IT'S A CRIME! (OR A MYSTERY...)

2010

I am just taking a few minutes to wish you a happy new year and all the best for 2010.  I am well aware that for some of us, 2009 was not the best of years and it presented quite a few challenges and disappointments.  Therefore I hope we all find better days in 2010 and that some of our dreams will turn into reality.

Of the positives in 2009, I am pleased to have discovered further debut authors and to have seen others reach the giddy heights of books 3, 4, 5 or even 6.  May your glorious output continue and continue to be published.  On a sadder note, I am also aware that some have lost their publishers, but the converse is also true with 2010 about to deliver more debut authors.  Good luck to all who seek to entertain me by spinning a crime fiction yarn!

To all reading this, I wish you a happy new year and a good year in 2010 with good health, peace, happiness and prosperity.  Let's hope that our crime and other tensions remain on the page, in fiction.

Dame P D James Guest Edits on BBC Radio 4's Today Programme

This morning's programme included some great stuff from P D James.  Here's the iplayer link.

• At 1:50:00 into the programme, PDJ talks about violence in crime fiction and on screen with Ian Blair and Lynda La Plante.
• At 2:15:00 and with a scalpel sharp approach, PDJ takes the BBC's Director General, Mark Thompson to task on the BBC's direction, quality of programming, job specifications, salaries and more.

Don't miss it!

The Disappeared - M R Hall

Officially published on 1 Jan 2010, The Disappeared is the second in the Jenny Cooper 'coroner series' by M R Hall, introduced in The Coroner last year.  Here, Cooper faces an unidentified 'Jane Doe' corpse and a distraught mother, Mrs Amira Jamal, as The Disappeared opens.  As with The Coroner, it's Hall's remarkably intricate plotting that keeps the pages turning as the reader has no idea what could possibly some next.  Also like The Coroner, Hall engages in a theme.  With The Coroner it was youths in custody and with The Disappeared he explores Muslim radicalism.

The Literary World in the New Year's Honours List

In comparison with previous years, the list of those in the publishing industry is shorter for 2010.  Congratulations go to:

• Ronald Gordon (Dick) King -Smith for services to children's literature.
• Ms Lauren Child, author and illustrator for services to literature.
• Ms Anthea Bell for services to literature and literary translation.
• Lemn Sissay, poet and performer for services to literature.
• Ms Helen Fraser, lately MD of Penguin UK for services to the publishing industry.

University Challenge on Twitter

Some people across the UK and Ireland are (potentially) about to make fools of themselves tonight; while having fun, of course.  We've decided to play along with University Challenge as it is broadcast live, tweeting our answers live on twitter.  A potential embarrassment of riches or simply just some good old Christmas malarkey?  But across the stately homes of the aforementioned places, it could look like this.  Hic!

[Click on pic for bigger version if you feel the need.]

Dead Tomorrow - Peter James

Following his early December interview on BBC Radio Wales and appearances in Newport and Cardiff libraries, I picked up Dead Tomorrow, the fifth in the Roy Grace series by Peter James.  And now I know why these novels sell so well.  What came across so evidently in his talk was James’s attention to detail.  Delightfully, you will find this in Dead Tomorrow which makes for one of the most realistically portrayed police investigations I have read in a few years.  With a very contemporary plot that plays out more as a chase thriller than an intricate layering of clues and red herrings, Dead Tomorrow's 532 pages move like the breeze.  And James ensures we are never far away from the impact on direct victims and those around them.  This is not crime fiction for those seeking the gratuitous; this is crime fiction to educate and make you think.

The Frugal Life – Piper Terrett (NON-CRIME)

Here’s another good (non-crime fiction) book for the festive market and one I consider an investment.  It’s also another timely tome as the UK lags behind in coming out of the recession and rumours abound that a second wave might hit our shores.  Many are feeling the pinch and many are reviewing the way they spend their money.  Thus, The Frugal Life, being packed full of tips on this topic is full of good advice.  Neither is this a book to dishearten, for as the subtitle says, this is one about “How to Spend Less and Live More”.

Happy Health and safety and welfare and equality at Christmas

I was sent this joke (or set of jokes) earlier by a friend.  I could not resist sharing so I have copied it in below.  Have yourself a Merry Little Christmas!

