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

Dr Who and the end of series four...

Last night saw episode 13, "The Stolen Earth" on our screens in the UK, the first of a two-parter finale which concludes with "Journey's End" next week.  It ended with a gripping climax that will have all eagerly counting down to next Saturday's final episode of the series.  Dr Who was hit by a dalek and went into regeneration mode...

Like many, I was horrified at the thought that the Doc may not come back with David Tennant in the role.  It's been rumoured that:

1. He's been offered £100k per epi to stay.
2. He's already shot the Christmas special and there are photos of the filming to prove it.

But scouring the net for spoilers and suchlike, in the case of no. 2 I find mention of the fact that actor David Morrissey is in "Doc" type clothing and that Tennant could have been jetted onto the set just for the pics - as a red herring.  Let Morrissey be a mere guest star, please.

Some think we will see actor James Nesbitt in the role.  I hope not.  My days of watching Dr Who will then be over.  Over and out, whatever universe.  Nesbitt only does variations of self.  He could never be the Doc.

But there are many other theories on the net from those who watch and absorb the plots far better than I could ever do. The crux of it is this: we're facing a situation where one of the doctor's companions has to die to save the universe.  It will be the most loyal companion.  Some say Rose, some say Martha, some say - horror of horrors, and yes, I've grown to love her - Donna.

The theories make interesting reading which I don't profess to understand for one minute.  Examples include:

1. It's all an alternative universe with Donna being told there was something on her back in The Stolen Earth.
2. The hand that took the hand out of the sand in a previous epi was a woman's hand.  Could Donna be the Master?
3. Donna will become the first female Dr Who.  (There's always been something "special" about her, apparently.)
4. Rose Tyler will get it.
5. K9 will make a late appearance and get it (being a dog of sorts, he's loyal).

And there are far more.  It's amazing to read how closely this show is followed.  I read somewhere that someone had noted that Russell T Davies had said that a well-known female would be killed.  This had to be Penelope Wilton's character - "I'm Harriet Jones, former Prime Minister" - because she kept saying that and even the daleks replied "Yes, we know who you are" at her (perceived) end commented the commenter.

The research also brought up interesting points on which I had no previous clue.  For example, one theory suggests that previous Dr Who companion, (weren't they originally called "assistants"?), Romana, has something to do with all this.  It turns out that Lalla Ward, who played Romana, after a brief marriage to Tom Baker, married Richard Dawkins in 1992.  Dawkins of course, had a guest role last night.  But so did Paul O'Grady.  Are we to believe that he will sacrifice his life for the Doc?  I don't think so.  In whatever universe and timespace, he has a successful show on C4 and too good a deal...

It all made for interesting and exhilerating (on times) reading of theories, but I have to hand it to RTD here, it's a thrilling finale.

Just one last point.  If the BBC hasn't secured David Tennant for at least one more series, there will be uproar.  He's made it his role and become an institution.  To lose him, with no warning, would be like taking milk from schools in the 70s.  The BBC would never live it down.  If they have to make a change, then let us have Donna Noble.  Of the current run, I think she's done more to establish herself in the hearts and minds of devotees than other companions, perhaps without knowing it.  We expected less of her, but got more, far more than we expected from Catherine Tate.  She really is talented and had made Dr Who her oyster too.

My ideal world for the future of the series: Tennant remains as the Doc with Tate as his companion.

Failing that - and I'd hate to see Tennant go - make Tate the Doc and bring in Sarah Jane's son as the new assistant.  Knowing what's out there, mother Sarah Jane has been protecting her son, mollycoddling him beyond belief.  But he'll know as much as she does.  Probably more.  He's her son and he's learnt from her.  Far more than she may realise.  In her protective mode, she's overlooked his skills and abilities.  He's a teenager for God's sake and they often know far more than we do at the early-wrinkly-stage.  I haven't seen Donna take control of the Tardis yet, although I haven't watched every episode.  She'll need a hand in that and Sarah Jane's son would be a perfect combo.  I reckon he might be instrumental in saving the day for "Journey's End" as well as good hand on the controls of the Tardis for a learner.

So, if we lose the Doc as we know him - DT - and it's Donna that takes on the role with SJ's son at her side, you heard it here first!  The current odds in my book are 15m to 1, so don't hold your breath.  I'm not taking bets, either.  Just suggesting.  And out on a limb, no doubt.

