An interview with Viveca Sten about his book : 

I grunden utan skuld (just released in France)

I read that you always define your novels with a word before writing them. What was the word for « Les nuits de la Saint-Jean » ?

In every book I write about a driving force, the motive, behind a murder and I also always define a key word for the atmosphere of the book.

In Guiltless (I grunden utan skuld in swedish – Les nuits de la Saint-Jean in French) the driving force was vengeance and the key word was gripping.

This is the third novel in the series. The inspector Andreasson and Nora Linde are now fully part of your everyday, right?

I live with Thomas Andreasson and Nora Linde on a daily basis when I am in the middle of the writing process.

Otherwise, I give them a little bit of vacation.

For this third novel you have mixed periods, plunging us into the past life of the inhabitants of the island of Sandhamn , as much as in that of your contemporaries characters…

I wanted to tell a story about the historic Sandhamn and introduce the old times and the way of life that the islanders lived a hundred years ago when life could be very hard.

I did a lot of research and read dozens of books about life in the archipelago in the early twentieth century.

We feel you like more than anything to talk about emotions and feelings of your characters. Your novels are not just thrillers…

I write about themes that I find interesting myself. When I read novels, I find myself drawn to the characters as much as the plot.

I am very interested in people and therefore I like to write about them.

You seem to take great care to make your books available to new readers who take the series on the road…

In a series like mine, where I have promised to write ten books, it is important that new readers can start reading in the middle, without feeling that they have to begin with the first novel.

Catégories :Interviews littéraires

Tags:Albin Michel, Entretien, Interview, Polar, Viveca Sten