Martin Edwards's Blog, page 221
June 23, 2013
Harry Keating
The first book about crime fiction that I read was Bloody Murder, by Julian Symons. It remains a classic commentary on the genre. I also much enjoyed Symons novels, and before long I tried another novelist of distinction who doubled as a crime critic, H.R.F. Keating. I didn't know it at the time, but Symons and Keating were very good friends. And I certainly didn't know that eventually, I would meet both men, and find them as pleasant in person as they were incisive in print.
I got to know Harry Keating rather better than Julian Symons, and I also met Sheila Mitchell, an actor who was Harry's wife. Harry, Sheila and I spent some time together at Malice Domestic in Washington D.C. when Harry was guest of honour, and they were kind enough to invite me to join them at their table for the main banquet. Later we met from time to time at the Detection Club. Harry's death was a great loss to family and friends, to the Club, of which he was a former President, and to the genre as a whole..
Sheila, I'm glad to say, is remarkably fit and active and recently I had the privilege of staying at her home when in London to attend a Detection Club dinner. She showed me the early chapters of a biography of Harry which she has more or less completed, and which I very much hope will attract a major publisher. I learned a great deal from her about Harry's early career. Sitting in the study where Harry wrote so many notable books - two of the CWA Gold Daggers was a genuine thrill. So too was a taxi trip through the city that evening, in the company of Sheila and her friend P.D. James, with whom I had a fascinating conversation over dinner. Truly memorable.
I'm glad to say that most of Harry's books remain readily available, no mean feat given that he was prolific. It's a reminder of his enduring popularity. There is, by the way, a special deal on his novel A Long Walk to Wimbledon on Amazon tomorrow. An excellent chance for you to catch up with an intriguingly different book from one of the major figures of the genre in Britain during the past fifty years. And if you want to know a bit more about the man and his work, there's an essay I wrote about him on the articles page of my website.
I got to know Harry Keating rather better than Julian Symons, and I also met Sheila Mitchell, an actor who was Harry's wife. Harry, Sheila and I spent some time together at Malice Domestic in Washington D.C. when Harry was guest of honour, and they were kind enough to invite me to join them at their table for the main banquet. Later we met from time to time at the Detection Club. Harry's death was a great loss to family and friends, to the Club, of which he was a former President, and to the genre as a whole..
Sheila, I'm glad to say, is remarkably fit and active and recently I had the privilege of staying at her home when in London to attend a Detection Club dinner. She showed me the early chapters of a biography of Harry which she has more or less completed, and which I very much hope will attract a major publisher. I learned a great deal from her about Harry's early career. Sitting in the study where Harry wrote so many notable books - two of the CWA Gold Daggers was a genuine thrill. So too was a taxi trip through the city that evening, in the company of Sheila and her friend P.D. James, with whom I had a fascinating conversation over dinner. Truly memorable.
I'm glad to say that most of Harry's books remain readily available, no mean feat given that he was prolific. It's a reminder of his enduring popularity. There is, by the way, a special deal on his novel A Long Walk to Wimbledon on Amazon tomorrow. An excellent chance for you to catch up with an intriguingly different book from one of the major figures of the genre in Britain during the past fifty years. And if you want to know a bit more about the man and his work, there's an essay I wrote about him on the articles page of my website.
June 22, 2013
Bad Companions by Kate Clarke
Bad Companions, written by Kate Clarke, and published by The History Press, is a collection of six long essays about true crime cases with a common theme - the killers were all women, and the crimes were all based in London. Kate is a highly experienced true crime writer, and this book displays her usual sound research and readable literary style.
I'd heard of a couple of the cases, but most were new to me. They are a varied bunch, and the result is a fascinating book that gives the reader an insight into a different world, when you might be hanged for various crimes less than murder. And the first killer discussed in the book, Catherine Hayes, was burned at the stake. Her crime was "petty treason" - that is, the murder of her husband. I don't approve of wives murdering their husbands, for all kinds of good and obvious reasons, but the punishment was not only horrific but also a spectacle feasted upon by eighteenth century ghouls.
