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

The Da Vinci Code hits the big screen...

It is interesting to see that the movie of the book has hit the big screen and that established UK media reviewers of movies are apparently united in considering this thriller movie to be not at all thrilling.  The book itself has been much harried by many, including well established authors of crime and thriller fiction.

I accidentally found myself to be the owner of two copies of the book, neither of which I have read.  There's nothing like crane sized dollops of hype to move me in the direction of supreme avoidance of said hyped object.

My father read the book and didn't even mention it in passing, which suggests complete ambivalence.  (I get to know really quickly if he thinks something is beyond excellent or absolutely dire.)  My mother read it and enthused so much I reckon she enjoyed that book more than giving birth to a daughter.  (The result I mean - I'm not so ignorant that I think the process of delivery is an enjoyable experience.)  An aunt of mine was similarly fascinated, by all accounts.  My ex-next door neighbour informed me that her mother-in-law found the book an excellent distraction when in hospital recovering from an operation.  (And given how quickly the NHS sends you home post-op, there's proof, if you need it, that the book's a page turner...)

So what of the impact of "The Da Vinci Code" as it extends from extensively bought and read book to glossy movie screen production with millions more about to get hooked?  For one thing, last weekend's UK Sunday paper travel sections featured Paris quite a bit.  I expect France can look forward to a surge in tourism this summer. 

Secondly, I predict that cryptologists will be more widely acknowledged.  Last Friday night's BBC programme "Have I Got News for You", (the king of satire), highlighted a statement issued by a French society of cryptologists where they felt at pains to point out that not all female cryptologists are young and sexy like the character played by Audrey Tautou in the movie.  Feeling obliged to suggest that most are older and possibly dowdy will certainly get them noticed.

I've seen the trailers and think that this may be the start of the decline of Tom Hanks's career.  Age comes to us all.  If you're a woman, Hollywood is much less than kind.  If you're a man, then you can go on to a ripe old age and, on screen, shimmy on up to a woman half your age with no suggestion that the younger woman may find your age a tad repulsive.  So Hanks still has a very good career ahead of him, but I think his appearance in DVC will be the start of less calls to him.  He's not looking fresh anymore and that was always his strength.

Paul Bettany plays an albino monk.  From what I've seen in the trailers that's another character to add to nightmares.  For Bettany, it may provide a future in Hollywood where he's always getting calls to play baddies.  They love British men as baddies - Alan Rickman was called upon and delivered so well in "Die Hard" and "Robin Hood Prince of Thieves".  It's only Tom Wilkinson who has not been tarred with that particular brush.  Unless of course, your name is Sean Connery...

It is likely to rain next weekend and I'm having a weekend away.  If the weather holds good, I may just have my first experience of sailing.  If it rains, there are lots of other things to do but I've suggested the cinema as a distraction.  As the potential "bums on seats" brigade will be pre-booking DVC or queuing for entry, a lesser known British movie will be the one that catches my eye.

Confetti, the movie looks pretty damn good.  It's about a competition for the "Most Original Wedding of the Year" and follows three shortlisted couples' attempts to win.  At stake is a dream house worth £500,000, a cover shoot with "Confetti" magazine and the dream day of their lives...  Two top (and gay) male wedding planners assist the couples in their efforts to win.  The "original" wedding themes include tennis, Hollywood musicals and naturism.  (Get naked, get noticed?)

The most attractive part for me is the fact that the cast is littered with excellent comic actors and that the scenes were improvised.  The cast includes the wonderful Martin Freeman ("The Office" and stand-in porn star for "love actually"); Jessica Stevenson ("Spaced", "The Royle Family" and "Bob and Rose"); Alison Steadman ("Secrets and Lies", "Life is Sweet", "Topsy Turvy", "Fat Friends"), Jimmy Carr (stand up and so much more...).  That list is not exhaustive.

Well there you go, if it rains next weekend I'll be attempting to see "Confetti" and not DVC.  Likewise, my big holiday of the year is planned for Venice, flying over France to get there and stopping off or down.  Good luck to the producers of both movies.  I'm just a person who prefers less hype, less sophisticated and glossy marketing and a bit of laugh sometimes.  Some of the reviews of DVC note that the laughs that come are unintentional, so that doesn't rule it out for me at some point in the future.  And if really good talent in writing thrillers and crime fiction dries up for a while, I may just pick up the book.

