"I want to scare the hell out of everybody" – crime writer Jeffery Deaver visits Nottingham

JEFFERY Deaver starts the interview with a question. "Do you know who I'm related to?" he says. I can't begin to guess, so I don't try.

It turns out it's Edward de Vere.

Oh, right. Who?

"Edward de Vere."

Edward de Vere is one of those ruff-wearing Renaissance chaps who modern scholars believe may have written the plays attributed to Shakespeare.

Jeffery himself isn't so sure.

"He died in 1604 and Shakespeare continued to write plays for a good decade after that. So, unless he stockpiled them..."

Well perhaps, like his descendant, Old Ed was rather prolific.

For Jeffery is the pensmith behind a cavalcade of crime bestsellers.

His protagonists are quadriplegic detective Lincoln Rhyme (played by Denzel Washington in a movie adaptation), and Jeffery's more recent catcher-of-psychos, Special Agent Kathryn Dance.

Kathryn originally showed her face in a Lincoln Rhyme book, before spinning off into her own series.

This was, says Jeffery, an entirely calculated decision to see if audiences would warm to her.

They did and he's now promoting the second of his Kathryn Dance thrillers – the ominously-titled Roadside Crosses.

At first, Roadside Crosses reads like a typical slasher-flick scenario. Nasty things are happening to teenage girls. It seems one of their disaffected classmates is wreaking revenge on online bullies.

But, with typical Deaver drama, the plot then veers off in an altogether unexpected direction, via multiple twists and turns.

Jeffery will be meeting some of his fans to discuss the book at Waterstones in Bridlesmith Gate tomorrow.

He has travelled to the city from his North Carolina home several times and is a big fan of the cuisine of Mr Sat Bains.

"I've been going to Nottingham for some time," he says. "It's always on my schedule. I always get a real good audience there."

Jeffery has fans all over the world. He attributes his popularity, in part, to the successful book-to-big-screen adaptation of The Bone Collector, with an all-star cast including Denzel Washington and Angelina Jolie.

"I was thrilled with the casting," he says. "Denzel is one of my favourite actors and Angelina did a great job."

Kathryn Dance is also set to be launched into the multiplexes with Uma Thurman in the lead role.

As well as writing a novel a year (alternating Dance and Rhyme, so to speak), Jeffery is in talks about a TV series he's devising.

When I call him, he'd just concluded a "teleconference" on speakerphone with producers in California and New York.

"Nobody has to go to work any more – you can do it all on phone!" he laughs.

Although his heroes include literary maestros like John Le Carre, Jeffery freely admits what he does is different.

He tells stories and knows exactly how to push his audience's buttons.

"I'm not a literary giant but I'm always very conscious of what my fans want," he says.

"I'm not one of those authors who writes for themselves.

"Everyone knows that when they pick up one of my books, they're in for lots of twists, turns and surprises."

Sometimes his characters look set to meet particularly sadistic ends.

However, Jeffery insists he'd never traumatise his readers unduly.

"They're not constructed to expose the evils of society or the dark reaches of the human soul," he says. "I want them to be rollercoasters. That requires me to craft rather elaborate villains. I want to scare the hell out of everybody!

"You get wonderful writers like Barbara Vine who write about the human condition. I don't have that talent. I'm happy writing entertainments."

He recalls being told off at a book signing in America by one of his readers who assumed he'd killed off a lead character.

She was so disgusted that she'd given her copy of the book away. Jeffery had to hint to her that, if only she'd read on a chapter, she'd have discovered the character alive and well.

"She went off and bought another copy, so I got double royalties!" laughs Jeffery. "But it amused me that I nearly twisted myself out of a reader."

Jeffery is deeply involved in animal welfare charities. He and his partner Madelyn own eight Briards that they take to dog shows all over the country.

So it makes sense when he assures readers: "I will never hurt a child or an animal in any of my books."

Before becoming a novelist, he worked as a journalist and a Wall Street attorney.

Rather than the kittens and children, it's these less-likeable breeds that meet sticky ends in his latest novel.

"There's nothing personal in any of my books though," he insists. "There's nothing about me or any of my friends.

He devised the character of Kathryn after being inspired by the O J Simpson trial.

His leading lady is an expert in body language – or kinesics – and draws on minute reactions to assess her interviewees and, ultimately, catch the criminals.

"I made her the total opposite to Lincoln," explains Jeffery. "She's a much more sociable person. She's a young widow with a family. She's interested in romance and dating. And she has to deal with office politics.

"If it's an odd-numbered year, I'll write about Kathryn. If it's even-numbers, it's Lincoln!"

Jeffery Deaver will be at Waterstones tomorrow at 6.30pm. Call the bookshop to reserve a ticket on 0115 948 4499 (tickets cost £3, redeemable against purchase of the book on the evening).