Orlando Murrin

Orlando Murrin is the debut author of Knife Skills For Beginners, a murder mystery set in a posh London cookery school. Having started out as a magazine sub-editor, he won through to the semi-final of the BBC MasterChef programme and found himself hurled into the world of food writing. He was editor of the UK’s bestselling food magazine, BBC Good Food, for six years before taking off to rural France to create a gastronomic guesthouse. He has written six cookbooks, including A Table in the Tarn (Stewart, Tabori and Chang), which describes his French adventure, and Two’s Company (Ryland Peters & Small), devoted to the art of cooking for couples, friends and room-mates.

My Q&A with the author:

How much work does your title do to take readers into the story?

I come up with dozens and dozens of titles in order to find the best. It isn’t always obvious – you have to live with them for a while, go away and come back, change your mind.

Eventually we settled on Knife Skills For Beginners because it takes you straight in – it’s a story set in an upmarket cookery school. The only doubt was that some readers might mistake it for an instruction manual for wannabe chefs. Indeed, I’ve been to a few literary events where those attending have been expecting an actual cookery demonstration, and are bemused to find me talking instead about a sophisticated murder mystery, albeit with culinary flourishes.

What's in a name?

Equally, I spend hours dreaming up (and changing) the names of my characters. They’re specially important in a plot-driven whodunit with lots of suspects, to help readers remember and differentiate between characters.

When it came to naming the hero of Knife Skills For Beginners, I chose Paul simply because I like the name and all the Pauls I’ve known have been honest, decent people. (Thinking about it now, Paul in the Bible had something of a past, which he put behind him, and the same could be said for Paul Delamare.)

I chose the surname Delamare firstly because it’s a poetic-sounding name, and my character Paul is in some ways a bit of dreamer. It also provides a running gag because no one is sure how to pronounce it, and it is constantly spelt wrong - which infuriates Paul.

My editor said to me, are you sure we want a hero with a name no one can pronounce or spell? I promised him it would be fun – and memorable in itself.

Do you find it harder to write beginnings or endings? Which do you change more?

I find beginnings very hard, and they get drastically changed, rewritten, then changed and rewritten again.

Endings, however, are my thing. I can’t resist a big finale – I always have the last scene clear in my head, usually involving a lot of theatrics.

Knowing that I’m working towards something exciting also helps me as I labour my way through the text, weaving in clues and red herrings and misdirection as I go. When I finally get to write it, the ending feels like a reward, a delicious chocolate truffle that arrives with the coffee.

Do you see much of yourself in your characters? Do they have any connection to your personality, or are they a world apart?

I promise it wasn’t deliberate, but there is a lot of me in Paul Delamare. He’s a food writer/chef – which was my previous profession – and both of us have been described as 'somewhat waspish'. We also share being gay, and have lost partners, though in my case it was some years ago.

On the other hand, he’s a far more accomplished chef than I ever was and is endlessly curious – knowledgeable about everything from antiques to ornithology. I’ve also made him aged 42 and extremely attractive – not that he realises it – so there the resemblance ends.

I also have lots in common with Paul’s best friend Julie. Like her, I worked in magazines for many years, and her editor is a real-life portrait of someone I used to work for. Other characters often have characteristics of people I've known or encountered; I tend to write about rich people and I've known quite a few in my life.

What non-literary inspirations have influenced your writing?

I play the piano – for many years I used to moonlight in bars and restaurants, but now it’s mainly classical. Mastering a difficult piece takes infinite patience and practice, but it’s such a privilege to be able to enter a composer’s head, marvel at the imagination and attention to detail that they poured into the music, feel it in your hands and fingers.

I would never compare my writing to Bach or Chopin – obviously! – but they do remind me of the superhuman effort that it takes to produce something worthwhile. Every note, every phrase, every indication matters in a piece of music. So does every sentence, word, comma, in a piece of writing. There’s no such thing as ‘good enough’ – it has to be as good as you can make it.

Visit Orlando Murrin's website.

The Page 69 Test: Knife Skills for Beginners.

--Marshal Zeringue