Award-winning author Sujata Massey's next novel, The Pearl Diver, will be published by HarperCollins in August of 2004. Here, novelist and former reporter Laura Lippman talks to Sujata about the new book.

Q. This book finds Rei in Washington, DC, when before the books have largely been set in Japan. Is this series' geographic focus shifting?

A. When I first dreamt up the character of Rei, I placed her in Japan because that was where I was living and writing. While she is half Japanese, I let on to readers early on that she grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area. With The Bride's Kimono, Rei came to Washington, D.C., for a long visit, and in the following book, she spent time with her parents in San Francisco. At the end of that novel, Rei went too far for the Japanese government's taste, so she has to pay some penance. In The Pearl Diver, it looks as if she's setting up house, perhaps permanently, in Washington.

Q. A lot of people read your books — and all mysteries — for entertainment. How do you balance storytelling with serious messages?

A. I think if a writer feels passionate about something — even something sad — that gives the necessary fuel to start a powerful story. My early books, I feel, are basically love letters to the modern Japanese people.

Q. This is a crime novel — why so little actual violence?

A. I have always enjoyed classic mystery stories where strong characters, terrific psychological suspense and enterprising detection are the things that carry the story along. Right when I started, I decided that I would never write a scene in which Rei uses a gun, even in her own self defense, because I'm a strong believer in gun control. Japan works well because it has gun control, and there's little chance Rei will come face to face with a gun. Frankly, I think it's more fun to come up with unorthodox weapons — from a container of soy sauce to a pair of ikebana shears.

At the same time, I don't believe criminals just commit crimes out of a basic evil personality — I try to explore the motivations behind crimes. Anyone who has read the whole series will recall that some criminal acts go unpunished, just the way it happens in real life. I like to think justice is served at the end of the book, but it's not always a hundred percent happy ending.

Q. Tell us about The Pearl Diver.

A. The Pearl Diver starts off with Rei is trying to make the best of her new residency situation by taking on a job decorating a stylish Japanese fusion restaurant. At the restaurant, she learns a lot about food from a fascinating Japanese chef, and about the nature of restaurant people from its young, international staff, including the restaurant's sulky hostess, Andrea. Andrea asks Rei to help her track down the truth about what happened to her own mother, a Japanese immigrant who disappeared in Washington, DC in the mid-seventies. In the middle of all this drama, Aunt Norie visits from Japan and hinders things as much as she helps. At the same time, Rei and Hugh go through the hardest test of their relationship, and come out of it changed. I'm unsure of how their characters will play out in the next book.

Q. Does that mean that you don't have an entire storyline laid out in your mind when you start writing?

A. My theory is that the people who can plot a book end-to-front were good at geometry proofs, and I was miserable at that. So I work in a completely right brain, intuitive mode. First, I figure out the cultural aspect of Japan that I wish to explores — say, flower arranging, or war history, or fashion — and then think of a way that I can get Rei involved in a crime pertaining to it. I write an outline of the book for my editor that has a victim and a crime, but no villain. Then, once I start writing the book, I work along with Rei, to puzzle out what happened. The answer is there, buried — it's just a matter of plumbing my subconscious to get to the truth. It's quite an exciting process — and a lot safer doing it in front of a computer screen than in Rei's Asics sneakers.

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All content © 1998-2008 Sujata Massey.
Photo of Sujata by Jim Burger.