Friday, 2 May 2025

Forgotten Book - Peril at Cranbury Hall



A couple of years before Agatha Christie published Peril at End House (1932), her Detection Club colleague John Rhode was responsible for Peril at Cranbury Hall. With one exception, the similarity ends there, though. Whereas Christie's novel is a splendid example of her craft, with some very clever plotting, and is well regarded to this day, Rhode's book long ago fell into obscurity.

This is a pity, because it's a readable story. One aspect that I really liked was that Cranbury Hall is home to a medical scam, in which a group of unscrupulous men take advantage of the gullibility of the 'worried well', offering a phoney cure for fatigue, by way of a vaccination. Rhode's description of the way that naive people with money to burn will fall for all sorts of scams in the search for better health or a better appearance, is very good. And of course, the central point that he makes remains true to this day.

At the heart of the scam is an unscrupulous chap called Oliver Gilroy. Oliver has just been released from prison, after serving seven years for fraud. (Compare the way certain fraudsters are treated nowadays by our legal systerm) He is bent on making big money fast, and he is ruthless about securing the collusion of  a number of people who fear that he may disclose their secrets.

However, it soon becomes clear that someone wants Oliver dead. A number of attempts to kill him are near-misses (compare the story that Nick Buckley tells Poirot about the attempts on her life in Peril at End House: the explanation, however, is utterly different). Dr Priestley becomes interested in the case, and for once stirs himself into physical action, travelling to Ostend with his long-suffering secretary Harold Merefield during the course of his investigations. This is a carefully structured story, and one I enjoyed reading.

Thursday, 1 May 2025

Hemlock Bay and the eDunnit award

 


I'm as pleased as Punch that Hemlock Bay has been shortlisted for the eDunnit award for best crime novel, to be announced at CrimeFest 2025 in Bristol later this month. The other writers on the short list include two pals of mine from the United States who are gifted writers, Laurie R. King and Peter Swanson. Congratulations to all the nominees!

This means that novels in the Rachel Savernake series so far have been nominated for five awards. I find this hugely gratifying, not least because series novels are sometimes overlooked by some award judges. And given that I'm currently working on book six in the series, this level of recognition is very motivating. Suffice to say that writing about Rachel and her entourage continues to excite me, so I hope it will also excite others to keep reading. Or perhaps to broach the books for the first time...

I'm acutely aware that it's one thing to be shortlisted for an award, another thing to win. But I also know (having very recently been involved in co-judging a competition run by Murder Squad, as well as from many other experiences over the years) that the margins of judgement in these matters are fine and inevitably a bit subjective. So, as I often say to other authors who are shortlisted for the first time, it's a moment to celebrate, whatever the eventual outcome.

 

Wednesday, 30 April 2025

Crime of Passion - 1957 film review


Was ever a femme more fatale than Barbara Stanwyck? So far as films are concerned, I think not. At her best, as in Double Indemnity, she had a magnetic screen presence. Even in less notable films she was seldom less than compelling. A case in point is Crime of Passion, which dates from 1957, and which I'd never heard of until I chanced upon it recently.

This is an interesting movie, made when she was approaching fifty, though you'd never guess. Her performance combines allure with menace, a characteristic blend, but there's also a good deal of vulnerability at key moments as her mental state deteriorates. She plays Kathy, a San Francisco newspaper columnist whose ambition and verve enable her to rise above crass sexism. When she encounters Bill (Sterling Hayden), a likeable detective from L.A., she falls head over heels and before she knows it, she has thrown up her job and settled down to married life.

But she soon becomes dissatisfied with the prattle of other police officers' wives and the limited horizons of their husbands. Bill is a decent chap, who wants to do his best to look after Kathy, but he lacks ambition. She becomes bored - dangerously so, when she encounters the top cop, Tony Pope (Raymond Burr). A fatal attraction develops between the pair of them.

Jo Eisinger's screenplay is crisply written, but this isn't a 'mystery' story. It's a drama, with some suspense, but perhaps because of the choices Eisinger makes, the ending may seem anti-climactic to many viewers. Indeed it did to me, but that's because Eisinger seems to have set out to say something about the nature of overweening ambition and its consequences. His focus is on character and above all the social attitudes of the time. This perhaps explains why the film is not quite powerful (or, frankly, convincing) enough to have earned classic status. But the acting is very good (Fay Wray and Stuart Whitman are also in the cast) and Stanwyck copes very well, in my opinion, with the demands the script puts upon her.


