Hit writer creates supernatural murder mystery set in Buckingham Palace
Hit writer reveals supernatural murder mystery set in Buckingham Palace – featuring a terrifying scenario involving the heir to the throne.
Whenever I write historical material, I think wistfully of my fantasy writing. “It’s so easy, I can just make anything up, and not have to worry about accuracy.”
Whenever I write fantasy, I yearn for the historical work. “It’s all there, already existing, I can just look it up.”
Really, writing anything not set in your own living room means extra work, because it’s got to be believable.
In my new book, Royal Gambit, I made life even more difficult for myself by combining fantasy with a specific real-world setting.
Royal Gambit is a supernatural murder mystery, set in Buckingham Palace. The Prince of Wales (not the real one – I made up my own royal family) is found dead and an autopsy reveals a stone cube locked impossibly inside his skull.
Even worse, this is not the first such death, which means this is murder, and a secret government investigation is required.
Which meant that I needed to learn about life in and around the royal family. And Buckingham Palace, and its supporting ecosystem, is practically a world of its own.
With a setting this sumptuous, the temptation to cram in detail is strong, but here are five works I looked to for examples in portraying a setting without getting in the way of the story.
DUNE
This book has so many ideas that they spill over, not just into sequels, but into appendices. It’s a sensible approach. If you really want to know about the ecology or the religion, turn to the back of the book. But if you just want the story of a young man travelling to a new planet with his family (and their army), confronting blood enemies, and becoming a space messiah, you can stick to the main novel.
GAME OF THRONES
So many people think they know the world of Game of Thrones, thanks to the show. But a lot of stuff was left out (of necessity). A wealth of detail is out there for those that want it. Quite aside from the novels, Martin has produced enough material for you to immerse yourself completely. There’s an illustrated guide to the world, an in-universe history of the Targaryen dynasty, and the wonderful Dunk & Egg novellas which I enjoy even more than the main books. You don’t need to read them to enjoy thebooks, but they add a lot of savour.
SHOGUN
Shogun the television series portrays a gorgeous, dangerous feudal Japan. But Shogun the novel, by James Clavell, was one of my favourites long before this latest adaptation. Upon publication, Shogun sparked a tremendous western interest in Japanese culture. It’s never a lecture, and if there’s any info-dumping, it’sdone so beautifully that you don’t realise you’re learning. It’s one of those books I wish I’d written, but I’m so glad Ididn’t, because then I have the joy of experiencing it as a reader.
STAR WARS
The Star Wars universe really has become, well, a universe. It started as the vision of George Lucas, but it is now the product of the imaginationof thousands. More movies have come, along with comic books, cartoons, novels, computer games, television shows – each addingto the canon, which is now unfathomably vast. But they’ve wisely ensured that each piece is accessible by itself. For thosethat consume every product, there will be a thrill when you recognise a character or an element from somewhere else. But onlyrarely do you have to know that, oh my goodness, that’s Luke Skywalker.
OXFORD TIME TRAVEL
These novels by Connie Willis feature university students travelling in time to study history. Each explores a different period – the Black Death in Doomsday Book, the Victorian countryside in To Say Nothing of the Dog, and World War II in the two-parter Blackout and All Clear. Each makes you feel like you’re actually there (which is gruelling for Doomsday Book, but the hilarious “Dog” leavesyou thinking that perhaps you need a leisurely weekend boating along the Thames). Willis’s dedication to research is evident, but the settings never outshine the characters, and you’re left with an overwhelming affection for every aspect of these stories.
All of these settings, whether they’re a long time ago, or in the distant future, on a distant planet, or a different country, work.
And they work because they enhance and effect the characters’ actions, but they don’t overshadow them.
It’s a lesson I try to keep in mind for my own writing.
Royal Gambit by Daniel O’Malley is out now, published by HarperVoyager. What’s your favourite fictional world? Dive into the discussion at The Sunday Book Club group on Facebook.
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Originally published as Hit writer creates supernatural murder mystery set in Buckingham Palace
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