Dear England - BBC TV review

Dear England is a television adaptation of a successful play about football (and I don't think there have been many works for the stage that fit that description) written by James Graham. James Graham is one of our leading playwrights and I almost got to meet him when his Hull University team reached the final of Christmas University Challenge four years ago, but he had to rush off to London after the semi-final to attend an opening in the West End. A pity from my perspective, because I'm sure he is a very interesting chap. And his writing is undeniably ambitious.

Dear England is an example of this ambition. It's a story about the career of Gareth Southgate as England football manager. Southgate famously missed a decisive penalty in 1996 and had minimal success during his brief career as a club manager, but his involvement with the FA led to his being appointed - in effect as a safe pair of hands, following the brief and unfortunate reign of Sam Allardyce, a very experienced club manager who lasted only one match before becoming embroiled in a scandal.

Joseph Fiennes plays Southgate and I think his performance is uncanny, as it seems to capture the man's appearance and behaviour extraordinarily well (I think this is true, even though I've never met Southgate). Jodie Whittaker plays a sports psychologist, Pippa Grange. In real life, I gather that Pippa Grange was only directly involved with the England team for a couple of years and I suppose her role was expanded because there are virtually no other women in the cast (so, for instance, apart from one tiny scene at the end, we see nothing of the way the job impacted on Southgate's home life).

The story of how an evidently decent man achieved great progress in leading the national team, while ultimately falling short of winning anything is, to a football fan like me, interesting. James Graham builds in lots of 'state of the nation' references, although I think it's open to debate as to how well some of the comparisons work. There are some common factors to leadership whatever organisation is being led. But there are also differences. The skills you need to lead a nation are in some respects fundamentally different from those of leading a team in a competition which has the simple (if hard to achieve) objective of winning a competition.

But the real problem with the show is that it's too long - four episodes expands the material beyond its natural length, so there is a quite a bit of padding. Even so, I stuck the course to the inevitably anti-climactic conclusion. Any chance of a play or fictional TV series about Pep Guardiola?  

The White Lotus - HBO/Sky Atlantic TV - season 1 review

The White Lotus first hit our TV screens five years ago. It was a big success, and seemed to be very trendy, but I didn't pay much attention to it until recently, when I thought I might take a look. If I'm honest, I wasn't expecting great things. Just something superficial and glossy and no doubt very expensively made, a sort of high-calibre soap opera.

I never expected to enjoy the show as much as I did, and in a short space of time I've watched all three seasons. I'm now very much looking forward to season four. Mike White, the writer and director, has done a quite superb job of creating a series that has genuine depth. The sex scenes have attracted quite a lot of comment, but I think the whole show is very well done - writing, acting, photography, the whole bundle. The music is unusual but brilliantly effective, too.

The White Lotus is a chain of luxury hotel resorts in glamorous locations around the world, patronised by the rich and privileged. Season 1 is set in Maui, an island I loved staying in myself (but in a rather less exotic and expensive, although perfectly pleasant hotel) and runs to six episodes. The story opens at an airport. A older couple talk to a young man who has been staying at the White Lotus on his honeymoon. It emerges that a tragedy has occurred there, and someone died. The older people realise the young man is on his own...next thing we know, we flashback to ten days earlier, as the honeymooning couple and others are greeted on arrival by the manager and staff of the White Lotus.

So yes, this is a whowasdunin. Who has died, and why? Is it the new bride, or someone else? The mystery is cleverly contrived, but it's only one ingredient of a complex storyline, full of interesting (if not necessarily likeable) characters. Vast wealth doesn't bring happiness might be the moral of the story. Except that, in one or two cases, it seems to do so. For instance, Tanya, a very mixed-up billionaire, befriends Belinda, a wellness consultant, and wants to help her, but complications in her own personal life begin to get in the way.

There are oddities about the storyline every now and then, choices made about which situations to explore and which to glide past, but overwhelmingly my reaction was positive. And I can imagine academics discussing the show in some depth in years to come (for all I know, they are already at it), simply because it's rich in discussion points, sometimes thought-provoking, sometimes satiric, consistently interesting.

     

Forgotten Book - Rustling End

Douglas G. Browne (1884-1963) was a capable crime writer who also enjoyed success with non-fiction - books about true crime cases and a biography of Bernard Spilsbury. Towards the end of his career, he was elected to membership of the Detection Club, but today many of his books are hard to find. That's true of Rustling End, which was first published in 1948. I count myself as fortunate to have a copy that Browne inscribed to someone who inspired his creation of Stephanie, the young woman in the story.

The first chapter is curious. A young solicitor, John Fordyce, drops into an Essex pub and witnesses a strange confrontation between the landlord, a man called Detmold, and a customer. The men stare at each other intently. Something is amiss between them - yet they don't seem to know each other. Subsequently, Fordyce learns that Detmold has been arrested on a murder charge, and he's ultimately convicted on compelling evidence.

Fordyce then attends a dinner party hosted by Harvey Tuke and his wife Yvette. Among the guests is Stephanie, over from New Zealand. She wants to get in touch with her aunt, but the lady has married unexpectedly and rather mysteriously, and Stephanie receives a letter from her husband, a man called Prowse, who lives at Rustling End in Essex, basically fobbing her off.

Fordyce shares Stephanie's curiosity and their investigations soon uncover some worrying developments - but not the aunt. This is a novel inspired by the Moat Farm case, but it has some distinctive plot features which mean that although the basic situation is straightforward, there's more to the whole business than meets the eye. I enjoyed this novel, an interesting piece of work by an under-estimated author.

Deadly Remains by Kate Ellis

Deadly Remains is the latest Wesley Peterson novel by Kate Ellis, published last year. This lengthy series benefits from a pleasant setting on and around the south Devon coast, with Tradmouth (which stands in for Dartmouth, as Morbay and Neston stand in for Torquay and Totnes in the series) as the focal point, and the base for Wesley and his friend and boss, the Scouser Gerry Heffernan.

