Hemlock Bay - the first review

 

Hemlock Bay is published tomorrow, the fifth in the Rachel Savernake series and probably my favourite to date. And I'm delighted to say that the first review in a major print publication has already appeared. Jeremy Black in The Critic has this to say:

'Set in 1931, Hemlock Bay (Head of Zeus, 2024, £22.00), the latest of Martin Edwards’ impressive Rachel Savernake series, begins in the mind of Basil Palmer, a buttoned-up chartered accountant, as he sets out to track down a victim he feels deserves murder. We move to Hemlock Bay, a new resort on the Lancastrian coast (not the most encouraging of ideas), where potential murderer, destined victim, and the Savernake household converge with a lively cast including a dodgy fortune teller, an ex-housemaid married to wealth, and, eventually a corpse. Some of the writing is arresting – ‘The Roses were bending under the weight of water. They looked as miserable as bullied children … even a surrealist is presumably observant … No murderer wants to rely on the English climate…’– but it is the plot that carries us along.' 

Meanwhile, Crime Fiction Lover says: 'it’s perfect for anyone who loves a puzzle mystery created in the Golden Age tradition' and the initial reaction on Goodreads is great. One particularly gratifying review from CPE shows a lot of understanding of what I'm trying to do; 'There is an element of humour...and if you have read the other books, you will know one doesn’t trifle with Rachel Savernake. These are the antithesis of cosy mysteries. These are highly crafted, carefully wrought, mysteries that have taken a long time to write. There is banter between the characters; there is humour; but there are no laughs. “Bleak” is the word that springs to mind, yet brilliantly written. If you want to read the best mystery writing of the 2020s, read Martin Edwards’s Rachel Savernake books – just don’t expect to feel cosy.'

One consistent thread of the reviews, even from those who don't quite 'get' Rachel, maybe because they haven't read Gallows Court (although each book is designed to be read independently, of course there is quite a lot of character backstory) concerns the quality of the writing. This is something I've always striven for. And I'm very happy when it seems to work out well. 

Fingers crossed that forthcoming reviews will be equally kind!

David Stuart Davies R.I.P.

I was deeply saddened a couple of weeks ago to learn of the death of David Stuart Davies. He was diagnosed with an incurable brain tumour towards the end of last year, and the last time I spoke to him on the phone a few months back he was in remarkably good form; he and his devoted wife Kathryn dealt with the devastating diagnosis with enormous courage. The last time I rang them, however, Kathryn broke the news that David was too unwell to chat. My heart went out to her, and I was distressed by the thought that we'd never have one of our happy conversations again. But I want this post to focus on the many positives about our long friendship, which are much more important in the long run. And they include our last lunch together last summer, pictured above: David is sitting opposite Peter Lovesey, Mick Herron, and me, next to Kate Charles, Len Tyler, and Ragnar Jonasson.

DSD, as he was generally known, spent twenty years as a teacher, but he had a lifelong love of Sherlock Holmes. Guess what subject he majored on in the CrimeFest Mastermind of 2009, when he was competing with Simon Brett, me, and Meg Gardiner! (the above photo). Eventually his growing reputation and status as a Sherlockian scholar enabled him to write full-time. This in turn led him to tackle a wide range of projects, always with good humour and verve. David’s sunny disposition earned him many friends from around the world, people like me who enjoyed his company and good humour. He never took himself too seriously, but he did take his work seriously and made sure it was of high quality.  

He wrote nineteen novels, plus short stories, plays, and non-fiction, including a book about Jeremy Brett, one of the great Sherlocks, a book about Sherlock on the screen and another about Sherlock co-written with our mutual pal Barry Forshaw. He was invested as a Baker Street Irregular and he contributed to several books that I edited, including the CWA anthologies Crime in the City and Music of the Night, and two Detection Club books, Motives for Murder and Howdunit (the latter a thoughtful piece about writer's block, well worth reading by anyone interested in the writing process). He also contributed a very generous introduction to my own book of Sherlockian pastiches, The New Mysteries of Sherlock Holmes. 

