Bruce Beckham's Blog - Posts Tagged "di-skelgill"
Free DI Skelgill
If you are a Prime Member and have a Kindle or Fire device you can borrow the 10-book DI Skelgill series for FREE!
It’s really simple...
Here’s how it works (with my Kindle Paperwhite)...
Switch on and make sure you have a WiFi connection.
Open the Kindle Store (tap on the shopping trolley icon).
Tap the “Search” box.
Type “Inspector Skelgill” and then tap the name when it comes up below.
Now all the books in the series (1-10) will appear – tap the one you would like to borrow.
When the book’s page appears – tap the button “Borrow for Free”.
That’s it!
It will download to your device.
(ps. Remember to return it when you’ve finished – go to “Content” in the “Manage your content & devices” section of your Amazon account. You can borrow one free book per month.)
(pps. Other detectives are available.)
It’s really simple...
Here’s how it works (with my Kindle Paperwhite)...
Switch on and make sure you have a WiFi connection.
Open the Kindle Store (tap on the shopping trolley icon).
Tap the “Search” box.
Type “Inspector Skelgill” and then tap the name when it comes up below.
Now all the books in the series (1-10) will appear – tap the one you would like to borrow.
When the book’s page appears – tap the button “Borrow for Free”.
That’s it!
It will download to your device.
(ps. Remember to return it when you’ve finished – go to “Content” in the “Manage your content & devices” section of your Amazon account. You can borrow one free book per month.)
(pps. Other detectives are available.)
Unknown unknowns
People are sometimes surprised when I tell them I don’t read contemporary crime fiction. I guess this seems doubly remarkable – a) given my job and b) living in Scotland, where there is a competent crime writer on almost every corner. Why miss out!
The answer is the clumsy expression ‘unconscious plagiarism’ – and its classical cousin ‘cryptomnesia’ (the experiencing of a memory as if it were a new inspiration). Not just phrases to be avoided, but habits that if unwittingly acquired could lead to something between embarrassment and litigation (a spectrum from ‘pissing off’ to ‘passing off’, one might say).
Now, however, I need a new word. In November 2018 I started writing my latest DI Skelgill murder mystery. For some time I have wanted to use as a setting a ‘sleeper train’ (conscious plagiarism). Sure enough, the characters arrived at Euston Station just before midnight and trundled off together. One of these turned out to be a forty-something female journalist, desperate for a scoop to ward off threats of redundancy, and battling not just fate but her own foibles and failings.
Researching around the subject, in January I came across the gem of the novel that is Stamboul Train by Graham Greene. Published in 1932 this is the original Orient Express yarn – and quite a bloodthirsty thriller, in Greene’s inimitable dry style.
But, stone me! If my middle-aged female hack, desperate for a scoop, battling her weaknesses isn’t in it! I mean, not just a vague likeness – but almost exactly my character: the same pushy personality, the same pathos, the same motives. Yet I had never heard of Stamboul Train the book, nor seen the film (Orient Express, 1934).
Telepathy? The collective unconscious? Hmm... or just plain coincidence?
The nearest comparison I can make is by reference to my many years in advertising. Occasionally frustrated to lose a pitch and yet see our idea in lights a few months later, we would be told, “Ah – you see, two agencies came up with the same concept”. Maybe I should have believed them more often!
(By the way, credit to Donald Rumsfeld for the title.)
The answer is the clumsy expression ‘unconscious plagiarism’ – and its classical cousin ‘cryptomnesia’ (the experiencing of a memory as if it were a new inspiration). Not just phrases to be avoided, but habits that if unwittingly acquired could lead to something between embarrassment and litigation (a spectrum from ‘pissing off’ to ‘passing off’, one might say).
Now, however, I need a new word. In November 2018 I started writing my latest DI Skelgill murder mystery. For some time I have wanted to use as a setting a ‘sleeper train’ (conscious plagiarism). Sure enough, the characters arrived at Euston Station just before midnight and trundled off together. One of these turned out to be a forty-something female journalist, desperate for a scoop to ward off threats of redundancy, and battling not just fate but her own foibles and failings.
Researching around the subject, in January I came across the gem of the novel that is Stamboul Train by Graham Greene. Published in 1932 this is the original Orient Express yarn – and quite a bloodthirsty thriller, in Greene’s inimitable dry style.
But, stone me! If my middle-aged female hack, desperate for a scoop, battling her weaknesses isn’t in it! I mean, not just a vague likeness – but almost exactly my character: the same pushy personality, the same pathos, the same motives. Yet I had never heard of Stamboul Train the book, nor seen the film (Orient Express, 1934).
