Jane Clifton

She's just such a dark and fascinating writer.

Hi, it's Jane Clifton here in Melbourne in lockdown.

I think I started reading Patricia Highsmith in the 70s, and I can't for the life of me remember why, but it was probably to do with Strangers on a Train, and I was completely hooked on her writing.

And this was really even before I became interested in crime writing.

She's just such a dark and fascinating person.

writer.

And I'm so surprised with Patricia Highsmith.

I mean, I didn't know at the time that she was gay and it didn't have any, you know, that was not any reason why I was reading her and it didn't influence my opinion of her.

But I am fascinated by the fact that so many of her female characters, usually the victims, are so unlikable.

No one seems to like them.

They're trapped in a marriage, but they're really unpleasant.

And you find yourself thinking, God, I hope she gets it, which is terrible.

The Ripley ad, as it's known, which comprises, you know, five books, I was really staggered to go back and discover that

The first one was written in 1955, but the second one didn't come out until 1970, and the last one was 1991.

So you sort of think of them as being this quite compact series, but they do span quite a long period.

So she had plenty of time to think about it.

And again, it is a person who finds himself

in an intolerable situation or a crazy idea takes them over and they commit this really violent crime and then they kind of can't stop themselves.

And again, it is messy and it is very, very dark and fascinating, but not in the way that

Modern dark novels, you know, it's quite clear that the person's either a psychopath or – these people have a veneer of civilization and normality about them that make them so fascinating.