Book Posts Coming Up

I was pleased that I caught up with a couple of book blog posts earlier today.  Also, I hope to get these out, in order, before we break for the festive holidays:

• The Frugal Life – Piper Terrett (non-crimefic book on watching your pennies in these times of austerity from an author who practises and does not preach)
• Dead Tomorrow – Peter James (the proof copy could double up as a door stop, but when reading this thriller those pages go flickety flick, flick, flick and faster than the cars he likes to race)
• City of Thieves – Cyrus Moore (City-based thriller that lifts the lid on insider trading and corruption)
• Blacklands – Belinda Bauer (an engaging début coming in January 2010 written from the point of view of a boy seeking resolution for his family after a tragedy).

I also have some comments to come on the 2010 Book Club TV programme in the UK: that is the follow-on for the previously successful Richard & Judy incarnation.  I believe phase two may be both missing the point and missing a trick...

Finally, there will be a post on academics seeking your help in the world of crime fiction, especially in relation to WWII and the Nazis.  I know some of you are experts in this area, so please keep your eyes peeled for this post before we see in the new year.

Comments left on 09/12 are likely to see a delay in publication as I will not have access to the internet for the most of the 24hr period.  I'll catch you later in the week. Enjoy your reading!

Complete And Utter Zebu: The Shocking Lies We're Told Every Day – Simon Rose and Steve Caplin (NON-CRIME)

I’ve noted this is not a crime book (in the usual fictional blog-throughput sense), but you may care to differ when you read the content and think about crime.  With a sub-title of “The Shocking Lies We’re Told Every Day”, Complete and Utter Zebu will leave you wondering if legal action ought to be taken.  It will also make you laugh and if it arrives in your house for Christmas, expect to hear cries of “Well, I never knew that! Did you know…” and have your attention diverted from the sprouts as someone regales a little story from within.  And if you read the zebu story on which the title is based, you may start to look at that turkey in a different light (wondering if you knew enough about where it came from).

Complete and Utter Zebu is perfect for this time of year because it’s the typical festive book of short articles with something to capture everyone’s attention and it’s also highly topical, managing to take in some very recent scandals.

A Quiet Belief in Angels – R. J. Ellory

There is one sentence in this novel that sums it up perfectly, as imparted by our narrator, Joseph Calvin Vaughan:

‘It was a life, but so distant from what I’d wished.’

A Quiet Belief in Angels is the story of the life of Joseph Vaughan and how much of his life is stolen away, how parts of the lives of others are stolen around him, and how lives are taken through the simple act of murder.

The British MP's Job Specification?

Just wondering if it had this on it recently...

Rethinking the e-inking of our beloved books

Until one certain moment yesterday, I was sitting in the camp that thought the original hard copy book would simply never disappear because e-readers have their limits.  One example given is that people love to read in the bath and the e-reader is simply not up to this job.  But... Do you remember the toothbrush that risked repetitive strain injury before the electric version was invented?  Do you remember the advent of the shower radio?  It's only a question of time before someone/a company ensures our e-readers are suitable for water-logged areas, surely?

Could the e-book eventually become so bath friendly that the technology could be installed as easily as an electric shower?  (With font sizes at the control of the reader for easy reading...)

Could the screen be interchangeable with a flick of the button switch to TV if you really wanted it to?  Or to an audio version of your chosen tome?

And what of the book club?

[ Could the jacuzzi become another host location for this?  (And possibly the book launch party?)

The book as we know it now could definitely become a collector's item, and I hope that is the case over possible extinction.

[Apologies for the pictures.  I did a couple of sketches on paper and then took photographs. No apologies for the sketches however - that's about all I am capable of these days, along with colouring in.  I just fancied some fun on a cold Friday evening.]

The Literary Review's 2009 Bad Sex in Fiction Award goes to...

...Jonathan Littell for The Kindly Ones.  The novel tells the story of the Holocaust through the eyes of one of the executioners.

In an interesting development this year, this is the first time the winning novel has been one in translation, as The Kindly Ones was originally written in French and was translated by Charlotte Mandell.  So for the first time, we can safely say that two pairs of hands were involved in the winning passages.  I wonder if this could lead to the consternation that developed at the CWA when crime in translation became so popular?  But at least the translator is recognised there.

