Martin Edwards's Blog, page 107

Deep Waters - Publication Day!

Today sees the publication of my latest anthology for the British Library. Deep Waters is subtitled Mysteries on the Waves, and boasts a rather good cover which for me represents a pleasant reminder of my recent Atlantic crossing. I've talked about cruise mysteries on this blog recently, and there's no doubt that stories set around the sea, or indeed rivers, canals or lakes offer a lot of potential for the crime writer. 
This is, I think, the chunkiest of all my British Library anthologies, running to no fewer than 364 pages, and I'm pleased about this. I do think that it's good to offer readers plenty of value, and my only regret is that it wasn't possible to find space for a long-time favourite of mine, "Three Miles Up" by Elizabeth Jane Howard, a terrific story. I have to admit, however, that it's a bit of a stretch to call it a crime story, even though it's very mysterious indeed.
So what of the stories that did make the cut? We kick off with a case for Sherlock Holmes, and other eminent detectives who are featured include Reggie Fortune, Dr Thorndyke, John Appleby, and Gervase Fen. There are also some little-known names in the list of contributors, including Kem Bennett; I was introduced to his story, and another by Christopher St John Sprigg, by Jamie Sturgeon, one of a small group of friends who have given me valuable advice about possible stories for inclusion.
There is a story by Andrew Garve, a writer whose love of sailing is evident in many of his novels, and another by Phyllis Bentley, who is perhaps best remembered for her Yorkshire-based family saga novels. As usual, I'm aimed for variety in my selection, and I like to think that Deep Waters is a book which, whatever your preference in terms of classic crime, will offer plenty to enjoy.


 

Cricket and the World Cup

This is a blog about crime fiction, but occasionally I like to feature other books that interest me, especially if I can introduce a crime-related element. With the ICC Cricket World Cup now in full swing, I've had a chance to catch up with the official book about the tournament, put together by Chris Hawkes, and published by Carlton. It's a glossy production, lavishly illustrated, with plenty of interesting background information.

For instance, I had no idea that cricket was being played in Afghanistan way back in 1839, long before Dr Watson picked up a Jezail bullet prior to meeting Sherlock Holmes. Arthur Conan Doyle was a keen cricketer, and the names of Sherlock and his brother Mycroft both derived from cricketers - Frank Shacklock and William Mycroft, who played for Derbyshire, a county that Doyle knew well.

International cricket has occasionally featured in crime fiction - for instance in Testkill, co-authored by cricketer Ted Dexter and journalist Clifford Makins - but more often it crops up incidentally, in the context of county or (more often) village matches. Authors as diverse as Julian Symons and Henry Wade have set scenes in their crime novels at cricket games, though perhaps the best known example is the cricket match in Dorothy L. Sayers' Murder Must Advertise. And in my current novel-in-progress, for the first time, I am featuring a cricket match in a key scene. The game plays a significant part in one of the sub-plots.

When I get the chance I am keen to watch some of the games in the World Cup, but there is always the consolation that if rain stops play, there are plenty of books to keep me fully occupied; not just the souvenir book about the tournament, but novels which it's time I re-read, such as Alibi Innings by Barbara Worsley-Gough, Pro by Bruce Hamilton (a crime novelist, though it isn't a crime novel) and my favourite cricket book, Settling the Score by Peter Gibbs.