John Lawton and the next in the Troy series...

There are frequently visits to this site from those seeking information on John Lawton's "Troy" series of books.  Today, a friend kindly sent me this link, alerting me to the likely publication date for the sixth book in this wonderful series (June 2007).  The book is to be called "The Second Violin" and the time period for the setting is not yet known.

The information that Amazon imparts on this page is interesting as it says very little about the book but does note the progress to date on film production.  The "Troy" character has been optioned with "Riptide" the first book to be proposed for filming.  The scriptwriter has been selected - Michael Hirst, whose Elizabeth (with Cate Blanchett) won him a Bafta original screenplay nomination - and the script has apparently been accepted, with the current challenge being to find the right director.  Whoever wrote the blurb for Amazon is a definite fan as the text includes the words "...Thus it would foolish, I think, to drop Lawton now."

So, if all goes well that's about 12 long months I have to wait to enjoy the next book in the series...

One last thing, I also note that Lawton is scheduled to appear at the St Hilda's Crime and Mystery Conference, taking place in Oxford over the weekend of 18-20 August 2006.

Thanks to he who watches, Minette Walters afficionado or not...

... and a very timely text from him, I managed to catch the great MW in one episode of a BBC series last night, called "Eating with..."

If you manage to find a site within the BBC's main site, please let me know.  I think the series has bombed - even before it started due to lack of appropriate publicity!

In summary, if you want a good eating experience with the great crimfic writer, MW, then it has to be Sunday lunch.  Following the BSE crisis in the 80s, Walters determined that the food on her table must be traceable to its source.  (Hey, ho!  That's what we hear from Gordon Ramsay, Jamie Oliver, Giles Coren and that over-inflated-with-(mainly Welsh)-prejudice-bloke who goes by the name of A. A. Gill, these days.  It appears that Walters was ahead of the game, but quietly and in her own family environment, a thinking mother at the hub...)

Walters has now managed to achieve the privilege, which she obviously enjoys immensely, of sourcing the food on her table from her own farm.  The "Biggles" pigs - there were three of them running wild - had a place in MW's heart.  But then she fed them and said that it was best that they weren't too full.  An event was coming up.  A trip to Cannes for the festival, perhaps?  Er, no.  It was a trip to the abattoir.  Biggles (one of) with a spotted hairy coat, later became a loin (very nice, apparently), an assortment of cuts, a selection of bits for home made sausages and a smiley face that was half a head, sans hair, in a waterfilled  saucepan.

I am not criticising; not one iota.  The food on our plates should be enjoyed.  If you have the ability to grow or nurture your own, then so be it.  It's the best food that can make it to your table as you have control of the "what goes in, comes out" scenario.  And that scenario determines flavour.  MW also grows "crops", so the leafy greens are freshly culled before heading to the plate.

Nice work, I say!  It's just a shame I saw the three "Biggles" running around in the field before the cull.  I still see them as pets and not joints.

MW's mum loved the "pressure cooker" and her enthusisam for hams cooked in it propelled MW to fresh cooking, sans jelly, and the avoidance of the sound of said jelly.

All in all, it was a great insight into what MW has become domestically, but there was no insight to her books, apart from the blood stained face of actress Pauline Quirke, who played "The Sculptress", within the opening sequence. 

Blood matters not.

This was about food and MW allowed the cameras into her normally private domain so we could see and understand her views.

Good telly!  Shame about the outcome of the living Biggles!

Books to be enjoyed: Simon Beckett's "The Chemistry of Death" and John Sandford's "Broken Prey", as well as news of Laurie R King for UK readers...

I'll be back on the weekend with my thoughts on the recently read Simon Beckett's "The Chemistry of Death", as well as John Sandford's "Broken Prey".  Both very worth a read!

And an aside of some noted excitement for UK readers, for now: Laurie R King has a new UK publisher for her "Kate Martinelli" series.  The series has been out of print for some time, but it's about to hit the shelves again at the end of August.  The launch of the backlist of the series under new publisher "Poisoned Press" will coincide with the launch of King's newbie for the series "The Art of Detection".