Catherine, with the help of two men friends, had her dead husband's head cut off, and a number of equally scary crimes are described. But Kate Clarke avoids the sensationalism that mars some true crime writing, and her account of Kate Webster's murder of her elderly employer, whose body she then proceeded to mutilate, burn and boil, gains in strength because much of it is taken from Webster's own words -when, facing execution, she finally made a clean breast of things.
Among the other cases, Eliza Fanning's conviction for poisoning some dumplings seems very much like a miscarriage of justice. And that's another problem with the death penalty - there's no putting right miscarriages after a wrongly convicted person has been executed. The brutality of Elizabeth Brownrigg towards her female servants, culminating in a vicious murder, is also very striking. Bad Companions shines a light on bygone times which were fascinating but frightening. Reading this excellent book makes one very glad to be living in the twenty-first century.
I'd heard of a couple of the cases, but most were new to me. They are a varied bunch, and the result is a fascinating book that gives the reader an insight into a different world, when you might be hanged for various crimes less than murder. And the first killer discussed in the book, Catherine Hayes, was burned at the stake. Her crime was "petty treason" - that is, the murder of her husband. I don't approve of wives murdering their husbands, for all kinds of good and obvious reasons, but the punishment was not only horrific but also a spectacle feasted upon by eighteenth century ghouls.
Catherine, with the help of two men friends, had her dead husband's head cut off, and a number of equally scary crimes are described. But Kate Clarke avoids the sensationalism that mars some true crime writing, and her account of Kate Webster's murder of her elderly employer, whose body she then proceeded to mutilate, burn and boil, gains in strength because much of it is taken from Webster's own words -when, facing execution, she finally made a clean breast of things.
Among the other cases, Eliza Fanning's conviction for poisoning some dumplings seems very much like a miscarriage of justice. And that's another problem with the death penalty - there's no putting right miscarriages after a wrongly convicted person has been executed. The brutality of Elizabeth Brownrigg towards her female servants, culminating in a vicious murder, is also very striking. Bad Companions shines a light on bygone times which were fascinating but frightening. Reading this excellent book makes one very glad to be living in the twenty-first century.
June 21, 2013
Forgotten Book - No Walls of Jasper
Few crime books by notable writers are as forgotten as my Forgotten Book for today, No Walls of Jasper by Joanna Cannan, first published in 1930. Yet the book's neglect is in many ways astonishing, because not only was it ahead of its time, it is also very well-written, and reads extremely well more than 80 years after it first came out. I can only blame its lack of fame on the title, which is taken from a poem by Humbert Wolfe (who? you may ask - he was apparently very popular in the Twenties), and which is rather off-putting and inappropriate.
In some ways, the book is in the same vein as Malice Aforethought by Francis Iles. Yet the Iles book came out a year later, so it was hardly derivative. Another comparison might be with C.S. Forester's earlier novel, Payment Deferred, or possibly Lynn Brock's later Nightmare. But Cannan's book is distinctive, because of its stylish and readable prose, and because a competent plot is in many ways subordinate to a study of character.
Julian Prebble works for a publishing house, and is fed up with his pretty but down-trodden wife, Phyl. He has two sons, of whom he is a proud but distant father, and he does not earn enough to be able to impress a coquettish author on his list, the glamorous Cynthia. However, he does have a rich and rather disagreeable father, and when it occurs to Julian that his Dad's demise would solve all his problems, his thoughts turn to murder.
I really enjoyed this one. It's a book to savour, because Cannan's description of people and relationships, and Julian's desperate quest for respectability ring so true, even so many years later. Joanna Cannan wrote other mysteries, which I haven't read, but if they are half as good as this book, they must be worth reading. She became better known for children's books, and her daughters became famous writers of pony stories. And perhaps that's another reason why No Walls of Jasper has for so long been overlooked. Writers so easily get pigeon-holed, and that is a real shame.
In some ways, the book is in the same vein as Malice Aforethought by Francis Iles. Yet the Iles book came out a year later, so it was hardly derivative. Another comparison might be with C.S. Forester's earlier novel, Payment Deferred, or possibly Lynn Brock's later Nightmare. But Cannan's book is distinctive, because of its stylish and readable prose, and because a competent plot is in many ways subordinate to a study of character.
