Award-winning Taiwanese novelist Chi Wei-jan (紀蔚然) was awarded the Honkaku Mystery Award, a Japanese award that honors the best work in the genre of mystery fiction, with his first novel "Private Eyes (私家偵探)."
"Private Eyes," which tells the story of a former professor who becomes a private detective, received warm responses from the public after its release in 2011 and it was later translated into French, Japanese, Italian, Turkish, and Korean. Last year, Chi also released a sequel titled "DV8: Private Eyes 2 (DV8：私家偵探2)" and he is planning to write a third book in about 6 months.
In an interview with Central News Agency, Chi said the reason he started writing "Private Eyes" was because of a creative bottleneck that he experienced at that time. "I have always been writing drama scripts, but then I started experiencing writer’s block, so I thought I should take a step back and consider writing something different," Chi said.
Chi added that he later developed a habit of strolling on the streets of Taipei, particularly around Wolong Street. He was inspired by the place where numerous funeral homes, as well as an abandoned building, stood. "I started imagining the possibility of murder happening here and it was eventually the setting of 'Private Eyes'," he said.
With a passion for mystery novels, Chi stated that he was not confident in writing "Private Eyes" initially as it is a different kind of art form from drama scripts. He was not sure if he could handle it and it took him around three years to complete.
Chi, an emeritus professor who teaches drama and theater at National Taiwan University, is also an essayist and playwright. He was previously awarded the 17th National Award for Arts.
(Photo Credit: Ink Literary / photographer Chen Chien Chung)