I've had a copy of "Night Work" on my shelves for some time; but then, a good friend of mine, who is a King afficionado suggested I put that on hold and read the series in order starting with "A Grave Talent".  The result was that I immediately ordered the two books I did not have in the series from the US.  King's Martinelli series looks to be a classic based on the first book, which I so devoured and so was impressed with.

As a result, I'm planning a feature on King's Martinelli series in late August, when I've read all of the Martinelli series to date.  Based on "A Grave Talent", (yet again - I am still to read the others...), the Martinelli books make great and satisfying crime fiction reading with originality.  As Rankin makes Edinburgh his patch; as Margaret Murphy makes Liverpool here, so does King make San Francisco her own domain.  We see it through the eyes of someone who lives there, day by day.  "A Grave Talent" has a unique setting - one where a land owner created an environment of his own dream, with others who pursued the same dream following and investing...  - a good life for them perhaps; but an added challenge when it comes to investigating a crime.  King's characterisations and the dynamics of the relationships involved are keenly observed and beautifully portrayed.  I finished AGT wanting so much more of these characters and their lives.  And that's such a good and suspenseful place to end a book, even if I had resolution on the plot within.

Laurie R King.  The Kate Martinelli series.  Please make a note in your UK diaries.  If you missed it before; you cannot miss it now.  That would be like missing a superb vintage of wine...

There are so many good books out there - established authors with publishers who continue to publish based on continuous results; new crime fiction authors who make it to the shelves with enough marketing budget that we notice their new novel; and finally, great authors who ran into the shingle shore with one publisher, but who managed to find a life boat for their work, where the life boat will do us all proud.

So much that is so good out there and so much good reading.

Let me know if you've found something else that's escaped my attention so far...

[email protected] and the "Love Your Local Bookshop" campaign

The Guardian carried this article about the number of independent bookshops going out of business in the UK - 40 in the year to date.  It draws attention to one success story, " ...[email protected] in Hertfordshire, which has launched a 'Love Your Local Bookshop' campaign. Its co-owner, Stephen Poulter, said he did not blame people for buying supermarket bestsellers at half price, but added: 'The trouble is that, in five years, if we're not here, supermarkets are all you'll have to choose from.' "

Information about the campaign can be found on this page.  Interestingly, [email protected] only opened its doors in January 2005.  Starting up an independent book shop so recently must have taken immense courage and be the result of detailed local market research.  Reading the site's pages, it's obvious that [email protected] is something of an interactive and dynamic book shop.  Firstly, there's the campaign, for which they garnered the support of Melvyn Bragg for the launch.  They've also attracted other big names for events: the prolific children's book writer Jacqueline Wilson; Kate Adie; Sheila Hancock and crime fiction writer Martina Cole.  Their "Meet the Author" season continues on July 11th with Anna Massey talking about her new autobiography "Telling Some Tales" and a late November sheduling for Alan Titchmarsh talking about his childhood memoir "Nobbut a Lad".

In addition, their site notes that "We are always very keen to collaborate with local clubs, societies and arts organisations as well as educational institutions to arrange joint events and other initiatives. We have already worked very productively with BArts, Broxbourne Leisure Services and the Hoddesdon branch of Hertfordshire County Library Service".

The residents of Hoddesdon must be very pleased to have such a book shop on their doorstep.

All the best to [email protected] !

Shadow Man by Cody McFadyen; a powerful and entertaining thriller début in 2006

Cody McFadyen, says the site for Random House, Inc. "...lives with his family in California. Shadow Man is his first novel".  Not much about this début author there then, best to read the book to make an opinion.

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The cover said:

"Meet the most memorable villain since Hannibal Lecter."

"Face a killer who will haunt your dreams."

"Read the outstanding thriller début of 2006."

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So what did I think?

Yes, it's a gripping thriller and a page turner.  I didn’t want to put it down.

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But now for some context – essential – as it’s the sort of book that might not attract me these days.  I’m bored with the following:

1 Serial-killer-hunting based books.

2 A "gorefest" – something almost fundamental to the serial killer novel.

3 Investigators, of any and all sorts, having a personal involvement in their cases.  There are six degrees of separation, so we think, but for investigators in fiction it’s only ever two or one.  That’s a tad unrealistic, although a serial killer likes the thrill of the chase and the power of beating those who do the chasing, which makes a shorter route on the "degrees of separation" scale.