Kate's books invariably showcase intricate plotting, something which has drawn me to them since I first got to know her late in the 90s. Like me, she was a big fan of Glenn Chandler's scripts for the early series of Taggart and her storytelling shares with Glenn's a knack for taking disparate plot ingredients and blending them together into a satisfyingly mysterious meal. There is often - though not in this particular storyline - an element of the macabre that adds a tasty seasoning of the weird and unorthodox

The Wesley books follow a tried and tested pattern. They always combine a mystery set in the past, usually told through a diary or recovered documentation of some kind, frequently unearthed by archaeologist Neil Watson, and a puzzle of the present. In Deadly Remains, the body count is high; however, this is not in any way a gruesome novel (or even, in any meaningful sense, a police procedural), but rather a well-crafted traditional detective story.

Here the death of a writer and researcher with plenty of ghostwritten books on his CV is investigated by Wesley, while bones are unearthed in a dig by Neil's team, which is supplemented in this case by young Michael Peterson, whose role in the story is especially well-handled. The mystery in the past involves a plane crash during the Second World War. 

This aspect of the story reminded me of Fetch Out No Shroud by Stephen Murray (the pen-name of Stephen Hayes), a friend of mine who published some good traditional mysteries with the Collins Crime Club in the 80s and 90s (that book appeared in 1990) and who was already well-established when I first got published. He appeared to me to be destined for crime writing stardom. Alas, Stephen hasn't published a novel for upwards of thirty years, but his novel - which involves a body found on an airfield and the death of a war historian investigating dark secrets of the past - is one I enjoyed. I don't recall the details of the plot, but even though I found a rather brutal online review of it from Publishers' Weekly, I still think it would be worth seeking out. Stephen is one of many writers whose talent, I felt, deserved greater success and a longer career than he was able to achieve. 

   

The Lake District Cold Case Mysteries - a box set

Joffe Books are a dynamic publishing company and since they licensed the UK ebook rights to my Lake District series (now known as The Lake District Cold Case Mysteries) the books have been going great guns. It's also been a great pleasure for me to be reunited with Kate Lyall Grant, who was my editor at Hodder in the late 1990s when I was writing the Harry Devlin series.

Joffe Books specialise mainly in discounted ebooks, which they market very effectively. Their latest coup has been to put the eight Lake District Cold Case Mysteries into a box set, which they are selling very cheaply on Amazon UK, and this has resulted in the set achieving #1 bestseller status. An absolute bargain, I'd say, but then I would, wouldn't I? If you're tempted, here is a link to paste into your browser: 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/LAKE-DISTRICT-COLD-CASE-MYSTERIES-ebook/dp/B0H63C9YZJ/ref=sr_1_2?crid=9RMWZVWM47G5&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.APR4VfiNbufrcqt79vNRXSx0jLK71kWxIpDV0nJdTEHNLdkLdRjGR_rOE4Kb8whTppXA0P7v13PejkPXARdgol1lf95SaLlF_NzaEW4ZVs2jxdpdLeWz1Xwr6w-Lroq4JjTfC291OUShz-1fo7bzJfKcpqnFlWj5wlDkSgjcC_OryrjVp7ki3P7u9e8aF_Flr1KkzCY30f6lpCn7x4qfC3FGSL7pIsnT9p5Yc6ymkL8.dXwZr_aJqTR47afcw8ltiGt36XnrZi3TOzuh9JGm6rA&dib_tag=se&keywords=martin+edwards+lake+district&qid=1782752538&s=books&sprefix=%2Cstripbooks%2C137&sr=1-2#averageCustomerReviewsAnchor

Agatha Christie Day at Bolton Library

It's all about Agatha at the moment. Last Monday I was doing a bit of filming, for a video trailer for the forthcoming Marple Mysteries festival in Marple (where else?) next April; this sounds like a great event, and will also celebrate the opening of the town's impressive-sounding new library. At a time when libraries are under threat in some areas (including, regrettably, my own), I'm glad to do anything I sensibly can to support them. 

Saturday saw me travelling to Bolton Library, which I last visited for a talk upwards of twenty years ago, and I recall a grand building in the heart of the town's cultural quarter. Since then, the library has been modernised, very impressively, and there's also a museum and aquarium. I didn't have time for an extended look round, but it definitely looked worth a further visit.

I was invited to Bolton by Caroline Hall from the Library because she was organising an Agatha Christie Day. It's never any hardship to talk about Agatha and her work, so I had no hesitation in accepting, and I was impressed by the turnout on another very hot day. The first speaker, Lauren Field, a curator from the natural history section of the museum, talked interestingly about dogs and poisons in Agatha's work. And there were some poisonous herbs on display - nobody was unwise enough to touch them, but I think we were all rather intrigued.

Caroline interviewed me, and there were some excellent questions from an audience that seemed very engaged, followed by a very good book-signing session. A pleasant visit, and also a chance to reflect, once again, on the vital role that libraries play in our communities. Initiatives like this are definitely worth supporting.  

Forgotten Book - Death and the Sky Above

This month the blog has, for the second month running, seen pageviews well in excess of one million. A big number, but I am conscious that AI surely accounts for a sizeable percentage, though how many, I can't say. So I remain very keen on diversifying with the content that I provide to readers, and I do hope that any of you who haven't done so will subscribe to my free monthly newsletter, The Life of Crime, which you can find here. The next issue is planned for 1 July.

There is also a paid version of the newsletter, currently running at two issues per month. This is The Life of Crime Premium and I'd like to give special thanks to all those who have subscribed to this so far. This has encouraged me to offer a widening range of material to those subscribers. In July, for instance, I'll be discussing a point Jim mentioned at Bodies from the Library - the suggestion that someone other than Leo Bruce wrote one of his Sergeant Beef novels. I'll share the evidence that demonstrates that was indeed the case.

My current plan is to retain Forgotten Books on the blog rather than moving them to the newsletter, but I'll keep this under review. 

Now for today's Forgotten Book... 

Death and the Sky Above is an early Andrew Garve title, dating from 1953. Nine years later, it was adapted by Roger Marshall (a terrific screenwriter, then right at the start of his career) into a short film. I can see why it was filmed, as Two Letter Alibi, because it's a visual and atmospheric story with no shortage of action sequences. Typical Andrew Garve, in fact.