Telepathy? The collective unconscious? Hmm... or just plain coincidence?
The nearest comparison I can make is by reference to my many years in advertising. Occasionally frustrated to lose a pitch and yet see our idea in lights a few months later, we would be told, “Ah – you see, two agencies came up with the same concept”. Maybe I should have believed them more often!
(By the way, credit to Donald Rumsfeld for the title.)
Still game
In her autobiography Agatha Christie rued that she had started with Hercule Poirot “so old” – and indeed by the time of his last appearance his age has been estimated at 125!
Ian Rankin encountered similar problems with Rebus, who became too old to be a serving policeman and, eventually, too old to be credible... and so the author slowed down his ageing!
Colin Dexter was a little more judicious in his handling of Morse – but the erudite inspector became so closely associated with the actor John Thaw (whose ageing could not be curtailed) that similar problems arose.
Thankfully, a more enlightened approach has gained traction, as exemplified by Sherlock – after all, why would a fictional character need to age at all? Nobody seems to struggle with Dr Who and his/her continual rejuvenation.
The corollary, however, is some sacrifice of the so-called ‘back story’. If the great protagonist is trapped in a time warp, where will he or she find space to socialise and beyond? It means the pendulum swings towards the ‘series’ rather than the ‘serial’. But at least it avoids the bizarre phenomenon encountered in those eternal soap operas, where deceased characters are resurrected, requiring a suspension of disbelief of an entirely higher order.
Of course, no author really knows for how long they might champion their hero – but it seems from the above case studies to err on the side of caution would be good advice. And the ‘Sherlock’ method has inherent appeal to any writer who is in denial of their own ageing!
Ian Rankin encountered similar problems with Rebus, who became too old to be a serving policeman and, eventually, too old to be credible... and so the author slowed down his ageing!
Colin Dexter was a little more judicious in his handling of Morse – but the erudite inspector became so closely associated with the actor John Thaw (whose ageing could not be curtailed) that similar problems arose.
Thankfully, a more enlightened approach has gained traction, as exemplified by Sherlock – after all, why would a fictional character need to age at all? Nobody seems to struggle with Dr Who and his/her continual rejuvenation.
The corollary, however, is some sacrifice of the so-called ‘back story’. If the great protagonist is trapped in a time warp, where will he or she find space to socialise and beyond? It means the pendulum swings towards the ‘series’ rather than the ‘serial’. But at least it avoids the bizarre phenomenon encountered in those eternal soap operas, where deceased characters are resurrected, requiring a suspension of disbelief of an entirely higher order.
Of course, no author really knows for how long they might champion their hero – but it seems from the above case studies to err on the side of caution would be good advice. And the ‘Sherlock’ method has inherent appeal to any writer who is in denial of their own ageing!
Double jeopardy
Busman's Honeymoon by Dorothy L. SayersMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
Billed on the front of the first edition as “A love story with detective interruptions”, Busman’s Honeymoon is the eleventh and final Lord Peter Wimsey novel and was published in 1937.
It charts Wimsey’s marriage to crime novelist Harriet Vane, rescued by him from the gallows (three books previous), and their unconventional honeymoon at Talboys, an old farmhouse in Harriet’s native Hertfordshire, impetuously purchased as a nostalgic wedding gift by Wimsey.
Fleeing their reception to avoid the paparazzi – and arriving after dark to find Talboys locked and barred – the new couple finally gain entry with the help of mystified neighbours and retire to bed. Next morning they discover former owner William Noakes dead in the cellar with his head bashed in.
Detective interruptions ensue.
The crime proves to be from the Agatha Christie School of Complicated and Improbable Murders. As one contemporary notice stated, if the killer needed that much help from Providence, he was in the wrong business!
The majority of the narrative concerns the relationship between Wimsey and Harriet – both suffer feelings of inadequacy, and the novel charts their troubled journey through their insecurities by the vehicle of the plot.
There is a rather disjointed ending, when the newlyweds travel to the Wimsey country seat in Norfolk, modelled I should say on Holkham Hall. Eccentric characters enter the tale for no obvious reason, and it rather fizzles out with Lord Peter casting doubts over his future as a sleuth.
While I largely enjoyed the book, I felt it suffered from the very claim made on the cover; that is to say, the two quite disparate strands did not comfortably interweave and maybe were stories worthy of independent telling.
View all my reviews
