Saturday 26 December 2009

What Santa Brought


I had a lovely Christmas Day and I do hope you did too. Amongst other pleasures, I was lucky that Santa recognised my continuing fascination with crime fiction, and delivered many good things that will keep me occupied for a long time to come. They will also, no doubt, provide plenty of material for future blog posts.

I’ve already dipped into a lavishly illustrated guide, Agatha Christie’s Devon, by Bret Hawthorne, and read the chapter about Burgh Island, which provided the setting for And Then There Were None, and Evil Under the Sun. I do love islands, and it is a place I am really keen to visit one day.

I also received four audio books on CD featuring Francis Durbridge’s most famous creation, Paul Temple. I’ve enjoyed a good many of the Temple audio books – they are fun to listen to whilst commuting, and the new ones will definitely improve my tedious journey to and from work.

Among the new DVDs, there’s an absolute gem – The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes. I received the anthology which inspired the TV series as a Christmas present when I was a teenager, and not long afterwards, I watched some of the episodes on the box. I look forward to seeing the rest of them, at long last, during the course of 2010.

8 comments:

David Cranmer said...

It sounds like Santa dropped the gifts meant for me at your house!

Oh, well, enjoy. And MERRY CHRISTMAS.

Anonymous said...

Martin - I'm so glad you had a wonderful Christmas, and it sounds as though you got some terrific gifts. I hope you enjoy them : ). I'm very eager to try to find The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes. It sounds fabulous. The Hawthorne book sounds very good, too; you are fortunate : ).

Elizabeth Spann Craig said...

That Santa! How *does* he know these things?

Have you seen the trailers for the new Sherlock Holmes movie? I...don't know what to think. :)

Elizabeth
Mystery Writing is Murder

Deb said...

Not to hijack the thread, but to comment on what Elizabeth asked--I think that new Sherlock Holmes movie looks absolutely dreadful--arch, smug, violent, and utterly wrong for the Holmes stories. To quote my husband, "When a director is better known for who he was married to than for what he's directed, perhaps it's time for him to reconsider his profession."

On the bright side, TCM had a "Holmes for the Holidays" marathon last night and I watched the Basil Rathbone "Hound of the Baskervilles," then drifted off to sleep watching same in "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes." Perfect way to end a wonderful Christmas day.

Martin Edwards said...

Sorry about that, David! And all the best to you and yours for the new year.

Martin Edwards said...

Margot - I do hope you had a great time too. Thanks once again for your contributions to this blog, as well as the plentiful insights on your own.

Martin Edwards said...

Hi Elizabeth, hope you and your family are enjoying the holiday. I haven't seen the trailer yet....

Martin Edwards said...

Deb, I think your husband has a point!
I am a great admirer of Basil Rathbone as Holmes. Jeremy Brett was also brilliant, but I think I might just prefer Rathbone.