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

Festive Season Book Buying and Present Suggestions - Introduction

I was asked to suggest some good books for the Festive season, given that our providers of reading matter seem to be obsessed with celebrity (auto)biographies at this time - and that's certainly not to everyone's taste.

I don't intend to do this in one post as my "Christmas list" suggestion, but I do intend to drop in occasionally with some books that I believe would be greatly appreciated by recipients.  So look out for the "Festive Season Suggestions" part 1, et al, starting next week...

I'm not going to draw the line at crime fiction either.  Recently, I've become aware of a publisher that takes the visual to print in an outstanding way and adds carefully researched prose.  As a result, the "Wales I know" has been catalysed to my "Wales that I want to explore" much, much further.

There are some books out there that make lovely and well thought out presents for those we love.  Do come back soon.

Strange Blood - Lindsay Ashford

Lindsay Ashford's "Strange Blood" made it onto the shortlist for the 2006 Theakston’s Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year and she was there for the panel that made the announcement of the winner.

Published by the independent Honno Women's Press, this novel and author was a bit of a "curve ball" in the proceedings, with many saying "Who?"  But, power to her elbow and every other joint, Ashford made it to the shortlist as a result of reader voting, and I think that the (late) Ottakar's branch network had a lot to do with it.

Ottakar's had a presence in Wales, but nothing to shout out about, so you cannot cite the Welsh factor when it comes to voting.  This book was popular because it was good in the eyes of readers.  Let's take a look at what got Ashford on that shortlist.  This is the second in a series featuring psychological profiler, Megan Rhys, the first being "Frozen".

In a nutshell: Megan is an academic psychologist with a specialised interest in profiling, called upon by the police, when they are in need.  But when the Wolverhampton police find a female body that is subject to "overkill", their "profile-enthused" Detective Superintendent Foy sees only one thing - an example of the occult and witches' covens - as evidenced by the carving of a pentagram on the victim's forehead.  Megan is called in, but her open thoughts are sidelined.  More bodies surface.  But Megan's quest for the killer is something other than the media foray that is Foy's personal indulgence...

It's both exciting in the anticipation and a little straining to try out a new author.  But this is Ashford's second crime novel, and there was no hint of "newbie on the block".  It only took a couple of pages to feel safe and in the rhythm; this was self assured writing from the start.  And, following the reading of the "who knows where this might lead" classic of Michael Connelly's "Echo Park", and Cathi Unsworth's "tying up" in "The Not Knowing", this was a classic WHODUNNIT.

Not a cheat in sight either; the clue was there, albeit "...".   But I won't spoil it for you!

A classic on the "whodunnit" front, I think readers who seek this kind of novel will love this.  This is not a "police procedural", but it does have insight into the workings of the police from someone who works with them.  Megan, the psychologist and protagonist is an interesting creation with much to make her a sympathetic but strong character.

Find more about the novel here, where Ashford talks about the background to the story.

This is another "open lid" on society today, with page turning resonance.  Lindsay Ashford is a writer to watch!

Not least a book launch to look forward to...

Next Book

The next book featured here will be Strange Blood from Lindsay Ashford.  It was shortlisted in the Theakston's Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award this year and involves a coven of witches.  Which reminds me...

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Cardiff Book Launch - one week to go...

It's all happening at Chapter Arts Centre,  Market Road, Canton, Cardiff CF5 1QE  on Tuesday, October 31st, kicking off at 7pm.

Meet author, Kate Bousfield; meet her publisher, Derec Jones, who publishes through his newly formed company Opening Chapter; get your (paid for) copy of Kate's novel "Coven of One" signed; enjoy wine, beer and bhajees; and have a fun evening!

Following Kate's launch there is a bit of a "Literary Blogmoot and Festival" starting at 8:30pm, which will include readings from other authors.

Update: plenty of signed stock will be available, by the looks of it!

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Writing male or female?