His editorial work was wide-ranging. He acted as general editor for Wordsworth's Mystery and Supernatural series, to which he contributed several enjoyable anthologies (asking me to contribute a couple of stories to one of them). His collection of the stories of W.F. Harvey, for instance, had an admirable introduction which I found extremely helpful as a reference point when a Harvey novel was published as a British Library Crime Classic. For many years he edited the Sherlock magazine (which covered a very wide range of crime fiction, not just the sage of Baker Street) and in that capacity he commissioned a number of contributions from me. David spent about twenty years editing the CWA members' magazine Red Herrings and oversaw its transformation into a print and online publication of high quality.

 

In that capacity he served as an ex officio member of the CWA board. Members of the board, and indeed Chairs, come and go, so his knowledge and experience meant that his advice was invaluable. At one time there was a suggestion that Red Herrings should become online-only. David was wise enough to understand that many members much prefer a print magazine and he argued successfully on their behalf. When he stepped down as editor, he shrewdly recommended as a successor Matthew Booth, who has maintained David's high standards - including editorial independence.

David was elected to membership of the Detection Club in 2015 and the two photos above were taken that night - which was also the memorable night when I formally succeeded Simon Brett as President. But I first met David at a CWA northern chapter meeting in Boroughbridge many years earlier. By the late nineties he and Kathryn were fixtures at chapter events and CWA annual conferences and we spent a lot of time in each other's company. I have fond memories, for instance, of a wonderful afternoon back in 2006 (blimey, was it that long ago?) when Kathryn took me round the Bagshaw Museum when I was researching background for The Arsenic Labyrinth. In June 2017, he was the very first speaker at the very first Alibis in the Archive and his bravura performance got the weekend off to a terrific start. He also displayed his thespian talents that weekend, taking a part in a murder mystery written by Ann Cleeves.

In 2018, during my stint as Chair of the CWA, I was keen that four people who had given great service to the organisation should be given due public recognition. And so I had the pleasure and privilege of presenting David, along with Barry, Mike Stotter, and Ayo Onatade, with a Red Herring award at the Daggers dinner that year (the above photo). I also recall a very pleasant lunch at David's home in his native Huddersfield, and having the wonderful experience of inspecting his wonderful collection of books and Sherlockian memorabilia. 

When I invited Detection Club members to contribute to an anthology in honour of Simon Brett, David was the first person to send me a story. The book, Playing Dead, comes out next year, and although I'm sorry David never got to see it, I know that Simon will be very grateful to him. The last time I saw David in person was in July last year, when he and Kathryn came to the Detection Club's summer lunch at Balliol. As you can see from the photo at the top of this post, and the above picture (with Russell James and Kate Ellis), he was in great form that day; although of course none of us knew what lay ahead, that is one of the memories that I'll treasure. Thankfully, there are plenty of such memories. Goodbye, old friend, and thanks for all the fun you brought into my life, and many other lives.

Forgotten Book - The Factory on the Cliff

Some time ago I acquired a number of Neil Gordon first editions and I've dipped back into them for today's Forgotten Book, having really enjoyed The Big Ben Alibi. The Factory on the Cliff dates from 1928 and was the first solo venture into crime writing by A.G. Macdonell, who used the Gordon name for most of his crime stories. Macdonell was a writer of genuine talent, with a smoothly readable style - not unlike Michael Gilbert in some ways, although his regrettably early death meant that his achievements were fewer.

The Factory on the Cliff is, like The Bleston Mystery, which Macdonell co-wrote with Milward Kennedy, a light thriller. It's very much in the John Buchan vein, and benefits (as does The Thirty-Nine Steps) from the author's knowledge and love of the Scottish countryside. 

Briefly, George Templeton and some pals stumble across some rum goings-on in the north of Scotland while on a golfing holiday. There's a pretty but mysterious young woman, some even more mysterious foreigners (not all of them dastardly) and a lot of stuff about revolution, no doubt capturing the mood of the times. Templeton fought in the war (as Macdonell did) and so his sometimes foolhardy courage is more or less believable. He's not characterised in depth, but the story zips along pretty well for a tyro effort.

