Peter Crowther Cold Comforts Part 3

‘The Good Book’ is a more straightforward PI yarn which, again, was analmost obscene amount of fun to write. And to balance things out, I’d liketo dedicate this to my own dad who passed on in 1972.Marilyn Monroe was a dish. I’ve never really taken to the current vogueof women who are so slim they’re bordering on anorexic, and so whenCarole Nelson Douglas gave me the opportunity to write a story featuringNorma Jean, I jumped at it. This is another of those situations (pretty muchall of them are when I stop to think about it) that I accept a job and thenwonder what the heck I’m going to do. But the solution came to me withouttoo much difficulty—it had to cover the suspicious circumstances ofMarilyn’s death and it had to include something about JFK . . . and, withthe current popularity of conspiracy theories, the rest more or less took careof itself. The result was ‘The Cost of Freedom.’People always ask me why I write stories set in America when I’mEnglish.Well, I don’t have a good answer except to say that I love Americaand, generally speaking, I love Americans. But every now and then I get aspecific request to set a story in England—‘Cat On An Old School Roof ’ introduc t ionxvand ‘The Allotment’ are the products of two such requests. ‘School Roof ’was written for a Cat Crimes anthology with the sub-theme of differenttimes, and I was asked by that loveable editorial trinity of Gorman,Greenberg, and Segriff to do something quintessentially English. Longan admirer of the school adventures of the likes of Billy Bunter, TomMerry, and even Tom Brown, I decided that that’s where I’d set my story—an archetypal English boarding school in the dog days of the 1890s . . .complete with an obligatory school bully and, of course, a cat.‘The Allotment’ came about as a result of a request from author andeditorMartin Edwards to write something quintessentially North English foran anthology project of such tales for the Crime Writers’ Association. Iaccepted the challenge and set to work on something that transferred toEngland the American small town darkness and meticulously researchedsocial detail of Stephen King, mixing in a liberal dose of Peter Lovesey’sslowly unveiling suspense-style in the process. I created my own CalderValley town of Luddersedge and filled it with a potentially huge cast ofeveryday bit players . . . and the result was a great success—so great that,within a couple of weeks, the story sold in the U.S. to Ellery Queen’s MysteryMagazine. However, Editor Janet Hutchings asked for a couple of changesfor its appearance in EQMM—changes I was happy to make and which inno way affected a reader’s enjoyment—but it appears here in its originalform.For many, the abuse of children is the most heinous crime imaginable . . .even more horrific and unforgivable, in its brutal theft of innocence, thanthe taking of actual life. The U.S. lawyer and author Andrew Vachss hasmade this field his life work, both in the courtroom and, with the creation ofhis anti-hero Burke, on the fiction bookshelves, and I thought I’d like tohave a shot myself. ‘A Time To Dance’—a truly short story (fewer than2,000 words—a record for me! I have titles that long!)—sees Koko Tate takeon a cycle of retribution which he believes to be the only hope for a youngboy but one with which he is considerably less than comfortable. The storyoriginally appeared in the short-lived (and truly dire) English magazine,Dark Asylum.‘TheMain Event’ always goes down a storm with audiences. It’s virtuallya one-act play with but a single set, and its central premise—a most unusualmethod of poisoning—is, I believe, entirely preposterous. But I’m informed(reliably, I hope) that it works incredibly well and moves like an expresstrain. I’ll let you be the judge. It appeared in an anthology entitled MurderMost Delicious and has since been reprinted four times.Peter CrowtherxviFirst Lady Murders was the title of an anthology of (yes, you’ve guessed it)murder stories featuring real First Ladies. The brief, offered by NancyPickard, asked only that contributors picked their First Lady and let Nancyknow—I chose Edith Bolling Wilson and decided to set the action in theWhite House gardens. My one small problem was that I didn’t know toomuch about theWhite House gardens (apart from the fact they were probablybigger than mine), so I searched bookstores for reference material andspent what seemed like hours on the web, both to no avail. In desperation,I called the White House. Within one week, a booklet detailing the WhiteHouse’s grounds plopped through my mailbox. The story pretty muchwrote itself from then on.When the Berlin Wall came down, I foresaw problems. At the time, Ijotted down a few notes outlining a potential story set in and around thenewly-liberated East and left it at that. A few years later, another Cat Crimesproject reared its furry head and I rescued the notes and wrote ‘Reunification.’It was considered a little too downbeat and a little too ‘nothing muchhappens’ (actually, nothing at all happens) and the editors passed on it.Since then, it’s appeared in A Treasury of Cat Mysteries, and I confess to alasting fondness for it.Which brings us to the final story in this book.‘Cold Comforts’ was, I think, either my third or fourth Koko story.We’djust gotten through a particularly hard winter in England, with news reportsfilled with true horror stories of old people dying of hypothermia inunheated homes and run-down tenements.My own mum was fairly poorlyeven though—living in a self-contained apartment at the top of ourhouse—she was very warm and well looked after. Anyway, I got to thinkingabout old folks—which, so long as we don’t die young, we’ll all be ourselvesone fine day—and about maybe someone taking responsibility for their‘comfort’ into their own hands. It mixes in a large amount of poetry—something I’ve done elsewhere from time to time, most notably in theoff-beat vampire tale ‘Too Short A Death’—and includes winter in NewYork (my favorite time in that city) plus, of course, Koko Tate.And that’s it for this time.Anyone who knows me or who may have read my various articles andcolumns or who has possibly listened to me ramble on at conventions (bothon and off the stage) will know of my great and enduring love of shortfiction. This is my sixth collection of the stuff and there’s another one(Jewels in the Dust) due later this year . . . so if you enjoy this lot, the goodnews is there’s more to come and still more being written. introduc t ionxviiRight now—Saturday 4th of February 2012 (about 10 years and 11months after my younger self first penned an earlier version of this Foreword)—I’m looking out of my office, seeing a dusting of snow on thechurch roof next door. I’m busy working on a zombie story for my chum,Stephen Jones; the second book in my alien invasion trilogy, Forever Twilight;and, when I can get back to it, my big mainstream novel (set in New York,of course), Thanksgiving.All sorts of adventures await me . . . as, of course, they await you, too. Solet’s stay in touch. By all means drop me a line sometime (p.crowther3@btinternet.com) and let me know what you think of these tales. Writing issuch a lonely life that it’s always nice to know there’s someone out there,living your stories.Meanwhile, look after yourselves and those you care for . . . and keep onreading!Peter CrowtherGrosvenor House in Hornsea, EnglandFebruary 2012From an original version by Peter CrowtherHarrogate, EnglandMarch 2001