Guest Blog - Caro Ramsay - The Suffering of Strangers

Caro Ramsay is a terrific writer with a new book, The Suffering of Strangers, just out from Black Thorn, and I'm delighted to feature a guest post from her on a subject relevant to the novel and one which fascinates me a good deal. Having just watched the riveting 63 Up directed by Michael Apted, the premise that our natures are fixed very, very early in life, perhaps right from the start, seems fairly compelling. Over to Caro:
For the book The Suffering Of Strangers, I was doing some research about genetics, chromosomes and DNA and came across the name Professor Robert Plomin.And promptly forgot all about him.
Then about eighteen months later, I received an invite to chair an event at Aye Write (Glasgow’s literary festival) and at this event somebody called Mark Billingham was going to have his DNA examined live on stage by…. Professor Robert Plomin.
Prof Plomin, ‘Bob’ to his friends, is one of the most cited scientists of the 21stth Century, and one of those experts with the rare ability to really engage the audience. We sat spellbound as he spoke in his delicate Vincent Price tones, telling us that Mark was 4% Neanderthal and that he had the ability to smell both coriander and asparagus. And that he carried the genetic marker for obesity. Mark himself was aware of that, due to his love of coriander flavoured Indian cuisine. Nobody mentioned the lager...
The professor, who was on the front of the New Scientist magazine last week, has researched twins, and hundreds of thousands of adopted children, especially where children of different families are adopted by the same parents, a situation which could be considered as the best test of ‘nature verses nurture’.
And nature wins every time. You are your DNA.  And that’s about it!Nurture is important, very important, but nowhere near as influential as most people think.
Parenting matters. It’s important for children to have good, steady and loving backgrounds. But parenting  does not matter as much as the average parent would like to think. Adverse childhood events obviously affect the psychology of the child, but the degree of influence and damage will be genetic. Is it having parents who have chaotic, challenging lifestyles that make a child misbehave and become disruptive? Or is it the fact that the child has the same ‘chaotic DNA’ as their parents.
I was fascinated by this and told him that my adopted cousin ended up sitting next to his own birth brother at school. He played football with another two of his brothers. So I said, well that proves it!
‘Well, maybe,’ he said, ‘Did they live near each other?’‘Yes.’‘In the catchment area of that school?’‘Err yes.’ I was guessing where this was going.‘Was he very close in age to his birth brothers?’ ‘Yes, that’s why he was put up for adoption.’‘So they would be in the same year at school. And I bet most Scottish boys tend to play football. So that’s not a genetic thing, that’s just plan logic.’Mmmmm. Thinking now, going over it. Nobody in his adopted family has ever joined the armed forces but my adopted cousin was always very keen. When he reunited with his birth brothers, they were all in the army, one having served in the same unit as my cousin.So, I think the genes were at work there, in the background.
The genetics playing out in a family can be easy to see, no two siblings are alike. There’s one a bit more like Mum, the other a bit more like Dad. Every family has a ‘mad uncle Tommy,’ the one who is first on the dance floor at weddings. And there will be ‘a Tommy’ in every generation or so.
But what of an evil gene? Does that exist? When a notorious serial killer appears on TV, what exactly are we looking at?  Are they inevitable, a mixture of two ‘bad’ genetic strains coming together?  Yes, they will tend to have suffered adverse childhood events, usually at the hands of their parents. And there is evidence of the violent ‘gene’ ready to be passed on to the next generation.
Can that dangerous genetic sequence ever be recognised?
If it does, could that ever be a defence in court?
The professor did allude to a ‘triple whammy’, my inverted commas. A piece of genetic coding that brings psychopathy, narcissism and very high intelligence together. These, he said gravely are very dangerous people. Genetics are not a disease that can be cured, genetics are the building blocks of ‘self’.He also added that they are incredibly rare.And we should be thankful for that."

Forgotten Book - The Girl in Cabin B54

Lucille Fletcher can't be described as a prolific novelist. She produced ten novels over a span of forty years (1948-88) and the first two of these were novelisations, co-written with Allan Ullman, of radio plays - she was a very successful writer for radio. But she certainly had a great deal of talent as a novelist, and The Girl in Cabin B54, from mid-way in her novel-writing career (it was published in 1968) demonstrates her gift for psychological suspense.

This is a cruise ship story, an example of a pleasing sub-genre which has given rise to a host of interesting, and remarkably varied, crime stories over the years. Having mentioned a few that rather underwhelmed me earlier this week, it's a pleasure to talk about a book that I found gripping. Here we are on board S.S. Columbia, making a trip from the USA to Europe. The protagonist - "hero" would be too much of a stretch - is the ship's doctor, Vernon Grove.

Vernon has been sailing for eight years. He's an experienced Casanova, a master of seduction. It's soon apparent that he's perfected his technique for picking up attractive women, but we also learn early on that, a couple of years back, one affair went wrong. The truth about that emerges gradually, as the past comes back to haunt him on one particular trip.