Chris’s Christmas Tapas Bar

Defying the current economy, the It’s a Crime Restaurant is expanding as our front of house man has now come up with his menu.  All these superb dishes are available all the year round for your delectation via local independent bookshops, chains, other outlets and of course, Amazon.  Are you ready to fancy a bite or nine?

Crime Fiction Feast 2009

Here at Chateau Crime Fiction, we have decided to lay out our recommendations for a Christmas Feast of Crime Fiction in the form of a menu.  They are based on books read in 2009 - those enjoyed the most.  Please note that none of the contributing chefs have been paid by us for their sterling efforts and neither did your proprietor mistress receive any form of payment for their inclusion on the menu.

 

We hope you enjoy this year's menu.  (Our front of house man may provide a further menu next week.  But it's the really busy season, you understand...)

Sworn to Silence - Linda Castillo

Sworn to Silence from Linda Castillo, published by Macmillan in the UK, comes across as a debut of sorts, but Castillo is a prolific writer who has won a number of awards.  It appears that with Sworn to Silence we now see her published for the first time in the UK with a UK publisher, whereas previous titles have been available from US publishers only.  With this novel, the interest for me lay with its setting within the Amish community and remained so after reading.

The town of Painters Mill is part Amish, part 'English'.  Its Chief of Police is Kate Burkholder, a young woman who chose not to enter the church when she turned eighteen.  Thus she was put under the bann, left the town and had a wild time for a while before joining the police.  Some sixteen years later, still young and a tad inexperienced, she has returned to Painters Mill and to the top job.

Keeping Your Costs Down This Christmas - Voucher Savings on Books

Voucher Codes UK have kindly let me know of some vouchers they have for saving money on purchases.  Vouchers for money off at:

• Waterstone's
• BooksDirect

• DK Books.

Borders Books in the UK - troubled times

Sadly, before the day is out I suspect we will learn that Borders in the UK is in administration.  It has been no secret that the group has been for sale for a while and it was reported that W H Smith ceased talks to buy 36 of their 45 outlets last Friday.

If last week ended badly for Borders, this week started on an accelerating worse-to-come.  Mainly via The Bookseller, we learnt yesterday that staff were instructed in the morning that customer orders could not be taken in store.  By the afternoon, online customer orders had drawn to a halt.  By last night, three suppliers were no longer supplying Borders with stock.

It has been reported that Borders is thought to be still in negotiations with HMV, owner of Waterstone's, amongst others.  However, the painful developments of yesterday suggest to me that notice of administration might come as early as today.  This would mean the end of Borders trading as we know it, but not necessarily the end as seen with Woolworth's.  Let's remember that part of The Works' chain survived under new ownership and according to an article in The Independent, they are also doing well this year.  As with any troubled business, those areas operating with some success have a chance to continue to do so in another format.

There is never a good time for such as this, but in the run up to Christmas it is worse.  My thoughts go out to employees of Borders and associated companies, including their suppliers.

Today's article in The Independent by James Thompson also includes an interesting analysis of the retail book market in the UK.

The Wisdom of Children to Lighten the Mood

It's not been a pleasant weekend with gales and rain battering these shores, but something landed in my email inbox earlier that I thought I'd share with you.  There is nothing like the wisdom of children to lighten the mood.  So, here we have a few gems, copied in as received:

Agatha Raisin There Goes the Bride - M. C. Beaton

With There Goes the Bride, M. C. Beaton is on her twentieth novel in the Agatha Raisin series and I have to confess that I have not read any of the previous nineteen.  This did not prove a hindrance as all series characters were introduced with a little backstory and/or a quirk of character or appearance.  However, there were rather a lot of them on times, making it a tad difficult to keep up. (Cue: look at previous pages.)

By the time of There Goes the Bride we have a seasoned Agatha: in her fifties with two successful businesses behind her (PR followed by private detection); conscious of her ageing looks and potentially withering abilities; and with an arthritic hip creaking in.  As There Goes the Bride opens, Agatha still feels something for ex-husband James Lacey and takes a well-earned holiday to brush up on his interests in history, just to prove herself.  Unfortunately, James - on holiday in the same places with his bride-to-be, Felicity - spots her, so the scene is set for some later accusations of 'stalking'.

