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

A Gentle Axe - R. N. Morris

  A Gentle Axe is the début crime novel from R. N. Morris.  The author is also known as Roger Morris, whose contemporary urban novel Taking Comfort was published in 2006.  To mark the début, an interview with the author can be found immediately below this post.

Let's be upfront here.  You can't get away from the fact that this novel has a significant link to Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment (C&P).  Police detective Porfiry Petrovich lives to see another day in fiction and moves to centre stage as the protagonist in Morris's A Gentle Axe.  But you don't need to have read C&P to read this novel.  Not at all.

This is a story that concentrates on Porfiry Petrovich's life and his investigation into the complex web of lies, linkages and intrigue that makes A Gentle Axe.

R.N. (Roger) Morris - interview with the author

A certain R. N. Morris may have felt he made a break through last year, but 2007 promises to be the biggest break yet on his horizon, thanks to a dip into history and his focus on a character from classical literary beginnings.

Writing as Roger Morris, his contemporary urban novel Taking Comfort was one of the successes of Macmillan’s “Macmillan New Writing” imprint in 2006. But now, Dostoevsky must be wriggling with excitement in another world as Morris has taken one of his characters from Crime and Punishment and turned him into the protagonist in a story that is compelling, complex and reaches all corners of society.

Although Porfiry Petrovich firmly remains in the 19th century in the novel, A Gentle Axe, (The Gentle Axe in the US), Morris’s treatment and development of this character brings something of Christie’s Poirot or Dexter’s Morse to the story. Porfiry Petrovich is a plodding thinker and analyst of facts; he’s also a keen strategist when it comes to the politics of survival in his job. Much like Poirot and Morse, he’s far more on the ball than you or I, in the arena of case detail and crime motivation.

But how on earth did the author arrive at this juncture?  About to be published in seventeen countries and with all the frenzied activities that involves, including completion of the second manuscript for the series, author Roger Morris generously took some time out to tell us more.

Some little known facts about Burberry and the Rhondda...

Usually, I don't use this blog to air my personal views on anything remotely political (or similar), but something has been rumbling on since the autumn of last year and I can't hold back any longer.  I, too, will rumble on here, but please bear with me, as I need to enlighten you on the relevant history...

Worldwide recognised, much chav copied (to their chagrin) and quintessentially British brand Burberry announced that they wanted to close their factory based in the Rhondda, in south Wales.  The factory produces their polo shirts. 

Burberry seeks to move production to China, following a review of their supply chain and considers the Rhondda factory to be no longer commercially viable.

The Rhondda factory provides some 300 jobs in an area that is not rich in work opportunities.  Indeed the opposite can be said.  This is an area that needs continued regeneration and needs work.  And that is where the problem starts...

Crime Authors Andrew Taylor and Phil Rickman interviewed at Hay's Winter Festival, Dec 2006

At Hay on Wye for the "Winter Festival Weekend", authors Andrew Taylor and Phil Rickman were interviewed by David Freeman, the man who set up the "meettheauthor.com" website.  Taylor's most recent novel is "Naked to the Hangman"; Rickman's "The Remains of an Altar".

This was a great interview - the anticipated elements well exceeded expectations, with the unplanned performing a crafty left hook out of nowhere.  Such is the power of audience participation!

Where else might you get a conversation that encompasses religion; the supernatural; unrequited love; the 1950s; rock musicians; Elgar, both in life and in death; Alfred Watkins, the discoverer of ley-lines; the birth of urban terrorism; Herefordshire RTAs; alternative methods of writing...  And, given the humour on the night, it has to be said that before Welsh MP Lembit Opik introduced "The Cheeky Girls" to a broader audience in Wales, Hay's Drill Hall played host to the cheeky boys on the evening of 2 December 2006.

It's simply one of the best interviews I've attended in a long time, so please enjoy all that I've managed to recount and record here...

Books coming soon...

I'll be away for a few days.

Back to crime novels, books coming up next:

The Savage Garden (Mark Mills) to be published by HarperCollins on 5 Feb.