The key to the story is that a pretty young girl, who claims to have psychic powers, has taken up residence in cabin B54, which was the same cabin occupied two years ago by Vernon's ill-fated lover. What she says, coupled with the behaviour of some fellow passengers, makes him increasingly paranoid. The suspense mounts to fever pitch...

I can't say too much more about the plot, but I can say that this story illustrates Fletcher's ability to build suspense. She was a very skilled writer, and in my opinion her novels deserve to be better known.

Not Wanted on Voyage

One of the lecture topics I chose for my recent talks on board Queen Mary 2 was "cruise mysteries". And the more I researched the subject, the more examples I found of such novels. Quite a few of them will feature as Forgotten Books over the coming months. There are plenty of enjoyable titles from the past where writers have made excellent use of cruise ships as a background for murder mysteries. The "closed community" on board ship makes for an atmospheric setting.

Then again, and perhaps inevitably, I did encounter a few disappointments. On this blog, I like to focus on books I've enjoyed, rather than the misfires, but if anyone thinks I am besotted with all classic mysteries, regardless, perhaps this post will alter that view! There were four books which didn't really do it for me, alas. Each of them had some redeeming features, but not enough for me to want to devote a whole "Forgotten Book" post to them. So here's a round-up - and of course, feel free to disagree...

One of the disappointments was The Blind Barber by John Dickson Carr. It's a Gideon Fell mystery, first published in 1934, and featuring an Atlantic crossing from New York to Southampton. I was really looking forward to reading this one, which had previously eluded me. But I have to say that, despite my enthusiasm for both Carr and Fell, this book disappointed me. It's really an armchair detective story, with Fell told about misadventures on board ship by his friend, the mystery writer Henry Morgan. The story is, really, a farce, and the humour hasn't worn particularly well.

I was also optimistic about Robin Forsythe's The Pleasure Cruise Mystery. Once very obscure, it's an example of Dean Street Press's admirable commitment to reprinting forgotten mysteries. The story features Algernon Vereker, and it's quite well and amusingly written, especially in the early stages. But the plot simply didn't capture my interest. I shall definitely give Forstyhe another go, but this was a rather discouraging introduction to his work.

K.K. Beck was a prolific writer of cozy-type mysteries in the later years of the twentieth century. I read her Death in a Deck Chair, set in the Golden Age, and it's a competent piece of  light (very light) entertainment, but the involvement in the storyline of one of those Ruritanian-style countries so beloved of minor GA writers put me off.

Finally, Nancy Spain's Not Wanted on Voyage. There's a nice plan of the cruise ship at the start of my copy, but the story didn't appeal to me. In real life, Nancy was a fascinating character, as her biography and autobiography make clear, but her speciality as a detective novelist was humour, and I found the facetiousness of this one simply too much. I'm afraid the title is all too accurate; I still haven't finished it..

South Shields, Cockermouth, and Wigan

After I received the CWA Dagger in the Library a few months back, I resolved to redouble my efforts to support libraries, many of which are hard-pressed financially, yet all of which make an invaluable contribution to the communities of which they form part. I've recently been involved in a couple of very enjoyable library events, with several more forthcoming.


The Murder Squad's crime weekend at the Word in South Shields had been in the works for quite a while. Part of the Write Festival, it was masterminded by Ann Cleeves and librarian Pauline Martin. I've met Pauline a couple of times before, on past visits to South Shields library, but I was bowled over by the Word. It's a fabulous venue on the waterfront, light, airy and comfortable. A dream of a library, and there is plenty more on offer there too. Definitely worth a visit.


We had a Readers' Day on the Saturday, with panels of various descriptions as well as single-author sessions. It was also great to catch up with my friends in the Squad again - Ann, Margaret Murphy, Cath Staincliffe, Kate Ellis, and Chris Simms. We had a couple of dinners together as a group, which were very convivial (and I was in very good heart on the Saturday evening, after Manchester City won a historic treble of trophies in English football!) On the Sunday, we had a Writers' Day; I conducted a couple of sessions on the subject of "Plotting", a subject always close to my heart. After the weekend, there was time for some sightseeing in the area - St Mary's Island and Lighthouse (of course I simply had to climb to the top...), Seaton Sluice and Tynemouth - making the most of the sun.










