What’s your crime ?

Jake Arnott,whose novel The Long Firm,the story of the charismatic gangster Harry Starks,published in ’99 to critical acclaim and which was adapted as a BBC drama serial,inaugurated the festival. His latest,The Devil’s Paintbrush set in Paris in 1903 is the story of the fall from grace of British Empire hero,Major-General Sir Hector Macdonald in a shocking scandal and examines imperialism,sexuality and the nature of belief. So is he committed to crime? “I am a literary writer,I have no preconceptions in reading or writing and I refuse to be part of any genre. They refer to me as a crime writer and that’s my punishment,” London-based Jake is also the author of He Kills Coppers (2001) and Truecrime (2003) and his novel,Johnny Come Home takes place in the summer of ’72 amidst the world of glam-rock and radical politics. Imagination is the best fodder for a book and no amount of research,states Arnold,can be a substitute for the mind’s eye. The culture of the place,people,settings,history,geography,are the inspiration for his stories and characters and categorization,believes Jake can get in way of creativity and even dissuade readers to pick up a particular book,for it has been put in a slot. “At the end of the day,you write for yourself,it has to turn you on first,before anyone else,” Jake rues the fact that we’ve been bombarded with a lot of writing on the Internet,sometimes mediocre and bad!

A round of the Rock Garden has Jake overwhelmed,”it’s my latest moment of inspiration,the garden is like a novel,with so many absorbing characters and I feel art and culture should constantly inspire one to create and in my case,I am lucky to explore so many possibilities at varied places,” smiles Jake. Pore over…