Tuesday, 29 April 2025

The Essex Millionaire Murders - ITV review

Six years ago, I visited the pleasant Essex island of Mersea and I can well imagine that it's a place that would appeal to a couple looking to wind down towards retirement. That seems to have been the thinking of Carol and Stephen Baxter, a wealthy couple with two children who relocated there some years ago. But the idyll turned into a nightmare, which this week has been the subject of a very interesting new two-part ITV documentary, The Essex Millionaire Murders.

It's a catchpenny title for a documentary that is a cut above the normal television true crime fare. The Baxters, in their sixties, were discovered at their home in Mersea by their daughter Ellena; an utterly horrific experience. They were in their armchairs, and both were dead. One possible cause of death, carbon monoxide poisoning, was quickly ruled out. And Essex police soon became suspicious.

The discovery of a strange document - not a legally valid will - set the investigation in a new direction. This purported to suggest that Carol's business should, in effect, be run by a neighbour, a youngish man called Luke d'Wit. Luke had started helping Carol with IT issues and had become increasingly important in the business. But he was also regarded as a caring friend. He was very popular in the local community and one can understand why the Baxters trusted him implicitly. Why they were quite so trusting of a mysterious American doctor whom Carol encountered online when in search of health advise is less clear. But it's easy to be wise from afar; I never forget that one of the smartest and most cynical of my friends was once conned out of £20,000 by a scammer; it's depressingly easily done. It's plain that the Baxters were casting about desperately for answers, and although they seem to have been intelligent as well as likeable, their vulnerability made them fairly easy prey.

The discovery of fentanyl in both bodies transformed the inquiry into a murder hunt. Ellena and Luke were both arrested, but it soon became clear that Ellena (who was the main interviewee in the programme) was innocent. Indeed, she was yet another victim of cruel manipulation. The documentary does a good job of charting a remarkable investigation at the same time as conveying the poignancy of the case. The Baxters' deaths were utterly, heartbreakingly tragic.

As for the culprit, his motivations are intriguing in the extreme, and not at all easy to understand. The judge said that this wasn't a sadistic crime, although this seems like a rather narrow interpretation of 'sadistic'. It wasn't all about money, either, although I imagine that money played a part in his thinking. (One remembers that Harold Shipman was only exposed after he forged a will.) I'd have liked to know more about the murderer's background and also about the Baxters' history and the nature of life on Mersea. At present, however, there are ongoing inquiries into other matters where he may be able to help the police with their enquiries, so this limits the scope for speculation. But I think the programme makers did well to avoid prurience and perhaps this sad story will make others more cautious about people whom they befriend online.

Friday, 25 April 2025

Forgotten Book - Death of the Home Secretary


I was tempted to acquire a copy of Alan Thomas's Death of the Home Secretary because a copy became available that bears a fascinating inscription, dated in the month of publication - October 1933. Thomas inscribed it to his friend Vernon Bartlett 'in the hope this book may provide an hour's relief from the blight of the world situation!' Bartlett was a writer and journalist, sometimes described as the BBC's first foreign correspondent. He left the BBC in controversial circumstances in 1933 and was destined to become quite a well-known political figure, becoming an MP in 1938 and holding his seat for twelve years. And this is a novel which shows Thomas was himself interested in politics, though he was primarily also a journalist. 

One intriguing piece of trivia about the book. I'd always assumed that 'unconscious bias' is a modern term, and indeed some internet sources suggest this. But it crops up, quite significantly, towards the end of this novel.

Thomas is best-remembered for his 'impossible crime' novel The Death of Laurence Vining, which I reviewed here. In that book, the detection is undertaken by the painstaking but sound Inspector Widgeon, and he reappears here, although he never returned. Like the earlier book, this one is soundly written and definitely very readable. But one failing they both have in common is that there is quite a bit of padding.

Having said that, I enjoyed this novel. Even though there aren't enough suspects to justify the length of the book, in my opinion, the late twists are good enough to justify the investment of time in reading the story. Thomas was obviously interested, like Anthony Berkeley, in the ambiguous nature of justice, and this is a key ingredient in the story. Not an easy book to find, and not cheap if you do come across the first edition, but I was glad to have bought my copy. And that lovely inscription really appeals to me. The more things change, the more they stay the same? 