In some ways, it's a combination of crime story and adventure story. There's a murder mystery which forms the catalyst for the action sequences, but the answer to the question of whodunit is hinted at very clearly in the first pages, and it most certainly isn't the main focus of the book. Garve was, in truth, usually much more interested in spinning an exciting yarn than in weaving a cunning mystery. There is, however, a neat plot device relating to an alibi connected with a Test cricket match at the Oval.

Charles Hilary is in love with an attractive and likeable TV presenter, Kathryn Forrester. The only snag is that Charles is married, to the once lovely but fast fading Louise. She's a difficult woman who takes pleasure in refusing him a divorce. They have an argument and he goes to the cricket to cool down. But whilst he's there, Louise is murdered. He's identified by a neighbour as having been present at the crucial time (though we know he wasn't) and he's duly convicted of murder and sentenced to hang.

But a lucky chance enables him to escape from prison, and the meat of the story concerns his attempts, with Kathryn's selfless support, to make a new life for them both by sailing away from England. As so often, Garve's enthusiasm for and knowledge of small boat sailing is a key component of the story. The murder mystery, such as it is, is perfunctory in the extreme, but the action is very well described. 

The Family Next Door - 2025 TV serial - review

The Family Next Door is a six-part Australian TV series which originally aired last year and which I caught up with on ITV X. It's based on a 2018 novel by Australian author Sally Hepworth, whose work I'm unfamiliar with, and I'm not sure how close the TV drama is to the original source. I'd characterise it as a well-made blend of psychological suspense and soap opera, a formula that works very well for The White Lotus, the first two series of which I enjoyed watching.

I've not seen the actors appear in anything else, but they do a good job here, and they are led by Teresa Palmer, who gives a strong performance as Isabelle, a young woman who moves to an upmarket cul-de-sac in a coastal resort in Victoria. She is clearly troubled and trying to find something out about her new neighbours. But what exactly is the mystery that she appears to be trying to solve?

This is a pretty appealing premise, and it's well handled, especially in the early part of the series. Each of the six episodes is named for, and focuses primarily on, one of the lead female characters. So to begin with, 'Ange', episode one, deals with Isabelle's encounters with an estate agent who lives on the cul-de-sac and whose relationship with her husband is clearly coming under strain.

The children of the residents play an important part in each episode, and the child actors also do well. I think it's fair to say that some of the episodes seem a bit drawn-out, as is so often the case with six-part series when there is only enough plot for about four episodes (sometimes not as many!) And I felt the final episode was so-so. But overall, I enjoyed watching this one, even if it's not as good as The White Lotus. Crucially, the central idea that is the basis for the story is strong and interesting.

Bodies from the Library 2026

Bodies from the Library has always been a popular event, but on Saturday, for the first time in its eleven year history, the Knowledge Centre at the Library was packed to the rafters, since the day sold out weeks earlier and there was quite a waiting list. Great credit goes to John, Mark, Susan, and Liz, the tireless volunteer organisers. And the day definitely lived up to expectations.

The only snag with Bodies is that there's never enough time to chat to everyone I'd like to spend time with, but it was good to meet quite a few old friends as well as a number of people for the first time including Ashwin Fernandes and a very pleasant gentleman who came up to say hello. He introduced himself as Edward Young, and who told me something that I found quite amazing. He explained that he was personal secretary to the Sovereign and he told me that, during the dark days of Covid and the lockdown, the late Queen cheered herself up by reading books for pleasure. 

Turns out she was a big Agatha Christie fan, which I didn't know. And one of the books she read was one put together by me, namely Howdunit. I was so surprised I might almost have thought I was having my leg pulled; but no, the pleasant gentleman turned out to be Baron Young of Old Windsor himself. Given that earlier this month, a former Prime Minister enthused to me about the British Library Crime Classics, I really do wonder sometimes if I'm living entirely in my imagination these days, since it all seems too surreal to be true. 

Anyway, in the real world, Simon Brett and I kicked off Bodies by chatting about the Detection Club. It's always good to spend time with Simon, and we'd had a drink and then a meal together the previous evening; he's always a fund of fascinating anecdotes and I was very interested to learn that he worked with David Renwick in the latter's early days at the BBC. 

Then followed one fascinating talk after another from Victoria Dowd, Tom Mead, Catherine Cooke, Jasmine Simeone, Jim Noy, Brian Price, Ronaldo Fagarazzi, and of course John Curran. With such a galaxy of interesting and knowledgeable speakers it's almost impossible to pick highlights, but Jim's reading of a passage from Leo Bruce's Jack on the Gallows Tree was utterly hilarious. 

As usual we ended with an 'ask the experts' panel led by Jake Kerridge and then a wine reception hosted by David Brawn of HarperCollins which did give a chance to catch up with some more friends. The photos come from posts by Victoria, Tom, and Paul Greaves, all of whom will tell you it really was a fun occasion.

Forgotten Book - The Royston Affair

The Royston Affair, first published in 1964 by Collins Crime Club, was D.M. Devine's third novel. It begins with a 'prodigal son' scenario, as Mark Lovell returns to his home town of Riverhead for the first time in four years. Mark, the narrator, is a solicitor who was in effect exiled after he 'blew the whistle' on his half-brother Derek, a journalist, for perjury. 

Mark fell out with his father, who headed the private practice in which Mark worked, as well as his step-mother Ilona, who has always been devoted to Derek. His principled stand also infuriated his fiancee, Frances, and she broke off their engagement. But now Mark's father has had second thoughts and has summoned Mark back. Before Mark can find out what has caused his father to change his mind about their past quarrel, Patrick Lovell is murdered. And Derek is prime suspect...

This is a complicated story, and Devine's method of telling it means that we learn about what has happened in the past (including the eponymous Royston affair) in piecemeal fashion, adding to the complications. The local newspaper for which Derek works is run by a ruthless man called Willard, and it's clear that he's up to his neck in whatever has been going on. The other key characters include Patrick's two partners in the firm, members of Willard's family, and a young woman called Pattie who plays a dangerous game of blackmail. 

