I'm having quite a week. A workshop for writers in Frodsham on Sunday, followed by an Anthony award nomination for The Life of Crime on Monday and an enjoyable event at Newark Library yesterday talking about My Life of Crime. Today sees publication of my latest British Library anthology, Crimes of Cymru, and tomorrow, as I set off for CrimeFest, Head of Zeus aka Aries Fiction are publishing the fourth novel about Rachel Savernake, Sepulchre Street.
It's a busy time, but I'm acutely conscious that the nice things that are happening right now are the culmination, in many ways, of years of work on my writing. So I'm determined to make the most of the good times. And I am truly gratified by the very first review of Sepulchre Street, for the blog tour, which comes courtesy of Puzzle Doctor on his great blog In Search of the Classic Mystery Novel; 'an absolute triumph...The best book by far in an outstanding series.'
It's immensely rewarding when a thoughtful reviewer 'gets' what you are trying to do, and Puzzle Doctor picks up on a key element of this and the other Rachel novels, namely that I'm trying to introduce material into the stories that Golden Age writers wouldn't have written about, but doing so in a way that is (I like to think) consistent with the approach that the better authors would have adopted, had social taboos been different. And by this, I don't mean graphic sex and violence, by the way - there is some violence, but not more so than in plenty of Golden Age books, although I try to treat it quite seriously, because I find violence frightening.
Crimes of Cymru is an anthology that was especially interesting to compile. At first, the prospect of finding enough good classic Welsh or Wales-related crime stories to fill a book seemed quite a challenge but thanks to help from a number of experts in the field, I've come up with a collection that I think is eclectic and strong. It's been a particular pleasure to collaborate with Janet and Rebecca, the daughters of the Welsh author Cledwyn Hughes, one of whose stories features in the book, and I am hoping that this publication will kick-start a revival of interest in his work.
5 comments:
Thank you. I am deeply indebted to you for bringing so many great novels of the interwar period to my attention that I otherwise would have had no way of knowing of their existence. This collection you have put together seems to overlap 2 of my enthusiasms, GA mysteries and Wales.
I very much hope this Welsh collection will be available on kindle. I find the kindle function of being able to check obscure/archaic vocabulary, translate foreign phrases (though why kindle doesn't include Latin amongst its languages is frustrating), etc. to be addictive when reading period novels.
I am currently burning though Henry Wade's canon (astounding how I keep thinking I have exhausted the GA catalogue to find another set of literary treasures from the period) which I was stimulated to check out after reading a review from this blog. Best Jeff Lewelling
Thanks, Jeff, good to hear from you. I'm pretty sure the book will be available as an ebook. Glad you're enjoying Henry Wade - one of my favourite GA writers.
Re Wade - I see there is some discussion why he wasn't more popular/remained in public consciousness as much as some other GA authors. My 2 cents: he has an unorthodox habit of having ambiguous endings to many of his novels. His villains occasionally get away with their crimes, romances are often left unfulfilled (tough break for Tom Fairbanks in Missing Partners!) etc. I appreciate Wade all the more for it now that I am deep into his works - its not laziness I think but part of his overall conception of the many peculiarities of our species, if I may put it that way. But it also detracts from a readers satisfaction when completing a story and lessens the likelihood it will be re-read. The attribute of stories being read multiple times by individual readers may be the special attribute that keeps some novels in the public consciousness across generations.. Best,
Thanks, Jeff. I agree to a large extent. He is unorthodox, and that's a mark of his ambition. The readers who want something cosy and formulaic may not find his books to their taste, and that's a perennial problem for writers with ambition. He wasn't lazy, for sure, just imaginative and thoughtful and personally I find the books very satisfying.
Yes me too re: satisfying.
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