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

In the news last week...

• The Joan Brady case and another swipe at the crime and thriller genre.
• Paxman and pants, with a nod to Crime Scraps.
• Murder Most Famous: reality celeb TV and crime fiction meet for an arranged marriage.
• The independents prove their value in a Which? survey.

I spent some of the last week sorting through books at the house of my late parents and dropping off the ones I don't want at the local charity book shop.  I came across an unread novel by one Joan Brady and my first thought was "Who?"  Well I know now.

Mark Lawson in The Guardian writes of the impact of Brady's recent legal action success - winning £115k in an out of court settlement - where fumes from a cobbler near her home caused her so much physical distress and mental distraction she was reduced from writing a literary tome to penning a thriller.  Oh dear, where the poor cobbler's lawyers here?  Literary novels can have such meandering plots but thrillers require much attention to detail.  I am pleased to report that the Brady novel went to the charity shop.

All this took place in Totnes in Devon and Uriah was on the spot like a roving reporter, providing this wonderful post (with photo of the local indie bookshop) on Crime Scraps.  Now then, you'd have to have been unconscious or somewhere deep in the jungle or desert to have missed the news of Jeremy Paxman's leaked email to Sir Stuart Rose, the Chief Exec of M&S, last week.  Paxman asserts that M&S undies for men are no longer of sufficient quality, or indeed support.  This has led to some element of national debate and Paxman has said that he's had more correspondence on this than any other matter in his career, including his interview with Michael Howard.  Men now want to talk about their undergarments and it seems to be catching.  Even Uriah manages to divulge in that post the brand of his own underpants...

By the way, at last year's inaugural Henley Literary Festival, Paxman took to the stage to talk about royalty, managing to mention his M&S underpants in passing.  I can imagine that someone so loyal would feel so aggrieved when facing reduced quality.

Second Burial - Andrew Nugent

Andrew Nugent was called to the bar before another calling led him to become a Benedictine monk at Glenstal Abbey in 1961.  Along the way, Nugent has spent nine years in a monastery in Nigeria.  Therefore, it should come as no surprise that this Irish crime fiction writer has a novel set in Dublin which focuses on the Nigerian community.  In a case of "write what you know", Nugent blows apart the prejudices many harbour about Nigeria and its culture in this novel; it's an education as well as a gripping story.

In a nutshell: Shad, a young Nigerian man is found in the Dublin Mountains with part of his leg removed.  But it is too late for him and he subsequently dies in hospital.  The nature of the attack is hard to determine as it is found that he had been administered an anaesthetic for the amputation.  Jim Quilligan and Molly Power of the Irish Police Force find the case a very difficult one as Dublin's Nigerian community closes ranks.  This is especially so when they deal with Shad's younger brother Jude.  He is distrusting of the police and has sworn an oath to find his brother's killer himself...

In Second Burial, Nugent explores Nigerian culture, Christianity and the lives of the dispossessed in Dublin.  He creates strong believable characters and a plot to keep you guessing.  The circumstances of Shad's death are so heart-breaking you are compelled to read on.  Like Jude, like Quilligan and Power, you will want to see justice for Shad.

This novel offers something different in the genre and excellently so.

A Vengeful Longing - R. N. Morris

It's June 1868 in a hot St Petersburg and Porfiry Petrovich is a troubled man.  The ditch outside his office is stinking and the Department of Public Health is doing nothing about it.  A double murder has just landed on his desk.  He's training someone who first needs to learn to curb his tongue.  He can't resist the urge to smoke.  And finally, his haemorrhoids are bothering him.

A Vengeful Longing, the second in this series from R. N. (Roger) Morris brings Porfiry Petrovich a complex set of cases to investigate, starting with a poisoning.

In a nutshell:

The last word on Oneword Radio? Yes, but I hope its programmes live on ...

From January 12, 2008, the Oneword Radio DAB (digital) station will be pulled.  It will be off the air, closed down and lost into the ether of digital radio trials and relics, a bittersweet memory.  "Bittersweet" because it was a sweet joy to listen to, but also because there is much bitterness in its demise, most from its listeners.

This article in The Bookseller says it all and quotes Oneword's MD, Simon Blackmore as follows:

"We were perhaps ahead of our time. We're seeing a take-up of DAB radios now that we thought would happen five years ago. The public appetite is now there, and I think there is a place for a Oneword-type station."

So why did Channel 4 not see that vision when they applied for the second digital multiplex licence?  Why did they not see the value of book programmes?  Why didn't UBC Media, the longstanding and resultant 100% owner of Oneword make an effort to see the station commercially viable, rather than pull out at the last minute?

Dear God, it's far too easy to toss an award-winning but loss-making (whose fault here on the latter?) station & subsidiary into the gutter when you have no further use for it.

Channel 4 appears to have used Oneword to get into the digital radio market; but what rationale has UBC Media for running a subsidiary/investment interest for about 7 years and then saying "goodbye", blaming competition from BBC7 and a strategy of wanting to be a service industry and not a station provider, into the gutter?  A subsidiary with a mission and objectives is not a pair of slippers to grind away into the carpet!

Oneword was a station devoted to literature, books and the spoken word.  I hope we don't see (hear) the last of its wonderful programmes come Jan 12, 2008.  The quality, yes, do get this, the quality of its programmes was something not to be missed and I hope these are resurrected on another channel whose owners pay due respect to the production quality and make the most of it.  If only more people had realised Oneword was there; but that's crap marketing for you, as I indicated here! 

