Short thoughts

I was glad when Maxim Jakubowski, owner of Murder One bookstore, author, critic, blogger and prolific anthologist, included ‘The Bookbinder’s Apprentice’ in Best British Mysteries (or The Mammoth Book of Best British Mysteries as it is known in the US.) For me, it’s a real.pleasure to appear in print alongside such luminaries as Colin Dexter, Mark Billingham, Lee Child, Len Deighton, Val McDermid, John Harvey and Simon Kernick.

In total, there are 37 short stories in the book, which makes it pretty good value at £7.99 (or $13.95.) This year the series has seen a change of publisher; in the UK, the book now appears under the Robinson imprint, as a chunky paperback original, with no hardback version as in the past.

In his introduction, the editor explains: ‘The principle is the same every year: read virtually all the crime and mystery stories published in a variety of sources, some predictable, others much less so, and I select the best…The idea is to present here the whole breadth of what is being written in the mystery field today…’

This is the fourth time I’ve had a story in the Best British Mysteries series: the earlier ones were ’24 Hours from Tulsa’ (yes, a favourite song!), ‘The House of the Red Candle’ (Dickens and Wilkie Collins investigate a locked brothel mystery) and ‘Test Drive’ (which was short-listed for a CWA Dagger.)

I haven’t written many short stories lately, but the reprinting of ‘The Bookbinder’s Apprentice’ has coincided with a couple of ideas for stories springing to mind. The real challenge, as ever is not finding the ideas, but finding the time to write them up….

Meanwhile, I'll be posting soon about the new CWA anthology that I have edited - M.O.: crimes of method.