Books: Deadly Virtues
Exclusive interview with author Jo Bannister and a review of her crime novel
By Gabrielle Pantera
“The thing that surprised me most about producing Deadly Virtues was that sensible, down-to-earth people like my agent and my publisher were able to accept the concept of a talking dog,” says Deadly Virtues author Jo Bannister.
“Don’t misunderstand, the dog isn’t magical and doesn’t go round solving crimes. That would be silly. It’s quite possible she doesn’t talk at all. One of the lead characters had a mental breakdown. It’s quite possible he only thinks he hears his dog talking to him. No one else can hear her, though she does seem rather knowing, for a dog.”
Bannister introduces us to Hazel Best, the city of Norbold’s newest police recruit. She’s brought in Gabriel Ash and his dog. She feels concerned for Gabriel, who was beaten by some thugs in the park and didn’t want him to go home with a possible concussion. Law student Jerome Cardy, arrested for leaving the scene of an accident, is also at the police station. Jerome is sure he’s going to die this night – and he is proved right. But at the station he talks to Gabriel, saying, “I had a dog once, Othello. That was its name. Othello.” Gabriel feels certain there’s a code in Jerome’s words. Later, Hazel must decide if she believes Gabriel. Is there more to Jerome’s death than there seems?
Bannister uses gritty realism and British dry wit to keep you reading. Her characters are well developed and their moral dilemma is well-defined. The growing friendship between Hazel and Gabriel feels natural.
“I have no idea where I got the idea for Deadly Virtues. I never have any idea where the ideas for books come from”, says Bannister. “Was it Harlan Ellison who used to answer the same question by insisting there was a warehouse in Schenectady from which you could order them wholesale? I wish. The best I can figure it is, bits of ideas enter my brain indiscriminately over a period of time, prompted by things I’ve seen or heard or read in the newspapers, and they jostle around in there, constantly agitated by the mental equivalent of Brownian motion, until two or three bump into one another and cling together, like proto-planets at the start of a solar system.“
Deadly Virtues is Bannister’s 34th published novel. As a journalist she was a reporter and feature writer for weekly and daily newspapers and magazines. “My last proper job was as editor of the County Down Spectator here in Northern Ireland,” says Bannister.
In the course of my career she has received or been short-listed for a number of awards, including the Royal Society of Arts Bronze Medal, the Catherine Pakenham Award, British and Northern Ireland Press Awards, the Ellery Queen Readers’ Award, the Mary Higgins Clark Award, and most recently the RT Reviewers’ Award for her last book, Death in High Places. “No one has suggested a film adaptation yet,” says Bannister. “We live in hope. Options were taken out on some earlier books, but nothing came to fruition.”
Bannister recently finished writing the sequel to Deadly Virtues. She’s working on the third book in the trilogy. “I’d like to think the series will continue beyond that,” says Bannister. “These first three tell, as well as their individual stories, a composite tale of their own.”
Bannister lives on the Ards Peninsula in Northern Ireland, on a ridge of high land between the Irish Sea and Strangford Lough. “If I climb the hill above my house I can see both from the top, also the Isle of Man and the Mountains of Mourne,” says Bannister, who was born in Rochdale, Lancashire.
Deadly Virtues, by Jo Bannister. Hardcover, 304 pages, Publisher: Minotaur Books; First Edition edition (March 19, 2013). Language: English, ISBN: 9781250023445 $24.99
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