Julian Prebble works for a publishing house, and is fed up with his pretty but down-trodden wife, Phyl. He has two sons, of whom he is a proud but distant father, and he does not earn enough to be able to impress a coquettish author on his list, the glamorous Cynthia. However, he does have a rich and rather disagreeable father, and when it occurs to Julian that his Dad's demise would solve all his problems, his thoughts turn to murder.
I really enjoyed this one. It's a book to savour, because Cannan's description of people and relationships, and Julian's desperate quest for respectability ring so true, even so many years later. Joanna Cannan wrote other mysteries, which I haven't read, but if they are half as good as this book, they must be worth reading. She became better known for children's books, and her daughters became famous writers of pony stories. And perhaps that's another reason why No Walls of Jasper has for so long been overlooked. Writers so easily get pigeon-holed, and that is a real shame.
June 20, 2013
Motive: Universal TV review
Motive is a new television series shown on the Universal channel which began last week. I decided to watch the first episode of this North American cop show because it has an unusual premise. The viewer knows throughout who is the killer and who is the victim. This is because they are captioned "KILLER" and "VICTIM" in large letters on the screen at the start of the show. The real question is - what is the motive for the crime?
This is a clever spin on the classic detective plot. It was Richard Austin Freeman, back in the early years of the last century, who first came up with the idea of the detective story which starts out by showing the reader the culprit committing the crime, and then describes the detective work that led to the solution of the mystery. Freeman was a talented and inventive writer, and I mean to say more about him on this blog in the future.
Freeman's idea of the "inverted" story has been adapted many times, for instance by Roy Vickers in his stories about the Department of Dead Ends, and in the hit TV show Columbo. But I can't think of anyone who has tweaked the detective story in quite the same way as happens in Motive. For that touch of originality alone, the show deserves praise. Slightly less original is the decision to cast two exceptionally attractive women, Kristin Lehman (as the cop, Angie Flynn) and Lauren Holly (as the pathologist) in lead roles.
The first episode involved the killing of a teacher by a pupil. Why did the lad do it? I have to say that the mysterious motive wasn't especially memorable, and this was a bit of a disappointment. Overall, I'd say that the show was efficient rather than brilliant. But the premise alone makes it worthy of note. Will I watchi it regularly? Unlikely, because life is short. But I'd be quite happy to watch an occasional future episode.
This is a clever spin on the classic detective plot. It was Richard Austin Freeman, back in the early years of the last century, who first came up with the idea of the detective story which starts out by showing the reader the culprit committing the crime, and then describes the detective work that led to the solution of the mystery. Freeman was a talented and inventive writer, and I mean to say more about him on this blog in the future.
Freeman's idea of the "inverted" story has been adapted many times, for instance by Roy Vickers in his stories about the Department of Dead Ends, and in the hit TV show Columbo. But I can't think of anyone who has tweaked the detective story in quite the same way as happens in Motive. For that touch of originality alone, the show deserves praise. Slightly less original is the decision to cast two exceptionally attractive women, Kristin Lehman (as the cop, Angie Flynn) and Lauren Holly (as the pathologist) in lead roles.
The first episode involved the killing of a teacher by a pupil. Why did the lad do it? I have to say that the mysterious motive wasn't especially memorable, and this was a bit of a disappointment. Overall, I'd say that the show was efficient rather than brilliant. But the premise alone makes it worthy of note. Will I watchi it regularly? Unlikely, because life is short. But I'd be quite happy to watch an occasional future episode.
June 19, 2013
Robert Banks Stewart
With surprisingly little fanfare, Robert Banks Stewart recently published a thriller, The Hurricane's Tail. Why do I say 'surprisingly'? Well, the fact is that Mr Stewart might be described as one of the more successful crime writers of the past half-century. Yet I guess that although plenty of readers will recognise his name, they will not be quite sure why it seems so familiar.
The explanation is that the name of Robert Banks Stewart has appeared on our television screens countless times, as he has been a producer and screenplay writer of great distinction. I first became aware of him years ago, and he was involved with many of the great television series. In his early days he wrote scripts for the Edgar Wallace thriller series, as well as Danger Man, starring Patrick McGoohan. These were among the first crime shows I watched on the box when I was very young.