Wednesday, 23 April 2025

Joy Swift: a guest post about her original murder mystery weekends

 

 


I first met Joy Swift when she and I were very young - about 40 years ago! I was fascinated by the sound of her murder mystery weekends, and as my girlfriend (the future Mrs Edwards) had just moved to Southport, home to the hotel which was the original setting for the weekends before Joy branched out across the country and even overseas, we decided to join in the fun. It was a fantastic weekend - and I don't just say that because I solved the puzzle and still have the certificate to prove it! Joy and I have stayed in touch, and after a recent lunch together I invited her to contribute a post about her weekends: 

'I met Martin when he and his lovely wife came on one of my original Murder Weekends. Perhaps I may almost have sparked off Martin’s illustrious writing career! He certainly got the bug for solving mysteries that weekend.


Since inventing Murder Weekends in 1981, I have written 156 plots, each lasting for three days and they have through necessity, been very complex, diverse and often contain contain puzzles and codes to keep our guests entertained.


To celebrate our 25th anniversary, I decided to create an online Murder Mystery Investigation, as a present to my guests. During lockdown, I was shut for 18 months and rather than going insane , I thought it was the perfect time to create two Online Investigations, which have been praised internationally and even won an award in the US.



For those of you who love a tangled mystery that will keep you enthralled for up to 20 hours, with 12 chapters, 12 murders and a delightful ‘lightbulb’ moment – come join the wonderful world of my Murder Mystery Investigations. Play Chapter One of Cold Case #1 for free on https://murdermysteryinvestigations.com/


Monday, 21 April 2025

A Cluefinder for Gallows Court


When I wrote Gallows Court, I imagined it was going to be a one-off. I wasn't confident the book would find a publisher, because it's so very different from my previous novels. The storyline was not only not planned in advance to any extent, it was not only complex but also - and this was deliberate, because it seemed artistically 'right' if unlikely to be commercial - highly melodramatic. A thriller, really, rather than a whodunit. To my delight, the book found favour, and I was offered a two-book deal. When I came to write book two, Mortmain Hall, I decided to write a Gothic take on the classic detective story, with clues and red herrings galore. So it seemed like a fun idea to include at the end a Cluefinder.

At that time the Cluefinder was forgotten. This is a device that enjoyed a hey-day in the late Twenties and Thirties, and C. Daly King created some extremely elaborate Cluefinders which I've long admired, but it had fallen out of fashion after the Second World War. To my delight, readers responded to the Cluefinder with great enthusiasm. I'm not exaggerating when I say that the next three Rachel Savernake books have included Cluefinders by popular demand. And a Cluefinder will also play a key part in Miss Winter in the Library with a Knife.

Unexpectedly, but much to my delight, both my agent and my publisher have been urging me to come up with a Cluefinder for Gallows Court. The paperback is due to be reprinted shortly, so now was the time to see whether it was viable. I was unsure, because Gallows Court is written differently from the later books in the series; in many ways, it's more of a thriller with plot twists than a detective story.

I've therefore been reading Gallows Court again, for the first time since it was published. I don't often reread my books, mainly because I'm instinctively self-critical and I know I'll feel the urge to make changes to them. But to my relief and, if I'm honest, surprise, I really enjoyed the experience. It's a better book than I remembered! And I'm very pleased to say that I discovered that the rereading resulted in my being able to devise a Cluefinder. So the next printing of Gallows Court in the UK will indeed be a revised version! 




Friday, 18 April 2025

Forgotten Book - Seascape with Dead Figures



Roy Hart was a talented crime writer whose career encompassed eleven novels. The first two were published by Robert Hale for the library market and are little-known. He found a wider readership when he moved to Macmillan with a series featuring a senior cop called Roper. These police stories, published between 1987 and 1993, remind me of the work of his Macmillan stable-mate Jill McGown; they are carefully written, with a satisfactory blend of characterisation and plot. Like McGown's books, Hart's deserve to be better known.

John Cooper has long been a fan of Hart's work, and it was his advocacy that first interested me in this author. When I got the chance to acquire John's Hart collection, including some signed copies and letters, at a modest price, I couldn't resist. I've begun the Roper series at the beginning, and Seascape with Dead Figures (1987) is a well-crafted story that is a good, quick read.