A few days ago, I made a much shorter journey up the motorway to Wigan Library. It's ten years since I was last there, and again I was impressed by the improved facilities which now exist. This was just a solo event, as I did the latest version of a talk I've given over many years - "My Life of Crime".

In between the library events, I had the pleasure of travelling up to the lovely town of Cockermouth, to take part in an event at the Kirkgate Centre, chaired by Ruth Sutton. My fellow panellists were Paula Daly and Mike Craven, both of whom have forthcoming TV series set in the Lakes, and Lake District crime was our theme. Again, I was lucky with the weather and got the chance to tour Wordsworth's birthplace in the town, as well as to do some research in the Lakes, around Whitehaven and Bardsea, for my next Lake District Mystery - yes, there will be one!

Anthony Price R.I.P.

I was very sorry to learn, earlier today, of the death of Anthony Price, a crime writer of distinction, at the age of 91. Anthony was an interesting and unusual writer, not just in terms of the books that he wrote, but also as regards the arc of his career in the world of fiction. A journalist with the Oxford Times, of which he became editor, he stumbled into crime writing as a result of encouragement from Livia Gollancz, and all his novels were published by Gollancz.

He first book, The Labyrinth Makers (1970), won the CWA Silver Dagger, while Other Paths to Glory (1974) won a CWA Gold Dagger. I first came across his work as a teenager, and was impressed.

There were nineteen novels in all, and each of them featured Dr David Audley, sometimes in a central role, sometimes only in passing. Anthony Price combined mystery with espionage in a sophisticated way, and his books were widely appreciated by connoisseurs. There was a TV series featuring Terence Stamp as Audley, and other screen adaptations of his work, but they lacked the flavour of the books, and he felt that Stamp, although a fine actor, was miscast.

His final novel appeared in 1989, and he could never be persuaded to publish another, much to the regret of his fans. However, he remained a loyal member of the CWA and of the Detection Club. I never met him in person, but corresponded with him, and received a charming letter from him last year. I wish I'd been able to get to know him better.

On his excellent Existential Ennui blog, Nick Jones carried two very informative interviews with Anthony Price back in 2011,  and they are well worth reading

The Art of the Whodunit - part two

The second phase of The Art of the Whodunit tour was very different from the first, on board the Queen Mary 2, but equally appealing. After landing at Southampton, we travelled to Oxford (well, some way outside the city, to a replacement hotel after the first one let us down) and I kicked off proceedings with a talk about Balliol's crime writers as a follow-up to an onboard lecture on Oxford mysteries.


The next few days were a hugely enjoyable whirl, as we packed in a great many sights. An orienteering walk in the city centre was followed by a drive through north Oxford, during which I had my first go as a tour guide, with the microphone at the front of the coach. A quick visit to the Ashmolean was followed by lunch in the King's Arms, and then a brilliant tour around my old college. I even saw aspects of Balliol that I'd never seen in my years of a student. Then in the evening I gave a talk about collecting detective fiction: I'd taken along on the trip various items from my own collection of books and crime fiction memorabilia. I find that a lot of people prefer to see and handle real items than simply gaze at Powerpoint slides.




Thankfully if rather unexpectedly, the weather was fantastic. This was a real bonus, not least on the river cruise (something I'd never done in Oxford, oddly enough; punting was the thing in my student days) when again I did my tour guide bit with the mic. A tour of Christ Church's gardens, dining room, and cathedral was another highlight.





A trip to the Sheldonian Theatre came next. I've been there for various ceremonies, but never before had I climbed right to the top and looked out from the cupola over the city of dreaming spires. Then we had a guided tour of one of the great bookshops, Blackwell's. We were admitted to the "Gaffer's Office", once occupied by Basil Blackwell himself, where I sat in his chair and did a book signing. It was terrific fun. And finally there was a walk along the Oxford canal, again surprisingly unfamiliar to me, and dinner at Blanc's Brasserie to round off a memorable few days.



