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

The Good Thief's Guide to Chris Ewan - Interview with the Author

Chris Ewan, author of The Good Thief's Guide to Amsterdam has always been a fan of crime fiction - especially American crime fiction.   He says, "I do enjoy reading contemporary fiction, and I can get a lot of satisfaction from reading well-crafted writing, but most of all I like a good story. I like to feel like a book is going somewhere - that it has an absolute pull on my attention. I've read a lot of crime authors saying that they write in the genre because it gives them an opportunity to comment on pressing modern concerns, or the dark side of contemporary society, for example, but my prime motivation in writing crime fiction is that it allows me, hopefully, to tell a really good yarn."

Before Amsterdam, he also wrote one literary novel and two mainstream novels but during all that time the books he enjoyed reading most of all were crime novels. Then he made a connection, "It finally occurred to me that that had to mean something. As a young male writer I could dream of writing the next Generation X as much as I liked, but ultimately I realised I should be writing the kind of books I most enjoyed reading."

Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year 2007

A short interruption to the focus on Chris Ewan (interview coming soon), as I've just spotted something on the crime festival site.  In addition to the crime novel of the year longlist being announced, there is also a whodunit competition to celebrate the award this year.

It runs online for 6 weeks and involves solving the mystery for a short story written by this year's chair, Natasha Cooper.

The prizes include: full weekend package for the festival; tea with Natasha Cooper; original version of the short story, signed by Cooper; a weekend stay at the Kings Head, Masham and a private tour of the Theakstons brewery by Simon Theakston; the 20 longlisted novels.

Chris Ewan - The Good Thief's Guide to Amsterdam

There is no room for any doubt here; it is stated quite clearly on the cover: "Charlie Howard writes caper novels about a career thief.  He also happens to be one."  The Good Thief's Guide to Amsterdam, from début crime author Chris Ewan, has a criminal as its protagonist/hero.  This is also the start of a series.  Ewan won the second fiction competition of Long Barn Books (which was a non-fiction publisher only, until the competition was introduced) and they publish his début in hardback on 4 June 2007.  The paperback that follows is to be published by Simon & Schuster.  Plans are already afoot and writing in progress, where Howard moves on to Paris and then New York for more thief's guides.  With signs of early success here, Amsterdam's first print run for the hardback is already sold out and another print run follows.

So is it possible to base a series around a criminal?  Can the reader like him enough to want to read on and read more?  Oh yes.   Think Robin Hood.  Think Lovejoy, the slippery antiques dealer and loveable rogue.  Think Hustle, the BBC's TV series about con artists.   Howard may be a thief, but he's a thief with a conscience and an entertainingly sharp tongue that comes with dollops of humour.  He's as sharp as a scalpel blade, always ahead of the game and very, very human - this thief suffers from arthritis and gets beaten up badly, but lives to see another day, more than once.

The Olympics 2012; its funding; the UK lottery (aimed at charitable causes); a petition and writers...

A crime fiction author contacted me in the week with details of a petition regarding the funding for the Olympics in London in 2012.  You can find it here.

I'll start at the beginning: the petition was created by Dawn Kenyon of Carlisle Carers Association and she petitions "the Prime Minister to stop the Chancellor from using lottery money to fund the Olympics in 2012".  Please note (1): Dawn Kenyon is from a carers association.  Please note (2):  for some of the money that the lottery generates, (all previously aimed at charitable causes), the proposal is now to redirect a portion into the coffers of the ever increasing cost to stage the 2012 Olympics in London.

I'm not surprised this petition originated with someone working in a carers association.  This is what it means, in black and white: the lottery has raised money for years and has distributed it on the basis of grants and in other ways to charities; the charities thus get to depend on this income stream to provide their services and ensure their survival.  Take that income away and it means less or no services from that charity.  It may also mean an end to that charity, should the loss of income be so material.  Please read on...

A Dangerous Man - Anne Brooke

"A Dangerous Man" from Anne Brooke has been a long time in the making, to get it to the shelves of published novels available for purchase.  I came across Anne some years ago and she was clearly someone who simply just had to write.  She was working on "ADM" as she calls this novel, then.  She's also written other novels - "Pink Champagne and Apple Juice" being one of them - and seen them into print - go to her website, link above, to find out more and download more.

But, "A Dangerous Man" is the dark side of Anne's writing.  There is no sweet apple flavoured fizz to be had here.  This is about a hard life on the periphery of society, a chance break, a look at love in its many forms and the catastrophic breakdown of what are proved to be, ultimately, perhaps, tenuous links in the homosexual community.

This is not at all what you might expect from this writer, and that is what adds to the intrigue.  Can Anne get this part of the world right, when it comes to depiction, narrative and setting?  What can a Surrey-based "Mrs" deliver here?

Coming Up and Due to Circumstances...

... personal and extremely important, my posts have been infrequent of late.  They will also remain so, for the time being, as family needs conquer all others, and those needs are great, right now.

But, back soon with Anne Brooke's "A Dangerous Man" (psychological stuff and a parable of today, but what can we recognise in this?  And do we want to?) and Paul Johnston's "The Death List" (a veritable blood bath, with no fictional stones unturned, plus an original approach to the standard crime fiction offering...).

Also coming soon, an interview with Chris Ewan, whose début novel "The Good Thief's Guide to Amsterdam" has one hell of lot going for it, including humour.

Great new crime fiction, if you seek it out.

Some new sites for good reading and some thanks...

I've had some new referrals to this site recently and all are good for reading enthusiasts.  Thanks to those listed below who have links to this site.

The Bookshelves Under Pressure blog is written by 30 something Paul who now works in the publishing industry.  Previously, he's been a librarian, a bookseller and a book buyer, so I guess he knows his books.  The blog is relatively new and it's one I'm going to keep an eye on.

The Dewey's Dartboard blog has nothing to do with darts really; but it has lots about books.  I suspect that Dewey is based in the US, although that name is not far off a certain Welsh name that I'm far more familiar with and he’s also a librarian...

The Book Case is "Portsmouth Library Service's unofficial website for readers, guiding you through the overwhelming choice of what to read next and inviting you to share your reading experiences through reviews and recommendations".  This really is an exciting site.  I'm proud to say that on the "news" page, this site is delivered by RSS feed into the "Crime and Mystery" section, along with the splendid Eurocrime.  My thanks to Portsmouth Library Service.

Having recently booked my tickets for the Hay Festival this year, I'm continuing to dip into this blog: Life in Hay, which is as it says on the label.  This really is life in Hay on Wye and for a whole year and not just the festival's 10 days.  If you've only visited for the festival, this is a reminder that Hay is not just a festival location and a little town of books, it's also in the middle of some beautiful farming countryside, with all that entails.  Lesley Arrowsmith, the blog's author really does get the true flavour of Hay on record in this blog.  I love it!

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