At new year, the body of a man in his seventies called Winterton is found at the bottom of a cliff. Roper concludes early on that he was murdered, and suspicion falls on a group of people who had attended a new year party at Winterton's house. One slight weakness of the story is that there are an awful lot of suspects, and so one or two of them are not developed in depth. But Hart's concise style means that doesn't matter too much.

Winterton, it turns out, was a very nasty piece of work, so plenty of people had reason to wish him ill. Suspicion switches from one individual to another but another body is found at the bottom of the cliffs before Roper is able to identify whodunit. Some of the behaviour of the suspects is a little hard to credit, but Hart was just about able to persuade me to suspend my disbelief. Overall this is an accomplished mystery and I enjoyed reading it.

Wednesday, 16 April 2025

Life - 2017 film review



I've always liked science fiction, although I prefer to consume it in fairly small doses. Two of the best sci-films I've seen over the years are Alien and Gravity, and it's fair to say that in various respects Life, which dates from 2017, is indebted to those movies. (There's also, arguably, a touch of The Blob about it!) Yet although the storyline is far from original, the film has enough about it to be worth watching. And the script, despite weaknesses in terms of characterisation, is strong in terms of suspense and occasional bursts of action.

The setting is an international space station crewed by half a dozen astronauts. A probe returns from Mars, bringing various soil samples from the 'Red Planet', and a British biologist, Hugh Derry (Ariyon Bakare) studies the material collected, he manages to revive a dormant cell - so yes, there is life on Mars! And before long, the cell grows and becomes increasingly complex. Its juvenile charm earns it a nickname - Calvin.

When Calvin goes into hibernation, Hugh tries to stimulate it, with unfortunate results. Calvin turns nasty and does serious damage to Hugh's hand. Calvin's next move is to devour a lab rat, rather spectacularly. And continues to grow. Rory, an engineer played by Ryan Reynolds, tries to rescue Hugh, but suffers the consequences...

It falls to Jake Gyllenhaal and Rebecca Ferguson to do battle with Calvin - and, just possibly, save life on earth from an extremely hostile invasion. There is limited scope for the two fine actors to display the full range of their skills (a sentimental scene involving reminiscences about a children's story doesn't really work) but the tension is ratcheted up successfully, and there's a plot twist at the end that I enjoyed.

 

Monday, 14 April 2025

The CWA North Symposium at Ilkley


This weekend saw the revival of a great tradition - the CWA Northern Chapter Symposium. In my early days in the CWA, these weekends were a highlight in the calendar, usually organised by either Peter Walker or Reginald Hill, though I organised one weekend at Knutsford and a number of other people, such as Meg Elizabeth Atkins, were also involved. The number of other events in the calendar meant there was less demand for these events, but the recent demise of the CWA annual conference (I don't know the reasons for this) prompted Jason Monaghan, with the highly efficient support of Dea Parkin, to arrange a symposium at Ilkley. The venue, the Craiglands Hotel, was also the venue for a memorable annual conference way back in 2008; a highlight of that weekend was Bob Barnard giving us a guided tour of Haworth Parsonage.

Jason's plan cleverly solved the problem of rising hospitality costs. All the talks were given on Saturday, so one realistic option was just to attend for the day and not incur hotel charges, which have risen so much in recent times. I think this was a good way of addressing a real challenge. It's always a good plan for such an event to be held in an attractive venue, and Ilkley is certainly that. And the company was just as pleasant and enjoyable as ever it was.

As it happens, I'll be back in Ilkley in a couple of months for a book fair, and so on arrival in the town (after a pleasant journey, and a canal trip in the sunshine in Skipton) I met up with local book dealer Louise Harrison and Mike from the Grove Bookshop to discuss the plans. Then it was on to the hotel and a chance to meet up with old friends and make one or two new ones before a convivial dinner in a local bistro (photo taken by Martine Bailey; it was great to see her and husband Martin again).

The talks on Saturday were on a pleasingly diverse range of topics, from a leading editor (Katherine Armstrong of Simon & Schuster) and agent on the current market, from an ex-cop (Roger A. Price) on undercover police work, a CSI officer turned coroner's officer on her work, a marketing expert on book promotion, and a self-published writer on the business of indie publishing. All the speakers were very good. Then a pleasant stroll in the town followed by another good meal in good company. Some of us visited the Manor House in Ilkley on Sunday morning before returning home. All in all, this was as successful a venture as could have been hoped for. Congratulations to Jason and Dea for all their hard work.