Vasudev Murthy lives in Bangalore, India and
writes on music, humor, management and crime. He has been published by Poisoned
Pen Press, Bloomsbury, HarperCollins and Sage. His work has been translated
into Portuguese, Korean, Japanese and Kannada. He is otherwise a Management
Consultant and violinist with a passion for animal welfare.
Interview:
Tell
us about your book! What is it about and what inspired you to write it?
In
the Sherlock Holmes Canon, there is a
period between 1891 and 1894 that’s called the Missing Years. This is a period where Arthur Conan Doyle
stopped writing after killing off Holmes at Reichenbach Falls. He resurfaced in
1894 in the story – The Empty House. There is considerable conjecture about
where he might have been in the interim.
My
first book about this was Sherlock Holmes, the Missing Years: Japan, where I
claimed that he was in Japan. In this book, encouraged by my excellent editor,
Barbara Peters, I placed him in a mystery in Timbuktu, or more correctly in
Africa, with the center point being Timbuktu.
Tell
us about your publishing process. What was it like? Did you go indie or the
traditional way?
Harper
Collins sold the US rights of my Japan book to Poisoned Pen Press. My Timbuktu
book was a direct contract with PPP. I
enjoy working with them.
How
did you choose the title for your book? Did it come to you right away, before
you started writing the story, or did it come later?
My
editor and I debated about what would be an interesting locale. We looked at a
few choices and zeroed in on Timbuktu. There is considerable history and mystery
about the place and it does conjure interest.
I had to do a tremendous amount of research about many places during
different historical periods. Slowly the story started making sense and I began
to write.
Tell
us about the cover design process. Did you have a basic idea of what your book
cover would be like?
Yes,
I did. The desert was necessary and so was something about the Tuaregs, the
people of the Sahara. Their language and culture are unique. An Indigo blue was
necessary. Sherlock with his pipe was necessary. This is a complex tale. I
believe there were only two iterations, if I recall.
Who
is your cover designer and how did you find him/her?
This
was handled by Poisoned Pen Press and I
had no hand in selecting and interacting with them.
How
was your experience working with the designer?
Smooth
and effortless.
What
has been the readers’ response to your cover?
It
certainly gets more than one glance. People like it.
What
tips would you give to authors who are looking for a cover designer?
I
wouldn’t give any tips per se. I don’t think we (authors) should presume to
additionally be experts in aesthetics. We should state our ideas but defer to
the publisher whose interest it is to sell the book and has a better idea of
the relevant parameters.
Anything
else you’d like to say about your book?
The
book is serious with a few doses of irreverence thrown in. It has an unusual
motif and an even stranger premise. I’m hoping the reader will enjoy imagining
Holmes in Morocco, the Sahara, Timbuktu and the lower Nile. I truly loved
writing the book.
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