Deborah Masson: From Sheddocksley mobile library to top-selling crime author

We’re sitting in a cafe in Aberdeen and Deborah Masson is looking intently at the people milling around outside the window.

Who are they? What secrets, dreams, ambitions and anxieties do they harbour beneath the surface? And if she’s studying them, could somebody be doing the same to her?

After all, CCTV cameras are everywhere, from car parks and shopping malls to street corners and entertainment venues. Keeping us safe, the mantra goes. But do they?

Who watches the watchers?

This is the premise behind Deborah’s new book I’ll Be Watching You – which she produced after talking to people who actually operate these devices.

As usual with this Aberdeen author who puts the “noir” into Granite Noir, it isn’t a book for maiden aunts or readers with an aversion to twisty plots and violent deaths.

Yet, she is a fascinating character in her own right; somebody who has suffered enormous lows, saluted tremendous highs and who has a proper perspective on life.

For a long time, the question was whether Deborah would carve out the opportunity to become a successful award-winning author.

As a child, she loved the mobile library which regularly visited Sheddocksley in her home city. As a teenager, she wrote stories in her grandparents’ caravan in Ballater.

Some involved fairies at the bottom of the garden. But then, the magic was put on hold.

I didn’t have the confidence

She tried journalism, admin, PR, sales, marketing… you name it, she was good at it. But none of them provided the requisite va va voom and she moved on to literary courses.

As time passed and she became a mother, she doted on her daughter, Holly, but wondered how to fill in the hours while the bairn napped.

And the dream of writing, which was merely dormant, suddenly burst back to life.

Deborah told me: “I was interested in journalism and I was offered the chance to become a trainee feature writer at the Aberdeen Journals.

“But I wasn’t sure I had enough confidence. I wasn’t sure I could make it, so I said no.

“Even now, looking back, it’s one of my biggest regrets.

I thought it was time to give it a go

“When Holly was a wee girl, I thought the world of her. I still do [she’s now 16 and has a brother Ellis, aged 11].

“But I was in danger of going stir crazy. I had to do something to shake up my life.

“And that’s when I joined a six-week course An Introduction to Crime Writing.”

She learned about depicting murder scenes, the intricacies of a police procedural, breathing flesh and blood into her detective and even describing how they ate breakfast.

Soon enough, she had 15,000 words; the basis for her maiden work Hold Your Tongue, although Deborah was still unconvinced she could find an agent or publisher.

Yet her mother, Irene, was tremendously supportive as her daughter’s career advanced.

She was dying of ovarian cancer

This was doubly important because her mum had terminal ovarian cancer and they both knew privately there was no escaping the light going out.

The novel was like a beacon to Deborah, whose persistence paid off when she found an agent, Oli Munson, based in London, who was massively encouraging about her work.

And, as she told me, it was a strange twilight period of triumph and tristesse.

“I will never forget standing in the fruit and veg aisle at Tesco in Lang Stracht [in Aberdeen] and receiving the call from Oli, saying he wanted to represent me.

“I was so excited that I’m pretty sure they heard my reaction at the Tesco in Danestone [a few miles away].

But I had other things on my mind

“It was a dream come true and I was able to tell my mum that I had an agent.

“But she was very ill by that time, and I recall sitting by her bed in her living room – she couldn’t get up the stairs any more – and I was stroking her back.

“It was pretty much just bone. She was my best pal and it was heart-breaking. I’m only glad my brother Chris and I were there when she needed us.”

That experience understandably left its mark on Deborah.

She is firmly in favour of assisted dying if it allows families to say goodbye to their cherished ones before the latter have lost any quality of life.

You wouldn’t treat a dog like that

She said: “I loved mum to bits, but you wouldn’t treat a dog like that if it was suffering.

“The Macmillan [Cancer Support] nurses were wonderful with her and I have nothing but admiration for the work that they do.

“But if I ever reach that stage, I would hope somebody would just give me a pill.”

In recent years, her books have attracted an impressive coterie of admirers. It’s not easy to break through in crime fiction these days, but Deborah has a vivid imagination.

These books ooze with life

She also boasts a penchant for serving up charismatic heroes and villains – and those who tread the fine line in the middle as flawed individuals.

As we gazed out from our teas and coffees, she once again looked out the window and I wondered if there was another novel idea germinating in her mind.

Writing has been therapy for her in the midst of other issues, other loss. She lost her dad suddenly in 2013 as the prelude to seeing her mother fade away.

In the latter circumstances, with publishers sending her proofs, even as funeral arrangements were being organised, Deborah found her own way through the woods.

This was a time of stark emotions

And now, mercifully, she has emerged on the other side.

So what is her advice for other would-be authors who want to blaze their own trail?

She told me: “If you want to write, then keep turning up at the desk.

“Don’t give up on it, don’t think it’s impossible to achieve what you want to do.

Ask others for their opinion

“And don’t be afraid to seek feedback where and if you can.

“Whether it is via a writing course/group or scraping together some money to get a professional critique or biting the bullet and sending it out to agents.

“Just don’t rely solely on friends and family as they’re obviously going to be biased!”

I’ll Be Watching You is released on February 26 and the title is very fitting.

It’s perfect for a TV adaptation and one suspects plenty will tune in to watch it.

The supermarkets are a big help

The book is also on sale in supermarkets on March 12 – another big stride forward.

So, while it might be a long way from the fruit and veg aisle to the check-out, Deborah Masson isn’t complaining.

[Source: Press and Journal]