Macdonell worked for the League of Nations, which is referenced in the novel in connection with the central plot element, which I'll avoid mentioning directly in this post. Suffice to say that the proposed crime has quite a bit of contemporary relevance - very sad, given that nearly a century has passed since this book was written, and certainly thought-provoking. Overall, this is a breezy thriller, not a lost masterpiece but an augury of the author's genuine storytelling talent. 

Nashville Bouchercon 2024

Yeehaw! In other words, I'm back home after an exhilarating trip to Nashville for the 2024 Bouchercon mystery convention. This was a chance to catch up with old friends, meet some very pleasant people for the first time, and talk about crime writing in a memorable setting - the Gaylord Opryland Resort, said to be the biggest hotel in the US that doesn't have a casino. I've never known a hotel with such a labyrinthine layout - they even supplied an app to help visitors find their way around and some members of staff were also tasked with directing people who got lost, which was remarkably easy to do. I had a wonderful suite with a balcony (see photo below) commanding a view of one of the mega-conservatories which form the hotel. A strange location, in some ways, with marvellous facilities yet also huge queues at the coffee shops and a touch of satire (I hope) in the bizarre message displayed on this placard...

I was on two panels, entertainingly moderated by Ken Wishnia and Colin Campbell respectively. Colin's panel had an all-British line-up of myself, Craig Robertson (whom I was delighted to meet for the first time), Mark Ellis, and Caro Ramsey. There were also some very enjoyable publisher parties and the wonderful people from Poisoned Pen Press hosted an excellent event to promote their authors' books, including my just-published The House on Graveyard Lane (that is, Sepulchre Street). As ever, much credit goes to the organisers, who had to contend with a variety of unusual challenges this year, but still managed to put on a very good programme.

It was fun to hang out in the bar with the likes of Mick Herron and his partner Jo, Steve Steinbock, Craig Robertson and others, while there were enjoyable meals with a variety of friends including Les Klinger, Steve, Verena Rose, Shawn Reilly Simmons, Art Taylor, Susan Morrison, and Shelly Dickson Carr. One of those meals was in a 'British pub' in the legendary Printers' Alley, featured in the Paul McCartney song 'Sally G'.

There was time for me to look around the city (which even has its own Parthenon), although it was several miles distant from the hotel, which made things more complicated. Closer by was a vast shopping mall which had a Madame Tussaud's wax museum devoted to musical legends, not least Taylor Swift! All in all, Nashville is an extraordinary city. San Diego, site of last year's Bouchercon, definitely remains my favourite, but I did have a good time in Tennessee.

Third Party Risk aka The Deadly Game - 1954 film review

Third Party Risk is a minor film based on a thriller by a minor author who was, nevertheless, a very interesting individual. His name was Nicolas Bentley and he was the son of E.C. Bentley, author of Trent's Last Case and second President of the Detection Club. Nicolas's second name was the same as his father's - Clerihew. Apparently his birth name was Nicholas, but he opted to change the spelling. 

Nicolas was best known as an illustrator and sold his first drawing to his godfather - none other than his dad's old chum G.K. Chesterton. He was well-connected - his father-in-law was the famous barrister Sir Patrick Hastings - and his work in publishing led to associations with a variety of prominent people such as Ian Fleming. 

Nicolas wrote a handful of thrillers but never became a member of the Detection Club. Two of his books were filmed, however, lucky chap, and this was one of them. What's more, the film features a number of pretty good character actors, such as Finlay Currie and Roger Delgado (who was in thos days often cast as an exotic foreigner; he later became famous as The Master in Doctor Who), as well as Maureen Swanson and Lloyd Bridges.

The first part of the story is set in Spain - this was a time when authors and film-makers were responding to people's interest in exciting Continental locations during an age of austerity. Casting an American in a lead role was another common feature of films of this era. While on holiday, Philip Graham (Bridges) bumps into an old friend who has to leave in a hurry. Philip has to take his pal's car back to England, and finds himself mixed up in a tangle involving microfilms and murder. The result is competent entertainment, albeit nothing out of the ordinary. A B-movie, but not a bad one.

Forgotten Book - The House is Falling

The House is Falling (1955) is by Nigel Fitzgerald and it's the first book of his that I've read. A few years ago, John Curran made a strong case for the merits of his fellow Irishman on a Forgotten Authors panel at CrimeFest and I've been meaning to get round to him ever since. Fitzgerald was an actor who produced a dozen novels over the course of fifteen years, all of which were published by Collins Crime Club. This was his third, and features his series detective Superintendent Duffy, although Fitzgerald appears to give away the solution to Duffy's previous case.

