Roger Smith

Roger Smith's thrillers Dust Devils, Wake Up Dead and Mixed Blood are published in seven languages and two are in development as movies in the U.S. His books have won the Deutscher Krimi Preis (German Crime Fiction Award) and been nominated for Spinetingler Magazine Best Novel awards. His novella, Ishmael Toffee, and a fourth novel, Capture, are now available.

From his Q & A at Crime Fiction Lover:

You like exploring both morals and base survival through your characters. And thus we can see the dark side of human nature quite a bit. Tell me a little more about how this will unfold in Capture?

South Africa encourages a certain moral elasticity. Given that the ex-commissioner of police was jailed for 15 years for corruption and gangsterism and his successor was recently fired for similar transgressions, a loss of faith in law and order is understandable. And the culture of savagery in South Africa allows some people to forgive themselves their own criminal actions, like the three main characters in Capture, who find themselves capable of increasingly toxic and violent behaviour. It is my darkest book so far.

In South Africa race, politics, cultural prejudices, and wealth and poverty create such a complex backdrop. For you, what are the most challenging things about writing stories set there?

I was invited to the Quais du Polar crime fiction festival in France last year and was on a panel with David Peace and a trio of French crime writers who writers placed themselves and their work at the centre of political and social debate, and made no bones about the fact that if a crime writer dodges socio-political issues, he’s copping out. I am...[read on]

Learn more about the author at Roger Smith's website.

Read about Roger Smith's top 10 crime novels.

The Page 69 Test: Mixed Blood.

The Page 69 Test: Wake Up Dead.

Writers Read: Roger Smith.

My Book, The Movie: Dust Devils.

--Marshal Zeringue