4 A protagonist so scarred and fraught and with intense personal issues.  Why?

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So, inconclusion, I really could have hated this book, but I didn’t.  I devoured it; turning the pages until the bittersweet end.

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In a nutshell, and from the Random House, Inc., pages this time, as I simply could not attempt to do it better:

Once, Special Agent Smoky Barrett hunted serial killers for the FBI.  She was one of the best – until a madman terrorized her family, killed her husband and daughter, and left her face scarred and her soul brutalized.  Turning the tables on the killer, Smoky shot him dead – but her life was shattered forever. 
Now, Smoky dreams about picking up her weapon again.  She dreams about placing the cold steel between her lips and pulling the trigger one last time.  Because for a woman who’s lost everything, what is there left to lose?  She’s about to find out.

In all her years at the Bureau, Smoky has never encountered anyone like him – a new and fascinating kind of monster, a twisted genius who defies profilers’ attempts to understand him.  And he’s issued Smoky a direct challenge, coaxing her back from the brink with the only thing that could convince her to live.

The killer videotaped his latest crime – an act of horror that left a child motherless – then sent a message addressed to Agent Smoky Barrett.  The message is enough to shock Smoky back to work, back to her FBI team.  And that child awakens something in Smoky she thought was gone forever.  Suddenly the stakes are raised.  The game has changed.  For, as this deranged monster embarks on an unspeakable spree of perversion and murder, Smoky is coming alive again – and she’s about to face her greatest fears as a cop, a woman, a mother…and a merciless killer’s next victim.

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This is not a book for the faint hearted.  The crimes are despicable.  They are described, but not gratuitously.  It’s always a factual insight and therefore one that proves essential to the plot.

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I found the strength of this book in the characterisations.  Smoky was not the only believable character, forced into regaining her old professional life as well as her personal life; her colleagues were also, perhaps more so, extremely believable.  All had something in their lives of ultimate importance to them and the serial killer was playing a two-part game with each of them – one, "Catch me if you can on my killing spree", and two, "I know what will hurt you most and I will threaten it".  This led to more tension than a body on the rack in Tudor times.

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The characters had me page turning.  It was so easy to get to love Smoky’s team members and also to feel for the child who was left orphaned and traumatised by the killing that propelled Smoky back into the frame.

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Unlike the blurb, my most memorable event of this book will be one of the good guys and not the villain.  "Honey-love" is the key to that one.  I say no more.  I suggest you read the book.

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This is also a great page turner due to keen plotting and sharp prose.  There’s a twist too.  I won’t give you a clue.  I really think the book is worth an attentive read.

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This is a great début, with extremely good writing from Cody McFadyen.  More please!

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I think Smoky may move on to a series, and if she does, perhaps less of the cliché-ridden storytelling?  It worked here for a début, but it’s not the porridge breakfast to build on.  I’d like to see Smoky and Co. making their mark with their normal day to day; investigating the killers that have no issues with them personally.  But I’d also like to know how Smoky’s relationship with her recently mute God-daughter develops.  That child deserves recovery and a life of happiness where Smoky’s the key…

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Conclusion: a great book, even though it’s not my scene really.  That will not stop me buying the next one in the series, if there is a series, as I want to know more!  Try it!  I did and I was more than pleasantly surprised.  An original resurgence of the old serial killer plot, perhaps?

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The Shadow Man is available in the UK from May 2006.  It's in the shops now and it is indeed an outstanding thriller début.  So get reading!

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The Guardian Hay Festival 2006

This year the Festival runs from Thursday 25 May to Sunday 4 June. At the home page you can access the programme, download the whole lot and find a telephone number to make a booking or you can make your order on line. Having scanned the brochure I received in the mail, it looks as though crime fiction authors have found an oasis somewhere else in the world. However, of note, are the following:

Monday 29 May at 14:30, Carmen Posadas, Rafael Reig and Jorge Franco, described as "three of the greatest new wave of Spanish language novelists", are in conversation with Juan Cruz. All three are crime/thriller writers. There’s also a Cava reception after this session to celebrate the guests and Hay’s new Festivals in Cartagena, Colombia and Segovia, Spain. For more on these, see this page.