The setting is the west coast of Ireland, and this background is one of the strengths of the book. Hugh Barry, the hero, has returned to the former family home, Cooline House, after an absence of many years. His aunt Veronica is there, but the hosts are Oliver Cliffe-Barry, who lost both his legs in a car accident, and his wife Carol, who is a rather unlikeable character. The other guests and neighbours include a detective novelist, Dr Lake, and his attractive niece Hilary. Hugh finds himself attracted to both Hilary and another guest, Consuela.

The story meanders along, pleasantly but without great excitement, until murder is committed. Duffy is called in to investigate and it soon emerges, in a pleasing twist, that an important lie has been told about the deceased. (I'll avoid saying what that lie is). What's the significance of this? The eventual explanation struck me as very satisfying.

Despite a certain lack of tension, and the fragmentary nature of Duffy's involvement, I felt that the story was readable and well put together. The 'howdunit' element was complicated and I didn't find it entirely convincing, but overall the psychology of the characters was very pleasingly handled, with a strong final paragraph. The quality of the last part of the book made up for the lack of pace earlier in the story. So John's recommendation of Fitzgerald seems, on this evidence, to be well merited.  

The Killer - 2023 film review

I must admit my heart sank a little when, having opted to watch a recent film directed by the estimable David Fincher, I realised that The Killer was based on a graphic novel, which isn't necessarily a recipe for a story of any depth. My doubts were compounded when the film began very slowly indeed - clearly a deliberate decision on Fincher's part, but I felt he overdid it. Fortunately, things began to improve and, although the story is oddly episodic, several of the set-piece scenes were truly gripping.

The film opens with an assassin philosophising in a room in Paris as he prepares to shoot a target. There's nothing terribly original about his various mantras ('Trust no-one' etc) and things drag strangely before finally he shoots - and misses his intended victim. Perhaps the philosophising distracted him, who knows? He makes a hasty getaway and is next scene in the Dominican republic, where it turns out he has a hideaway. Unfortunately someone has been there and tortured his girlfriend, who somehow manages to survive.

The rest of the film sees the assassin pursuing vengeance against the people responsible. So it's a pretty straightforward story, but it has some very interesting moments, for instance in an encounter with a corrupt lawyer and his secretary. The assassin uses an ever-changing variety of aliases (using the names of characters from American sitcoms) and there's a fight scene against the background of an episode of Antiques Roadshow, starring Fiona Bruce. These sporadic touches of humour offer some relief from the bleakness of the protagonist's worldview and meticulous execution of his plans. I also very much liked his encounter in a restaurant with a woman known as 'the Expert', played by Tilda Swinton; a cameo part, yes, but she does a great job. The ending of the film is surprisingly ordinary, but somehow (and I don't say this as a criticism) that's in keeping with the mood of the lead character.

Michael Fassbender makes a very good assassin, conveying the right level of believable menace and attention to detail. I don't think The Killer is as compelling as Fincher's best films, but after that iffy start it certainly kept me interested.    

The Guest - 2014 film review

The storyline of The Guest is a mash-up of home invasion thriller, conspiracy thriller, and Halloween thriller. There is plenty of violence and some points in the plot aren't entirely clear (apparently there was more explanation in the original version, but this was cut after preview audiences felt it was long-winded). Really, it should be a mess. But although it has trashy elements, it's surprisingly watchable.

This is in part due to the fact that the protagonist is played by Dan Stevens, who is quietly-spoken and charming, but with a faint undercurrent of menace. One day he turns up out of the blue at the home in New Mexico of a grieving family, the Petersons. He explains to Laura Peterson (Sheila Kelley) that his name is David Collins and that he was the best friend of Caleb, the Petersons' son, a soldier who died recently in the Middle East. She invites him to stay for a while and he meets her husband Spencer (Leland Orsler), their gay son Luke (Brendan Meyer) and their daughter Anna (Maika Monroe). At first Spence and Anna are hostile towards him, but he gradually wins everyone's confidence.