After that, the hits kept on coming. He wrote for Doctor Who and also for The Avengers - an episode featuring a parodic version of Mensa, of which his wife was a member. He created Shoestring (one of my all-time favourite TV detective shows), starring Trevor Eve, and when that came to an end, followed it up with the even more successful, if less quirky, Bergerac, starring John Nettles. What a CV!
I've been lucky enough to come into contact recently with this wonderful writer, and I asked him about the difference between writing for TV and writing a novel. He told me, "The thing you learn as a screenwriter...ist that economy is important. The picture tells the underlying story...to a certain extent." He found that with his novel, the dialogue came easily, but that he had to work much harder to make everything else convincing: "Funny, isn't it, on screen you don't leave a lot to the imagination. In a book, huge chunks are down to the imagination of the reader."
The pleasure of becoming acquainted with this legendary writer has prompted me to take another look at his work, and I'll be returning to Robert Banks Stewart's brilliant career in a future post. In the meantime, The Hurricane' s Tail is definitely worth a look.
The explanation is that the name of Robert Banks Stewart has appeared on our television screens countless times, as he has been a producer and screenplay writer of great distinction. I first became aware of him years ago, and he was involved with many of the great television series. In his early days he wrote scripts for the Edgar Wallace thriller series, as well as Danger Man, starring Patrick McGoohan. These were among the first crime shows I watched on the box when I was very young.
After that, the hits kept on coming. He wrote for Doctor Who and also for The Avengers - an episode featuring a parodic version of Mensa, of which his wife was a member. He created Shoestring (one of my all-time favourite TV detective shows), starring Trevor Eve, and when that came to an end, followed it up with the even more successful, if less quirky, Bergerac, starring John Nettles. What a CV!
I've been lucky enough to come into contact recently with this wonderful writer, and I asked him about the difference between writing for TV and writing a novel. He told me, "The thing you learn as a screenwriter...ist that economy is important. The picture tells the underlying story...to a certain extent." He found that with his novel, the dialogue came easily, but that he had to work much harder to make everything else convincing: "Funny, isn't it, on screen you don't leave a lot to the imagination. In a book, huge chunks are down to the imagination of the reader."
The pleasure of becoming acquainted with this legendary writer has prompted me to take another look at his work, and I'll be returning to Robert Banks Stewart's brilliant career in a future post. In the meantime, The Hurricane' s Tail is definitely worth a look.
June 18, 2013
Walking the Line as a Writer
In a comment he made on my blog post on Friday, in relation to what I'd said about The 10.30 from Marseille, Daniel asked a very interesting question. How does a writer stay on the right side of the line between enticing readers with a fascinating premise or storyline, and irritating them either because of the way the story is told, or because the climax to the story is rather a let-down?
Like so many good questions, this one isn't that easy to answer. And it would be over-confident of me to claim that I have always managed to stay on the right side of that line in my own books. But let me offer some thoughts related to the way I approached The Frozen Shroud. This is a book which, even though it's not a locked room mystery, has one or two elements that might remind Daniel of John Dickson Carr. Three murders, each committed on Hallowe'en over the span of one hundred years, have disfigured the history of the lonely community of Ravenbank on the edge of Ullswater. And a local legend has grown up, about a spectral presence known as The Faceless Woman.
This is all rather Gothic, and a bit different from the mood of most of my stories. I wanted to create a spooky atmosphere, and there's a crucial scene towards the end of the book, when the fog descends over the lake, and someone is out on the water in the mist, facing death. But I didn't want my story to hopelessly implausible, or even worse, risible, and it's not a venture into the supernatural. So how to walk that line?
My method was to make sure that almost all of the action, and every bit of the dialogue, is grounded firmly in the here and now, with people like Hannah Scarlett, Daniel Kind and his sister Louise going about their lives and encountering a variety of believable obstacles as they do so. I did a good deal of research to build an authentic background. That fog-on-the-lake scene benefited greatly from practical advice from the local mountain rescue team, who helped me to make sure that what I described reflected what would happen in real life. They were even kind enough to read the draft scene, and make comments which I took on board. All this does, I think, help a great deal.
Above all, though, it's people that count in a novel, and there are life-changing developments in Hannah's life, all of which I see as very credible. They are relevant to the plot, and which introduce elements of realism, counterpointing the macabre stuff about legends and the eponymous Frozen Shroud.
