"White Heat," a novel by M.J. McGrath
Jeff Glor talks to M.J. McGrath about, "White Heat," her intriguing murder mystery set in the Arctic Circle.
Jeff Glor: What inspired you to write the book?
M.J. McGrath: Three things: I'd been up in the Arctic doing research for a nonfiction book and realized then that it would be a great location for a series of mysteries. Nothing rots up there, so the tundra is littered with bones. Being hunters, the local people are very used to tracking animals (and other people) and they're familiar with what guns and knives can do to flesh. But as well as being a place full of physical drama, the Arctic is also the scene of great geopolitical tensions. There's a new kind of cold war going on up there - a battle for resources, yes, but also, ultimately, because of the Arctic's importance in climate change, a battle for the survival of the planet as we know it. So that was the first thing. Then, while I was up there one time I met a female polar bear hunter, an Inuit woman, tiny but very fierce. She became my inspiration for my protagonist, Edie Kiglatuk. So, I had my setting and a basis for my character, but the real impetus to get on and write the book came not long after I got back home, when I witnessed a horrific attack and found myself wrapped up in an attempted murder trial. Things came together after that.
JG: What surprised you the most during the writing process?
MM: I think probably how much my travels in the Arctic impacted on me as a person and as a writer. Being up there is in some ways as close as you can get to living on another planet. It's no coincidence that NASA uses the place as a training ground for its Mars missions. But in other ways, life is very familiar. People watch TV and eat junk food, kids go to school, families squabble, couples fall in love. It's that tension between regular lives and the weirdness of the world in which they're played out which really struck me.
JG: What would you be doing if you weren't a writer?
MM: I've been an educator, and loved that, but really I've no idea. I'm fascinated by people and I love cities but I'm also thunderstruck by the wonders of nature. Is there something you can do, other than writing, which combines all three? I guess so, but I'm not sure what it would be.
JG: What else are you reading right now?
MM: The great Dennis Lehane was speaking at the Theakston's Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival in Harrogate, England, recently and recommended the work of Boston-based crime writer, Robert B Parker, so I'm working my way through some of Parker's Spenser mysteries and at the same time reading Antonio Damasio's fascinating book on the biology of rational thought, "Descartes' Error."
JG: What's next for you?
MM: I'm finishing up another Edie Kiglatuk mystery, this time set in Alaska.
For more on "White Heat," visit the Penguin Group website.