Inspector Slade, a tough cop, investigates, but Mark - a stubborn and occasionally, it must be said, irritating individual - insists on doing his own detective work. The plot unfolds cleverly, as usual with Devine, and there's a neat false solution before the truth is finally revealed. This novel isn't as dazzling in its trickery as Devine's best work, but it's still a very capable mystery in the traditional vein.

The Fantastic Detective Notebook by Gary Lovisi

As I've mentioned several times before, Stark House Press do a very good job of reprinting interesting and varied crime novels and short stories. They have also published some non-fiction titles, such as Rick Ollerman's Hardboiled, Noir and Gold Medals, which reflects Rick's wide reading and enthusiasm. A recent addition to their eclectic list is The Fantastic Detective Notebook by Gary Lovisi. This is a much-expanded and revised version of a reference book Lovisi first produced, in a very small print run, forty years ago. Lovisi happens to be a prolific fiction writer, and this experience is reflected in his concise but often insightful comments.    

A new foreword summarises the basic premise: 'When well done, science fiction, fantasy, or horror, melded with the private eye, crime and noir genre make for a fascinating mix of entertaining fiction.' Not everyone likes cross-genre writing, and it's not an area in which I can claim any great expertise, but I was interested to see that the many books mentioned include an anthology for which I wrote a story, The Mammoth Book of Future Cops. The story was called 'Mindstalker', and it represented quite a departure for me as a writer. Maybe one of these fine days I should have another go at a story of that kind.

One of numerous appealing features of this book is that there is a plentiful supply of full-colour illustrations of book covers. The choice of authors and books covered is eclectic, ranging for example from Randall Garrett's Lord Darcy novels to Len Deighton's SS-GB. This is not only a useful work of reference but also a good source of answers to the question: 'What should I read next?' A very worthwhile title indeed.

I'd also like to squeeze in a mention of another worthwhile Stark House Press title, Nothing Darker Than the Night, which focuses on hardboiled and noir fiction and collects essays by Curtis Evans that have appeared elsewhere in the past. Many of the authors featured, such as Hammett, Chandler, and Woolrich, have been discussed extensively before by leading critics, and the absence of an index is a shame, but it's good to see pieces about such writers as Fredric Brown, Elisabeth Sanxay Holding, and Edna Sherry, all of whose novels I find very interesting, and all of whom deserve to be remembered.

Agatha Christie's London

I've known Tina Hodgkinson for several years - if I remember rightly, which can never be guaranteed, we first met at the British Library - and I've been aware for some time that she's been working on her first book. It has now been published by the History Press (and they have managed a very nice production job, I must say) and you can guess from the title that I'd be likely to be enthusiastic about it. It's called Agatha Christie's London: A Historical Guide to the Queen of Crime's Capital.

Tina is well-qualified to write such a book, since her interest in detective fiction is complemented by her experience as a London guide. Twelve years ago, indeed, she created a series of Agatha-themed walking tours. I should disclose that I'm mentioned generously in the acknowledgments, but I can honestly say that I really like this book and I have no hesitation in recommending it to fellow Agatha fans. It's a gem of Agatha-related literature.

A lot has been written about Agatha (and I and many terrific and illustrious writers will be adding to the volume with the forthcoming British Library exhibition book, Agatha Christie: A World of Mystery) but this means that it isn't necessarily easy to write a book that doesn't cover too much familiar ground. However, Tina has managed to do this. I learned a lot from this book. She is a genuine expert in her field.

I know parts of London well, as I have spent a lot of time there over the years (and, ages ago, I had the pleasure of spending a couple of nights at Brown's Hotel in Albemarle Street, which features in the book - daren't think what it would cost now!) but my view of the city is essentially that of an outsider. But Tina is a reliable guide, and when she takes her readers all around the capital, we can be confident we will have an interesting time - and not get lost! 

  

Forgotten Book - Frame-Up

Frame-Up, first published in 1964, is a characteristically snappy murder mystery by Paul Winterton, who by that time was writing as Andrew Garve and had abandoned his earlier pen-names Roger Bax and Paul Somers. A couple of times in Garve's work, he has author characters bemoan the fact that their publishers like longer books, and this is an excellent example of how Garve favours economy of style, although not at the expense of good storytelling. In fact, if he'd tried to pad this book out beyond its natural length, the story would not have worked as well as it does.

John Lumsden, an artist getting on in years and with perhaps more money than talent, has an unexpected visitor one evening. Not long afterwards, his dead body is discovered in his studio. He has been strangled. This is a case for Chief Inspector Charles Blair (apparently renamed Grant in the US edition for some reason, perhaps to avoid confusion with another writer's character) and his sidekick, Sergeant Harry Dawson.

They only have three credible suspects to consider, and this helps to explain the relatively short length of the novel. These are Lumsden's nephew Mike Ransley, George Otway, who is a sort of protege of Lumsden, and the housekeeper Kathie Bowen, who had her sights set on marrying Lumsden, mainly for his money. I must admit that I tend to prefer whodunits with a bigger pool of suspects, but Garve juggles suspicion around the three candidates with considerable skill.  

There's a hoax phone call reminiscent of that in the Wallace case and the story also makes good use of two devices that Garve utilised in several of his detective novels - the framing of someone for a crime they didn't commit, and an ingeniously constructed alibi. One tends to think of Garve as a writer of adventure stories and thrillers rather than as a specialist in classic-style whodunits, but I'm almost tempted to think that he was as good at constructing a clever alibi as that master of the Golden Age, Freeman Wills Crofts. 

Alibis in the Archive 2026

Alibis in the Archive is always a highlight in my year. I set up this festival in collaboration with Gladstone's Library back in 2017, and it's been great fun every time. I aim for an eclectic mix of speakers and crime-related topics (including true crime and crime-related non-fiction) and so far, I've had a different group of speakers each year (apart from me!) to underscore the feeling of variety. Though in future I shall probably invite some of the wonderful people we've had before to speak again on different topics.

