Let me introduce my guest for the next few days, William S. Shepard, a prize-winning author of the new mystery genre the diplomatic thriller.
Now residents of Maryland's Eastern Shore, the Shepards enjoy visits from their daughters and granddaughters, fine and moderate weather, ocean swims at Assateague, Chesapeake Bay crabs, and the company of Rajah and Rani, their two rescued cats.
Now residents of Maryland's Eastern Shore, the Shepards enjoy visits from their daughters and granddaughters, fine and moderate weather, ocean swims at Assateague, Chesapeake Bay crabs, and the company of Rajah and Rani, their two rescued cats.
Shepard's diplomatic mysteries are set in American Embassies overseas. That
mirrors Shepard’s own career in the Foreign Service of the United States , during which he served in Singapore , Saigon, Budapest ,
Athens and Bordeaux ,
in addition to five Washington
tours of duty.
His
diplomatic mystery books explore this rich, insider background into the world
of high stakes diplomacy and government. His main character is a young career
diplomat, Robbie Cutler. The first four books in the series are available as
Ebooks. Shepard evokes his last Foreign Service post, Consul General in 
The Saladin Affair, next in the series, has
Robbie Cutler transferred to work for the Secretary of State. Like the author
once did, Cutler arranges trips on Air Force Two – now enlivened by serial Al
Qaeda attempts to assassinate the Secretary of State, as they travel to
The Great Game Murders is the most
recent of the series. There is another trip by the Secretary of State, this
time to Southeast Asia , India , China
and Afghanistan .
The duel between Al Qaeda and the United States continues, this time with Al
Qaeda seeking to expand its reach with the help of a regional great power
nation. And Robbie Cutler’s temporary duty (TDY) assignment to Kandahar Province , Afghanistan
***
Now we'll hear from William on:
Treating Real And Real Time Events In Fiction
As part of the plot
line, Robbie Cutler becomes suspicious that private email
communications may have been intercepted or compromised in some way.
He learns about cyber warfare, and uses what he learns to thwart a
plot against the Secretary of State during their visit to Goa, on the
Indian Ocean coast. This was rewarding to research and to write, and
the lessons may be more broadly applicable than this fictional
account!
My series of
diplomatic mysteries now has five novels. All are, to some extent,
based on fact. The first, “Vintage Murder,” concerns the Basque
extremist organization ETA. Then “Murder On The Danube” takes as
its background the heroic Hungarian Revolution of 1956. “Murder In
Dordogne,” interrupts the honeymoon of my two main characters in an
idyllic French rural landscape with murders past and present, as
remnants from the Occupation still have present consequences. Then
“The Saladin Affair Murders” has Al Qaeda tracking the Secretary
of State on his first official trip to London, Dublin, Paris, Vienna,
Riga and Moscow. Lastly, the latest novel, “The Great Game
Murders,” explores real time events including the war in
Afghanistan, and cyber warfare.
I’ve found that
exploring actual events, sometimes in real time, while undergirding
the story with a realistic background, presents both opportunities
and pitfalls, which may be of interest to readers and fellow authors.
First, of course, is to get the actual events right. In “Murder On
The Danube,” for example, survivors of the twelve days of
street fighting know what was going on every day, in each quarter of
Budapest. The problem I thought was to make sure that this material
was accurately presented, without the detail overwhelming the story.
But I wanted to present a modern story as well, and therein lay the
problem. The political scene kept changing with every election, and I
wrote at least three different drafts of that evolving situation,
trying to get it just right. I finally realized that no words of mine
were ever going to fix a changing political situation, and so I
settled for a realistic, somewhat broad brush background that let the
main story emerge. That was lesson number one – a background is
going to continue to evolve, and the writer cannot fix it like a bug
preserved in amber. The balance is to have just enough background for
realism, while letting the main story proceed.
How is it possible
to balance a terrorist subplot with a murder mystery? This new
diplomatic mystery genre is still evolving, and I surely don’t have
all of the answers yet. But in “The Saladin Affair Murders,” the
murder of the American Ambassador to Dublin seemed to fit well into
the overall plot. And I found that Al Qaeda’s plans to assassinate
the Secretary of State in three different locations were best foiled
by good police and intelligence work, not dissimilar to detection of
a nonpolitical crime, such as murder.
In “The Great
Game Murders,” there is a duel between Al Qaeda and the United
States, as the Secretary of State visits Southeast Asia, India,
Afghanistan and China. Here I incorporate what is known of Al Qaeda’s
methods, with the addition of a further nightmare – a possible link
between that terrorist group, and a Great Power. Since that is
fanciful I am free to speculate on how such a link might develop.
You’ll see the consequences in the chapter on the Secretary of
State’s secret visit to Beijing!
As part of the plot
line, Robbie Cutler becomes suspicious that private email
communications may have been intercepted or compromised in some way.
He learns about cyber warfare, and uses what he learns to thwart a
plot against the Secretary of State during their visit to Goa, on the
Indian Ocean coast. This was rewarding to research and to write, and
the lessons may be more broadly applicable than this fictional
account!
Afghanistan is of
course presented in real time. Here I use the conflict as background
for Robbie Cutler’s temporary duty (TDY) assignment to Kandahar
Province. Together with official military and USAID colleagues, he
builds a well in a small forsaken village, which had no clean water
supply. It is an almost biblical undertaking, and several readers
have said that they liked this segment best. The needs of the people
continue due to and in spite of the conflict, and there seems to be a
timeless quality about the well digging. I rather like that in a
novel set against actual news events.
And so, against
this background of five novels, I think it is possible to draw a few
conclusions. First, get your history right. (The background of the
Basque terrorist group ETA and its emergence as a dangerous group was
established in “Vintage Murder.” “Murder In Dordogne”
contains a number of London radio message to the French Underground,
set in exactly the style of the time.) But don’t let your story
become the prisoner of its historical setting, no matter how
fascinating that may be. Next, the fact that you may be writing
against a real time background has its own perils. Don’t let your
story become prisoner of tomorrow’s headlines. Don’t be afraid to
use new technology, such as cyber warfare, in your story. But always
remember that the story is the important thing, not the background
against which it is set. For we all love to read an interesting, well
paced story, with evolving characters, now don’t we?
***
Note:
I can't wait to read this latest in the series. I loved "Murder on the Danube."
Links to Robbie Cutler books:
Amazon.com: The Great Game Murders (Robbie Cutler Diplomatic Mysteries) eBook: William S. Shepard: Kindle Store
Amazon.com:
Murder On The Danube (Robbie Cutler Diplomatic Mysteries) eBook: William S.
Shepard: Kindle Store
Thanks so much William for creating Robbie and sharing your thoughts.
Gerrie Ferris Finger
Author of:
***
Thanks so much William for creating Robbie and sharing your thoughts.
Gerrie Ferris Finger
Author of:
THE LAST TEMPTATION
THE DEVIL LAUGHED
MURMURS OF INSANITY - July 2014