The Armageddon Trade - Clem Chambers

Partly to further investigate authors in The Curzon Group and partly to support a recent job application - thus keeping me in the mood and 'with' the culture - I embarked on reading a few financial thrillers.  Published by No Exit Press, the author of The Armageddon Trade, Clem Chambers does work in the City.  Indeed, he is the CEO at ADVFN, 'Europe's number one stocks and shares Web site'. 

Set in the near future, as 9/11/11 approaches, The Armageddon Trade focuses on rising trading star Jim who needs no complicated mathematical modelling to interpret stock charts and maximise profits for his bank.  In the background, the usual suspects - when it comes to terrorists - are planning and coordinating something big.  But Jim's talents do not go unnoticed as he receives a job offer from a well-known and renowned dealer on the scene.  As it transpires, the powerful and mysterious Max Davas may be even more powerful than he first appears.

I so wanted to love this book, but it did not deliver as it said on the label.  The Armageddon Trade went into sci-fi and computer games.  By the end it had taken in a 'boys' own' culture and reminded me of Daniel Craig's first outing as James Bond on the screen.  One for the boys this Christmas, I think.  Especially City boys who love a fast pace...

Crime Writing Conference: Abergavenny, south Wales

Academi is holding "Criminal Intent: Crime Writing Conference for the Valleys 2009" on Saturday 14 November 2009 at St Mary's Priory in Abergavenny from 10am to 4pm.  Participants include Katherine John, Bernard Knight, John Williams, Caspar Walsh, Glen Peters, Simon Hall, Graham Hartill, Simon Lewis, Anita Flowers, Lindsay Ashford and Phil Forder. 

See above link for details on booking and look here for the programme and a downloadable pdf of the same.

Winter Warmers - Welsh Cawl Recipe

Most countries have rustic dishes of some sort, using up bits and pieces and leftovers.  The Welsh version would have to be Cawl, which essentially uses up winter root vegetables and the traditional, good old Welsh leek.  It can be made with lamb or beef; although as a child, my mother always preferred to make it with beef (shin pieces).  And so, in my adulthood, I have always made it with beef.  Quantities can be varied as it is a dish that uses up those bits and pieces from your larder/fridge.  Here’s one I made earlier (for about six servings):

Quigley's Return...

There'll be fireworks in Newcastle for another reason this evening. Today marks the publication of Sheila Quigley's The Road to Hell, her first novel with publisher Tonto Books and the fifth in her Seahills Estate series.

Congratulations to all!

Bestselling Crime Author Peter James heads west...

Bestselling crime author Peter James is heading west, but this time not as far as the Turks and Caicos Islands.  No, he's visiting libraries in Bristol, Newport and Cardiff to talk about his latest novel Dead Tomorrow.  Schedule and contact details are as follows:

1st December @ 7.30pm
Bristol Central Library, College Green in association with Borders, Bristol.
Tickets £2. To reserve tickets please call: 0117 903 250

2nd December @ 2.30pm
Newport Central Library, John Frost Square, Newport.
Tickets are free but must be reserved. To reserve tickets please call: 01633 656 656

2nd December @ 6.30pm
Cardiff Central Library, The Hayes, Cardiff.
Tickets £2. To reserve tickets please call: 02920 780920

(Info from Midas Public Relations.)

Three Weeks to Say Goodbye - C. J. Box

Again, thanks to those pretty good PR people at FMcM Associates in London, I have read a novel I'd otherwise have missed.  Three Weeks to Say Goodbye from C. J. Box, an award winning writer in the US, is a story based on something that happened to friends of the author.  It's available in the UK from Corvus, the Grove Atlantic imprint on 1 December. So, what's it all about?

With a sound marriage, there was only one thing that escaped Jack and Melissa McGuane for a few years: parenthood.  Eventually they decide to adopt and the beautiful baby that is Angelina comes into their lives.  They now have a daughter; a daughter to whom they have bonded.  But when Angelina is nine months old they discover that the dottings and crossings did not take place to the required level for their adoption.  Angelina's father did not sign away his parental rights.  More to the point, the biological father is but an eighteen year old and his father is a federal judge who wants to 'do the right thing' and see responsibility being taken.  Enter Judge John Moreland and his son Garrett with the best offer they can make as the law is on their side: the McGuanes have 'Three Weeks to Say Goodbye' to their adopted daughter Angelina.

