New Year's Eve

As 2008 draws to a close, I’d like to wish all visitors to this blog a peaceful, healthy and happy 2009. Given all the doom and gloom about the world economy, it might be pushing it a bit also to wish everyone a prosperous new year, but let’s hope that the ravages of recession don’t affect us – or the publishing business which matters so much to both writers and readers – too severely.

On this New Year’s Eve, I’d also like to say how much I appreciate the many kindnesses that I’ve been shown by a lot of people who have come across this blog. One of the year’s greatest pleasures has been to meet a good number of fellow bloggers for the very first time – Maxine, Steve, Rhian, Gerald, Bill, Pari, the list goes on – and I hope that in 2009 I’ll have the chance to meet some more of you as well as to renew friendships made so far. Crime fiction readers and writers are marvellous company, and their generosity of spirit is evident in so many of the comments and emails I receive.

I’ll simply end the 2008 blog posts by saying thanks again, and do keep visiting ‘Do You Write Under Your Own Name?’

2008 in retrospect - 2

I’ve not done as much reading as I would have liked this past year, but I’ve still read some jolly good books. Great new novels came from the likes of Ann Cleeves, P.D. James, Peter Lovesey and the two Kates (Atkinson and Ellis.) That's Kate Ellis, in the photo third from the top, and Ann with Martyn Waites and me at Baltimore in the photo below.

Among the older books, I loved The Prisoner by Boileau and Narcejac, and everything I could lay my hands on by Henry Wade.

I didn’t watch that much tv, but I admired Wallander, and among several excellent films, Fracture, The Page Turner, Notes on a Scandal and Disturbia stand out in my memory.

On the music front, I enjoyed a wonderful concert by Dionne Warwick at the Lowry in Manchester, and had the pleasure of supper and conversation with the charismatic conductor of the Liverpool Philharmonic, as well as a first meeting with the city's cultural supremo Phil Redmond and an insight into the massively refurbished, and very impressive, Bluecoat Gallery.

There were pilgrimages to 221b Baker Street, and the graves of Wordsworth, Poe and Agatha Christie.

And of course there are plenty of other people and events, too many to mention, who helped make the past twelve months so good.

A final word for the city where I work. Liverpool’s year as European Capital of Culture was highly successful, defying the predictions of the city’s many critics. I’d been looking forward to Culture Year for a long time, and the rebuilding of the city provided the impetus for the return of Harry Devlin in Waterloo Sunset – and I am so pleased for the people of Liverpool that it all went so well. Let’s hope that the momentum is continued in 2009 and beyond, and that more and more people come to visit one of the most fascinating cities not just in the UK, but in the world.

2008 in retrospect - 1

Here are some images which encapsulate just a few of the very many memorable aspects of my 2008.

It’s been quite an astonishing year – in the same week in July, I was short-listed for one literary award, and won another, my first. I published two new novels, and an anthology that I’d edited, and enjoyed their launches at great locations – the Hard Day’s Night Hotel, Manchester Central Library, and St George’s Hall – as well as running a short story competition, won by the deserving Cathy Roberts.

There were conventions at Bristol, Baltimore and Harrogate, and events at venues as diverse as the Lit and Phil in Newcastle, Waterstones in Liverpool One, and the Peabody Hotel opposite Baltimore’s Washington Memorial. I met for the first time such marvellous writers as Thomas H..Cook, P.D. James, Jason Goodwin, Tim Heald and Laurie King. And I was elected to the Detection Club.

I feel as though I’ve packed a lot in, and there have been times when I know I’ve made the mistake of trying to do too much. 2009 is likely to be quieter in some ways (no books to launch for a start – I need to finish the current work in progress first!) But if it’s half as much fun, it will still be pretty good.

Like father, like son?

The fact that today is the 18th birthday of my son and webmaster Jonathan, coupled with the fact that, A Level grades permitting, he’ll be attending the same college as I did, and to study law, prompts me (in between copious celebrations) to reflect on links between the generations.

As far as crime fiction is concerned, I recently received a copy of Quiver, a thriller published by Faber and described in the blurb as ‘a thrilling, filmic crime debut that will appeal to fans of Tarantino and the Coen Brothers’. Sounds interesting, but what really caught my eye was that the book is written by Peter Leonard. The author just happens to be the son of Elmore Leonard, one of the most successful American crime writers of the last thirty years.

The Leonards are by no means the only father and son (or, I should say, parent and child) crime writers. In the past there have been quite a number. Examples that spring to mind are the Americans C.W. and Sue Grafton and, in Britain, Edgar and Selwyn Jepson and E.C. and Nicholas Bentley. Coming up to the present day, we have James Lee and Alafair Burke as well as the Leonards in the States and, in Britain, Peter and Phil Lovesey.

Phil Lovesey is a writer I’d like to single out, because his writing has always appealed to me. He’s earned acclaim for a number of books, but it’s probably fair to say that the mega-success I’ve predicted for him hasn’t quite arrived just yet. Nevertheless, he is, like his gifted father, a writer both readable and talented. I’ve included a couple of his stories in anthologies that I’ve edited and, for a book called Scenes of the Crime, I persuaded both of them to contribute – a pleasing double act. They were two very good stories, needless to say, and I eagerly await Phil’s next novel.

Following a parent in the same line of business may have some advantages (contacts, understanding of the business and so on) but in other respects it isn’t straightforward. I’ll look forward to reading Quiver, but I’ll enjoy it on its own merits, rather than because it’s written by the son of a superstar.

