Mystery writer and North Carolina native Margaret Maron is the author of 26 novels and two series and the winner of several major American awards for mysteries, including the Edgar and Agatha Awards. As a Blackburn Visiting Writer in the English Department, Maron took some time between writing workshops to talk to Recess about politics, the mystery novel, her trials as young feminist and why you don’t need a college degree.
Recess: What distinguishes mystery from other genres?
Margaret Maron: It has a definite form. There has to be a crime, and in the end the reader has to feel as if justice has been done. It doesn’t necessarily mean that the good are rewarded or that the evil are punished, but that it feels like justice is done.
R: Why did you end up writing mystery novels?
MM: I didn’t want to do the usual coming of age novel where you trash your family, and make it sound like it was more horrible than it was. And I’m not a confessional type of writer. I don’t take my clothes off in public. So the mystery allowed me to hide in its form...You can get as political, as religious, as sociological as any other form of literature, and that appeals to me.
R: You grew up on a small tobacco farm in North Carolina and spent time living in New York. It seems like your two series’ protagonists, NYPD Lieutenant Sigrid Harald and North Carolina District Court Judge Deborah Knott are very much linked to the places where you’ve lived.
MM: Place is absolutely crucial to writing. In fact, I take my characters and I put them in a certain place, and I let my story grow organically out of the setting.
My first novel [One Coffee With] grew out of my experiences working in the art department at Brooklyn College and watching the way the acids and photographic chemicals were mishandled. There was a poison cabinet that anybody could get into...And so in the novel, I put potassium dichloride into a professor’s cup of coffee.
At the time I created [recurring character] Sigrid Harald, you didn’t have a whole lot of senior women police officers. Women were looked upon as poaching on men’s grounds, and the police force was, like, 90% male at that time. It’s more common now, so to write about her now is a little difficult. You do not realize how the world has changed in 20 years. You do not. Trust me.
R: I don’t know if you’d describe yourself as a feminist, but is gender equality something you try to advocate through your writing?
MM: Absolutely. I don’t know how any career woman could not be a feminist.
You see it all across the spectrum. [When I was starting out as a writer] the male writers got more promo money from the publishers. They got bigger contracts. Their books were taken more seriously. That’s why we founded Sisters in Crime, which is now an international organization to promote women’s writing in the mystery field.
R: Are there particular techniques you use that are unique to mystery writing, or do you just put the character in a place and let the story evolve organically?
MM: [As an example], Deborah Knott is a district court judge, and this gives me a chance to look at the issues that are facing that part of the state. When I went to the mountains, I looked at over-development and where tourism interrupts the lives of the people that have been there for 200 years. Same with the coast—I looked at the pollution of our estuaries and conflict between sportsmen and indigenous fisherman. I don’t get up on a soapbox, but I let my character take positions on the issues.
R: I think a lot of people at the university level question whether they should do something they love or do something practical. When you were getting into writing, was there ever a point where you questioned whether you should do something more practical?
MM: This is very practical for me. Here’s the thing—I don’t think that a college degree is always necessary. I don’t have one, for instance, and I don’t think having one would have made a difference in how much success I might have. I read everything voraciously, from trash to the classics. And I think the more you read, the more you have a facility with the language, the more you understand. It opens your mind to wider horizons.
R: What’s the best piece of advice you’d give to aspiring writers?
MM: Finish. Finish the story, finish the book, finish the essay. Don’t get halfway through and quit.
Maron will host a public reading on Thursday, Nov. 18 at 7:30 p.m, in the East Duke Parlors. The event is free and open to the public.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.