Sunday 28 May at 20:30 will see Jasper Fforde launching his new novel, The Fourth Bear.

Saturday 27 May at 14:30 has a "new fiction" session with Jake Arnott talking about his latest novel Johnny Come Home, which "tackles the sexual and political ferment of 70s London"; Russell Celyn Jones "pares the false identity of a riverboat pilot in Ten Seconds from the Sun"; Donna Daley Clark, who has won the Commonwealth Writers Prize for her debut novel A Lazy Eye will also talk about her award winning book. Having met both Arnott and Daley Clark last year, I can tell you that Johnny Come Home leaves the gangster land of The Long Firm series behind and focuses on the music industry, the rock element to be precise. But Arnott has carved a characteristic mark in his writing; his settings are always those of recent history, based on his own memory of the times and extensive research where he may have still been a twinkle in the eye of... Daley Clark has to be one of the most friendly, easy going, helpful and down to earth people I have ever met. I am ashamed to say that I still need to buy A Lazy Eye, let alone read it. But I made the promise to myself and I shall keep it. From what I remember, it’s about growing up in the 70s as seen through the eyes of a young boy who has a lazy eye, a father who was one of the first professional black footballers, a six foot glamorous mother and an aunt who was a witch. Daley Clark is a graduate of the University of East Anglia.

Lastly in my highlights, again on Saturday 27 May, at 19:00, Sebastian Faulks talks about his latest novel Human Traces with Tatler editor Geordie Greig. One of my all time favourite books and not at all crime fiction is Birdsong. I grew up hearing about the first world war from my mother who had seen the effects of that war on her great uncle and who had nursed him through to his death. Where the first part of Birdsong was a gripping story of passion, the second part was an enlightening and detailed story of life in the trenches. On reading, the realisation that life in the trenches was short is all too acute. Anyone who came home from that was extremely lucky, but also had a hard burden to bear for the rest of their life. Birdsong is a classic for two reasons: it’s an example of a book becoming a great success through word of mouth (deservedly) and secondly, it’s a unique story, well told, with great writing and an outstanding ability to imprint on the memory of the reader. I’ll never forget that book and it’s one that I am sure I will read again, more than once.

Alas, all the sessions I’ve focused on are within the Bank Holiday weekend, so I will be away and unable to attend. There is far more on offer at the Festival, with big names, so take a peak. As the timing coincides with UK school holidays, there is also a high number of sessions aimed at the young – and fun they look, too! I leave you with another picture from Hay on Wye.

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Cutting the mustard in crime fiction - 10 words beginning with M

Here comes a continuation of a meme that I couldn’t resist from Australian writer, Ben Peek.  He started with the letter A and said, "If you'd like to play, leave a comment. I'll give you a letter. Then you post ten words beginning with that letter in your journal and explain why they're important enough to make the cut".  I asked for a letter and promised I’d make all my words crime fiction related.  He gave me the M, plus a caveat – I was not allowed to include the word murder.  Hmm.  Mr Peek and his sense of humour…

So here goes, 10 words beginning with the letter M that are of great import when it comes to crime fiction.

Mortuary (-based crime fiction).

The undoubted queen of this sub genre is Patricia Cornwell.  She invented it when she brought us the excellent Post Mortem back in 1990 and introduced us to her protagonist, forensic pathologist Kay Scarpetta.  Since then, Kathy Reichs has added the very successful forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan to the genre.  More lately, the Brits have offered an interesting take on this, with Simon Beckett’s debut novel The Chemistry of Death.  I will feature this book at a later date.

Merciless

Crime fiction very frequently includes a body count to some extent and those committing the killings have to be downright merciless in their approach, modus operandi and belief structure.  You will definitely find the merciless in serial killer thrillers, where human life has no value to the seriously disturbed.  In my mind, the King of the Merciless has to be Thomas Harris’s creation, Hannibal Lecter.  Is there one scene in The Silence of the Lambs where Hannibal is touchy-feely and empathetic?  Does he ever help an old lady cross the road (safely)?  I rest my case.