Sad to see you go Oneword.  Please come back soon with your wonderful programmes on another channel, even if you don't have an exclusive home with your own branded station and even if you only manage 5/7 and not 24/7 - that would be a pull!

My very best to all of you who produced and presented in 2007 on Oneword.  As I said before, I only realised how to listen to you in 2007 and during that year you brought much light, stimulation, education and humour to the darkest hours in my life.  Your talents will be noted and actioned further, I'm sure; you have too much to waste, even if your (major) parent company could not see it in 2007/8 and before.  I will listen again as soon as I know you're there.  Such talent as yours will be on our airwaves again and soon.  I look forward to listening again.

My very best to those who created and maintained "Oneword"; keep your chins and heads held up high you darlings, because that is where they deserve to be! 

I do hope we listen again soon.

cfr

Tess Gerritsen - The Bone Garden

Tess Gerritsen has written romance novels, medical thrillers and two series of other crime thrillers: the Jane Rizzoli and the Maura Isles series.  On her site, The Bone Garden is listed in the category of "medical thrillers" even though Maura Isles provides a link to her most recent work.  But it's more of a link to her current readership as Gerritsen spreads her wings and takes her crime writing into the historical, in this case the 1800s.  Her web page to introduce The Bone Garden makes it clear: it's Boston in 1830.  And this is where the main story lies.  A shorter contemporary story is also woven in to the novel, but fans of the Maura Isles series should take note: Isles makes a mere cameo appearance at the start, and this novel is really something else entirely.

In a nutshell:

Not read a single book in the past year?

Jim Crace in the Guardian informs us today that "...a new report from the Office for National Statistics reveals that a quarter of people in the UK haven't read a single book in the past year - a figure that has sent the government into a tailspin."  (Another spin? I thought they'd be all flat out with dizziness by now, given the decade of spin they've delivered.)

In the same newspaper, Sian Pattenden suggests some novels to get back into the reading habit.  Unfortunately, I think this article's presentation has missed the point a bit.  It's topped with a picture of the "Crime Bestsellers" table at Waterstone's and carries the comment "Failing to inspire ... A book table at Waterstones."

A person chooses to read and what they choose to read is a matter of taste.  But the clue here is in the word "Bestsellers".  If trying to encourage those adults who haven't read a book in the past year to read something, you could do no better than suggesting a good crime or thriller novel as crime fiction regularly makes the top ten bestsellers lists, including hardbacks.  How could the majority of those who choose to read be wrong?  I'd even go so far as to suggest that the thriller would be a good place to start for a specific reason.  Why?

Historical crime in Hampstead and the birth of "Gaslit"

  So, what are you doing on the evening of 7 February?

Are you able to get to Hampstead in north London?  The Waterstone's branch in particular?

At 7pm, Barry Forshaw will be talking to four authors in the historical crime genre, now coined "Gaslit", as he endeavours to "uncover their criminal impulses".

The authors under the microscope include Lee Jackson, Andrew Martin, Frank Tallis and R. N. (Roger) Morris.

There's a £3 admission charge, but Waterstone's usually encourage attendance by offering the entry fee against the cost of purchasing a book at the event.  (Not that they have the event noted on their website yet to confirm this!)

And, talking of Roger, who has given Porfiry Petrovich a further life in his own novels, he's recently left his day job to concentrate on his fictional writing.  At day three of the new era for him, he produced a video of the "writer's life".  You can see his video by clicking on this link.  I suspect that many writers will relate to this.  But, writer or reader, it will bring a smile to your face, as it did mine.

Now come on, who has anything better to do if near Hampstead at 7pm on 7 February?  Go and enjoy the evening, I'm sure it will be good!

Oscupdate no. 2

Oscar is pleased to inform all you well wishers and friends out there that he's much better now.  He's even enjoying his daily Dairylea treats, making sure he has his heart tablets.  As of Tuesday morning this week, he's proven he's back to normal as he did a mad race up and down the stairs and investigated the bottom of wardrobe when I opened the door.  He's also found his voice again.

And talking of him finding his voice again, he'd also like to inform you that he's read a good book lately and wants to tell you all about it.  That book is A Dog About Town by J. F. Englert.  Hopefully, later today we'll manage to type in the words.

When will the dumbing-down come to an end in the UK?

In December 2007 a literacy petition was handed into 10 Downing Street by Amanda Ross the producer of the Richard & Judy Show (a programme that comes to an end this year, but its book club is to remain).  Signed by 545 authors, the petition drew attention to that fact that schoolchildren were behind in their reading. 

In November 2007, we had seen the results of the 2006 Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS), undertaken every five years, involving children aged about 10 across 40 countries.  England had fallen from 3rd place to 19th with Scotland falling from 14th to 21st.  Press reports over the new year period indicated that children are spending longer hours playing computer games.

On the plus side, 2008 is designated The National Year of Reading, so there is some hope for a focus on this pleasurable activity.

But...

INDEX to "Oneword Radio listeners finally know what's going on, but remain in a cloud of mystery..."

The post immediately below is important but lengthy, therefore here's an index to see what follows:

1. Current events - the loss of Oneword as we knew it

2. A little history on Oneword's ownership and strategy

3. The set of ironies in how we perceive the value of books

4. The financial element

5. Publicity and knowing Oneword is/was there for the benefits it delivered

6. What Oneword delivered that we have now lost

7. Can anything be done from the listeners' point of view?