Welcome to The Mystery Reader! Tell us about yourself.

My real name is Matthew Lynn, James Harland is my pen-name. The name comes from my family. Harland was my grandfather's name, and James is one of my middle names - the Harland family is probably best-known for is Belfast offshoot, which started the Harland & Woolf shipyard in that city, which built the Titanic.

I'm English, and a Londoner. I was born in Devon, in the west of England, and lived for a few years in Dublin, but mostly I have lived in London. I was educated at Balliol College, Oxford University, where I read Politics, Philosophy and Economic. Mystery fans might be interested that Dorothy L. Sayer's great detective Lord Peter Wimsey was educated at Balliol. So was Graham Greene, who I'd rank as one of the greatest thriller writers of all time.

I am now 39, and live in London, with my wife Angharad, who is a journalist, and our two-year-old daughter Isabella, to whom The Month of the Leopard is dedicated, and Leonora, who was born in March.

Are you coming to mystery writing from another job?

My background is as a financial journalist. I worked at The Sunday Times as a business reporter for seven years, and I now write a European business column twice a week for Bloomberg News, which is syndicated in quite a few papers as well as on the Bloomberg.com website. I split my time about half and half between journalism, and writing fiction. I find that is a good division. Journalism is great background for finding out about how lots of different industries work, and what different jobs involve. Journalists are good at finding out information quickly and efficiently, and they are also good at sorting out the interesting information from the dull. The only downside is that while journalism teaches you a lot about writing, it's the wrong sort of writing. You have to break a lot of habits when you start writing fiction.

What led you to write mysteries?

I'm a big fan of mystery and thriller writers, so that is what led me into writing in that genre. My favourite authors for a long time have been people such as Conan Doyle, John Buchan, Graham Greene, John le Carre and Frederick Forsyth. But the genre also chooses you. I read all types of different authors in a mix of genres, but when I start thinking of a story I start thinking of a mystery, so that is what I write. Mysteries and thrillers are a very flexible genre. There is almost nothing you can't write about.

Tell us about your road to publication.

I had written two business books as a journalist before I turned my hand to writing fiction. That was helpful in two ways. I already knew something (although not as much as I thought) about structuring a book. And I had already signed up with one of the main London literary agents. That was a big help. The hardest thing for any new author is to get an agent to take them on, and without an agent it is almost impossible to get taken seriously by a publisher. That is really the big breakthough you have to make.

The book went through a couple of drafts with the agent. He is a good critic, very acute at pointing out the flaws in a plot, and over those drafts the book got a lot sharper. That is the second most important step in getting published. You need to find an agent you get on with, and who can help shape a book. The publishers are not very interested in editing anymore. They leave that to the agents.

The processes of getting it published was dealt with by the agent. Agents like to tell you good news, not bad news, so they don't mention all the publishers that might well have turned it down, just the one that wanted to publish it. I'm sure it got lots of rejections, but I'd rather not dwell on those.

What kind of research was involved for your first book?

The Month of the Leopard is a conspiracy story, and a conspiracy by definition is something that reveals hidden connections. There are three different threads that make up the story. Giant hedge funds, such as the one run by George Soros. The hidden fortune of the Red Army. And the story of the Metsavaned, the liberation movement in Estonia which fought a forgotten war against the Soviet Union from the end of World War Two until 1979. So there was a lot off research that went into the book, mainly about how the financial markets work, and about the history and geography of the Baltic States in Northern Europe, particularly about Estonia which is the most Northern of those three countries, right next to the Russian border.

Travelling around to research a book can be strange experience. It isn't at all like tourism. If you were there on holiday, you might be looking for the most interesting places, or the most beautiful buildings, but if you are researching a mystery story, you are looking for the most secret routes, or the most discreet bars. And you are doing it in the middle of a freezing winter, because that in when the book is set. You are cold, you travel in the most uncomfortable way, and you go to all the worst places. That doesn't stop it from being fun, though.

Who are your influences as a writer?

In mystery and thriller writing, my biggest influences are John Buchan, Graham Greene, John le Carre and Frederick Forsyth. For me, they are the inventors and masters of the genre. But I admire lots of different authors, and I think they influence you as well, although in different ways. Apart from those mentioned above, my favourite authors are Charles Dickens, Anthony Trollope, Joseph Conrad (who could also turn his hand to mysteries - try The Secret Agent), George Orwell and Joseph Heller.

Of authors writing now, I most admire Tom Wolfe, Elmore Leonard, Carl Hiaasen, Michael Crichton, and Martin Amis. If I could keep just one book, it would probably be Nostromo by Conrad.

What does your family think of having a mystery author in their midst?

My wife, Angharad, likes it. She's a journalist, so she's interested in writing as well. Most of the people around the part of London we live work in the financial markets, so writing for a living is different. My eldest daughter Isabella is just two, and Leonora was born in March, so I don't think they have noticed yet. Perhaps when they go to school they'll wonder why their father doesn't go to the office every day like everyone else.

Tell us about plans for future books.

I'm finishing a new book at the moment, which will also be published by Simon & Schuster, probably in 2003. It's working title is The Bonus. It's about two brothers. The elder brother Edward is successful with a fair amount of money, the younger brother William doesn't have any money, and works for a green, anti-globalisation group. At the start of the story, William has died. At the reading of the will, he leaves all his money to his older brother to look after his daughter. Edward, is amazed. He didn't even know William had a girlfriend, let alone a daughter. And he had five million pounds in his bank account, which was paid in two days before he died. So Edward knows something very strange happened to his bother, but the only clues he has are the money and the girl. The story takes off from there.

How can readers get in touch with you?

The www.jamesharland.com website has extracts from the book, and also all the contact information. You can send an e-mail to james@jamesharland.com. It's always great to get feedback from readers, so do get in touch.

July 12, 2001