
started looking very hard at the looming orange bulk
of Regatta House. Who lived in that penthouse
apartment at the top? How come he (or
she) had the best part of two million quid
to spare? And was it true that money, or
the best view in Devon, was a guarantee of
happiness? As an old leftie, I had no doubts
about the last answer. Anyone with that
kind of wealth would be – roughly in this
order – ruthless, single-minded, deeply
unpopular, wildly ambitious, and prone to
all kinds of control-freakery. His boiling
career-wake would be littered with broken
marriages, embittered rivals, and sundry other enemies
who couldn’t wait to rip his head off. This guy,
Alpha-maledom writ large, was a suspicious death just
waiting to happen. At this point, a particularly vicious
wave nearly turned us over but already I knew I had
the makings of a book. Jake Kinsey. Rogue
entrepreneur. Serial divorcee. A man who glances out
of his floor-to-ceiling penthouse window one blustery
March morning and spots us hauling manfully upriver.
He reaches for his binos. He takes a long, hard look at
what we’re up to. And he decides – on the thinnest of
evidence – that this tussle with the elements is
definitely for him. The rest, dare I say it, is history.”
The book’s called Western Approaches and Wendy
at Best Books has autographed copies. Guess what’s
coming next?
My Thanks to Quay News, Exmouth.