Today I'd like to highlight an enjoyably mixed bag of books,starting with Steve Dolman's wonderful first book, published by the Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians, and entitled Edwin Smith: a life in Derbyshire Cricket. Now, one or two of you may wonder how I can possibly claim that this has any relevance to a blog about crime writing, but you might be surprised. For Steve has kindly quoted me in the book, and revealed to the world the connection between Edwin Smith and the murky neverland of crime fiction!
Edwin is now 81 years old, but when I was growing up, he was one of the cricketers I admired, and the point is made in the book that nowadays, a player of such abiltiy would almost certainly have enjoyed a career as a Test cricketer. But things were very different then. Steve runs the Peakfan blog, which for me is required reading as I pore over the latest calamities to beset Derbyshire cricket, and he has done a great job in telling a life story which also presents a rather sobering picture of the times, and the hardships that sportsmen from humble backgrounds endured in the Fifties and Sixties. As befits a chap who spent many years working in library services, Steve is an accomplished and fair-minded writer, and I'm delighted to say that he arranged for Edwin himself to sign my copy. It goes on the shelf alongside a couple of signed Agatha Christies!
John Harvey is one of Britain's leading crime novelists and has been for upwards of twenty years. He's also a gifted exponent of the short story, and his 'Fedora' is one of the best crime stories I've read in the last decade. His latest story, "Ask Me Now", leads a new collection of stories by Nottingham writers, These Seven, published by Five Leaves. The other contributors include the late Alan Sillitoe, a writer whose work made a great impression on me in my youth. As a student, I attended a talk he gave, and found it as fascinating as his fiction.
Changing the mood a little, I'd also like to mention a new thriller by John Hegenberger called Tripl3 Cross. It's a follow-up to Cross Examinations, and there is a clue in the titles:the protagonist is Eliot Cross. One particularly interesting feature is the Cuban setting, with which the author has been familiar for many years. Cuba always sounds like a fascinating place, and is on my to-be-visited list. The publisher is Rough Edges Press.
All three books, in other words, come from relatively small publishers, with limited (or non-existent) publicity budgets. I'm glad to give each of them a mention, because small presses play an invaluable role in the world of books, one that deserves to be celebrated. The world would be a much poorer place without them.
10 comments:
Martin, I used to watch English county cricket matches on television, especially since nearly every county had one or two players from India. I'd not heard of Edwin Smith before. I'd also like to read John Hegenberger's thrillers that I have been reading about recently.
Good to hear from you, Prashant. Edwin took more than 1000 wickets and was succeeded by a player you will, I'm sure, know very well - the great Venkat.
I certainly do, Martin. S. Venkatraghavan was one of the quartet of Prasanna, Bedi, and Chandrashekhar.
And what a Fab Four they were. The cricketing equivalent of the Beatles!
"nowadays, a player of such abiltiy would almost certainly have enjoyed a career as a Test cricketer"
The problem he faced was the number of fine off-spinners around in his time - Titmuss, Allen and Illingworth seemed to take turns playing for England, sometimes with two of them in the side. John Mortimore was another bowler who missed out on tests in that time, I think.
Exactly, Roger. Mortimore did play a few Tests, but there were plenty of fine spinners around even after Laker faded.
I've been wondering lately about fiction/mysteries that involved cricket, and you may be just the person who might know. I so wish I understood the game. I have recently watched all the Morse programs and one was about cricket, and I found myself longing to have it in my literary life, since I'll probably never see a game.
Hello, Nan! Yes, that was a good Morse episode. Cricket has stronger literary connections than other sports. Feel free to email me for a more detailed reply, but briefly, Murder Must Advertise by Sayers has an important cricket scene. Lonely Magdalen by Henry Wade has a less important cricket scene. Bruce Hamilton, who wrote mainly crime fiction, wrote a non-crime novel called Pro about a cricketer which is bleak but good. Ted Dexter (famous player) and Clifford Makins wrote Testkill in the 70s - reasonably light entertainment. Barbara Worsley-Gough wrote Alibi Innings - which is ok but not brilliant as I recall.
Wow! Thanks for all the suggestions. I won't email. These titles will keep me going for a while. I recently began Psmith in the City and was shaking my head with all the cricket. I just saw there is an anthology called Wodehouse at the Wicket which I may try sometime. Again, thank you for taking the time to write back. I've noted everything in my little 'books to read' book.
My pleasure, Nan. Let me know how you get on. I read the Psmith books when I was at school and loved them.
Post a Comment