A Gentle Axe (R.N. Morris) to be published by Faber on 1 Feb, plus an author interview.

Neris and India's Idiot-Proof Diet, How We Lost Ten Stone from India Knight & Neris Thomas

I know, I know.  It's definitely not crime fiction.

I discovered this book via the Guardian's recent digested reads.  I read some reviews and articles and thought it sounded refreshing, so I ordered a copy.

And it is refreshing.

It's also very pink, very girlie and very original in its approach (and with more knickers between the covers than any other book).

Unable to sleep the night before last, I picked it up and carried on reading.  Between the hours of three and four in the morning I was laughing out loud.

But, on the serious side, this is a book written by two women who wanted to lose weight (an amount equal to another person between them) and they did it.  What other books on losing weight can bring you that?  Both have been excruciatingly honest in explaining how they got to <>, before moving on to achieve their goal of ><.

Knight, following a cathartic moment when shopping in Selfridges, decided "enough was enough" and applied herself with a sort of army major alpha male determination and discipline.  Thomas was a seasoned professional on the diet front, having already run the gamut of diets from the F Plan to any plan.  She was up for it, but initially she struggled.

There are tips for self esteem and looking your best, even as you start out.  (Although many of the suggested products may prove expensive for some - just follow the principle and substitute with something cheaper, I guess.)  The diet itself is essentially low carbing.  Knight's and Thomas's theme is things can only get better - and the message is delivered to inspire far more confidence than New Labour's old take on that.

I like the book.  It's honest and inspiring.  And next week I'm even going to start on the diet.

The Golden Globes 2007

    Brits in action!  And grand it is too!

Congratulations to all.

Especially Helen Mirren.

Nice work!

DVD viewing - a mix of three, all crime related

After all the fun in the (very) long tail of comments in Maxine's post on Petrona about "The long tail of DVD boxed sets" , I thought I'd add some comments on my festive viewing.

NCIS

  My first ever foray into purchasing from the DVD boxed set world was with NCIS Season Two.

I'll admit to being quickly charmed.  NCIS is the Naval Criminal Investigative Service in the US and three episodes in, I had to ask myself, "Is this doing for the US Navy what Colin Dexter's Morse did for Oxford?"  If so, we're OK, truth be told.  A tense atmosphere and much loss of life in fiction can be ignored by the viewing/reading public when it comes to reality.

NCIS is a glossy production and has the staccato pace of CSI, with added dry humour (much of).  It's hot on forensics, with the honours going to the wonderfully quirky, but not sickly quirky Abby (Paulette Perrette) and grand-daddy pathologist "Ducky" Mallard (David McCallum), who looks like a cutting room job from "Raiders of the Lost Ark" on times, but that's just the hat he wears on times.

Mark Harmon plays a challenging boss in Jethro Gibbs and he's cool, just as he was as the orthopaedic surgeon with a gambling addiction, Jack McNeil in the wonderful "Chicago Hope".  But Gibbs is a different character and all credit to Harmon's acting skills.  (I wish they'd give him a weighted Starbucks cup as a prop though.  An empty cup is always so obvious...)

When it comes to this series, I am now hooked.  This also allows me to see the benefits of the "DVD Boxed Set": I can have an occasional nibble; I can take some time out for a viewing NCIS Fest; I can replay bits I'm not sure about or enjoyed immensely; I can invite friends around for a bigger Fest.  A Mark Harmon one?  I also have "Freaky Friday" on DVD and Chicago Hope on video.  (Not that I think FF is his best...)  What a shame you don't live closer...

But seriously, as crime series go, this is REALLY GOOD TV viewing.

The Interpreter

This film was recommended to me more than once, but I kept putting off a viewing as I've never previously appreciated Sean Penn.  The "previously" says it all.  He's brilliant in this.  (And may have been before, but my own previous thoughts have led me to avoid his films for a few years.  It's the Madonna factor, I admit.)

I've long been an admirer of Kidman's work and this film just adds to a body of splendid work from her.

