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

Bad MSM reviews of books as opposed to bad book reviews, an example...

It's a short one, but I have to ask: where is the evidence and argument to support the conclusion drawn here at The Independent for Chris Ewan's Paris?

What a dire waste of page space, internet and paper (I presume on the latter).  Chris has my utmost sympathies.  It's really so easy to slag off a book and give no reason in the MSM, isn't it?   And has anyone heard of Emma Hagestadt, the reviewer?  Answers on a postcard please: I really don't think you'll need to pay the postage for a printed dossier.

My life according to books I've read this year...

Following Maxine's post on "My life according to books I've read this year", here is mine:

More snippets on TV, with a dose of crime

• **Bank Holiday Monday Alert** - BBC1 20:30 for 1.5 hrs "Framed" with Trevor Eve and Eve Myles.  Taking the wartime evacuation of paintings from the National Gallery to a mine in north Wales as inspiration, Eve (Trevor) plays the curator who accompanies the paintings as they go there for a second time due to flooding in London.  He is charmed and brought out of his shell by the locals.  More info here, plus links to interviews with the actors and clips.  The cast includes Welsh actor Robert Pugh.
• Rebus starts a repeat run on Friday 4 September on ITV1 @ 21:00.  More from Stotty!  (Which I completely appreciate.)
• Norm, especially, might appreciate this programme on ITV1 on Thursday, 3 September @ 22:35: "Outbreak".  It's a chronicle of 3 September 1939, the day that war broke out, tracing the day's events hour by hour.
• Tuesday 1 September sees the return of "The Fixer" about a team of crime fighters under the radar on ITV1 @ 21:00.

The 2009 Australian Davitt Awards

This year's ninth Davitt Awards saw Katherine Howell win in the readers' choice category.  (You can find her novels at Waterstone's here.)  Katherine very kindly sent me the press release which I reproduce below, in full, as you might be interested in the comments made.

MEDIA RELEASE

Some good crime-on-TV news

Martin Edwards has posted today that Ann Cleeves's novel Hidden Depths, featuring Northumberland-based detective Vera Stanhope is to be televised.  ITV Studios is producing the two hour drama and production commences in October. 

Vera Stanhope will be played by that wonderful actress Brenda Blethyn.  You can read more about the book and the TV production here on Ann's site.

(The photograph is of Brenda Blethyn and Craig Ferguson in Saving Grace.)

And if you want to read it before you see it, you can find a copy of the novel at Waterstone's here.

Many congratulations to Ann!

ITV have brought us some excellent TV crime dramas in recent years, so I am sure they will do Ann's novel justice.

Peoplewatching in London

Notting Hill Gate.  The 1960s erected buildings with multi-coloured façade remain, doing nothing to cheer up the neighbourhood above the shop fronts.  I order a glass of wine from a bar.  Notting Hill man walks past, teaming up a pink shirt with khaki shorts and a dull blue pair plastic crocs; hairy calves and shins fill the gaps.  Teenage Notting Hill woman walks the other way: skinny with long length cream top over black leggings; an example of how the young wear fashion as a uniform to fit in.

More from the Edinburgh BookFest

In the comments to the previous post, Tim - a reader from Scotland - draws attention to a Flickr group of pics for the festival.  Nice they are too.  Thanks Tim for taking the time to let us know about them.  You're a star!

Edinburgh Book Festival

I've had texts and pics from a good friend, but Bookwitch, aka Mrs Giles has been there and is covering the occasion - just in case you've missed it!  Some great pics of the authors too.

Weekend snippets for fun & delectation

To mark the recent 'A' level results, the Guardian put together a quiz on "Exams in literature".  It might be worth taking the test just to see the comments on your own results.  I scored a poor 3 out of 10 and got this: "Oh, my! And we made it so easy to try and boost our results. I'm off to write a strongly worded editorial for the Daily Mail about declining standards."   Don't you just love the way these newspapers take a bite at one another when they can?  What comments might you get with a 7 out of 10, I wonder?

Also in the Guardian, Johnny Dee takes his pick of the despicable one star reviews on Amazon.  But sometimes you can't go wrong with the 5 star reviews either, here's one I found for Henry Porter's The Dying Light from someone called Pure Class (I kid you not): "Intelligent, topical and litterate.  Porter delivers a veritable feast with a plot that is ripped from tomorrow's headldines. This is definitely one to be savoured and read over a couple of sittings. The characters are so rich they jump off the page - I was truly sad to finish it.  If you enjoy the best of Deighton and Le Carre. This one is for you. Pure class!"   A copy of the OED should be his/her next purchase. I've never known something as rich as foie gras to jump off the page either.

Stop Me - Richard Jay Parker

Stop Me is a novel that involves a serial killer and traverses both the USA and Europe, with a protagonist based in London.  The 'vacation killer' operates by sending out a chain email suggesting the recipient forwards it on to ten other people in the hope that he ultimately receives the same email back, which will save the woman he has kidnapped. Failure to achieve this within the specified time frame results in evidence of the woman's death delivered to the authorities.  The killer operates in the US, but soon, Europe feels the impact of his twisted mind.

In London, and in the spate of the rushed but organised last-minute shopping that occurs before Christmas, Leo Sharpe loses his wife Laura.  She simply disappears.  He receives a vacation killer email and the time elapses but nothing of Laura is delivered to prove her death.  Thus we have Leo living another version of life after Laura's disappearance, ever-optimistic that Laura is still alive and spared, just no longer with him.  It is with Leo and through Leo that we learn of the story.