Forgotten Book - Sunspot

Desmond Lowden was a highly successful crime writer. He published a mere eight novels between 1969 and 1990, but several of them were made into films, perhaps the most notable being Bellman and True, and he won a Silver Dagger (in those days the runner-up prize to the Gold Dagger) for The Shadow Run. He also wrote a number of TV screenplays, both stand-alones and contributions to series such as Bergerac. Yet when he died last year, aged 86, the crime world was pretty much unaware of it (as I was until recently), and as a result paid no attention to his legacy. The fact that he'd produced no novels for thirty-five years was no doubt the reason, but I always think it's a shame when good writers are overlooked. And Desmond Lowden was definitely a good writer.

When I was in my twenties, I came across the paperback edition of his 1981 book Sunspot. The storyline looked interesting, so although in those days I bought very few books, because of lack of cash, I bought it. And I was certainly not disappointed. It's a story about a serial killer operating in a seaside town. A bit like that classic Golden Age mystery Death Walks in Eastrepps? Well, in many ways, it could hardly be more different. But it's a well-plotted and well-characterised novel that moves at a fast pace.

Having recently re-read Sunspot, I can see that it draws heavily on Lowden's experience of writing for TV, with short and highly visual scenes, plus interesting shifts of viewpoint. There's a hapless young detective at the centre of the action who is a very appealing character. But Lowden was obviously not interested in writing a series and this may in part account for the obscurity into which his work has fallen.

On re-reading, I expected this novel to be 'of its time' (the paperback cover art certainly is) and of course, like all books, it is. But it still stands up as a clever and entertaining quick read. I imagine that Lowden hoped that it would be filmed or televised and no doubt he was disappointed when that didn't happen. He sounds like a fascinating character, who played jazz and ran a pub for a few years in the Eighties. I'd like to know more about him and to read more of his all too few books.