What I want to see, above all, is DT returning in the role of the Doc, with Tate (DN) at his side.  And if regeneration does mean new, then I hope we have Donna in the role.  (Russell T Davies would leave his mark if he created the first female Doc for the series.)  And Sarah Jane's boy is perfect as a companion to Donna.  Am I thinking too far out here?

Coming up this week:

My thoughts on Bad Traffic from  Simon Lewis.  (Monday 7/7)

Guest blog from Simon Lewis, the author of Bad Traffic.  (Tuesday 8/7)

If you are not familiar with Simon, he started out as a travel writer, working on the Rough Guides to China, Beijing and Shanghai, also writing for newspapers and magazines.  Then he moved into fiction with the backpacker novel Go.  However, Bad Traffic, his second novel has certainly caught the eyes of those in the crime fiction community in the UK (see MSM reviews at The Guardian, The Observer, The Times, The Daily Telegraph, The Independent).  It's now been sold in the US, as well the film rights.

Bad Traffic's key originality comes from seeing the landscape and culture of the UK through the eyes of two Chinese men.  It reflects on our contemporary world with a plot that revolves around people trafficking and snakehead gangs.  Finally for now, it's a stomping good read that makes you think.

My plan to outline the story of what's been happening at agency PFD has fallen into the w/c 7/7, later in the week.

(Updated: 5/7.  There was more than one element of inconvenience at chez crimefic during the last week.  But I shall not moan here...)

Third Strike - Zoë Sharp

Charlie Fox, ex-Special Forces soldier turned bodyguard, storm-troops into her seventh outing in rip-roaring style, in what transpires to be her most personal of missions.

From previous cases, we know that there is no love lost between Charlie and her parents, her father Richard Foxcroft in particular.  He has never approved of having a trained killer for a daughter, believing that this will ultimately lead to her own destruction. Indeed, so great has his disapproval been in both her choice of career and of partner, she has long since shortened her name from Foxcroft to further disassociate themselves as family.

In Third Strike, we find Charlie and her partner - both personal and business - based in New York, caught in a spiral of destruction in which her eminent surgeon father stands to lose either his reputation or his wife.  Great though he feels the threat to be, he still chooses not to seek help from Charlie, although he, too, is in New York when news breaks of his plight.  An ironic touch here - Charlie learns of her father's potential fall from grace whilst working out on a treadmill with the television news on as background.  After an almost fatal injury in her previous mission, which could so easily have proved Foxcroft right in his belief of the damage she would cause herself, it is during the body-strengthening physio she is undertaking that she realises that she is the one who can help the very person who despises the work she does.

As Charlie and her partner, Sean Meyer face opposition from her father, the very man they need to help, they have an uphill struggle trying to discover why someone is out to disgrace Foxcroft.  When eventually they glean enough information to realise that her mother is potentially in very real danger, they race back to England with guns blazing in an attempt to win the first battle, in this most personal of wars.

Third Strike by title, but the seventh strike in what is proving the most addictive of series to emerge from the current English contingent of crime writers.  Imaginative plots and a new location each time keep the series fresh and varied; the jacket blurb promises ''super-charged action and a high speed plot'', and Third Strike more than fulfils. If you are already a fan, you will love this new instalment; if Zoë Sharp is a new name for you, miss this one at your peril, as they say!

Zoë Sharp talks about her protagonist Charlie Fox

It was both a delight and an honour to be asked to guest blog on It’s A Crime, and I’m so pleased to be here. I’m even more pleased, however, to see the reactions from Rhian and Chris to the latest exploits of Charlie Fox - Second Shot and Third Strike. With both books I knew that I was about to step out on something of a limb as far as a series character was concerned, and I admit that initially I wasn’t too sure if I could really pull it off.
 
I remember explaining to an audience at Left Coast Crime in Bristol, back in 2006, that I intended to open Second Shot with Charlie lying in a frozen forest in New England, having just been shot twice. The room actually gasped, and a part of me thought, Uh-oh, is that a good thing or a bad thing that just happened there?
 
Whenever you step outside the conventions, there is the chance that you’re going to misjudge the mood. I took a chance with Charlie herself. Not the standard private eye or police officer of conventional British crime fiction. Not quite the standard amateur sleuth, either. I wanted a strong female lead who would not scream and fall over and wait to be rescued. And I wanted to explore the killer inside her, the deadly instincts that she initially tried to suppress, but at the same time never to lose sight of her human edge.
 