There have been changes in personnel at the Library since last year, but I was very pleased with the way everything ran. It's always good to see attendees returning year after year, and also to get to know some of the people who are coming for the first time. Things kicked off with a welcome from Beth Russell-Tsuro, who has taken over from Louisa Yates (now doing great things at Warwick University) and after a lovely dinner I was quizmaster for an Agatha-themed quiz. I'd actually done an Agatha quiz of a slightly different type the previous Monday at the Athenaeum on Monday, and on both occasions it was a lot of fun. Next year's Alibis will run from 4-6 June, so do consider joining us.

On Saturday we had the first of our wonderful speakers, Zoe Sharp, followed by Christina Handyment, talking about landscapes in crime fiction. Antony Johnston spoke about his solve-it-yourself murders, and the interesting way he creates them, while Sophia Bennett told an interesting story about the connections between P.G. Wodehouse and a number of other authors. To wrap things up, I gave a presentation about 'judging a book by its cover'. We then had a small exhibition put on by the Library of items from the British Crime Writing Archives - including the Diamond Dagger (above photo), which I always love to see. 

Sunday began with Ajay Chowdury discussing AI and its potential benefits and risks. Angela Buckley (top photo) discussed Victorian true crime, and last but definitely not least came Phil Lecomber, with a fresh slant on supervillains in crime fiction. The atmosphere throughout the weekend was convivial and I'm truly grateful to all the excellent speakers, the staff at the Library, and the attendees, for making the festival one that will linger in the memory.  

Sheila Keating (Sheila Mitchell) R.I.P.

I'm just back from a hugely enjoyable Alibis in the Archive weekend. However, whilst I was away, I received the sad news that Sheila Keating died on Thursday. Her funeral is due to take place on June 24 which, had she lived, would have been her 101st birthday. Sheila was the widow of that genial and highly successful writer Harry Keating, and she had a wonderful career as an actor (as Sheila Mitchell), and she was particularly well-known over the last twenty years and more as a reader of audio books.

I'll talk about this year's Alibis in a day or two, but first things first: today I'd like to pay tribute to Sheila. She was a remarkable woman, truly indomitable, and I very much enjoyed her company. She was forthright and impressive, and even though she reached a grand age, I find it hard to believe she is no longer with us. I first got to know her in the late 80s or early 90s, on the occasions when she accompanied Harry to crime writing events. They were both generous people, and in my early days, Harry gave a kind quote which featured on the front cover of The Devil in Disguise. I spent quite a bit of time in their company at my first Malice Domestic back in 2005, when Harry was given a lifetime achievement award. We dined together at the banquet and had a great evening.

After I was elected to the Detection Club (of which Harry was the sixth President), I saw them more regularly, and after Harry died in 2011, Sheila continued to attend Club dinners. She kindly invited me to stay with her at her lovely home in Notting Hill on a number of occasions. On one visit, she showed me her work-in-progress, a draft of a biography of Harry, for which Len Deighton (a good friend) had written a foreword. I read it on the screen, and enjoyed it, and eventually I was able to introduce her to a publisher, Level Best Books, and write an appreciation of Harry which was included in the book. Her book and Howdunit (which I edited on behalf of the Detection Club and which included a contribution by Harry) featured on the same shortlist for a Macavity award, which greatly entertained both of us. I can say in all honesty that I was truly delighted when she won - a brilliant achievement for a first book, and possibly unique in that she was 96 at the time! She also supplemented her book by writing a very good article for CADS about Harry's non-fiction.

When, ten years ago at CrimeFest, Sheila presented me with the H.R.F. Keating award for best critical/biographical crime book for The Golden Age of Murder, it was a great thrill, given my connection with Harry and her. It was lovely to win the same award on two further occasions, for Howdunit and The Life of Crime.  

She became interested in what I'd told her when writing about Gallows Court and offered to read the audio book - again, a source of joy from my point of view. She came along to the launch in Hatchards (see the above photo) and she was also there at the Dorchester Hotel on that memorable evening when I was elected President of the Detection Club in succession to Simon Brett, who had in his turn succeeded Harry fourteen years earlier. I recall too a memorable CrimeFest banquet in the company of Sheila, Catherine Aird, and James Runcie; three terrific dinner companions, it must be said. On another memorable occasion, Sheila, Phyllis James and I travelled in a taxi to Sheila's home, where I was staying, after a convivial Detection Club dinner. What a privilege to be in their company; they were, among other things, both great conversationalists.

Sheila also spent time encouraging me with my public speaking, something that never came naturally to me. She taught me about voice projection and although I don't think I was the greatest pupil, her advice about conducting the Detection Club ritual was really helpful.

It was rather poignant that I received the news of Sheila's death whilst at Alibis, because eight years ago, she came to Alibis and took part in a discussion about the British Crime Writing Archives; she was very supportive of my efforts with the archives for the CWA (of which Harry had also been Chair, something else he and I had in common) and the Detection Club, and I did appreciate that. I'll miss her, but I remember her with great affection.

 

 

Forgotten Book - Death is My Bridegroom

Death is My Bridegroom was published in 1969 by Dominic Devine, shortly after The Sleeping Tiger, a strong and cleverly plotted book with a distinctive storyline. Here, I think he was trying to do something different again. In fact, one of the things I like about Devine is that he kept varying the way he told his stories. Each was a stand-alone, and most of them were distinctive and very well-crafted, with good characterisation as well as crafty plots.

The story is set at Branchfield University, evidently in England (although Devine worked as a senior administrator in a Scottish university, and the scene does shift north of the border at one point). There is quite a bit about university politics, which has an authentic flavour (for the time the book was written) and Devine amuses himself by making a few jokes at the expense of academics (e.g. 'If there was one thing academics had in common, it was a taste for other people's alcohol').

The students are protesting about the alleged mistreatment of one of their number, and a a fake kidnap stunt connected with the protest is utilised for malign purposes by someone who has murder on their mind. One of the key characters is Barbara Letchworth, daughter of a rich benefactor of the university, another is her lover, the charming but feckless Michael Denton. Barbara is the potential 'victim' in the fake kidnap, but things don't go to plan.