I noticed this link on dovegreyreader's site.  It's the "gender genie" from the book blog.  it introduces itself thus:

"Inspired by an article in The New York Times Magazine, the Gender Genie uses a simplified version of an algorithm developed by Moshe Koppel, Bar-Ilan University in Israel, and Shlomo Argamon, Illinois Institute of Technology, to predict the gender of an author.  Read more at nature.com."

You can paste in text (selecting fiction/non fiction/blog entry), click on submit and find out if you write like a man or a woman.  I put five posts in there, all quite varied, and I discovered that I write like a man - in all of them.  I'm not surprised though.  For years I've thought I have a bit of a male brain.  I'm hopeless at multi-tasking for starters, but I can manage to order a novel through Amazon when chatting on the phone.  They make it so easy...

For me, it was more fun than the bubble pack site, which is doing the rounds.  Much as that gives me satisfaction too, I'm wondering when I'm going to find some feminine mystique...

Prime Suspect - The Final Act part 2

In earlier comments regarding part 1, Rose asked, what of part 2?

Part 2 of The Final Act, the final Prime Suspect episode aired last Sunday night in the UK.

It was a great piece of TV entertainment, with the penultimate scene being one of the most touching and emotional I have seen on TV.  Mirren's performance was outstanding and in a highly charged story others deserve notice:

• Laura Greenwood (as Penny Philips) is a young actress to watch.  Her performance was quite remarkable.
• Gary Lewis (as the grieving father) was outstanding.  As Ken Stott was once for me, Lewis is a recognisable face, but a certain performance comes along that is so memorable, his name is noted and his future performances sought out.
• The late Tom Bell as Otley, Tennison's old foe who became her friend in her hour of need.  Otley's misogynistic arrogance had departed, replaced with great sensitivity.

As for the plot, it was appropriate but also sad that the now troubled Tennison made mistakes in the investigation.  She was even "baby sat" during her last case.  I think crime devotees would not be overly suprised at how the plot develops, but the unravelling and unmasking made for some tense viewing.

I still remember the first Prime Suspect, with its excellent performances from Mirren, John Bowe and Zoë Wanamaker.  For me, the last one is on a par with that.  I'm sure it will prove to be just as highly memorable and that I'll watch it again.

The character of Tennison was treated with respect in the final episode: a very diginifed exit.

I'm sure this programme will feature highly at the next BAFTAs.

Cathi Unsworth - The Not Knowing

I was drawn to reading this novel after Unsworth appeared in the New Blood Panel at Harrogate this year.  She was a very interesting, eloquent and engaging contributor, and was also very open about the background to her novel.  Unsworth has a background in the music industry - the publishing arm of it - and has been a journalist on Melody Maker.

From in her input on that panel I knew this novel would be dark and "The Not Knowing" is a novel of noir, without a doubt.  Set in London and its darker trenches of society, habitat and habit, this is not a novel for the cosy reader.  The title itself is a draw, as it's the "not knowing" about something that drives you on and eats you up, until you finally get the information you seek, or let go.

In a nutshell: back in 1992, Diana Kemp, the main protagonist, is a writer for "Lux", a new magazine with big editorial aspirations.  Famous film director, Jon Jackson, who has recently set trends with his cult gangster movie "Bent" - every other male is now dressing like a Kray twin - is found dead.  His body is discovered beneath the railway arches in Camden Town where he was brutally murdered, the scene a re-enactment from his movie.  Lux is in possession of the last ever interview with Jackson, obtained the night before he was murdered, so it's no surprise when the police turn up...

Unsworth has a love of crime fiction and crime fiction itself is woven into the plot, along with music and film.  I found the novel a little unusual and unexpected in its progression.  There were things that worked for me and things that didn't:

• Unsworth has a remarkably cutting eye and tongue (or should that be "fingers on keyboard") when it comes to human behaviour; neither is she afraid to say it.
• Unsworth's prose style is easy to read, but I did suffer from "name overload".  On occasions I was not sure who was fiction and who was real, who was to be a featured character and who was just a passing mention.
• It's a bit obvious who the murderer is and, lo and behold, we have the disclosure about half way through the novel.  This had me thinking "So, what now?", but I read on, the next chapter being the start of the tying up of loose ends, including ones you'd never dream about, as well as a chase towards the end, and further, profound disclosures.
• So many of crime fiction's clichés are in this novel, but there is still a gripping need to read on.

