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

Cheltenham Literature Festival 2009, running 9-18 October

I received a leaflet yesterday, offering "Membership" and "Members' priority booking" as well as an indicator of the final line-up.  It looks good, folks.  And becoming a member can lead to discounts on bookings.  Cooking and comedy appear prevalent this year.  You can find out more here.

Mitchell and Webb are on the front page holding a book titled "This Mitchell and Webb Book."

Others confirmed include: Simon Armitage; Richard Eyre; Sandi Toksvig; Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie; Alice Roberts; Monica Ali; Rageh Omah; Anthony Horowitz; Mark Watson; Jonathan Coe; John Irving; James Martin; Jack Dee; David Walliams; Michael Palin; Gregory Doran; Nicholas Stern; Steve Redgrave; Joss Ackland; Bertie Ahern; Joan Bakewell; Iain Banks; Nick Barratt; Mary Beard; Chris Beardshaw; Tony Benn; Cherie Blair (Eek!); Charley Boorman; Melvyn Bragg (lovely guy at Hay this year); Jo Brand; John Carey; Leslie Caron (Wow!); Justin Lee Collins; James Cracknell; Barry Cryer; William Dalrymple; Alan Davies; Alain de Botton; Monty Don; Harold Evans; Sebastain Faulks; Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall; Katie Fforde; Ranulph Fiennes; Stephanie Flanders; Ben Fogle; Stephen Fry (now slimline); Frank Gardner; Maggie Gee; Victoria Glendinning; Rose Gray; Rich Hall; Max Hastings; Simon Hoggart; Christopher Hogwood; David Horspool; Armando Iannucci; Steve Jones; Brian Keenan; A L Kennedy; Hugh Lupton; Michael Mansfield (interesting...); Hilary Mantel; Andrew Marr; Christopher Martin-Jenkins; Virginia McKenna; Chris Mullin; Al Murray; Audrey Niffenegger; Susie Orbach; Tom Barker Bowles; Tony Parsons; Jeremy Paxman; Peter Porter; Diana Quick; Mark Ramprakash; Vic Reeves; Patsy Rodenburg; Ruth Rogers; Charles Saumarez Smith; Tim Smit; Arthur Smith; Chris Stewart; Alan Titchmarsh; Colm Toibin; Jenny Uglow; Robert Vaughn; Valentine Warner; Sarah Waters; June Whitfield; Andy Williams.

And the crimefic-related: Kate Atkinson; Susan Hill; P D James.

Mrs D'Silva's Detective Instincts and the Shaitan of Calcutta - Glen Peters

Published in June by Cardigan-based Parthian Books, Mrs D'Silva's Detective Instincts and the Shaitan of Calcutta is an absolute delight and quite original.  Both facets come from the author drawing on his own experience of a childhood in India in the 1950s, lovingly recalled in this novel.  From the first page you are immediately transported to another time, place and culture in the full confidence that an accurate portrayal is delivered.

The novel opens in 1960 with a group of Anglo-Indians heading out for a picnic at the shrine of Our Lady by the Hooghly, a tributary of the Ganges.  All goes well, with tensions dissipated when the all important food proves to be of the usual high standard and with the new transistor radio working a treat.  All until Joan D'Silva's ten year old son Errol wanders off and returns horrified, having discovered the dead body of a young woman on the banks of the river.

Not enough that this idyllic scene is destroyed by the discovery, Calcutta itself is subject to dark undercurrents with the activities of the Workers' Revolutionary Movement of Bengal starting to have an impact.  The widowed Mrs D'Silva, a teacher at Don Bosco's Catholic school then discovers that a former pupil, Anil Sen has been charged with the murder of a factory manager at a riot.  Sen was a close friend of the dead woman, Agnes Lal.

Along the way Mrs D'Silva's Detective Instincts and the Shaitan of Calcutta manages to take in mystery and suspense; political corruption; cultural tensions; the changing face of India during those times; the pressures of emigration; a huge amount of food; the nature of relationships and more than one love story.  It is hard not to smile many times on reading because the people are lovingly engaging, even the not well-liked ones.  Here's sample from a passage on the school's sports day:

Finally they were under starter's orders and they were off.  Punditji waddled with all his might, kurta flying in the air and determination on his face.  He was fixed on getting somewhere, but not necessarily on the track, and he wove in and out of Mrs Shrove's path, much to her annoyance as she thundered forwards, her large breasts flying ahead of her.