I found this book an enjoyable read, but although the story is quite elaborate and twisty, the culprit is easier to spot than in many of his books, and the truth is revealed some time before the end. I think this is because Devine was trying to focus on character and the psychological stresses that can give rise to murder. I'm not sure he got the balance quite right on this occasion, but the book is still a pretty good read.   

A Cure for Wellness - 2016 film review

A Cure for Wellness, first released ten years ago, is a film that seems to divide opinion, and I can see why. It's certainly visually stunning. And it's almost certainly too long. After that, many aspects of the film are debatable. For instance, how does one categorise it? A horror film with a large dollop of fantasy seems to me to be about right. Thomas Mann's The Magic Mountain was apparently an influence on the writer, Justin Haythe. There are also elements of satire, of the 'wellness' industry, and of capitalist ruthlessness, but these ingredients are handled in a rather patchy way. 

Dane DeHaan plays Lockhart, a young and rather soulless financial guy working in a crooked American corporation. His bosses order him to a colleague, Roland Pembroke, whose input is required so that their business doesn't collapse. Pembroke has checked into a 'wellness centre' in the Swiss Alps. Suffice to say that the corporate part of the story is presented in a stylised and not very credible way. I'm pretty sure Thomas Mann had nothing to do with it...

Lockhart travels to the wellness centre, to find that it's housed in a rather spectacular, if remote, castle. In charge of things is a doctor called Volmer - who is played by Jason Isaacs. And that wasn't the only bit of casting that startled me - one of the patients is played by Celia Imrie. Lockhart is involved in a car accident and wakes up to find that he too is now a patient. He meets a mysterious young woman called Hannah (Mia Goth, perfectly cast), and by now it's abundantly clear that Something Very Odd is going on at the clinic.

Barminess prevails for most of the rest of the film. You don't so much need to suspend your disbelief as hang it by the neck, probably until it's dead. It's all pretty crazy, and yet the film does have something of merit. Although the dentistry scene is definitely not for the faint-hearted. I had very mixed feelings about it, perhaps because I found it so hard to empathise with Lockhart. And the belated re-involvement of his capitalist bosses into the story simply didn't work for me.  

Black Widow aka The Black Widow

First, a word of thanks to the loyal readers of this blog. In the month of May, there were more than one million pageviews (over 1.085 million, in fact), a figure I find astonishing and a number that represents a record for the blog. So thank you very much. As I've said before, I suspect AI has something to do with the upsurge, but I know from your emails and messages that it's not the whole explanation. And there will be a new free 'Life of Crime' Substack newsletter from me today as well. Plus, all being well, no fewer than three 'Life of Crime Premium' newsletters and supplements during the course of June containing plenty of fresh information about one of the great figures of the Golden Age, Gladys Mitchell. 

Now to today's topic. Black Widow is a phrase that makes a good title, so it's no surprise that it's been used plenty of times. I've reviewed one film with such a title on this blog - eight years ago, in fact. That movie was based on a novel by Patrick Quentin. The film I'm discussing today was released three years earlier, in 1951, and doesn't have such a strong cast. It was based on a radio serial by Lester Powell called Return from Darkness. The storyline must have something, since in 1958 there was a TV version of the play, written by Powell for an anthology series, Suspicion.

Powell was, you might say, a journeyman writer, but he enjoyed success on both radio and TV . Among other things, he contributed a couple of scripts early on to The Avengers. The screenplay for the film, however, was written by Allan Mackinnon, another of the hard-working scriptwriters of the post-war era, and someone who also tried his hand as a novelist; I recall a book of his, House of Darkness, being reissued in paperback a long time ago, in one of the many attempts to launch a strong crime reprint series (Cyril Hare's first novel Tenant for Death also appeared under the same imprint, which is where I first discovered it, but that particular series of 'Crime Classics' soon disappeared from sight).

The film is one of those 'quota quickies' that were so common in the post-war years, and it was made by Hammer, whose forays into the crime field I find interesting. The set-up of the film is pretty good. Mark Sherwin (Robert Ayres, an American playing a Canadian) is motoring in Yorkshire when he comes across a body lying in the road. He goes to help, and is coshed and has his car stolen for his pains. When he recovers, he is suffering from amnesia, and doesn't know who he is.

The plot thickens nicely for a time, although it's all wrapped up with rather unseemly haste. The sultry Christine Norden plays the eponymous widow, and Jennifer Jayne is the love interest. The director was the prolific Vernon Sewell.  

Forgotten Book - A Hero for Leanda

There's a passing reference to Archbishop Makarios in Andrew Garve's 1958 sailing thriller A Hero for Leanda, and this is, I feel sure, a huge clue as to the inspiration for the storyline. Briefly, Makarios was a high-profile figure in the 1950s, and thereafter. He was a Greek Cypriot who wanted Cyprus to escape from British colonialism, and in 1956 the British had him exiled in the Seychelles, where he remained for a while before being released and although he had to give up on the idea of unifying the island with Greece (because of the hostility of the Turkish Cypriot community), independence and a partitioning of the island was eventually achieved.

Garve's story is about an Irish yachtsman, Mike Conway, whose boat is destroyed in West Africa, leaving him destitute. However, he's approached by someone who introduces him to a rich chap who wants to achieve independence for an island called Spyros (spot the similar name?) The British are keeping Kastella, the leader of the independence movement in exile on an island called Heureuse. Conway (whose Irish roots mean that he is no lover of the Brits) is hired to rescue him, and introduced to an attractive young woman, Leanda, who is willing to help him on his perilous mission.

I did wonder if there might be some kind of plot twist about the wrecking of Conway's boat; spoiler alert, there wasn't. But this is a side issue in any event. The interest of the book likes in Garve's account of the trip on the boat Thalia. I have no expertise in sailing boats whatsoever, but I have no doubt about the authenticity of the material.

The interplay of the lead characters is quite nicely done. I liked, in particular, the way in which Conway expresses his cynicism about political idealists. I think the world needs idealists, but I also think that idealism can create horrors of its own. Garve seems to have spent his early years very much as a political idealist, but by the time he wrote this novel, his views had changed markedly. This is a soundly written thriller, which has stood the test of time pretty well. 