But it's clear almost from the start that David is not as nice as he seems. In particular, he has an extreme propensity for serious violence and a disturbing talent for manipulating people. I thought the film was heading in a fairly conventional direction, but then came a significant plot development which changed my perception of what was going on. But it would still have been good to know why David really went to the Petersons' house, and what exactly made him behave the way he did. By cutting down the explanation, I think the director threw the baby out with the bath water.

Even so, I found this film fairly gripping, in a sort of guilty-pleasures way. A twist right at the end of the movie left the door open for a sequel, which was apparently contemplated, but never actually made. Don't expect anything too sophisticated from The Guest, but there's a reason why it was well reviewed. It's well-paced and a perfectly good time-passer.

New Books

I'm excited to say that the coming days will see the publication of three of my books (plus a fourth in America), with my fifth and latest Rachel Savernake novel, Hemlock Bay, leading the way. I really enjoyed taking Rachel and Jacob Flint to the seaside in this mystery, and I'm very much hoping that readers will delight in one of my most intricate stories, which is published by Head of Zeus under the Aries imprint. There's a Cluefinder, as in earlier Rachel Savernake books, and this one contains no fewer than forty-seven clues - see how many you can spot before Rachel reveals all!

The previous book in the series is just being published by Sourcebooks in the United States. This is The House on Graveyard Lane, known in the UK as Sepulchre Street. As part of the celebrations around the launch, I took part in an interview with Barbara Peters of the legendary Poisoned Pen bookstore and it can be found here   

Returning to England, September 10 sees the publication of my latest anthology in the British Library's Crime Classics series. This is Metropolitan Mysteries, subtitled A Casebook of London's Detectives, and it features stories by luminaries such as Henry Wade, Dorothy L. Sayers, and John Dickson Carr, as well as some unfamiliar names, including Malcolm Gair. I aim to include both familiar and deeply obscure stories in these themed collections and there are some genuine rarities here.

Last but by no means least comes Midsummer Mysteries, which I have edited on behalf of the Crime Writers' Association. The publishers, Flame Tree Press, have come up with a quite gorgeous volume. In stark contrast to the British Library book, this is a collection of brand new stories and more than half of them are written by people who have never previously had a short story in a CWA anthology, which I find quite remarkable. Among those stories is one of my own, 'The Widow, which is set in Berwick-upon-Tweed, and was partly inspired by my visit to the Berwick Festival last year. But the story is set in the Sixties and concerns an idea which has interested me for a very long time..

Forgotten Book - The Five Red Herrings

After my visit to Galloway, it seems only right to devote today's retrospective to Dorothy L. Sayers' The Five Red Herrings, although it is very far from a forgotten book. Indeed, I doubt it has ever been out of print. The book was originally called Suspicious Characters in the US and sometimes the definite article is omitted from UK editions, as it was when the story was adapted for television by Anthony Steven almost half a century ago.  

Sayers agonised over the title - quite rightly, she cared about her titles and hers were usually memorable. She wanted to call this book Six Suspects, but someone beat her to it (long before Vikas Swarup wrote his bestseller with that title). In fact, I think she finished up with a very good title, whether or not you include the definite article. 

Her intention was to write a puzzle plot story, a whodunit with strong leanings towards the Freeman Wills Crofts style of mystery. While she was working on the book, she was in touch with Crofts - a fellow founder member of the Detection Club - and learned to her dismay that he was working on a book set partly in the same area of Scotland. This was Sir John Magill's Last Journey, which I reviewed here way back in 2010. The two stories are very different, however, and Sayers was determined to ensure that her publisher gave her a better map of the area than appeared in the Crofts title. She got her way, naturally.

The great strength of this novel lies in its evocation of the artists' colony and the way of life in what is still a relatively traditional community. Sayers took pains over the construction of her puzzle, as she took pains over all her creative endeavours, but I'm afraid it's not a compelling mystery. Constructing a whodunit wasn't her forte - she was a very, very different writer from her friend Agatha Christie. The TV version is in many respects an improvement on the book. Nevertheless, the story offers a wonderful illustration of her ability to conjure up a believable and compelling setting.