Kidman plays a UN interpreter (with appropriate accent) who literally overhears an "out of hours" whisper of an assassination plot.  The Secret Service agents are deployed, but not before doubts are cast as to Broome's (Kidman) motivations in her actions.  Penn's Agent Keller, when not focused on his own personal loss sees through Broome, but not enough to anticipate her every move and on time.

This is a fine tale of intrigue, espionage, double-crossing, including political double-crossing and the affects of the loss of someone close to you.  With scenes to make your heart wobble; this is GREAT VIEWING.  And Penn was great!  (I stand corrected.)

Flightplan

This came out to mixed media reviews in the UK and I logged it as "one to watch" at the time, as the reviews said it had a twist that I thought might be interesting.

The unfortunately named Kyle Pratt (Jodie Foster) is accompanying the body of her late husband back to the US from Berlin.  She has her six year old daughter on board with her.  Or does she?  And therein lies the backbone of the film's plot.   I thought it might prove to be something along the lines of "The Sixth Sense" set on a plane.  But I was wrong.  It's more than that, thanks to the aforementioned twist.

However, it has to be one of the most disappointing films I've seen in a long time.

No one seemed to behave rationally in the situation of a missing six year old girl.  No one.  A hand cuffed mother considered to be a risk to other passengers is returned to her original seat and not isolated in any way, even though, in an earlier scene she noted that there were plenty of spare seats and we saw them.

A very handily placed on-board pysychotherapist (Greta Scacchi, incredibly miscast) even carries out some very unconvincing therapy with the risky mother in the same seat.  And then, there are the final scenes, for which I have to restrain my comments, lest I spoil it for you.  But: members of the FBI so quickly in New Foundland (which, if memory serves me well, is still in Canada) and no one explains this, plus no medics on the scene?  Come on.

This was hugely DISAPPOINTING.  A potentially decent plot needed to be better served with scenes of credibility.  But, there was one poignant final scene where a hand was offered in trust and forgiveness.  I wish the rest of the film had been up to that standard.

Crime Writing & Other Writing Courses in 2007 at Arvon and Ty Newydd

The Arvon Foundation is running two crime writing courses amongst a comprehensive offering in 2007:

• "Making Crime Pay" with Andrew Taylor & Natasha Cooper and Clio Gray as the guest reader at Moniack Mhor in Scotland.
• "Insider Secrets and Suspense" with David Armstrong and Ann Cleeves as course guest reader at The Hurst in Shropshire, England.

Ty Newydd also has a broad range of courses and some big names on offer for 2007, but for this year, alas, no crime fiction focus.  General fiction and poetry aficionados will certainly appreciate the courses on offer.

Bernard Knight, Crowner John and new beginnings...

Bernard Knight CBE is best known in some circles as the former Home Office Pathologist and Professor of Forensic Pathology, University of Wales College of Medicine.  Before he retired, one of his last cases was the sad and disturbing case of Fred and Rosemary West, where his work contributed to the justice achieved for the many victims.  Cardiff University, quite appropriately honours him with inclusion in their website's page for "Pioneers and Personalities" which lists those "who have had a substantial influence in the foundation of medical education in Wales".

But Bernard Knight also has another side to his talents and this side has not retired, indeed this one continues with full vigour and expresses his creative world and imagination.

Knight is also a writer of historical crime fiction, most famous amongst crime fiction readers for his Crowner John novels set in the twelfth century, the latest of which is "The Elixir of Death", available now in paperback in the UK.

Knight, with other writers concentrating on medieval crime fiction, The Medieval Murderers, as they are known, have produced more than one collection of short stories in the genre.

Finally, an update from the author himself:

"The next Crowner John (The Noble Outlaw) is being published in May (hardback) at the same time as the next Medieval Murderers collaborative book The House of Shadows, which also has a Crowner John story.  We are just starting the fourth of these and I am just beginning Number Twelve in the Crowner John Series!"

If you like medieval crime settings, the Crowner John series is one for you and makes quite an extensive series.  (A great backlist to pick up on...)

Bernard Knight's website address has recently changed.  All relevant references here are to his new site.