Back from France

I've returned to sunny England after a lovely trip to almost equally sunny France that represented a very welcome break before I get stuck into the edits for my forthcoming novel, Fever Island, which is due out in September. The trip was based at two hotels, one in Sarlat, and one in Carcassonne, both of which are delightful places.

To be honest, I'd never heard of Sarlat, but it turned out to be quite a revelation, a lovely and historic town with lots to see and plenty of excellent restaurants. It also proved to be an excellent base for several excursions. One of these was to see the famous cave paintings of Lascaux - well, replicas thereof, to be precise, since the originals are too precious to be exposed to tourists - and they lived up to their reputation.

Then followed a trip to Rocamadour, a famous place of pilgrimage, and very impressive, and the lovely gardens of Marqueyssac. After that, a visit to the impressive castle at Beynac and then via Domme to La Roque-Gageac for a river trip (something I always enjoy). A longish coach journey to Carcassonne was broken at Cahors. The final trip from there was to Albi, an impressive old city with a massive brick cathedral and an excellent Toulouse Lautrec museum and art gallery. 

 

Carcassonne was the only place on the itinerary that I'd visited before, and it was as fascinating as I remembered, oozing history and charm. Again, plenty of nice places to eat and drink, and a highlight was a walk all around the walls of the city. Not everyone is a fan of organised tours such as this one, but I loved it. Now to plan the next trip... 

Flavia - and Alan Bradley

It's always a source of pleasure when a friend of mine has a novel or series of theirs adapted for film or television, and in the run-up I keep my fingers crossed that the people who have done the adaptation have done the story justice. This doesn't always happen - the TV versions of books by friends of mine like Tim Heald, Marjorie Eccles, and Liza Cody were not a success, as they were the first to say - but sometimes it really does: Vera, Shetland, Slow Horses and Fallen Angel are among the triumphs that spring to mind.

Now we can add Flavia to the list of successful adaptations. When I saw the film a couple of weeks ago (and started drafting this blog post), I felt especially pleased for Flavia's creator, Alan Bradley, a delightful person whom I always enjoyed chatting to - usually, alas, all too briefly. He was telling me about Flavia when we last met on the Isle of Man about eighteen months ago: see the above photo. 

I was, though, deeply saddened to hear, whilst I was away in France last week, that Alan had died. I had hoped, among other things, to have the chance to discuss his thoughts on the film, and his reaction to the experience of having his book brought to the big screen. Alan was Canadian, and after living in Malta for a time, he settled on the Isle of Man. He was based there when he and I first met at a crime writing conference in Oxford back in 2014. I found him very good company. We met again when I presented a murder mystery on the island five years later - see the photo above. It was very good of him to turn up to the events I did on the island and I feel he was a generous and kindly man, as well as a very talented writer.

What of the film? The script (by Susan Coyne) is based on Alan's first book about Flavia de Luce, The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie. Importantly, the cast is a strong one. The demanding role of the rather precocious Flavia is well handled by young Molly Belle Wright, and there are stellar names in the cast: Toby Jones, Martin Freeman, and Jonathan Pryce. With such excellent actors, you are in safe hands, and they all give strong performances.

A dead body turns up in the garden of Flavia's home, and when her father (Freeman) is accused of having committed the murder, Flavia sees it as her job to turn detective and secure his freedom by tracking down the real killer. Stamp collecting, of all things, plays a significant part in a storyline that has enough variety and light amusement to keep the viewer entertained. I enjoyed watching the film and I bet Alan was delighted with it. I'm sad that he's gone but so glad that he lived to see the film made and enjoying good reviews. 

Forgotten Book - Dead Heat

Dead Heat, first published in 1986, is a lively example of Martin Russell's skill as a crime writer. I've always liked his work and I wrote about him in a recent The Life of Crime Premium newsletter. He was good at conjuring up baffling situations which confront ordinary people who may or may not have been tempted to solve their problems by committing a crime - usually murder. He was also very readable, so that you can gulp down his stories pretty quickly. This technique, when used shrewdly, is also a good way of making sure that your readers don't start worrying about some of the unlikelier plot developments!

His protagonist here is another of the ordinary, flawed men who populate so many of his standalone novels. Marvin Pike is a man of thirty (who seems a lot older to me in the way he thinks and behaves) who is married to the lovely but lazy and faithless Arlene. He persuaded her to marry him with some pathetic big talk about making a million, but his ambitions of making a fortune were always pie in the sky.

Instead, he's running a shop that is struggling, in partnership with an old school friend, Gareth Somers, who handles the financial side of the business. Arlene has given up serving behind the counter and Marvin has become dependent on the help of a young woman called Gail. These four people become embroiled in an intriguing set of events when Marvin, having turned a blind eye to Arlene's adultery with Gareth, discovers that his partner is also robbing him blind. The worm is ready to turn...

There's one terrific plot twist in this book. The dust jacket blurb gives away a great deal of the story (not the only time that Collins Crime Club did this, regrettably), and I'm not going to follow suit, but I will say that although I struggled to warm to Marvin, I did enjoy the novel. A good, fast read, typical of Martin Russell's better work. 

The Intruder - 2019 film review

Home invasion thrillers have been commonplace for a long time, but their continuing appeal derives, I think, from the simple truth that, for almost all of us, home is a very, very important part of our lives. It can be our sanctuary from what's wrong with the world. So when someone or something invades it, the results can be not only disconcerting but extremely frightening.

The Intruder is a 2019 film written by the late David Loughery and it benefits from a suitably intense, and indeed at times manic, performance by Dennis Quaid as the eponymous bad guy. Quaid throws himself into the role of Charlie Peck with gusto and Michael Ealy and Meagan Good are effective as Scott and Annie Howard, the upwardly mobile couple who decide to escape urban living to move out to a nice house in the country with a view to raising a family.

The snag is that although Charlie reduces the price of the property (to a mere $3.3 million - the Howards are doing well financially...) and therefore appears keen to move to live with his daughter in Florida, in fact he hangs around in a rather troubling way. Even more disturbing, he has his eye on Annie, whose marriage to Scott has been through a rocky patch in the past.

