Natalie Conyer is the author of Present Tense, which won the Ned Kelly Award for best debut crime novel of 2020. Her short stories have won several awards and been featured in anthologies such as The Only One in the World and Dark Deeds Down Under Volume 2. They are also shortly to be published as a collection. Natalie talks to NZ Booklovers about her latest crime novel, Shadow City.
Tell us a little about Shadow City.
Shadow City is a crime novel, a mix of police procedural and thriller. The action switches between Sydney and Cape Town, South Africa. It brings together two detectives: Schalk Lourens, from Cape Town and Jackie Rose, from Sydney.
The story begins with the discovery of a dead girl in a food court in Chinatown, Sydney. Jackie Rose investigates, but when she discovers the girl is an international student, she has to hand the case to Federal authorities. Meanwhile, Schalk Lourens has decided to visit his daughter in Sydney and a friend asks him, while he’s there, to help track down a missing student.
The cases are linked and Schalk and Jackie join forces. They uncover a web of corruption which stretches across countries and which puts their lives, and the lives of others, in danger.
What inspired you to write this book?
Shadow City is based on a couple of ideas. My first book, Present Tense, was set in South Africa and featured a policeman called Schalk Lourens. I wanted to write another book about Schalk (pronounced skulk), but I hadn’t been back to South Africa for some years and didn’t feel qualified to set the action there. So I decided to bring Schalk to Sydney.
Also, I had an image in my head of a dead girl in a food court in Chinatown (don’t know what that says about my mental state!) I needed an Australian cop to investigate her death, and that’s when Jackie Rose appeared.
I joined the dots between the dead girl in Sydney and the missing girl in South Africa, and the story grew from there.
What research was involved?
Shadow City demanded quite a bit of research, and across a few different areas. The first area was geographical. The action moves between Sydney and Cape Town and although I’d researched Cape Town extensively for my first book, Present Tense, I had to update my knowledge in several areas for this book. That meant lots of catching up on politics and current events, and talking to a police contact there.
I was surprised by the amount of research I had to do in Sydney. I found that because I live here, I take a lot of things for granted. Schalk Lourens is seeing Sydney for the first time and I needed to see the city through his eyes. So I walked the streets mentioned in Shadow City, drove the routes my characters drive, ate at their restaurants, and visited the buildings they did. It gave me a whole new take on my home city.
Shadow City is a police procedural, and although I take some fictional licence, I wanted to portray policing as accurately as possible. I spoke to current and retired homicide detectives, to AUSTRAC officers and forensics technicians. I visited Homicide HQ at Parramatta, and saw how the unit is run.
Finally – and I don’t want to give away spoilers – slavery rears its ugly head in this book. I did a short online course offered by UTS (the University of Technology, Sydney); read articles and reports on slavery, and got help and advice from the Anti-Slavery Unit at UTS.
What was your routine or process when writing this book?
I had incredible difficulty writing this book. I’d heard of ‘second book syndrome’ – Shadow City is my second book – and boy, did I suffer from it. Covid didn’t help, either. I wrote thousands of words, lost confidence and threw them away. This happened three times before I finally took a leap and got through to the end. The whole process took nearly three years.
As far as routine goes, I’m a world-class procrastinator and the only way I ever get work done is to have a schedule and stick to it. I get up early, exercise, dress, do chores, answer emails, and plan to be at my desk around 9am. I know writers who fall out of bed and start to write, but I need to have order around me to concentrate. I write in the morning and stop when I’ve done a certain number of words or have reached a certain point. The rest of life has to wait until afterwards.
If a soundtrack were made to accompany this book, name a song or two you would include.
Oh, that’s hard! Schalk Lourens isn’t very musical – he listens to talkback radio a lot. Jackie Rose, on the other hand, loves strong female singers across all musical areas: Aretha Franklin, Amy Winehouse, Emmylou Harris. Jackie’s also, in her deepest heart, a hopeless, daggy romantic. So if I were to choose a couple of songs, they’d be background to Jackie, strong but sweet and definitely singalong. Let’s say You Make Me Feel Like a Natural Woman by Aretha and Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow by Amy Winehouse.
If your book was made into a movie, who would you like to see playing the lead characters?
Even harder! Schalk is in his fifties. I’d like to see him played by someone attractive but not obvious, and a bit brooding, like David Strathairn or Ben Mendelsohn.
Jackie’s a strong woman in her early 40s, in good shape physically. She’s blonde and good looking, but not in a Hollywood Barbie way. I’m thinking of Robin Wright or Toni Colette.
What did you enjoy the most about writing Shadow City?
Finishing it! More seriously, I loved getting to know the characters, Jackie in particular.
What did you do to celebrate finishing this book?
For me, finishing a book is like finishing an exam. It feels flat and anti-climactic. I have, however, been celebrating Shadow City’s publication. We’ve had a wonderful launch, and I’ve shared quite a lot of champagne with friends.
What is the favourite book you have read so far this year and why?
I came late to Ann Patchett’s Tom Lake. It’s divine. I listened to it on Audible, read by Meryl Streep. It’s calm on the surface, but explores important human issues, and the writing is spectacular. As far as reading hard copy books go, I’ve just finished an excellent book titled Highway 13, by Fiona McFarlane. It’s a series of interconnected short stories about how a serial killer’s crimes and life affects the lives of people around him. Again, the writing is beautiful, and McFarlane looks at the effects of crime in ways I haven’t seen before.
What’s next on the agenda for you?
My publishers, Echo, are re-releasing my first book, Present Tense, in December this year. Also, I’m three-quarters of the way through my next book, which is about Jackie Rose. I hope to have this finished by the end of the year, and it should come out in 2025. So there’s lots to be getting on with!
Echo Publishing