Mrs D'Silva's Detective Instincts and the Shaitan of Calcutta is an absolute gem of a novel.  And if that that's not enough to tempt you, the cover includes three recipes.

This book has been entered into the People's Book Prize - more on that to come in a later post - and has already attracted some favourable comments in the voting there.

The author pursued a career in engineering management and is a partner with PriceWaterhouseCoopers.  But he also has Welsh connection, deeper than that with his publisher.  He is the founder of Project Rhosygilwen in west Wales, a Pembrokeshire-based rural arts regeneration venture.  I do hope he continues with his fiction writing career and look forward to more.

Crime Writers' Association Daggers 2009

The daggers announced tonight were Library, International, Debut and Short Story. Congratulations to the winners Colin Cotterill, Fred Vargas, Catherine O'Keefe and Sean Chercover, respectively.

The International Dagger award is causing some discussion amongst those who have read the shortlist.  See here.  I can't really comment as I have only read two on the list, the Alvtegen and the Theorin.  But I have not been tempted back to Vargas after reading a second novel of hers which I found to be too heavy on whimsy.  Perhaps I ought to try this award winning novel?

The Welsh Crime Writing Contingent - Summer 2009

Well, the Irish and Northern Irish crimeys have created a tsunami that's managed to wash the buttocks of the tartan noir clan while their kilts were at the dry cleaners, over the last couple of years.  But it's time to look at the mouse instead of the elephants, because the mouse is growing.

Newport born Matt Beynon Rees goes from strength to strength and now has three novels in his Omar Yussef series based in Palestine.  He's also upped the ante on his blog in recent months. I thought the first novel in this series was fantastic and hope to catch up with the other two soon.

Bernard Knight's latest Crowner John, Crowner Royal, and the thirteenth in the series moves into paperback in August.  I thought that one was to be the last, but in 2010 we have A Plague of Heretics coming.  Last December, Bernard Knight told me that he also has a two book deal with Severn House for a 1950s, Welsh borders set forensic pathologist set of stories.

Robert Lewis, author of Swansea Terminal and The Last Llanelli Train will be at this year's Harrogate Crime Writing Festival, appearing in the panel "Men in Crisis" at 12 noon on Saturday, 25th July.

Tobias Jones, part-Welsh, debuted in the crime fiction world with Faber in July, with The Salati Case, set in Italy.  Before taking to crime fiction, Jones explored The Dark Heart of Italy in a non-fiction book, also with Faber.

And last, but not least we have a newbie alert.  Richard Jay Parker may sound like an American author's name, but he's not, he's Welsh.  His debut Stop Me, with Allison & Busby arrives in August.  Prior to taking up crime fiction writing he's had a successful career in TV as a writer and producer.  One TV series he produced - We Know Where You Live - launched the careers of Simon Pegg, Fiona Allen and Sanjeev Baskar.

OK, it's still a small contingent, but the mouse is growing.

Beachcombing - Maggie Dana (NON-CRIME)

Beachcombing by Maggie Dana is another one from the Macmillan New Writing stable.  You could put it in the romance genre but it's more than that as it's a coming of age, in the second half of life sort of novel.  Add to that some glorious humour and a pace akin to a thriller and you have a rather engaging tale, perfect for summer reading.

Jillian Hunter, now 52, did not have the happiest of childhoods with a rather distant mother.  At 17, she was finding love with Colin, but he quickly disappeared for reasons unknown to his friends at the time.  Jill departed to the US where she married the not too suitable Richard, had two sons, renovated a beachside cottage, divorced and set up her own business.  Thirty-five years on, with her business not going too well, Colin returns into the fold of old friends and on a trip to London, Jill falls into his arms.  Literally.

My Soul to Take - Yrsa Sigurðardóttir

Continuing in the vein she so competently set with her first adult crime novel Last Rituals, Yrsa Sigurðardóttir thrills with a contemporary mystery set in her homeland of Iceland, while also paying respect to its beautiful setting and educating by again exploring its history in My Soul to Take.

Amateur sleuth, but professional lawyer Thóra Gudmundsdóttir returns with a case of commercial conveyancing gone wrong.  But oh, if it were only that simple.  Her client, Jonas Juliusson, for whom she had facilitated the purchase of land and a farmhouse just a year before, calls to say there is a defect with the property.  Thóra, unsure whether the middle-aged man had 'always been odd or whether having money had turned him eccentric' finds herself listening to claims that the property - now a hotel and New Age health spa, specialising in alternative treatments - is haunted.