Mystery

It is important to acknowledge that UK readers read crime fiction whereas our US counterparts read mysteries.  However labelled, crime fiction can include an element of mystery, although this is not necessary.  We may know relatively early on in the story who is responsible for the crime and then the book becomes a page turning and thrilling chase.  At the end, we express a huge sigh of relief and satisfaction, and then move on to the next in the series…  If the book is a mystery per se, we read carefully, enjoying the novel and hunting for clues, at the same time hoping to catch the author out.  But usually it’s the author who catches the reader out with a red herring or shoal of them.  The Shoal King is Andrew Taylor; I’m so looking forward to reading his latest, The Stain on the Silence.

Malfeasance

Those who are committing crimes are pursuing evil conduct and/or performing an illegal deed.  So we can always expect a heavy dollop of malfeasance in our crime fiction reading.  Think of it as a 99 where malfeasance is the great big dollop of ice cream and the rock hard flake sticking out is malice.  Moving on…

Malice

Malice – the quality of threatening evil; feeling a need to see others suffer; spitefulness; venom; cruelty; nastiness.  (So says my great on line friend, hyperdictionary.) For me the great Queen of Malice has to be Minette Walters.  Until 1993, I’d hovered about with my reading and had devoured the novels of the late great Mary Wesley from 1990 onwards.  Then, after 18 months in Canada, I returned to the UK in 1993 and found Minette Walters’s The Scold’s Bridle on the book shop shelves.  I read it and went back to the shop to buy the previous two titles. Subsequent titles have been bought in hard back as I simply could not wait!  I have previously described Walters’s novels as "Mary Wesley with menace" to my friends.  I think the word malice is interchangeable and I will not cheat on including both words in this list.  Malice, menace – Walters does it in spades and extremely well.

Mortal

This is a word that crops up in many crime fiction book titles.  Examples include: Ian Rankin’s Mortal Causes; Andrew Taylor’s The Mortal Sickness (a Lydmouth mystery); John Sandford’s Mortal Prey; Greg Iles’s Mortal Fear; Andrea Badenoch’s Mortal… There’s a good chance of death in a crime fiction novel; so mortal is a key word.

Michael

Michael - as in "Take the Michael/Mickey/Micky", but very seriously this time.  US crime writer, Michael Connelly should always be taken seriously.  His Harry Bosch series novels are smooth, engaging and flowing and that series is not the only product of Connelly’s exquisite imagination and back list.  Last year, Connelly ventured forth with a new character, Mickey Haller, in his novel The Lincoln Lawyer and proved that he can branch out into legal thrillers with exceptionally sturdy saplings.  Haller is one to watch.  Connelly is an author that those in the know have been reading for years.  If you really want to take the micky, I’d suggest you take a Connelly novel on holiday, to bed, in the garden, in the bath, on the train, on the plane.  Oh damnit, take one anywhere you choose to read.

Mo

You can "wait a mo" or you can read Mo Hayder.  With four books to date – Birdman, The Treatment, Tokyo and now Pig Island – Mo Hayder’s writing is something to watch, and very carefully, at that.  This is not an author/woman to pigeon hole.  Indeed, it is impossible when it comes to her books.  Birdman and The Treatment looked set to be the start of a series, but then she went to Tokyo.  Pig Island takes the reader to the quiet and apparently malevolent islands of Scotland. There is, however, one common theme here.  Hayder pushes the boundaries of crime fiction with every book.  She is prepared to go to places no one has gone before and to be ever so blunt and to the point with it.  Pig Island is another book I will feature later.  You can wait a mo, but you can never ignore a book from Mo Hayder, for even just one mo.

Margaret

Well, there’s the late Princess Margaret, there’s my non-princess mother and there’s also Margaret Murphy.  In crime fiction, the Murphy version, as opposed to the movie version, stands out, particularly her novel The Dispossessed.  That book was my most satisfying and engaging read in 2005.  It brought tears to my eyes – such was my emotional investment in the characters and a heart thumping surprise delivered towards the end.  The follow up, Now You See Me is also a splendid read.

Morse

Inspector Morse, the creation of Colin Dexter, cannot be ignored or overlooked when it comes to cutting the mustard in crime fiction.  Beautifully played on our TV screens by the late John Thaw, the character was all enduring until Dexter decided to kill him off.  But, that was a good decision as Morse left our fiction world at the top and not in the decline, unlike some other series characters I could mention that are being flogged to a rather slow and uninteresting death.  Many times copied, no one does it better; there is only one Morse.