Men who kill are the norm in crime thrillers. It’s almost expected of them. Women who kill, however, are so often portrayed as psychos or cold-blooded assassins. Charlie is neither and I strove to make her more rounded, more real. She doesn’t go looking for trouble, but working as a bodyguard she can be forced to kill in the line of duty, to defend her principal or die trying. And when that principal is her own father, as in Third Strike, things get somewhat complicated.
 
In that book I wanted to bring to a head a lot of themes that have been rising for a while in the series. The main one was Charlie’s ongoing difficult relationship with her parents. I felt that Charlie’s father in particular always stole every scene in which he’s appeared. So this time I wanted to bring him much more to centre stage, to confront him with his own killer instinct and see if he was still able to take the moral high ground, as he’s tended to do in the past. This is a book about respect, the search for it, the attempt to regain it.
 
And it leaves Charlie - not to mention her parents - in a very interesting place. Bringing her back from that in the next one presents a whole new set of challenges!

[Our thanks to Zoë.  You can find out more about her work here and sign up for her newsletter.  If you have any questions for her, please post them in the comments.  She's on a tight schedule at the moment, but hopes to be able to access the net later today and tomorrow to be able to reply to any comments.  And hopefully later...  We culminate tomorrow with Chris's review of the latest novel: Third Strike.]

Second Shot - Zoë Sharp

Second Shot from Zoë Sharp is a Charlie Fox thriller and what a thriller it is too.  This is the sixth novel in the series and here Charlie is charged with providing bodyguard services to a recent lottery winner Simone, mother of four year old Ella.  Simone is estranged from her partner Matt and is hell-bent on finding her ex-SAS soldier father with whom she lost contact when a child.  Simone needs protection as her now tempestuous relationship with Matt following the lottery win makes her life and story wonderfully delicious fodder for the hunt-as-a-pack tabloids.  Someone has become quite close to locating Simone's father in the States, but he then dies in suspicious circumstances and it appears that her father wants to remain resolutely hidden, up to a point.  When the action moves from London to Boston, Charlie discovers that Simone makes a difficult subject, as she simply cannot grasp the risks she's under...

This is an easy read and a page turner of a novel; the plot competes heavily with the strong characterisations and tetchy relationships to drive you forward.  Even minor characters are strong and well drawn.  There's a perfect old school City private banker.  There's a father-in-jeopardy not about to allow his child to be taken out of his life for good.  There's a father who can only function as he does at work: controlling and with clinical precision.

At the centre, there's an engaging, sometimes sweet but always typical four year old caught up in what becomes a maelstrom of events.  And it's seeing the impact on young Ella that brings home the reality of the impact of crime on innocent victims.

Like all good crime novels, Second Shot also tests perception versus reality, removing another layer of the onion as the chapters are read.  Is all what it seems?  Well, you have to read it to find out.  Like Charlie, you'll feel protective of Ella and develop a bond with her; she's as strong on the page as she would be in flesh and blood and she grabs you emotionally.  At the end of this novel you'll want her to be safe.  Is she?  Again, you have to read to find out and I hope that you do.

Zoë Sharp has garnered a great following in the US for her novels and it's now time that the UK's crime readership contingent joined the bandwagon in legions.  Well, you wouldn't want to miss out, would you?
 

Further events on the crime scene UK:

The Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival at Harrogate (17-20 July) is now taking individual event bookings via ticketweb.

Reading has a new Reading Festival of Crime Writing starting in September of this year (12-14 and over a weekend).  The programme has now been confirmed and can be found here (pdf).  Tickets are now available via here.

Heffers Cambridge: Bodies in the Bookshop, Tuesday July 15th @ 6pm

It's an annual event, but if you haven't been before what exactly is it?

Well, Richard Reynolds from Heffers - a crime buff himself - says it is "more of an informal party (wine & soft drinks available) - from 6.00pm until 8.30pm or so - no speeches or readings - a great chance for crime buffs to meet and chat to writers and have their books signed".

Authors promised this year include Tony Black, Stephen Booth, Chelsea Cain, Armand Cabasson, Cassandra Clark, Barbara Cleverly, Natasha Cooper, Charles Cumming, Anna Dean, David Donachie, R. S. Downie, Ruth Dudley Edwards, Jane Finnis, Elena Forbes, Ariana Franklin, Philip Gooden, Dolores Gordon-Smith, Ian Gosling, Veronica Heley, David Hewson, Kaye Hill, Suzette Hill, Lis Howell, Claude Izner, Lee Jackson, Jim Kelly, Deryn Lake, Patrick Lennon, Jack Ludlow, Adrian Magson, Andrew Martin, R. N. Morris, The Mulgray Twins, Stuart Pawson, Christine Poulson, Ann Purser, Mike Ripley, David Roberts, Zoe Sharp, Ros Southey, Rebecca Stott, Andrew Taylor, Nicola Upson, Jill Paton Walsh, Laura Wilson and many more...

