Murder mystery set in Dubai and we chat with author Mark Watson

11th July 2016

The Place That Didn’t Exist by Mark Watson, murder mystery set in Dubai.

“You are in Dubai, things are a little strange”

If you have ever visited Dubai, then this book will transport you back to the city, with all its glitz and foibles. It is absolutely what TripFiction is about, a way to connect with a place through fiction.

Tim is flown out on location to Dubai to oversee the filming of an advert for a big charity, and you can sense his awe and wonderment at the sights he encounters. It is clear the author is familiar with the city and with the process of filming a commercial.

This is a slow burning murder mystery, that radiates from the fictional hotel ‘The Village’, where the guests reside in chalets. The rooms are spotless, the electronics to regulate air conditioning and lights are at first baffling. Each chalet is just a little hub, each a microcosm of the bigger, eye-boggling Dubai, the mirage city that is all light-suffused modernity and pulsing energy. But the absurd is never far from the visitor experience, whether it is pressing one’s nose to the big windows of the snow globe that is Ski Dubai in Mall of the Emirates, where it is permanently Winter; or the multitude of retail experience that are integral to any visit, Gucci, Fendi, Prada – rip-offs thereof are ubiquitous. The edgy and fragile co-existence of the Western tourist, alongside the traditional values of the Emirati, is never far from the surface.

Tim’s team get into filming, however soon one of the team is found dead…. but under what circumstances? Was it murder most foul or an accidental death? The book is divided in 3 sections, it is the last part where the mystery is unfurled. A readable mystery set in Dubai.

Tina for the TripFiction Team

And over to Mark who has kindly agreed to answer our questions:

TF: The sense of Dubai is really strong in your novel. I guess at some level I am surprised more authors don’t choose to set their books there, as it offers so many different levels, culture experiences and clashes, customs and sights…. it is as you say “shimmering and seductive”. What in particular drew you to Dubai as a setting for The Place That Didn’t Exist?

MW: I didn’t actually use those words – they’re from the publishers’ blurb – but it’s true that that’s pretty much the image of Dubai that appears in the novel, especially the first half. I think I was drawn to it for the reasons you cite, basically: it’s a weird, enticing melting-pot of cultures, and it’s a city that is both spectacular and a bit hollow. There is a real idealism about it – about the architecture, the tourism industry, the whole project – but also a clash between that idealism and some of the realities. So all of this makes it a perfect place to set a mystery story, and as you say, it’s surprising more hasn’t been written about it yet. I don’t think it’ll take long.

TF: Tim is a junior creative, in Dubai to film an advert. He seems a little wide-eyed and happy to embrace the newness of his surroundings. You capture that edginess of being a Westerner negotiating the traditional local culture. Things perhaps really are not as they seem. Do you think as tourists and visitors we all get too swayed by the glossy exterior?

MW: I think that’s part of being a tourist – it’s almost part of your job description to have your head turned by the gloss of it. We go to Dubai at least partly because we want to be plunged into the decadence of it. And Dubai plays up to it really well. It’s conscious of itself as a tourist destination; the modern version of the city was created partly for that reason. So the gloss is part of the experience and we willingly buy into that. It works pretty well as an ‘experience’ but it’s worth questioning, as with any place, what’s behind it all.

TF: You describe some of the process of filming the ad. How have you gleaned your information about this industry?

MW: I’ve been in adverts myself a few times, which has given me the chance to witness some of the ludicrous baggage of the ad industry, and more generally I’ve spent plenty of time on film and TV sets. It’s easy pickings for comedy because there is so much fuss over meaningless things, so much over-thinking of simple processes. But it also felt the right match for a story about Dubai because in a way, Dubai is an expensive advert, for itself – everything is part of a self-conscious effort to build a Great City, a destination. And the backdrop of the story is something to do with all that: our willingness to be manipulated by ads, to live inside an advert, and what that means for a real human drama like a murder.

TF: What is next for you in terms of travel and writing and many of the other projects you work on?

MW: I’m travelling almost all the time at the moment, because of my tour – last weekend for example I was in Newcastle, Hull and Swindon. Not glamorous (although Newcastle’s lovely these days), but in terms of sheer mileage I’m right up there. The tour goes on till autumn, including the whole of the Edinburgh festival, and I’m also off to Montreal in July. I love travel, which is just as well given my situation. And I’ve already begun work on a new book. Which is, in fact, about someone who travels non-stop.

TF:  Do you have any personal top tips for visitors travelling to Dubai?

MW: One of the best things you can do is just stand on the beach at night, look at the Burj al’ Arab and be lulled into a sort of tourist trance against your better judgement. And that’s completely free. Other than that, it’s worth getting on a dhow and going to the Creek, seeing what was there before all this happened. But I don’t think there’s any shame in being seduced by what people regard as the ‘flashy’ modern theme-park of Dubai. That’s the whole point of it.

Thanks to Mark and you can follow Mark on Twitter, Facebook and via his own website

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