Penny
Wanawake was the first black female protagonist in crime fiction. Was it easy
to get her accepted by readers in the 1980s?
The Penny
series was received enthusiastically by the great discerning British reading
public! There was never any discrimination of any kind, especially
because the reviews were so ecstatic – this was back in the happy days when all
the major newspapers and magazines, both intellectual and popular, took crime
fiction seriously. So most weeks a paper like the Sunday Times or the Observer
would devote part of their Book Pages to reviewing crime novels.
It was much
harder to get Penny accepted anywhere else, though eventually the books were
published in the States. There were even film options, though they were
never taken up. Most of the rest of the world remained indifferent,more's
the pity. The point about Penny Wanawake was that she was the first
female protagonist who was feisty, witty, humorous and confident, as well as
being beautiful. Nor did she need a police contact to help with the
solutions to the murders. Much of the wit depends on clever punning and
literary references, and many of her comments and reactions were considered
hilarious by the readers, but remained untranslatable.
If you were
‘creating' Penny for the first time today, would you change her at all?
If I
changed her, she wouldn't be Penny, would she? But neither would I create
her today. We live in a far more complex world than the one into which Penny
strode thirty years ago, though she remains as amusing and clever as she always
did. Which is why I'm so pleased that go-ahead publishers Williams &
Whiting have seen fit to reissue the entire series, giving a new set of readers
the chance to get to know her.
Have you
had to make any/many changes to your original book to fit in with contemporary
society?
I did tone
right down her somewhat liberated attitude to sexual encounters (I originally
intended her to be a sort of female answer to James Bond and his type!) after
the first two or three books, because the scourge of AIDS appeared on the
scene. Otherwise, I believe she stands as tall now as she did then and we
felt that no changes were required
Do you
think crime fiction, and female protagonists in particular, have changed over
the years?
Definitely.
There were very few female protagonists when I started writing, Miss Jane
Marple of St Mary Mead was the principal character – and almost the only one
the average reader had ever heard of, which is why the Sunday Times originally
instituted a competition to find a new and original protatgonist for the
genre. Now, there are outstanding female protagonists all over the place
– Kinsey Millhone and V.I. Washawski, are prime examples.
As for
crime fiction itself, years ago Dorothy Sayers stated that the genre would die
out because there was no place for it to go, every option had been
explored. How wrong she was! The genre has become
increasingly gritty over the years, while at the same time new and ingenious
methods of human disposal abound in all kinds of sub-genres, such as
psychological, historical, 'cosy', police procedural and so on.
How does it
feel to have your book republished over 30 years on?
Absolutely
brilliant! I'm so delighted that Mike Linane, the dynamic CEO of
W&W, decided to start his company by taking her on and treating her so
well, with new and eye-catching covers, and new introductions by me. It's
like welcoming home a long-lost and beloved relative.
What can
you tell new readers about your Penny Wanawake books?
I'm often
asked about the genesis of Penelope Wanawake. It began when I found
myself living in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, in the Sixties. This was at the
beginning of the civil rights movement, when at last people were waking up to
the unjustices of a system which allowed the rights of the black population to
be ignored. (As, I'm afraid, they are still being).
Those were
the years of civil disobedience as exemplified by Rosa Parks refusing to give
up her seat on the bus so a white person could have it. She wasn't the
first to decline to do so, but she became an important symbol of the movement.
Then came the atrocious killing of three young civil rights workers in
Mississippi. In Oak Ridge, black people couldn't buy a house in a 'white'
area. They couldn't swim in the same public pools ort sattend the same
schools. My husband and I joined the NAACP (the National Association for
the Advancement of Coloured People) and held several meetings in our house.
The Klan came into town, their faceless hoods a terrifying sight calculated to
strike fear into the heart. We were watched.
Came the
day we were sitting – with the blinds down – in our sitting room when we
noticed a weird light shining from outside. We peeked out and discovered
that a cross was burning on our front lawn. This was seriously scary
stuff. Even more so was the incident when I pulled up at traffic lights,
heavily pregnant and with my toddler in the back. Suddenly, a jeep
screeched to a halt alongside me and when I looked over at it, there were four
grinning rednecks staring at me, each one of them with a rifle across his
knees, pointing at me.
When I got
back to England, creating the character of Penny seemed almost an
obligation.
About Susan Moody
Susan
Moody's Penny Wanawake series – reissued by dynamic new publisher Williams
& Whiting – propelled her into the ranks of crime-writing some thirty plus
years ago, where she's happily remained ever since. In that time,
she's produced more than thirty-five books, mostly crime, including a second
series character called Cassandra Swann (soon to be re-published by W&W),
plus many stand-alones and short stories. She's served as Chair of
the Crime Writers Association, President of the International Association of
Crime Writers, Visiting Fellow at the University of Tasmania, Visiting Fellow
at the University of Copenhagen, Writing Tutor at HMP Bedford. She recently
founded the hugely successful one-day crime fiction event, Deal Noir, in Deal,
Kent, and will be hosting our third one on 25 March 2017.
About Williams and Whiting
Williams
& Whiting is a new publishing company formed by Mike Linane who is also
co-organiser of the Deal Noir and Bodies From The Library crime fiction
festivals. Williams & Whiting plan to not only
re-issue many traditional crime novels from the last forty years but also to
sign debut authors of both fiction and non-fiction. Mike says
“I’m open to all ideas. For us, the important thing is that the
book must simply be a thumping good read. Besides the Penny
Wanawake Mysteries by Susan Moody, Williams & Whiting plan to publish
another twenty titles this year.”
Penny Black
By Susan Moody
Published by Williams & Whiting (16 February 2016)
ISBN: 978-1911266006
Published by Williams & Whiting (16 February 2016)
ISBN: 978-1911266006
Publisher's description
Meet PENNY
WANAWAKE, philanthropist, free-thinker, part-time sleuth. Very tall, very
classy, very black, a beautiful tigress in tigress's clothing. And her lover
and friend, BARNABY, cool, witty, high-class thief, dedicated low-life. Stand
by as Penny meets KIMBELL, black American detective, and blows his mind. Thrill
as between them they track down the brutal killer of Penny's wacky friend
MARFA, and exact poetic justice among banks of orchids ...
You can buy Penny Black here.
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