The camaraderie amongst the group was fantastic. The doubts I'd had before the trip started soon evaporated, as they responded so positively to the early lectures, and I really enjoyed myself. And guess what? I'm doing it all over again later in the summer...

The Art of the Whodunit - part one

A couple of years ago, quite out of the blue, I was contacted by someone I'd worked with about a decade ago. At that time, I gave talks to a group of American crime fans in Oxford and Harrogate, and enjoyed the experience. She wanted to know if I'd be interested in cruise lecturing - specifically on the Queen Mary 2, and in Oxford. Her company, Road Scholar (deliberate pun in the name!) specialises in educational tours for US customers, and has an outstanding reputation in that field.

The whole adventure was called "The Art of the Whodunit". I put my name down, and was delighted, if a bit over-awed, to hear a bit later that the first trip sold out quickly; there was even a waiting list, and more trips were thought very desirable. Yet although I've done a lot of public speaking, I'm not a natural front of stage person, and I wasn't sure how it would all go.

To cut a long story short, though, in the end the trip went wonderfully well, despite a series of bizarre incidents (such as our hotel in Oxford closing down a day or so before we arrived) which created quite a bond among the group. The guests were a marvellous bunch of folk, and the group leader, Chris Ball, handled all the logistical nightmares with aplomb.

We arrived in New York City with enough time to spare to enable a little sight-seeing, including a trip on the ferry to Staten Island, an experience I enjoyed (especially sailing past the Statue of Liberty in the sunshine), and a visit to Otto Penzler's Mysterious Bookshop. This is close by our hotel, which overlooked Ground Zero - the whole site has been developed into an impressive memorial to a terrible tragedy.


Embarkation on the ship was complicated by a bike race, which closed all the surrounding streets. So instead of a leisurely departure, everyone had to get up before 5 a.m. in order to get to the cruise terminal. Deeply frustrating, but again, members of the group showed great fortitude and good humour, and proved very good company.

Although I've done quite a lot of cruising, it's never been on a ship anything like as magnificent as the Queen Mary 2. There is an impressive planetarium on board, and a marvellous library, among much else. The Atlantic crossing was a memorable experience, and I found the group were attentive and enthusiastic listeners as I talked about a whole variety of whodunit-related topics each morning. Great fun. And then came Oxford...

Forgotten Book - Night's Black Agent

John Bingham's seventh novel, Night's Black Agent, was published in 1961. In Michael Jago's excellent biography of Bingham, it doesn't get a particularly warm write-up, as Jago focuses on aspects of the story that test the suspension of disbelief. There are indeed some coincidences and unlikely incidents. Julian Symons, however, greatly admired the novel, and I think that it's my favourite of all the Binghams I've read.

We're told right from the start who wishes to kill whom and (at least in part) why. The would-be killer is a journalist (as Bingham once was) and the proposed victim, a man known as Green, is not only a blackmailer who ruins lives, but also a sociopathic sex killer. In other words, it's a book in the tradition of Francis Iles' Malice Aforethought. But the story follows an unusual path, effectively with two major digressions to explain the background before a climax in Norway. It's a relatively short book, and I found it compelling.

I was lucky enough to acquire a copy that Bingham had inscribed to Joe Gaute, a publisher and expert on true crime. The dust jacket bears a laudatory quote from none other than Francis Iles, in respect of one of Bingham's earlier novels, and I'm sure Iles must have been impressed with this one too, since Bingham tackles a favourite Iles theme - how can we do justice, when the legal system proves inadequate to meet the task?

The title of the book is taken from Macbeth, but it's also a punning reference to Bingham's secret service work - he was a member of Maxwell Knight's team of spies, known as Knight's Black Agents. But this isn't a spy novel. It's a study of crime and character, and even if the Bad Guy is thinly characterised, the portrayal of his victims is done with considerable skill. I really enjoyed this book, and I recommend it warmly, coincidences and all.