LEE GOLDBERG

So Lee, What led you to a life of Crime?

The Hardy Boys, Jim Rockford, and eating too much junk food.

What inspires your writing, where do your ideas come from.

When I was a kid, what inspired me was the sheer pleasure of writing and living in my dreams. Now my inspiration is equally driven by fear...the terror of not being able to pay my bills. My ideas can come from anywhere...an article in the newspaper, an overheard conversation, a "what-if" though while driving in my car, a life experience. I never seem to be at a loss for ideas...it's the details that kill me.

Novelist, scriptwriter, producer, you have been very successful at all three, and we are interested to know if you have a preference. If you had to choose between the three which one would it be?

If I could make the same amount of money writing books as I do from writing/producing TV shows, I could see walking away from screenwriting. I love TV, but the politics you have to deal with and the games you have to play can be exhausting and infuriating. On the other hand, being a novelist is a solitary pursuit and in television, you're surrounded by enormously creative people and it's inspiring.

There is a lot of fun in your work, is it difficult mixing crime with humour and why put the two together?

I can't imagine writing anything without humor. There's always something funny in every situation, it's the balance that's hard. But I find that humor is often what humanizes a character and makes the unbelievable believable.

In your novels you capture the spirit of the TV shows. Did this come naturally to you or were there a lot of rewrites involved and how hard a step is it to go from writing a TV script to a full novel?

I'm lucky in that I've only written tie-ins for shows on which I've worked as a writer, producer or both. I was already very familiar with the characters, and had written in their voices, long before I started writing books about them. There have been no rewrites on any of the books, the stories and the voices just came naturally to me. Keep in mind, my tie-in novels are NOT based on scripts, they are original stories using characters from the TV shows. I don't know how I'd do if I had to write a tie-in based on a TV show I wasn't already involved with.

Describe to us a typical writing day, eg. do you always write in the same place, do you prefer a view and how do you cope with such a solitary profession?

It depends if I am writing/producing a TV show or not. If I am on a show, typically I have to go into the office and work with with a staff of writers and deal with all kinds of producing responsibilities. My novel writing, in that case, is reserved for nights and weekends, wherever I happen to be. I have a home office, but I also write on my laptop all over the house and, occasionally, on a legal pad (which I bring with me everywhere I go so, if I have time on my hands, I can do some writing or plotting). I also do a lot of writing on airplanes and in hotel rooms when I am on location, on book tour, on business or on vacation (a writer is never on vacation, not when he has as many deadlines as I do!).

We love the way you can keep us guessing as to 'Who-dunn-it' between a colourful cast of characters (non more colourful, or strangely attractive, than Dr Mark Sloan or Monk!...if only we were 30 years older!). On that note, do you decide before you start writing who the murderer will be or wait until you have developed the plot.

I always know whodunit, and the overall structure of the story, before I get started writing. I work from a scene-by-scene outline, much like the ones I used when writing a script. What I don't know to start with are the individual clues or exactly how Mark or Monk are going to solve the crime.

Do you have any idea when we will be able to buy a box set of Diagnosis Murder on DVD and do you ever think Dick Van Dyke will reprise his role as the rollerskating Dr Mark Sloan (a one off Christmas special perhaps? you really should ask him).

The boxed set of the first season is already out. No future DM movies or specials are in the works or, to be honest, very likely.

In Diagnosis Murder, did Detective Steve Sloan ever manage to solve a crime himself rather than with (a lot) of help from his father?

No...but he will in the next DIAGNOSIS MURDER novel, THE DOUBLE LIFE, coming out in November.

What was it like writing and producing shows for Tony Shalhoub and Dick Van Dyke who are both such well known and respected Actors? Did they ever come to you asking for bits to be changed or for certain things to happen to their characters?

I was an executive producer on Diagnosis Murder, but I only contribute scripts for MONK. Dick often came to me with suggestions and I was glad when he did. We both loved Dr. Mark Sloan and I think it showed in her performance and in our scripts. Doing a TV series is a collaboration and you always want your actors to share their ideas with you. It shows that they are as invested in the characters as you are. I would worry about an actor who never came to me with suggestions and changes for his or her characters.

Have you ever heard from Andy Breckman (creator of Monk) or Joyce Burditt (who created Diagnosis Murder) as to whether they have read and liked your accompanying novels?

I haven't spoken with Joyce since I left the TV series, but I speak to Andy all the time. He is very actively involved in the books. I run all the story ideas past him and the outlines...and he's the first person to read my manuscripts. I'm pleased and flattered (and relieved) that Andy loves the books. He says reading the books is like being a singer/songwriter and hearing your song covered by another artist. It's his song...but it's different. And he likes the difference. The books are MONK...but not exactly the same Monk as the TV show. They are parallel universes, so-to-speak. I think my Monk is more melancholy and perhaps less broadly comical (that's not to say he isn't at times). So much of Monk's humor and psychological quirks are visual, so I have to reach for other ways to get laughs and reveal character in my books.

When is your next novel due and can you tell us a bit about it?

My next DIAGNOSIS MURDER book, THE DOUBLE LIFE, comes out in November... Mark is hit by a car and nearly killed...he awakens from a coma to discover without any memory of the last two years...and with a wife he doesn't recognize. The eighth, and presumably final, DIAGNOSIS MURDER novel comes out in March and is titled THE LAST WORD. Mark's greatest adversary returns and changes his life. My third MONK novel, MR.MONK AND THE BLUE FLU comes out in January... the police forces goes on strike and MOnk is reinstated as Captain of homicide, leading a squad of police department rejects...