Interview with George Pelecanos, author of The Night Gardener - Page 3

SB: When I recently interviewed Michael Connelly he talked about how it would be difficult for someone who is not a former crime reporter or cop to capture perfectly life as a police officer or life as a criminal. Do you agree with that? I ask not to be provocative but because you write with the familiarity that a journalist often has?

GP: What, no one but Connelly is allowed to write a police novel?  Okay, he's right.  I don't think there's a better crime writer than Michael Connelly, and his background obviously has contributed to the authenticity of his work.  Plus, being a reporter gave him connections.  Plus, he's a flat-out good writer.

Basically, I waited until I was let in to the Violent Crimes Branch, our homicide police, before I tried to write a book of this kind.  I was well aware that I needed to get it right.  But honestly, I feel that way about any book I write.  I wouldn't have written Drama City, for example, unless I had been allowed to ride with the Human Society Enforcement Officers on their daily runs.  Everything's fictionalized in the finished manuscript.  But when it comes to the details, I don't make shit up.  To answer your question, I do feel like a journalist, absent the credentials.

SB: Let me end by thanking you for taking the time to answer my questions. I agree with crime writer Laura Lippman's quote on the back that it's not quite accurate to call this a crime novel. This book, and your past ones, are great at describing society as it is as opposed to how some want it to be. How do you describe what your book is?

GP: I am proudly a crime novelist.  But it would be nice if my tombstone simply read, "He wrote good books."  That's my aim.  

Article Author: Scott Butki

Scott Butki was a newspaper reporter for more than 10 years before making a career change into education.

He is an in-house media critic, a recovering Tetris addict and a proud uncle.

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