James Melville

• Born: January 5, 1931
• Place of birth: London, England
• Died: March 23, 2014
• Place of death: Norwich, England

Types of Plot: Police procedural; espionage

Principal Series: Superintendent Otani, 1979–92; Miss Seeton, 1990; Ben Lazenby, 1994–95

Contribution

English author Peter Martin, who wrote under the pseudonyms Hampton Charles and, most famously (and prolifically), James Melville, began his Superintendent Otani mystery series with The Wages of Zen in 1979. The series reflects the author’s interest in Japan, an outgrowth of his posting there as a cultural diplomat in the 1960s, as well as his longtime interest in mystery fiction.

The Otani series falls into the police procedural genre of mystery writing. Otani is by no means a great detective, but he is extremely competent in directing the operations of a large Japanese prefectural police department. Martin’s books employ both realism and humor, and the Superintendent Otani series combines highly innovative plots with an interesting array of characters to provide a rich vehicle for the exploration of cultural differences between Japan and the West. His work has been well received critically and has been compared to the classic works of Georges Simenon as well as to the writings of such modern authors of the “ethnic mystery” subgenre as H. R. F. Keating, Tony Hillerman, and James McClure.

Although Martin wrote other mystery novels and published works in other literary genres during his lifetime, it is the Otani series that forms the basis for his reputation.

Biography

Roy Peter Martin was born in London on January 5, 1931. Coming from a working-class background—his father, Walter, was a postal worker, and his mother, Annie Mabel, was a dressmaker—he was educated at Highbury Grammar School (1942–48) and then at Birkbeck College, University of London, where he completed a bachelor’s degree in philosophy with honors in 1953. His university studies were interrupted by two years of service in the Royal Air Force Education Branch from 1950 to 1951. During the years before and after military service, he worked as a local government officer for the London County Council; after graduating from university, he was employed as a schoolteacher. In 1954 he returned to Birkbeck College, and he completed a master’s degree in political philosophy there two years later. After working as deputy publicity officer for the Royal Festival Hall (1956–60) and doing additional graduate study (1958–59) at the University of Türbigen in what was then West Germany, he took a position in 1960 with the British Council, working in the area of cultural diplomacy. It was this work that would eventually take him to Japan, the setting for his famous Superintendent Otani mysteries.

After first being assigned in Indonesia for three years, Martin began the first of two tours in Japan as a cultural diplomat in 1963, when he was appointed director of the British Cultural Institute in Kyoto. He quickly fell in love with Japan. His first book, Japanese Cooking (1970), was written with his second wife, Joan. After leaving Japan in 1970, his next overseas assignment was with the British embassy in Budapest, where he served two years (1972–73) as a cultural attaché. Although less influential in his later writing than the time spent in Japan, his Hungarian experience provided the background for two later spy/espionage novels, Diplomatic Baggage (1994) and its sequel, The Reluctant Spy (1995).

After spending several years in London in the mid-1970s, Martin returned to Japan in 1979 to serve as a cultural counselor with the British embassy in Tokyo. The same year, he published the first of the Superintendent Otani mysteries, The Wages of Zen, under the pen name James Melville, which Martin later said came from combining the names of his sons, Adam Melville Martin and James Peter Martin. He had written The Wages of Zen in London in the 1970s, and it soon became the basis of a substantial series. Martin remained in Japan in his second diplomatic posting until 1983. After his return to England, he dedicated himself full time to his literary career.

In addition to the Superintendent Otani mysteries and the other works mentioned, Martin is the author of two historical novels set in Japan, The Imperial Way (1986) and The Tarnished Phoenix (1990), and a nonfiction work, The Chrysanthemum Throne: A History of the Emperors of Japan (1997), which he published under his real name. Under the pseudonym Hampton Charles, he wrote three books in the Miss Seeton mystery series (originated by Heron Carvic): Miss Seeton, by Appointment; Advantage, Miss Seeton; and Miss Seeton at the Helm, all published in 1990.

Martin was married first to Marjorie Peacock (1951–60) and then to Joan Drumwright (1960–77), with whom he had two sons, Adam and James. He married his third wife, Catherine Sydee, in 1978. After he and Catherine separated, Martin spent the remainder of his life with medieval historian Carole Rawcliffe in Norwich, in the English county of Norfolk. He died in Norwich on March 23, 2014, at the age of eighty-three.

Analysis

The Superintendent Otani mysteries came from a combination of Peter Martin’s love of mysteries, especially the works of Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler, and his interest in discovering a vehicle for the discussion of cultural differences between Japan and the West. He first attempted writing in the genre in London in the mid-1970s, when he produced a draft of the work that was later to become, with considerable revision, the second book in the Otani series, The Chrysanthemum Chain (1980). In the original manuscript, Otani appeared only briefly as a minor character, but over time his significance for the author grew, and he became the linchpin of the series. The Chrysanthemum Chain also features a young British diplomat named Andrew Walker, who was probably modeled at least in part on the author. Walker appears only in that book.

The Wages of Zen

The Wages of Zen, the first book in the Otani series, introduces the principal characters as well as some plot devices and many of the stylistic elements that characterize the series. The principal characters are Tetsuo Otani, superintendent of the Hyogo Prefectural Police, and his two main assistants, Jiro Kimura and Ninja Noguchi. Martin presents Otani’s family: his wife, Hanae, and their married daughter, Akiko, and her husband, Akira (although Akiko and Akira are mentioned only briefly, they figure more prominently in later volumes in the series). The author uses the family members to provide glimpses into Japanese domestic life, weaving in both modern and traditional elements.