Will this work/? Will readers be convinced that I've stayed on the right side of the line? I await reaction in the UK, and I'm currently looking through early reviews in the US. More about these soon.
Like so many good questions, this one isn't that easy to answer. And it would be over-confident of me to claim that I have always managed to stay on the right side of that line in my own books. But let me offer some thoughts related to the way I approached The Frozen Shroud. This is a book which, even though it's not a locked room mystery, has one or two elements that might remind Daniel of John Dickson Carr. Three murders, each committed on Hallowe'en over the span of one hundred years, have disfigured the history of the lonely community of Ravenbank on the edge of Ullswater. And a local legend has grown up, about a spectral presence known as The Faceless Woman.
This is all rather Gothic, and a bit different from the mood of most of my stories. I wanted to create a spooky atmosphere, and there's a crucial scene towards the end of the book, when the fog descends over the lake, and someone is out on the water in the mist, facing death. But I didn't want my story to hopelessly implausible, or even worse, risible, and it's not a venture into the supernatural. So how to walk that line?
My method was to make sure that almost all of the action, and every bit of the dialogue, is grounded firmly in the here and now, with people like Hannah Scarlett, Daniel Kind and his sister Louise going about their lives and encountering a variety of believable obstacles as they do so. I did a good deal of research to build an authentic background. That fog-on-the-lake scene benefited greatly from practical advice from the local mountain rescue team, who helped me to make sure that what I described reflected what would happen in real life. They were even kind enough to read the draft scene, and make comments which I took on board. All this does, I think, help a great deal.
Above all, though, it's people that count in a novel, and there are life-changing developments in Hannah's life, all of which I see as very credible. They are relevant to the plot, and which introduce elements of realism, counterpointing the macabre stuff about legends and the eponymous Frozen Shroud.
Will this work/? Will readers be convinced that I've stayed on the right side of the line? I await reaction in the UK, and I'm currently looking through early reviews in the US. More about these soon.
June 17, 2013
The Shadow Collector by Kate Ellis
The Shadow Collector is the 17th and latest entry in Kate Ellis's series featuring Di Wesley Peterson.and set in a fictionalised version of Dartmouth. Reading these books has, over the years, made me keen to explore the area, and towns like Dartmouth and Totnes ('Neston' in this book), to which I've only paid flying visits in the past.
Very often with Kate's books, there is an atmospheric theme that links in with her interest in archaology. For example, in The Jackal Man (which, along with The Cadaver Game, is my favourite of her novels) it was Egyptology. Here it is witchcraft. Eighteen years ago, two modern 'witches' were found guilty of murdering two girls whose bodies were never found. The older woman is now dead, but her daughter is released from prison shortly before the action begins.
Kate, like me, is a fan of the dazzling early series of Taggart, written by Glenn Chandler, which used to begin with a series of complicated and seemingly distinct storylines which were eventually woven together in a compelling and elaborate way. This approach is mirrored in the opening chapters of this novel,which introduce several storylines, and an extensive cast of characters. In true Taggart fashion, It's a bit dizzying in the early stages, but as the book develops the strands begin to connect.
There's a very clever twist towards the end that I didn't see coming, even though I had focused on the right culprit. As with classic Golden Age mysteries, you do need to suspend your disbelief in one or two places (was the original evidence strong enough to sustain two murder convictions? why did the culprit make one particular life choice?) , but Kate's skill with plot makes this a pleasure. As she is a good friend of mine, it's difficult for me to be totally objective, but I genuinely believe that this book, like the other Wesleys, will appeal to fans of Golden Age stories as well as lovers of contemporary mysteries with lots of plot complications. It's extraordinary that this very entertaining series is not even better known.
Very often with Kate's books, there is an atmospheric theme that links in with her interest in archaology. For example, in The Jackal Man (which, along with The Cadaver Game, is my favourite of her novels) it was Egyptology. Here it is witchcraft. Eighteen years ago, two modern 'witches' were found guilty of murdering two girls whose bodies were never found. The older woman is now dead, but her daughter is released from prison shortly before the action begins.