It's a gritty novel, and one that will tell you of the effects of a physical attack and death, muscle relaxations included.  Unsworth said at Harrogate that she wanted to "...talk about, and hence expose our 'nasties under the carpet', particularly violence against women and children".  This, she achieves.

In conclusion, I'd say that if you enjoy reading noir, this is a novel you'd definitely appreciate.  Ditto if you seek a novel that opens your eyes and delves under the heavy blankets of contemporary society.  (In reality, have we delved those blankets since 1992?  I think not.)  If you prefer a cosy, stay away.  I suspect that readers who enjoy Jake Arnott's novels would also enjoy this novel.

I read "The Not Knowing" and appreciated its page turning story as well as its goals, but I have to admit I'm not a noir reader.  If you read noir, this is a good addition to your collection.

Unsworth is also the editor for a selection of short stories entitled "London Noir Capital Crime Fiction", which is out now, published by Serpent's Tail, as is "The Not Knowing".

Book Prizes, UK bound and with coffee...

Had it not been for this article in Publishing News,  the fact that the "Whitbread Prize" is now the "Costa Book Awards", brought to us through the sponsorship of Costa coffee, would have escaped my attention.

It's difficult to keep up when the name of the prize reflects the name of the sponsor only and the sponsorship changes hands.

But look what might happen with the Booker.  Wikipedia has the history of the prize and its name.  Starting out in 1968, sponsored by Booker-McConnell, it was originally the "Booker-McConnell Prize", later shortened to "The Booker".  When sponsorship moved to the Man Group in 2002, it became the "Man Booker Prize".  In a global world of corporate acquisitions and mergers, if "The Booker" uses the same methodology in future years it might end up known as something like "The Prudential Tata GlaxoSmithKline M&S Group GKN Man Booker Prize", hypothetically speaking.  Just a thought...

The UK Crime Writers' Association's gold and silver daggers were replaced with the "Duncan Lawrie Dagger" - no mention of the gold or the silver, and "The Duncan Lawrie International Dagger" was added to the group of CWA awards.

I wish they'd all keep it simple: give the prize a name and precede that with the name of the current sponsor.  Then we'd all know where we are.

Aberfan

Today is the fortieth anniversary of the Aberfan disaster, when a coal tip slid and fell upon a school in Aberfan, (see how it happened in that link), killing 116 children and 28 adults.  I can't comment on this, I don't know how to.  It's a loss of life I can't begin to comprehend.  116 children.  So new, so innocent to this world and they never had a chance to see it.  I've read that it was the result of negligence, that compensation for the loss of life is still forthcoming, but I don't think any amount of compensating funds can ever make up for a lost child.

Here are some photographs from the BBC:

   This is what the disaster looked like, in terms of mud slide.

This is the result.

And this is the reminder of lives lost.

Jaci Stephen elaborated on this disaster in a newspaper column of hers some time ago.  In a hairdresser's, courtesy of her mother, she'd felt the fraught response of all mothers in Wales.  I felt that too.  Ian Brady and Myra Hindley had brought to the Moors, Yorkshire and the UK the unthinkable;  but in Wales, we also had this.  Young Welsh children were never far away from the hem of their mother's coat due to these things, and for a good few years.

Innocent lives were lost.  Young lives.  Adult lives.  May they all rest in peace.

And I hope that we, the living, can learn and make sure that none of this happens again.

It takes time, and we falter, but please let us do the right thing.

Blogging for Posterity - my post

Today is Tuesday October 17th 2006 and I'd like to take the opportunity to share a part of my day with you, to give you a little insight into what life is like in the UK today and to share my thoughts on it.