There are various plot holes in the screenplay. For instance, one plot twist depends on a significant feature of the house that had me wondering why the surveyor never spotted it! And Annie's decision to allow Charlie back into the house after he has displayed his creepiness quite unequivocally was crazy. But the direction by Deon Taylor is just about brisk enough to justify the necessary suspension of disbelief. 

Hallow Road - 2025 film review

Hallow Road is a recent film with a small but high-calibre cast, led by Rosamund Pike and Matthew Rhys. One night they are woken up by a smoke alarm (is there any more irritating sound?) and receive a panicky phone call from their daughter Alice. She has, apparently, stormed out of the house after a row and driven to remote Hallow Road, in Ashfork Forest in her Dad's car. And she has knocked a girl down.

Maddie, Alice's mum, is a paramedic (although we sense quite early on that not all has gone well for her in that role) and Frank is evidently rather controlling. They decide to go out in the night to find Alice and as they drive, they are trying to figure out what to do for the best. Almost inevitably in this situation they make one bad choice after another. Frank in particular makes some decisions that, even in a high-stress scenario, are obviously unwise.

Bit by bit, as the couple drive and keep talking to their daughter - a very claustrophobic situation inside the car - we learn more about their relationship and the issues that led Alice to go out into the night. Alice's panic-stricken voice makes an ironic contrast with the smiley picture of her on the phone, a reminder of the gulf between the images that people often present of themselves and the more challenged reality.

It's difficult to say too much about this film, and in particular the way it ends, without giving away spoilers. Suffice to say that the ending is ambiguous, and the ambiguity didn't entirely work for me, because I felt there were logic problems whichever interpretation you adopt of the film. However, it has been mostly well-received, and I certainly found it watchable. 

Forgotten Book - Case without a Corpse

Case Without a Corpse was Leo Bruce's second book about Sergeant Beef, appearing in 1937 and following up the highly successful Case for Three Detectives. Again, the narrator is Beef's patronising writer friend Townsend. The story opens in a local pub, with Beef playing darts. A local rascal, young Rogers, bursts in and announces that he has murdered someone - and promptly takes poison and dies.

This is as dramatic an opening as you could wish for in a Golden Age novel, and overall the story lives up to its initial promise as Bruce surmounts the so-called 'second novel hurdle' with quite a degree of ease. There's also a lot of fun to be had. Bruce pokes fun at Golden Age tropes regularly, and he does so in a very entertaining way. I liked his disappointment at Beef's readiness to call in Scotland Yard, for instance, and the by-play between Inspector Stute of the Yard and Beef is a lot of fun, as is Stute's bafflement about the fact that one of the local constables is called Galsworthy (a joke that has not, perhaps, aged too well, but it pleased me!)

Even better is Townsend's comment when he's admitted to a police conference: 'my reading of detective stories...had taught me that an outsider, with no particular excuse, was often welcomed on these occasions, especially if he had the gift of native fatuity, and could ask ludicrous questions at the right moment...'

It's fair to say that things get a little bit bogged down in the middle section of the book, but I thought the final revelations made the wait worthwhile. At the end of the story, Beef hankers after a transfer to Scotland Yard, and says that if he doesn't get his just reward, he'll retire from the force and set up on his own as a private investigator. And Bruce's writing is so likeable that it will be a pleasure to see what happens next in Beef's career.  

Ten Million Pageviews

This blog has recently passed the ten million pageview milestone. I'd like to thank everyone who checks in - I really do appreciate it, and I thought I'd celebrate by reposting the above photo of the night when I presented Ann Cleeves - an early supporter of this blog - with the Diamond Dagger. As I've said before, it's thanks to this blog that I've got to know some wonderful people, quite a few of whom I've had the pleasure of meeting in person, which is invariably lovely. The comments you make on posts, and the emails you send me are always extremely welcome.

I feel very lucky, given my enthusiasm for finding out more about crime writers and their books and the genre's heritage, that many people get in touch with me to supply extra information, which is often truly fascinating. I receive plenty of questions, too, and I do my best to offer answers or suggestions.

I'm sure that AI is skewing the pageview figures, though. The increase in pageviews over the past year has been colossal, and while my 'postbag' of genuine messages has also increased, I'm convinced that blogs which contain plenty of information, whatever the subject, are being targeted by AI bots and scammers.

As I've mentioned before, this is one of the main reasons why I started my The Life of Crime Premium subscriber newsletter as well as the free monthly newsletter which I launched last year, and for which you can sign up here.    I've been very happy indeed with the response to these initiatives. 

So what about the future? The short answer is that I don't envisage any great changes in the short term. I keep finding fresh ideas for Premium and I'll mention them here from time to time. And I hope you will continue to keep in touch.

Thanks for all your support.   

The Hunger Games - 2012 film review

Given everything that is going on across the globe right now, you could argue that what the world does not need right now is a dystopian film. Reality can be dark enough, perhaps. Yet I wouldn't agree with that argument. A good dystopian story can cast light on society in a valuable way, and perhaps it's even more valuable when things seem rather chaotic everywhere. 

All this is by way of preamble to my confessing that I'd managed (not by a deliberate choice, though) to avoid reading Suzanne Collins' books in the Hunger Games series and to avoid seeing the 2012 film based on her first story in that series. One of many gaps in my cultural awareness, I'm afraid. But finally I've caught up with it. 

The premise is simple. At some future date, Panem is a country (a sort of reincarnation of the US on a smaller scale due to natural catastrophe) ruled from 'the Capitol', which is rich and well-resourced. Twelve districts exist in a much poorer state. As punishment for a past failed rebellion, each year a boy and a girl from each district must take part in the Hunger Games, which quite literally involve a fight to the death.

Jennifer Lawrence and the rather less famous Josh Hutcherson are the pair from District 12 for whom we are rooting from the start. The cast also includes Woody Harrelson, Stanley Tucci, Lenny Kravitz and Donald Sutherland. Sutherland plays President Snow with his usual style and there's also a smallish part for Jack Quaid, who was good in Companion. I'd have liked the satire on reality television to be a little sharper, but overall it's an entertaining blockbuster.