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

Whatever happened to Philip Jolowicz? Questions on the legal/financial thrillers of previous years...

In 2002, Walls of Silence was published.  Its author, Philip Jolowicz was hailed as a new Grisham, another king of the legal thriller.  Jolowicz had worked as a lawyer in the City, before becoming a corporate financier and investment banker, so he knew his stuff.

I remember Walls of Silence as a crackingly paced read, worthy of the description "thriller".  Starting out with a New York setting, the novel later moved to India and each setting felt real and affectionately recorded.  But what has come since?

Sadly, Amazon lists a novel "False Positive" as a hardback in 2004 and 2005, with a paperback in 2005 also.  All listings are noted as "currently unavailable" and there are no online reviews or "used and new copies" on offer in Amazon's marketplace.  Neither does AddALL identify any copies in the used market.

By the time of publication of "False Positive" was there too much of the finance side of life thrown in with the legal, just as the UK was tiring of the financial based novel?  It appears that only Michael Ridpath has survived that sub-genre crunch in the UK.  But he is no longer on my "must read the next" list.  Was that because I left the City in 1999, finally disenchanted by that pattern of working life and possibly because I did not seek to read it in fiction too?   Or was it because I'd discovered other UK writers to capture my imagination in other sub-genres?

Where are they now? Stephen L. Carter author of "The Emperor of Ocean Park"

Continuing with that old series of "Where are they now?" started last year...

When this novel, The Emperor of Ocean Park came out in 2002 it was the talk in many towns across the country.  Carter even dropped into the Hay Festival. Someone I knew then, an aspiring crime fiction writer now published, thought the novel was superb and urged everyone to read it.

I had already bought a copy; but even now, I am ashamed to say, it remains unread.  Sorting through my books in my parents' house the other week, I stumbled across it.  The Emperor of Ocean Park made it with ease into my "save" selection.  It had plenty of superb reviews at the time and a trip across the pond to the Hay Festival was a kind of endorsement, the icing on the cake.  The Yale law professor's novel had attracted a seven figure sum in an auction, so it had to be good, didn't it?  And thus, today, I am wondering what became of Stephen L. Carter's writing career in fiction?

Where are they now? Reg Gadney.

Well, it all started with this novel: Just When We Are Safest which I read in the earlier half of the 1990s.  It was the start of Gadney's Alan Rosslyn series and I was hooked.  Gadney created quite an original in Alan Rosslyn - the man worked for Customs & Excise, as it then was.  And who'd have imagined that the work there could be quite so exciting?  (More on than later.)

The novel had this interesting character, great pace and plot, made good use of its London setting and was quite a thriller.  When my ex-boss from Canada was on a business trip in London I made sure he went home with a copy, I was so enthused.  I really enjoyed the novel and found it quite outstanding at the time.  Amazon Marketplace (AM) has copies from just 1p right now, if you feel the urge to try it.  Then we moved on to the second in the series...

Where are they now? Andrea Badenoch.

Sadly Andrea Badenoch died in early January 2004.  I start this series of "Where are they now?" as a tribute to her.

I'd seen a book with the title of "Blink" in various places on the web and that prompted some memories for me. 

The "Blink" I think of first and foremost is this one from Macmillan Crime.  The author is indeed the late Andrea Badenoch and the site I've linked to there is one set up in her memory, for an award in her memory.  (This is open to women fiction writers, over the age of 42 and in various areas of the north east only.)  Badenoch died, way too soon, on 4 January 2004, at the age of 52, due to breast cancer.

I think it was in 1999 that I met Andrea Badenoch.  She tutored an Arvon crime writing course with Jake Arnott at Lumb Bank and I, at that time, was enthusiastic about writing my own crime novel, with approaching 15k words, under my belt.  She was very encouraging and very able with "students", such was her ability to teach and tutor.  I was even more enthused and fired up as a result of that week.  But I digress slightly.  During the week she read from her forthcoming novel "Blink" and all who sat and listened enjoyed the reading with great appreciation and delight.

Up until that point Andrea's previous two novels had been pretty decent, but it was hard to find a truly sympathetic character, which presented something of a problem.  But then, when she read from her next novel, Blink, the small group gathered heard something that led to the feeling that this was now her time.  She'd hit the nail on the head and produced something beautiful to read.

Authors from previous years - where are they now?

I read, with earnest and enthusiasm some crime authors many years ago.  But reading drops off, for various reasons.  I recently wondered "why" and asked "where are these authors right now?"

I investigated previous "good reads" for me, and will come back with a series of "Where are they now?" posts.

Please keep a look out.  There are novels so good to mention in this category.

All posts will be headed up with "Where are they now? [Author name.]".

Slightly older can still be good!