I returned home from work, prepared dinner in the kitchen, left it to bake/steam and then took a mug of coffee with me to the PC.  I checked my emails and then I looked at the news on the BBC's website.   Two news articles drew my attention, crime and justice related, and I didn't know whether to rant or cry.

Firstly, in the "Other Top Stories" section, this caught my eye: "Internet user admits 'web-rage'".  We are told that "an internet user has been found guilty of what police said was Britain's first 'web-rage' attack".  After two men had traded insults in an internet chat room, one managed to trace the other using details obtained online.  In December 2005, the convicted travelled 70 miles and beat up his victim with a pickaxe handle.

The article notes that a Detective Constable of the Metropolitan Police said: "This is the first instance of a web-rage attack.'"

How I wish we'd stop using these newly created labels such as web-rage and road-rage and trolley-rage which somehow detract from the reality.  This was assault.

Secondly, I saw this little gem and immediately felt sorry for the guilty party: "Fine for letter in recycling bag".  Here we are told that "Magistrates have fined a man £200 after finding him guilty of putting paper in a recycling sack for bottles and cans only - breaking council rules."  How dare he?  How dare anyone?  Councils, to whom we pay loads of tax are there to provide and facilitate public services, the collection of refuse being one of many.  This has improved through the introduction of recycling and is thus more environmentally friendly, albeit the service itself is generally reduced (through a hidden or less hidden reduction in the frequency of collections).   But now we see the draconian application of the ever burgeoning quagmire of attendant rules and regulations being taken all the way to court!

A fine of £200 for one misplaced letter?

This is also a time in which it was recently discovered - horror of horrors - that some councils had silently and stealthily introduced hidden microchips to the "wheelie bins" used for refuse collection, with more councils set to follow the trend.  Non-recycled refuse is to be monitored by weight by home  - so the councils can fine you for chucking out too much that heads for land fill...

I think that tonight I will be dreaming of the various ways of how to secure wheelie bins, recycling boxes and their storage areas.  Your refuse is now a major risk area that needs to be secured.  If the council don't get you, a selfish neighbour, a passing yob, or a disgruntled colleague may set you up for a fall.  If I come up with something by the morning, I think I may even apply to the BBC's programme Dragons' Den for some investment funding for this business.  Refuse is valuable, refuse is BIG business...

For some light relief, I took two phone calls from friends, one of whom is a keen Amazon watcher.  That's this Amazon and not the rainforest.  He watches the prices keenly.  He informed me that the price had come down today on Ian Rankin's latest, so I ordered it, along with Andrew Taylor's latest, and while we were talking.  This is also the era of multi-tasking.

Never a day goes by without a little crime fiction...

Blogging for Posterity - about the History Matters Campaign

The History Matters Campaign invites bloggers to "Share Your 'blog' with future generations" and asks "What did you do on 17 October 2006?"

The posts are limited to a maximum of 650 words, for the purposes of submission in the campaign.  Bloggers are also directed as follows:

"You are, however, encouraged to include in your diary-blog something about how history impacted on you that day - whether it be simply travelling past an historic landmark, discussing family history at home, watching another repeat of Only Fools and Horses, or listening to Dad's 60's music, again!  It could be anything."

Thanks to both the devine Ms Dudman and the magnanimous Maxine for the heads up!

My own contribution appears above.

The Court TV Search For The Next Great Crime Writer Contest

News just in from the States (for the benefit of US readers of this blog):

"In conjunction with the chilling new series Murder by the Book, Court TV is asking aspiring crime writers to submit an original idea for a crime fiction novel and sample chapter(s) to be reviewed by a panel of judges (made up of best-selling authors Jonathan Kellerman, Faye Kellerman and Lisa Scottoline as well as publisher Judith Regan).  The winner will receive a book deal with Regan.  It’s really straightforward and easy to enter.  Just go to www.courttv.com/aspiringwriter for all of the details."

Regan is an imprint of HarperCollins.

The contest ends on November 27th and is open to legal residents of the fifty (50) United States and the District of Columbia.  For the official rules see here.

Good luck to all who enter!