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I’m all M’ed out now.  I hope I did a reasonable job, Mr Peek.

The Hay on Wye Festival, coming soon...

I received the printed brochure for the Hay Festival today, but more on that tomorrow.

In the mean time, the site has been updated and the full programme is now online, see The Hay Festival.

One view from Hay:

  This is the "Murder and Mayhem" book shop, complete with sleuth at the door.

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And another view from Hay:

Oh please, do home in and check out the spelling.  At the "Honesty Bookshop" they empty the box "dayley".

Otherwise engaged...

The recent lack of posts reflects the fact that I have been otherwise engaged for the last week or so.  Much of this time has been spent in the role of "design consultant" to the "operations director" during the course of installation of shelves in my lounge.  The shelves are greatly appreciated as they finally provide the opportunity for the unpacking of boxes of books and removal of bags and piles of books from the floor.  The walls are painted and my pictures are now on the wall.  I can see the lounge carpet in all its glory.  What more could a girl ask?  OK, there's still some residual work to be done.  I have to "finish" the shelves, i.e. oil, varnish or wax them, and then I need to organise the books.  But, it was a week of great achievement, restoring some beauty in my home life and the promise of increased organisation for the future...

A shelf is more than a simple shelf, in my books.  Done well, it's a piece of precision engineered carpentry and much more.  (Kudos where it's due, the OD did a remarkably fine job, without the aid of electrically enhanced tools, too!)  A shelf, in my mind, is a home in itself; a home for the wonderful books I collect and read and treasure.  That's why I'm still deliberating on the oil vs varnish vs wax scenario, you see.  I'd hate to think of anything oily seeping upwards against gravity and into my books.  The next phase of this operation will be a "slow burn", no doubt; the shelves have to be "just right" and the book order "perfect".  Then, my books, well, some of them, will have a comfortable and long lasting home and I will be worry free.

In between all this and some time spent on job searching, there was a bank holiday weekend here in the UK, so a couple of day trips were also enjoyed.  One of these was to the gorgeous Gower peninsula, via Swansea market and the other was a bit of a tour taking in the Brecon Beacons, Brecon itself, Hay on Wye (the "town of books"), and finally, the superb countryside from Hay down through to Abergavenny.  When I've loaded up my pictures later, I'll post a few along with some more crime novel information.

The trip to Hay was also fortuitous in allowing me to stock up on some books I've had on the "to buy pile" for ages, as well some other "chance" reads.  Will I, won't I like them?  At £1 a book for some of them, if I find I do like them, I'll feel privileged and I'll let you know what is good out there that is a tad or more overlooked in the current market place.

For some reason, at some points, conversations of the last week centred on Darwin's theory on the origin of the species and evolution vs "creation".  I won't go into my beliefs here and now, but Darwin's theory can move with subtlety into the commercial world.  As far as the proposed HMV (Waterstone's) takeover of Ottakar's is concerned, the Competition Commission in the UK has provisionally cleared it.  Complications may follow as a number of vultures are circling...  But, without doubt, independent booksellers are a dying breed as a result of the changes we see in the publishing world.  Thus, I leave you with a picture of an award winning independent bookseller in Aldeburgh, Suffolk.

The Aldeburgh Bookshop was the winner of "The Independent Bookshop of the Year - British Book Awards 2005".  It has good stock; I bought three books when I visited in March.  It's also a comfy environment with spongy chairs to sit in, when browsing.  I felt no pressure when browsing its shelves, even though it was exceptionally close to the later closing time.

Aldeburgh, as a location, is a sum of its parts and this book shop is definitely one of its major parts.  Check out the Aldeburgh Festival and Snape Maltings Concert Hall for the impact of composer, Benjamin Britten.  Check out the local "fish and chippy" , (scroll down), in Aldeburgh, for the freshest fish on this island we call the UK.  But if you do make it there, most of all enjoy the coast - it's riveting and enticing.  I can understand why Ruth Rendell has a home in Suffolk and why Boris Starling once chose a Martello Tower for his home on that coast.

As for dying breeds, let's help them survive.  Here's a good example.  A good, well stocked bookshop which serves its community - "The Aldeburgh Bookshop" - may we keep it alive for what it is truly worth, through purchasing our books from them...