Saturday Selection: Matt Rees and Andrea Camilleri

Two books to look out for in the New Year feature the detectives created by Matt Rees and Andrea Camilleri, that is, Omar Yussef and Inspector Montalbano respectively.

Rees has made quite an impression with his first two books featuring Yussef and The Samaritan’s Secret is set in Nablus on the West Bank, all too familiar to us as a name from countless melancholy news bulletins. The case involves the death of a young Samaritan, and the book is published by Atlantic Books on 23 January.

On the same day, Picador bring out The Paper Moon in paperback. The translation is by the award-winning Stephen Sartarelli. Montalbano investigates the murder of a man shot at point-blank range in the face while his pants are down – very unsporting. According to the press release, the case also involves ‘two evasive, beautiful women as prime suspects, dirty cocaine, dead politicians, mysterious computer codes, and a series of threatening letters.’ Camilleri’s series has attracted a large following and I particularly look forward to this one.

Diane Janes

Prior to this autumn, I’d only met Diane Janes once before. But after we collaborated at the Windermere authors’ evening, we bumped into each other again at a lunch held three days later by the Northern Chapter of the Crime Writers’ Association.

Diane’s novel Moonshadow was short-listed for the CWA’s Debut Dagger in 2006and I very much look forward to its appearance in print. Meanwhile, she has published Edwardian Murders, an attractively produced true crime book. I'm keen on true crime - hence my interest in Crippen, and hence Dancing for the Hangman, and Victorian and Edwardian murder cases have a special appeal for me.

The book highlights a 1908 case that I’ve read about in the past. It concerns the shooting of Caroline Luard at an isolated summerhouse at Igtham in Kent. Shortly afterwards her husband, Major Charles Luard, committed suicide. Two years later, a man called Nisbet was murdered, and one John Dickman was convicted of the crime and duly executed. There have been suggestions that Dickman was also responsible for Caroline’s murder.

It’s a convoluted and fascinating case and I was glad to swop books with Diane so as to have the chance to study her research and theories. I've belatedly made a start on Edwardian Murders, and so far I've found it very interesting.

12 Days

On this special day, I feature 12 Days, a book of seasonal short stories that I bought this time last year - an anthology edited by Shelley Silas, including contributions by such luminaries as Val McDermid and Stella Duffy. Well worth a look if you're a fan of the short form.

Merry Christmas!

I’d like to wish all visitors to this blog a merry – no, a criminally merry – Christmas. It’s always been a favourite time of year for me, usually made all the better by the fact that despite the tinsel having appeared in the shops for months in advance, I never quite seem to realise that the big day is approaching until it is almost upon me.

Over the Christmas and New Year break, posts on this blog will be continuing to appear on a daily basis, thanks to the advance scheduling function of Blogger.

And since there’s a lot of debate at this time of year about seasonal mysteries, I should say that there’s little doubt about my own top choice. It’s Hercule Poirot’s Christmas, a complex and skilfully plotted novel by the one and only Dame Agatha. If by any chance you are a fan of the traditional mystery who has somehow managed to miss out on this one, you will enjoy it. Classic setting, excellent clueing, a touch of the ‘locked room mystery’ and a neat solution combine to make it one of the best Golden Age whodunits.

Winston Graham

In the 1970s, the hugely popular television series ‘Poldark’ made Winston Graham’s name very well known. I never got into ‘Poldark’, a historical saga set in Cornwall (even though I thought Angharad Rees, one of the stars, was truly lovely) and I was never tempted to read the books. Not until some years later did I discover that, before he turned to swashbucklers, Graham was a highly accomplished writer of crime fiction.

Successful, too. He wrote the book on which Hitchcock based that interesting movie ‘Marnie’, starring Sean Connery, and also the story that sourced ‘The Walking Stick’, a quirky thriller boasting another starry cast that included the late David Hemmings, Samantha Eggar and Francesca Annis. I rather like both films.

And there is more. Winston Graham was the very first winner of the CWA Gold Dagger Award in 1955, for The Little Walls. (In fact, in those days, the award rejoiced in the name of the Crossed Red Herrings Award. It changes name from time to time, having recently been the Duncan Lawrie Dagger an expediency to reflect the short-lived sponsorship of a bank, but the Dagger name changes are irritating; to my mind the Gold Dagger is the right title for the award for best crime novel of the year.)

So I decided it was high time to read a bit of Winston Graham. And thanks to eBay, I now have a decent and modestly priced haul of his paperbacks.

Reviews

How important are reviews? It’s a question that can divide opinion, but I’m with those who think that they do matter a lot. It’s sad that newspapers seem to be cutting back on the space afforded to book reviews, and I was also sorry to learn of the death the other day of The Sunday Telegraph’s highly regarded crime fiction critic Susanna Yager. I never met her, and I don’t really know much about her, but for many years her reviews were always thoughtful and perceptive. And once or twice she gave books of mine the thumbs-up, which I greatly appreciated.

In fact, the appreciation of reviewers who care about crime fiction is something that I care about a lot. A poor review here and there is all very well, but a series of negative comments would be troubling. Thankfully, 2008 has been a good year for me on the review front, and I was delighted to read Steve Steinbock’s enthusiasm for Waterloo Sunset in the latest issue of The Strand Magazine.

Fellow author Keith Miles (whose railway detective series is itself highly enjoyable) has also been generous in his piece about Dancing for the Hangman in Crime Time. You can read it here: Crime Time review