This is a ticketed event only.  The tickets cost £5, but £2 is redeemable on the night against any purchase.

Tickets can be obtained from the Ground Floor Payment Desk at Heffers Bookshop, 20 Trinity Street, Cambridge or by contacting Richard Reynolds on 01223 568532, or by email to literature AT heffers.co.uk (replace with the usual and remove the spaces).

What a joy for those who live in or near Cambridge.  Have fun!

Coming up later this week

Things have been a tad delayed due to the cold, but I'm now back in the land of the living - thanks to decongestants, steam, anti-histamines and the old honey, lemon, brandy and hot water combo (which performed better than Benylin for the throat & chest) - so here are some posts to come later this week.

1. Zoë Sharp Week at It's a Crime!

Today is the official publication day for Zoë Sharp's latest novel Third Strike and it also sees her previous novel in the Charlie Fox series - Second Shot - released in the smaller format paperback.  Thus, we're going to have a Zoë Sharp celebration week, running Wednesday through to Friday, if all goes to plan.  (I'll let you know if it doesn't.)

So here's the plan:

I'll be posting my thoughts on Second Shot and occasional contributor to this blog, ScotKris will let you know his take on Third Strike.  Having read the whole series, ScotKris is well placed to consider Charlie's recent outing in terms of her evolution as a series protagonist.  Finally, sandwiched between the two books will be a guest blog from the lovely Zoë herself.  Thank you both.

Also:

2. The UK's remaining main Crime Fiction Events Calendar for 2008

We have information on Bodies in the Bookshop, at Heffers bookshop in Cambridge to tell you about (July).  Then a reminder about Harrogate (also July) and a newly formed festival to come in Reading, Berks (September).  No doubt there are other smaller events, but we concentrate on the ones where a herd of crime fiction authors gather together to meet readers.

3. PFD

Andrew Neil has headed a purchase of this beleaguered agency - formerly a literary agency and now seeing the sunny side up with new ownership and its vision of becoming a 360 degree agency.  All very intriguing stuff.

4. There may be other posts ...

... depending on the news, time availability and how I get on with a PC that is slowly grinding to a halt.  I bit the bullet today and ordered a new one.  But I have up to 10 days to wait for delivery and then there's installation.  Just the ordering element has proven to me how out of touch I am with PC and related software developments over the last few years.

Please excuse me for a few days...

I have the mother of all colds.  My throat is almost inactive; the rest of me is approaching 'it'...  My next door neighbour thinks it's already hit my chest...

Back tomorrow, if I feel up to it.  But for now I want bed, bed and more bed; with some reading, if I can muster and focus, especially with the ever-weeping left eye.

OK.  Rest is called for and it will come.  I admit: fall down and over.

Catch you later, avid or sporadic readers!

Bye For Now,

R (looking forward to some sleep...)

Last Rituals - Yrsa Sigurðardóttir

I have to admit to listening to this Icelandic author at the Hay Festival and thinking 'she's my kind of woman'.  I loved her humour, her honest and direct approach, and her ability to drop in the word 'bloody' without a moment's hesitation.  Icelandic?  Hey, she could be a Brit, easily.

But what of her first adult novel Last Rituals which has now been translated for and published in the UK?  (As well as in 35 other languages across the world.)  Did this translated dark-side of noir captivate me in my crime fiction reading world?  You bet. I thought it was fantastic.  Read on.  Please.

It's also great to learn something when you're reading and in Last Rituals we learn of Iceland's history in respect of the witch hunts of the 1600s and, interestingly, the fact that Iceland only burnt one woman at the stake - alongside 20 men - unlike the rest of Europe which embraced a misogynistic spree.  But, Last Rituals has a contemporary setting and the historical element is very successfully woven in.

Last Rituals opens with the discovery of the body of German student Harald Guntlieb at the University of Iceland.  The police arrest a drug dealing friend of his, but Harald's very wealthy Bavarian parents feel there is insufficient evidence, so they send their security man, Matthew Reich to Iceland to perform an investigation.  As he doesn't speak Icelandic, they seek out the services of local lawyer, Thóra Gudmundsdóttir to assist him.