Kate, like me, is a fan of the dazzling early series of Taggart, written by Glenn Chandler, which used to begin with a series of complicated and seemingly distinct storylines which were eventually woven together in a compelling and elaborate way. This approach is mirrored in the opening chapters of this novel,which introduce several storylines, and an extensive cast of characters. In true Taggart fashion, It's a bit dizzying in the early stages, but as the book develops the strands begin to connect.
There's a very clever twist towards the end that I didn't see coming, even though I had focused on the right culprit. As with classic Golden Age mysteries, you do need to suspend your disbelief in one or two places (was the original evidence strong enough to sustain two murder convictions? why did the culprit make one particular life choice?) , but Kate's skill with plot makes this a pleasure. As she is a good friend of mine, it's difficult for me to be totally objective, but I genuinely believe that this book, like the other Wesleys, will appeal to fans of Golden Age stories as well as lovers of contemporary mysteries with lots of plot complications. It's extraordinary that this very entertaining series is not even better known.
June 16, 2013
Agatha Christie's Marple: A Caribbean Mystery - ITV review
Agatha Christie's Marple returned this evening with A Caribbean Mystery, starring Julia Mackenzie as the amiable but steely sleuth from St Mary Mead, this time holidaying, courtesy of her generous nephew, on the small island of St Honore. Although the book, published in the Sixties, was one of Christie's later efforts, it was one of the first detective novels I ever read, and I've always had a soft spot for the story. And the televising of this particular episode today meant that my Sunday got off to a very unusual start.
For the first time in a very, very long while, I was up at 5 on a Sunday morning, since I'd been asked to appear on BBC TV's Breakfast show to talk about the enduring appeal of Miss Marple. After a slight panic when the taxi to collect me turned up at the wrong house, I duly arrived at the BBC's glitzy Media City premises in Salford in time to appear for the first of two slots at 6.40 a.m.
I've done live TV before, and I've also appeared on national TV before, but this was my first live interview on national as opposed to regional or special interest TV. I was warned in advance that guests on the show go to be "made-up" before appearing, and as I've never done any acting, this was a new experience for me. Quite a challenge for the make-up person. Anyway, before long I was being introduced to the very pleasant presenters, Roger Johnson and Nega Munchetty. My slot was a combination of a short film about the enduring appeal of Miss Marple coupled with an interview. Once it was done, there was a chance to chill out in the hospitality area before a second appearance (with different questions) two hours later. Slightly nerve-racking, but overall, a fun experience, made easier by kind messages from friends who had been startled to switch on their telly and find me chatting about Agatha Christie.
Back to A Caribbean Mystery. It certainly justified the enthusiasm I expressed this morning. The plot depends on elements that bear some resemblances to earlier Christie novels (to say more would be a spoiler), but the untypical and very photogenic setting worked very well for Sunday evening light entertainment. One of the points I often make about Christie's appeal is her universality, and that is true, I think, of this story. The show may have been set in the Caribbean, but the plot was straight out of the British Golden Age. Mind you, Miss Marple is allowed to reflect, rather amusingly, about sex. And this wasn't something tacked on gratuitously by the scriptwriter. The passage in question is taken straight from chapter one of the novel.
The cast, as ever, was full of stellar names. So we had, for instance, Robert Webb as Tim Kendal, MyAnna Buring as Lucky Dyson, and the ever-reliable.Oliver Ford-Davies as Major Palgrave. Anthony Sher was terrific as Mr Rafiel, and his interplay with Julia Mackenzie highly entertaining. The screenplay was by Charlie Higson, and offered a reminder of what a capable writer he is. He also gave himself a role which afforded the chance for a couple of James Bond jokes. Self-indulgent, possibly, but appealingly sot. An enjoyable episode, made especially memorable for me by that trip to Media City.
For the first time in a very, very long while, I was up at 5 on a Sunday morning, since I'd been asked to appear on BBC TV's Breakfast show to talk about the enduring appeal of Miss Marple. After a slight panic when the taxi to collect me turned up at the wrong house, I duly arrived at the BBC's glitzy Media City premises in Salford in time to appear for the first of two slots at 6.40 a.m.
