Raymond Chandler (Philip Marlowe series) once had a conversation with Ian Fleming (James Bond series). Chandler commented about his own interests when writing:
“The detective doesn’t know what it’s all about . The detective wants to know what the situation was. He knows there’s something strange about the situation and is very curious about the people. The real mystery isn’t who killed Sir John in his study, but what the situation really was– what the people were after, what sort of people they were.”
Here is the transcript of the conversation, with a link to the original radio broadcast:
https://quarterdeck.commanderbond.net/t/interviews-with-ian-fleming/2400/54