MOST of us will have heard stories about Belfast in the late 1980s but none quite like Bryan J Mason’s latest crime thriller, An Old Tin Can.
Having visited Northern Ireland for the first time in the 1990s before the signing of the Good Friday Agreement, he recalls being “struck by how strange everything was”.
“I stayed in a hotel that offered free newspapers, so I picked one up and read a story, then I picked another up and it was the same story but with a completely different complexion.
“Then I picked up another one and it was even more of a variation, and I think that was the moment I realised it wasn’t all black and white.
“One side didn’t have a monopoly on the truth or on understanding or wisdom.”
However, it wasn’t just our complexities that sparked Bryan’s interest but also our sense of humour.
“I’ve got a friend from Belfast who lived through that time and when I invited him to my book launch, he said, ‘What’s the dress code? Is it informal or black balaclava?’
“And it’s that sort of thing where you can make light of quite a dark situation that really got me.”
Set in Belfast in 1989 the story follows English police officer Harry Burnard who joins the RUC as a detective chief inspector in CID.
I stayed in a hotel in Northern Ireland that offered free newspapers, so I picked one up and read a story, then I picked another up and it was the same story but with a completely different complexion... Then I picked up another one and it was even more of a variation, and I think that was the moment I realised it wasn’t all black and white
— Bryan J Mason
His team, ‘the squad’, a group of outcasts and oddballs, are only allowed to work criminal cases but with the communities policing their own crime, reports are scarce.
But when Harry uncovers several clues which establish a connection between a series of sectarian stabbings, he gets caught up in a hunt for a serial killer which leaves him questioning his team, his faith and himself.
“I had this gem of an idea that one day I would write a story about a policeman who was English but also Jewish who’s placed in Northern Ireland and its all about that firm sense of identity.
“It’s almost like nature or nurture - whether you’re born into a particular mindset and that’s where you stay or whether you can move and listen to other perspectives and think about what somebody else’s position is.
“In the book, things happen to Harry, and he starts to realise he isn’t who he thought he was.”
Bryan explains that there are three main themes running through the novel which help establish the tone of the unfolding story.
“The big one is identity; then, how to bring comedy into the situation around the Troubles; and the third one is biscuits...
“It’s quite an Irish thing - people love a biscuit with their cup or tea.”
He admits this discovery took his research in an unexpected direction.
I was obsessed with Denis Nilsen, partly because he used to live not very far from me in north London and also, when I was a young man, I bore a remarkable similarity to him
— Bryan J Mason
“There’s a wide range of biscuits and one of the things that’s quite fun is there’s a lot of research into the period and the time but there’s also a lot of research into what biscuits were about.
“Every character has their own preferred biscuit and they’re all munching on them constantly and there’s quite a bit of humour to be had with that as well.”
Bryan describes a scene in the book in which, “Martin, a senior figure in Sinn Féin, and the Reverend, who’s a senior figure and very loud loyalist gentleman”, are brought together for a meeting where protagonist Harry finds himself frantic over what biscuits to offer them.
“He has Jaffa cakes, and he almost gives them to Martin and then thinks again because of the orange in them, so he gets him lemon puffs instead – it’s just a bit of fun really,” he laughs.
As the book progresses both Harry and the readers are introduced to a troupe of eccentric characters. From softly spoken RUC inspector Gerry ‘Geronimo’ McSwain to PC Tommy Tarr and PC Jimmy Bird (known as “tarred and feathered”), who are the police equivalent of Tweedledum and Tweedledee.
“I do like having these strange characters, and most of them I’ve just dreamt up - I’ve always been told I have an overactive imagination,” says Bryan, who admits it’s the baddies he enjoys writing the most.
“My favourite character is Edward Jennings, who works for MI5 and he’s a really nasty piece of work.
“He’s interested in perpetuating the Troubles because he thinks that’s the best way of keeping the UK whole – by creating chaos.
“Writing the killer was also quite fun because I reveal him bit by bit.
“And as you learn more about him you realise, he’s got a bit of a nasty streak – as he would do being a serial killer - but there’s a reason why he’s doing it and why he’s justifying it.”
Bryan confesses that he has always been interested in serial killers. In fact, the inspiration behind his first book, Shaking Hands with the Devil, which was released in 2021, partly stems from an unlikely connection with real-life serial killer Dennis Nilsen.
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“I was obsessed with Dennis Nilsen, partly because he used to live not very far from me in north London, and also, when I was a young man, I bore a remarkable similarity to him.
“So, I wrote Shaking Hands with the Devil and I was very naïve I thought you wrote a book and then someone published it and off you went.”
Between first and last draft of Shaking Hands with the Devil there was a 30-year gap, during which Bryan turned his hand to other pursuits including theatre, radio sound effects and sales.
“I was so disillusioned that I just put it in a drawer and forgot about it,” he says.
“But every time I moved, I found the manuscript, read it again and finally it irritated me so much I thought, ‘Sod it, I’m going to get this thing out there’.”
He explains that it was this process that inspired him to write An Old Tin Can, which will be followed by two further books in the same realm.
“I did write it as a one-off,” he explains.
“But then the publisher asked if it was a series or stand alone and if I had another idea I was writing and I thought, actually, I think this has legs and I want these characters to carry on.
“So hopefully people who read the first book will come back to find out what happens next.”
The official book launch of An Old Tin Can will take place in The Secret Bookshelf in Carrickfergus on July 25. bryanjmason.com