I've done live TV before, and I've also appeared on national TV before, but this was my first live interview on national as opposed to regional or special interest TV. I was warned in advance that guests on the show go to be "made-up" before appearing, and as I've never done any acting, this was a new experience for me. Quite a challenge for the make-up person. Anyway, before long I was being introduced to the very pleasant presenters, Roger Johnson and Nega Munchetty. My slot was a combination of a short film about the enduring appeal of Miss Marple coupled with an interview. Once it was done, there was a chance to chill out in the hospitality area before a second appearance (with different questions) two hours later. Slightly nerve-racking, but overall, a fun experience, made easier by kind messages from friends who had been startled to switch on their telly and find me chatting about Agatha Christie.
Back to A Caribbean Mystery. It certainly justified the enthusiasm I expressed this morning. The plot depends on elements that bear some resemblances to earlier Christie novels (to say more would be a spoiler), but the untypical and very photogenic setting worked very well for Sunday evening light entertainment. One of the points I often make about Christie's appeal is her universality, and that is true, I think, of this story. The show may have been set in the Caribbean, but the plot was straight out of the British Golden Age. Mind you, Miss Marple is allowed to reflect, rather amusingly, about sex. And this wasn't something tacked on gratuitously by the scriptwriter. The passage in question is taken straight from chapter one of the novel.
The cast, as ever, was full of stellar names. So we had, for instance, Robert Webb as Tim Kendal, MyAnna Buring as Lucky Dyson, and the ever-reliable.Oliver Ford-Davies as Major Palgrave. Anthony Sher was terrific as Mr Rafiel, and his interplay with Julia Mackenzie highly entertaining. The screenplay was by Charlie Higson, and offered a reminder of what a capable writer he is. He also gave himself a role which afforded the chance for a couple of James Bond jokes. Self-indulgent, possibly, but appealingly sot. An enjoyable episode, made especially memorable for me by that trip to Media City.
June 15, 2013
Three Books
Today I'd like to give a bit of coverage to a trio of new books by writers who don't have the benefit of Dan Brown style publicity teams. Their names may not yet be widely familiar but the three authors are starting to build a career in "interesting times" so far as the publishing world is concerned. One of the names, in fact, I have mentioned very recently on this blog. Helen Smith was on a panel with me at Crimefest and although I hadn't read her work previously, I was delighted when she presented me with a copy of her recent novel Invitation to Die.
This book has its focus on a writers' conference, but it definitely isn't a thinly veiled Crimefest. Not at all, it's a conference for writers of romantic fiction and the cast of characters includes an American blogger called Winnie Kraster. who, as we are told in the opening paragraph, accepts an "invitation to die", that is, to attend the conference. A very intriguing premise to kick off a book published by Thomas and Mercer, which I gather is an Amazon brand. Helen, by the way, has also written a novel with the a title I really love, Alison Wonderland.
Amazon is also the home of a straight-to-Kindle book by Roger Forsdyke. Roger is a former police officer whose enormous professional expertise has benefited a number of crime writers, including Cath Staincliffe and myself. The Frozen Shroud is the latest example of a novel of mine where he gave me invaluable help in ensuring authenticity in the portrayal of Hannah's working life. Roger is also the current convenor of the northern chapter of the CWA, having taken over from Peter Walker some years back. He brings his inside knowledge of police work to bear on Panther, his second novel, which is a fictional version of the hunt for the Black Panther, aka the late and unlamented Donald Neilson. The Black Panther case was one of the most chilling and memorable of its era, yet as far as I know, Roger is the first novelist to have adapted it for fictional purposes.
Finally, a book by a new writer previously unknown to me, Stuart Fifield. His Fatal Tears introduces an Egyptologist called Rupert Winfield, and is a conscious take on the Agatha Christie tradition of crime writing, with a Nile paddle steamer setting. Len Tyler, author of Herring on the Nile, took such a trip a while back, and strongly recommended it to me. Well, maybe one day. In the meantime, this book is a reminder of the continuing interest in Eqyptology which has fascinated crime writers from R. Austin Freeman to Kate Ellis in the modern day.
This book has its focus on a writers' conference, but it definitely isn't a thinly veiled Crimefest. Not at all, it's a conference for writers of romantic fiction and the cast of characters includes an American blogger called Winnie Kraster. who, as we are told in the opening paragraph, accepts an "invitation to die", that is, to attend the conference. A very intriguing premise to kick off a book published by Thomas and Mercer, which I gather is an Amazon brand. Helen, by the way, has also written a novel with the a title I really love, Alison Wonderland.
