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

The New Year's Honours 2011 focused on Writing and Publishing

Let’s start with someone close to the heart of many crime fiction readers, especially those who love translated crime.  An enviable record in publishing, but a pioneer when it comes to translated crime, Christopher Maclehose has been awarded the CBE.  While others concerned themselves with the identity of Top Gear’s ‘The Stig’ and the publishing world went to the courts of law, Maclehose had long been instrumental in delivering another similarly named phenomenon in the UK: Stieg Larsson.

Others in publishing in this year’s honours include:

CVO

SHAWCROSS, The Honourable William Hartley Hume, Author.

GBE

WEIDENFELD, Arthur George, Baron, Publisher. For public service.

DBE

FRASER, The Lady Antonia, C.B.E., Historian and Author. For services to Literature.

OBE

ALLFREY, Ms Ellah Wakatama. For services to the Publishing Industry.

MBE

USBORNE, Thomas Peter, Managing Director, Usborne Publishing Ltd. For services to the Publishing Industry.

HOLMSTROM, Ms Lakshmi, Writer and Translator. For services to Literature.

Congratulations to all.

A Seasonal Message and a Year in Books…

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and that you have an excellent 2011 ahead of you.  Happy New Year!

I will resume the Books for Christmas series shortly.  Sadly, due to a nasty infection I was diverted in December and will carry on posting the collected Books for Christmas series but under a new tag of ‘2011 starts with recommendation heaven’.

You may know me by now.  I try to be a little different.  No year end top tens from me this year; just a look back on 2010’s year in books.  I hope you enjoy it.  It goes some way to explaining why there were fewer posts on this blog during the past year.

January saw the launch of the TV Book Club in the UK.  Bookworms across the country were crying out for this: a book show on terrestrial TV.  Hopes were high as it involved Amanda Ross who had set up the Richard & Judy Book Club.  But readers don’t go that deeply into backroom organisation and don’t really care.  ‘Richard & Judy’ was the brand and it was their word, their recommendations that mattered.  Criticism started early, as soon as the panel was announced.  Hopes were dashed, but bookworms retained patience and gave it time.  Low notes: celebrity central for bragging up a biography; most of the panel and guests; the wrong location, location, location for Jo Brand’s brand of humour.  High notes: Joan Bakewell as a guest; Ian McMillan on Ted Hughes, making poetry accessible; the books selected.  The series returns to our screens in January 2011.

Books for Christmas 2010 – Chris Nickson and Bill Kitson pick…

New on the block, but with firm foundations for the future, making them both crime fiction authors you’d be sore to miss, in the UK Bill Kitson debuted with Depth of Despair (Robert Hale) in 2009 and Chris Nickson has debuted with The Broken Token (Crème de la Crime) in 2010.  These are the books they’d like to see in your stockings this Christmas, with a [fantastically worthy - my opinion] pre-order required on times.  Over to Chris and Bill: