Feet of Clay

36

Igneous’ shop has several parallels with a shop in the Sherlock Holmes story of The Six Napoleons.

Holmes encounters a pottery/stonework shop staffed mainly by Italians, who were also hiding out from the law and various other enemies, and is eventually asked to leave by the back door to avoid bothering the staff, which is locked with a large padlock. The figurines were also being used to conceal contraband.

Terry comments: “My flabber is ghasted. I really did think I made that one up. I mean… I had the pottery already in existence from previous books, and I knew I’d want to bring it in later so I needed a pottery scene now to introduce it, and Igneous already had a rep as an ‘ask no questions’ type of merchant, and I needed somewhere clay could be stolen and the golems would have had to break in, the padlock replacing the lock they’d busted. And I knew that I’d need a way for the Watch to put pressure on Igneous; ‘hollow items’ for drugs and other contraband is a cliché, which ought to mean that his staff are somewhat outside the law. In other words the scene is quite a complex little jigsaw piece which slots into this plot and the ongoing DW saga in various places. I’ll just have to pretend I knew what I was doing…”