Amazon is also the home of a straight-to-Kindle book by Roger Forsdyke. Roger is a former police officer whose enormous professional expertise has benefited a number of crime writers, including Cath Staincliffe and myself. The Frozen Shroud is the latest example of a novel of mine where he gave me invaluable help in ensuring authenticity in the portrayal of Hannah's working life. Roger is also the current convenor of the northern chapter of the CWA, having taken over from Peter Walker some years back. He brings his inside knowledge of police work to bear on Panther, his second novel, which is a fictional version of the hunt for the Black Panther, aka the late and unlamented Donald Neilson. The Black Panther case was one of the most chilling and memorable of its era, yet as far as I know, Roger is the first novelist to have adapted it for fictional purposes.
Finally, a book by a new writer previously unknown to me, Stuart Fifield. His Fatal Tears introduces an Egyptologist called Rupert Winfield, and is a conscious take on the Agatha Christie tradition of crime writing, with a Nile paddle steamer setting. Len Tyler, author of Herring on the Nile, took such a trip a while back, and strongly recommended it to me. Well, maybe one day. In the meantime, this book is a reminder of the continuing interest in Eqyptology which has fascinated crime writers from R. Austin Freeman to Kate Ellis in the modern day.
June 14, 2013
Forogtten Book - The 10.30 from Marseille
Sebastien Japrisot, an author I've mentioned before on this blog, was one of the major French crime writers of the 60s, and although not very prolific, his books remain very readable indeed. The 10.30 from Marseille, also known as The Sleeping Car Murders, was his debut, but it's an impressively mature and original piece of work, which I really enjoyed reading.
The body of a young woman, Georgette Thomas, is discovered when the eponymous train comes to the end of its journey. An inspector called Grazziano, backed up by a young cop called Gabert, leads the investigation whilst his boss, Commissioner Tarquin, stays out of the firing line. The case rapidly becomes more complex as, one by one, the occupants of the sleeping car in which the woman was found are themselves murdered.
The translation by Francis Price is suitably crisp, and the pace is fast, aided by recurring changes of viewpoint. You can never be quite sure what, exactly, is going on, and the mystification is not irritating (as can sometimes be the case) but enticing. I really wanted to know what the solution was.
Inevitably, it turned out to be something unlikely, but it was also totally unexpected and, I think, cleverly done. Yes, one has to suspend disbelief, but Japrisot's skill is such that I was willing to do so. The fact that it's a relatively short book was also a strength. A puzzle as elaborate and unusual as this should not outstay its welcome. All in all, a remarkable debut, which heralded a career that was genuinely impressive, if not overly productive in terms of the number of novels Japrisot wrote. Those he did publish are definitely worth seeking out.
Incidentally, I'm going to be inflicting a new blog post on you on a daily basis for the next few weeks, all being well. Tomorrow, I'll look at three new books by relatively unfamiliar writers.
The body of a young woman, Georgette Thomas, is discovered when the eponymous train comes to the end of its journey. An inspector called Grazziano, backed up by a young cop called Gabert, leads the investigation whilst his boss, Commissioner Tarquin, stays out of the firing line. The case rapidly becomes more complex as, one by one, the occupants of the sleeping car in which the woman was found are themselves murdered.
The translation by Francis Price is suitably crisp, and the pace is fast, aided by recurring changes of viewpoint. You can never be quite sure what, exactly, is going on, and the mystification is not irritating (as can sometimes be the case) but enticing. I really wanted to know what the solution was.
Inevitably, it turned out to be something unlikely, but it was also totally unexpected and, I think, cleverly done. Yes, one has to suspend disbelief, but Japrisot's skill is such that I was willing to do so. The fact that it's a relatively short book was also a strength. A puzzle as elaborate and unusual as this should not outstay its welcome. All in all, a remarkable debut, which heralded a career that was genuinely impressive, if not overly productive in terms of the number of novels Japrisot wrote. Those he did publish are definitely worth seeking out.
Incidentally, I'm going to be inflicting a new blog post on you on a daily basis for the next few weeks, all being well. Tomorrow, I'll look at three new books by relatively unfamiliar writers.
