Nadine Matheson has released two incredibly successful crime-fiction novels since 2021. The Jigsaw Man (2021) was won by HarperCollins in a six-publisher auction. It is now a bestseller and has been translated into 15 languages. Her second novel, The Binding Room (2022) gained glowing reviews from Red magazine and The Independent. She is now gearing up for the third installation, The Kill List, expected later this year.
Here she discusses her Deptford adolescence, her affinity for local libraries and how she manages to juggle two careers.
What was your childhood like in Deptford?
It was very multicultural. I remember lots of freedom, we were out exploring and playing. Everyone knew each other from school and would stick together. In the eighties, when you would leave the borough – to get the 47 bus to Bermondsey for example – you knew it wasn’t going to be as accepting of black people, or anyone who wasn’t white. There was still a very heavy influence of the National Front. You were very much aware of that separation, but it was still very fun.
My family was encouraging of us playing sports, going to the library and reading books. But it wasn’t a free-for-all because my parents are from Grenada. They instilled and drilled in you that education is important repeatedly, and of course being black, it’s was also instilled that you have to work.
I was also very nosey growing up. My family would always say, “Oh you’re very inquisitive!” because I was constantly reading. When I ran out of books to read I’d pick up things. So if there was a letter on the table I’d just read it. I loved stories, I loved books, I loved writing. It sounds strange to say but I liked the feeling of having a pen in my hand. And my dad had a typewriter so I liked to use that. Once I realised I could tell a story, that was it.
One of the murders in The Jigsaw Man (2021) takes place five minutes from where you currently live. Does Deptford directly inform your writing?
Definitely. Especially with this series of books [the DI Anjelica Henley series], I purposely set it in Deptford and the surrounding areas because I know it so well. I’m able to bring extra depth to it. When you’re writing, it’s not only about character and plot, setting and location are very important as well. I know what the river smells like, I know the little streets that most people wouldn’t know about that I can put into my writing.
There is a church near where I live called St. Nicholas’, and being in the church during the day is a completely different feeling to the church grounds at night. I know how to evoke these senses. And I love writing about my area. I think it’s exciting to write about where I live and give readers a sense of a different part of London. Lots of crime fiction is set in well-known areas; the City of London, the West End, bits of the East End, and maybe Camden. South London gets neglected. They are scared of us!
What’s your favourite part of writing a book?
I really like the planning stage. I sit with a pencil and my notepad, and I plan at the beginning. The writing bit is hard, but once I’ve got everything – I like editing it, so I can have the finished product.
What was your daily routine like working as a full-time solicitor and writing a book?
I’m not the type of person that says “I’m going to get up at 6am and write for two hours to start my day!”. I know myself too well and there is no point in trying to make myself into something I’m not.
I would get up at 9am and have my normal work day. If it was a straightforward day with only a few hearings I’d be done by lunch and then I’d have the afternoon to write. If I had a trial, it would just wipe me out. You have to prepare before the trial, during the trial, and you might even be making legal arguments last minute. Your whole day is taken up.
I couldn’t start writing until the jury went to deliberate. Because then, you are just waiting. That is the time I would use to work on the book. Ideally, you want to write on the weekend, but if you have a trial the next week I might be going to police stations, or prepping cases for Monday.
Sometimes my day would not end. If I was on police station duty, I could be working from 7pm-2am, or the graveyard shift which was 10pm-7am. As a criminal solicitor and a writer, you are always stealing time.
What do you think about the state of new fiction in London?
It’s exciting where it’s heading. Across genres, literature now is a lot more open to exploring other areas and accepting different types of people. For example, Queenie, [by Candice Carty-Williams] is set in Brixton. It’s also becoming more community-based. Still in London but smaller in scope when it comes to setting. London is a series of villages, so more of that microscopic feel is coming.
It’s also exciting to see the novels created by people of colour, and all of the different varieties. And it’s nice when you read the biography sections and think, “Oh my god they’re from just down the road!”.
What has your experience been like being a black woman in the crime fiction space?
It’s no different to the legal world. The legal world is very male-dominated, white and middle class. And when I found publishing, it was a similar space so it wasn’t hard to navigate that side of it. I’m an author and I’m writing, and it wasn’t about making a big statement about writing this novel featuring a black detective. I was just seen as a good writer.
But I had to take off the rose-tinted glasses and put on my lawyer hat, and get quite analytical because you can get overwhelmed by all the love you receive. I had to remind myself not to get carried away with all of the bells and whistles because it is a business.
You have no idea of what it’s going to be like until you are in it. And any idea you do have is from a reader’s point of view, so it’s romanticised. But the writing community has been very supportive, and you immediately find your tribe.
Lots of libraries in Lewisham are closing or have to rely on charities for funding. As an avid library user in your youth, what should our local government be doing to protect libraries?
They should be doing so much more. They just rely on the goodness of people’s hearts to step in and do the work when they should be providing the resources.
Growing up, I was always in the library. I inhaled books. I used to borrow my siblings’ library cards so I could take out more than six at a time. I couldn’t wait until I got old enough to turn left and go into the adult section instead. And as you get older, you see another library closed, and then another one closed.
If children don’t have access to books because of finances, and at school you have a limited amount of books and someone has taken it out, you should be able to get it from a local library. I find it very upsetting and annoying and frustrating when I hear that another library is closing.
Looking after your community is the minimum the council should be doing. Libraries aren’t just a place for people who don’t want to buy books. It’s a safe space for lots of people, and so many of them put on authorial events. I get angry. What are you going to do instead? Knock down the library and put up another block of flats that local people can’t use because they are private?
It’s important for authors to not ignore your local library. Readers love it. They can meet and talk to you and can relate to you. So authors should promote their local libraries. I do the best that I can.
Why is it important for people to support local literature initiatives?
It’s important for publishers to know that they can hold events in smaller and less well-known areas and people will come out. You’re exposing your authors to a wider network of people.
Also if you’re a child and you’re Black or Asian, when you don’t see yourself, you think “this is not open to me” or “this is not something I can do.” If your parents drag you to the library on Saturday, and you meet a local author who is the same colour as you, it gives you something to relate to. It shows people in the community the opportunities that are open to them.
When I speak at schools, I’m always saying, “Just try.” Don’t worry about if people think it’s the right thing to write about or not, do what excites you and tell your story. And to sit in a room and listen to people who are passionate about their own work will give you the confidence to go on your path as well.
Follow our series, Reading Between the Lines, this week to read more about literature across our boroughs