The plot, which involves the murder of a foreigner living at a Zen Buddhist temple where a number of other foreigners also reside, demonstrates a fairly common plot device found in the series, one that serves to create a high level of interaction between Japanese and non-Japanese characters. Most of the books in the series are about crimes involving foreigners. This allows Martin to introduce a wide range of foreign types into his works. In this book, for example, Martin inserts two American women, one of whom is African American; a British woman; a young Danish man; and an Irish Catholic priest.

The Wages of Zen also employs a narrative technique found in many of the books in the series, that of shifting back and forth, chapter by chapter, between the stories and perspectives of Japanese and non-Japanese characters. Martin has described his use of this technique as a way of accentuating the cultural differences between the two sets of characters.

This first book, like the others in the series, contains numerous examples of Japanese traditions and practices that serve to create a sense of the often unusual (from a Western perspective) character of everyday life in Japan. These include eating rice crackers wrapped in a strip of seaweed, using a Japanese squat toilet, and sleeping on mats on the floor. These small touches often serve to introduce a humorous tone into Martin's works, as characters on both sides of the cultural divide attempt to understand the differences they are experiencing.

Sayonara, Sweet Amaryllis

The plots of the Otani series generally follow chronologically in the order in which they were written. (The only major exception is A Haiku for Hanae, published in 1989, which is set in 1968 and is written in the form of a flashback.) This chronological sequencing allows the author to add to the background of his principal characters as the series progresses and in several instances to use an earlier character as a central figure in the plot of a later book. A good example of this occurs in Sayonara, Sweet Amaryllis (1983), the fifth book in the series, in which additional information regarding Otani’s subordinate Ninja Noguchi is provided, and this individual plays an important role in the plot. During the course of the narrative the reader learns that Noguchi has been involved in a longtime relationship with a Korean woman—a cultural taboo in Japan, where Koreans at the time had second-class status, and still continue to experience discrimination—and that the son they had together is now involved in a drug-smuggling ring linked to a murder. Noguchi must stand by powerlessly while his son is eventually arrested by Otani. In The Reluctant Ronin (1988), Otani’s own son-in-law becomes a suspect in the murder of a Dutch woman. The gradual development of the series characters enhances their interest and makes reading the books in the order they were written worthwhile.

Death of a Daimyo

Death of a Daimyo (1984), the sixth book in the series, reverses the usual setting of the author’s exploration of cultural differences between Japan and the West. Otani and his wife travel to England to visit their daughter, son-in-law, and young grandchild, who are living there. During the visit, Otani becomes involved in the investigation of the murder of a prominent Japanese businessman that occurs in this foreign locale. Otani must oversee a highly complex investigation that has connections back to Japan. The story line thus reverses the pattern of Westerners viewed against the backdrop of Japanese culture, with the Otanis now representing the foreign side of the intercultural equation. The book offers an opportunity to see the chief character in the series interacting with Japanese living abroad and with the heads of foreign police departments, and it provides numerous chances to observe cultural differences from the perspective of first-time Japanese travelers in a foreign country. A few of these cultural oddities are Western-style beds, the oversized portions served in British restaurants, and the Western customs of paying by check rather than cash and of tipping for service. In this way, Death of a Daimyo offers an interesting variation on the topic of exploring cultural differences and provides an opportunity to see Superintendent Otani working and traveling in a foreign environment.

The Body Wore Brocade

In The Body Wore Brocade (1992), the thirteenth and last book in the series, major changes in both character development and narrative technique occur. First, Otani is now retired from active police work, and second, the book, unlike the previous twelve in the series, uses a first-person narrative form. In a fictional foreword, the author informs the reader that Otani has somewhat reluctantly given in to his request to provide a firsthand account of this investigation, which may be his last. The possibility is left open that Otani, who at the time of the book’s writing is serving as a special consultant to the National Police Force of Japan, may again return to active criminal investigation; in practice, The Body Wore Brocade was the last Otani novel Martin ever wrote.

The story that follows, told in Otani’s own words, includes a number of additional elements of character development. At the beginning of the book, Otani describes an argument with his wife during which she accuses him of being crabby and contentious and threatens to leave him. This puts him into an introspective mood, and he reflects on the course and purpose of his life. Then he is shot by a sniper and severely wounded, and this too contributes to the introspective tone of the work. The use of the first-person narrative, combined with Otani’s advancing years, provides a deeper look into the inner workings of his character than is found in the earlier books of the series.

Bibliography

Barrett, Mike. “Obituary: Peter Martin.” The Japan Times. 8 Apr. 2014, www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2014/04/08/national/obituary-peter-martin/. Accessed 10 Aug. 2017.

Davis, J. Madison. “Interpreting the East to the West.” World Literature Today, Nov.–Dec. 2006, pp. 13–15. Academic Search Complete, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=23284247&site=ehost-live. Accessed 10 Aug. 2017. A brief discussion of Martin’s work as Melville, placed in the context of other mystery writers who have used Asian settings and characters.

Friesen, Lynette. Review of Death of a Daimyo, by James Melville. Library Journal, 1 Nov. 1984, p. 2082. Academic Search Complete, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=7419415&site=ehost-live. Accessed 10 Aug. 2017. A review of Death of a Daimyo that calls it the best book in the series. Notes the novelty of placing Otani in England to highlight the cultural differences from an unusual perspective.

Martin, James, and Adam Martin. “Peter Martin Obituary.” The Guardian, 13 Apr. 2014, www.theguardian.com/books/2014/apr/13/peter-martin. Accessed 10 Aug. 2017.

Melville, James. “Living with Series Characters.” The Writer, Aug. 1991, pp. 12–15. Academic Search Complete, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=9108121215&site=ehost-live. Accessed 10 Aug. 2017. An article in which Melville discusses the problems involved in creating and working with series characters and offers advice on the topic for fellow writers.