Ellis Peters Historical Award 2009

Last night, the Ellis Peters Historical Award for 2009 went to Philip Kerr for If the Dead Rise Not, Quercus.

Philip Kerr being congratulated by Janet Laurence, Chair of the Judges.

Philip Kerr delivering his witty acceptance speech.

Note: there are two outgoing people on the judging panel this year (I forget which).  Replacements are Barry Forshaw of Crime Time and The Independent, and the youthful Jake Kerridge of the Daily Telegraph.

The evening was organised with aplomb by Sam Eades of Headline.

For some, tweeting was put aside for a bit of real face to face contact lubricated with wine.  On my part, how good to meet you all and to put faces and voices to the maximum 140 character tweets!

Jessica Mann and Sadistic Misogyny and Newspaper Accuracy

I just happened to be on twitter yesterday evening when tweets came through about the articles in the weekend's Daily Telegraph and The Observer.  Needless to say, so were a few others and a debate ensued.  What surprised me then was how this was suddenly news.  It had been debated before, on a couple of blogs, at the time Jessica Mann's original article was published in Standpoint Magazine.  But what appalled me yesterday was the inaccuracy in the reporting and it has now spread across the net today.

First the DT.  The headline was "Book reviewer quits over 'increasing sexist violence'". Well, no, she hasn't actually.  In Standpoint Mann concluded "So however many more outpourings of sadistic misogyny are crammed on to the bandwagon, no more of them will be reviewed by me."

The Observer. The headline was accurate, but oh no, the standfirst then said "Leading novelist says graphic depictions of sadistic misogyny have become so extreme she refuses to review any more fiction".  Again, no, Mann did not say she wasn't going to review any more fiction.  See above.

Today, this piece of news has been picked up across the Alantic.  Canada's Quill & Quire carries the heading: "Novelist stops reviewing because of rampant misogyny in crime fiction".  The first paragraph ends "...that she’s giving up reviewing any more fiction".  (Again see above.)  The New York Times kept it short and snappy and accurate.  The New Yorker also managed to maintain accuracy on Mann's words but shunted off into the big feminist debate.

Now for some perspective.  Jessica Mann is declining to read crime novels of a certain type.  These are the ones she sees as:

"Each psychopath is more sadistic than the last and his victims' sufferings are described in detail that becomes ever more explicit, as young women are imprisoned, bound, gagged, strung up or tied down, raped, sliced, burned, blinded, beaten, eaten, starved, suffocated,  stabbed, boiled or buried alive."

On this morning's Today programme, she was given just over five minutes to debate her thoughts, along with Selina Walker, Publishing Director at Transworld with responsibility for their crime list.  You can listen to that section here.  But for the perspective, do note that Mann said this type of novel for her was "a very small proportion" and probably less than one tenth of the 600 crime novels published annually in the UK.

She added that this "small proportion of books will not be in my review list any more".

So she's not giving up, she's merely passing on a few that don't suit her tastes and she's had the courage to say so.  I'd guess that others have already been doing this for a while, but in silence.

Family Life - Paul Charles

I first came across Paul Charles at the Harrogate Crime Writing Festival; last year, I believe.  He sounded interesting, with a series set in Camden, London, so I made a note to follow up.  It took a while to do so and by the time I did, he was also on to his second series, this one with an Irish setting.  Thanks to some pretty good PR people at FMcM Associates in London, I have now read the second in this second series: Family Life.

And what a perfect title for this novel, published by Brandon.  At the start of Family Life, various members of the Sweeney family arrive at the farm home of grandparents Liam and Colette for Liam's birthday.  However, one of the offspring is late - the youngest son Joe, who has inherited the farm to continue Liam's good work - and it is Inspector Starrett who arrives in his place and to deliver some heartbreaking news, for Joe's body has been discovered at a site that was one of the sets for the TV drama The Hanging Gale.

All in family Sweeney are in shock and we soon learn that Joe was a 'good man' in all aspects.  So why did the best of the clan die in such suspicious circumstances?  Was he murdered?  And if so, why?