Forgotten Book - The Long Short Cut

Stories about confidence tricksters can be very appealing, and one of the best that I've read is The Long Short Cut, a 1968 novel by Andrew Garve. The protagonist is a conman called Anthony Bliss. He's running low on cash and looking around for his next cunning plan when he goes to a gambling den called The Queen of Hearts. Two things happen that night. He meets a glamorous young woman called Corinne Lake and he witnesses an armed robbery.

He becomes romantically (or at least sexually entangled, for he isn't really a romantic) with Corinne, and it turns out that they are well-suited. She too is one of life's chancers, looking for a way to get her share of the comfort and luxury she thinks she deserves. They make an amoral pair, and although I don't think their dialogue is entirely believable (dialogue wasn't Garve's greatest strength) at all times, Bliss comes up with an idea for making a fortune and Corinne falls in with it.

I don't want to say too much about the scam, because it unfolds gradually and has a number of very clever elements, although it is highly elaborate, perhaps excessively so, and does depend heavily on a number of things going exactly the way that Bliss hopes. But the central idea is pleasingly original, and an excellent example of Garve's inventiveness. There's a clever explanation of how to fake a passport - three years before Frederick Forsyth's much more famous The Day of the Jackal. Garve really was a varied and interesting writer.

He was also highly readable. This story, like almost all his work, moves quickly, and the pace helps to persuade the reader to suspend disbelief. It's hard, at times, not to start rooting for Bliss and Corinne, and although the complications keep coming, this is a story which entertains from a quiet start to a pleasingly ironic finale.   

Miss Winter in the Library with a Knife - paperback publication day!

 

Today I'm celebrating the UK paperback publication of Miss Winter in the Library with a Knife. This is a book that has been very good to me and I'm delighted to announce that Morrisons supermarket will be carrying copies - the first time a book of mine has ever appeared in Morrisons. Waterstones are being hugely supportive as are independent bookshops, while you can also, of course, find copies on Amazon

And if you'd like to know more, here are some comments and reviews:

The perfect way to unwind during the holidays. What a treat. -- SJ Bennett

Martin Edwards is a magician who conjures up a captivating crime story before your eyes. -- Janice Hallett

The king of the puzzle mystery novel. -- Alex Pavesi

Written with Edwards' usual wry elegance, it is a delight from the first page to the last. ― Daily Mail

A mystery-within-a-mystery you can play along with, all done in the best classic style. Nobody knows the game of murder like Martin Edwards. ― Antony Johnston

You can put down the Radio Times and highlighter pen, this book is all the entertainment you'll need this Christmas. Wonderful stuff. -- Ian Moore

Editor, aficionado, reviewer, collector - Martin Edwards must have crime fiction coursing through his veins. But it is as a writer that he is revealed at his best, synthesising all of that knowledge and love of the genre into work that is singularly his own. -- John Harvey

A classic murder mystery as fresh and sparkling as a snowy day. A perfect read for the long winter evenings. -- Kate Ellis

This year's must-read Christmas murder mystery. I absolutely loved it. -- Mary Grand

Fiendish, hilarious and utterly addictive, this belongs under every Christmas tree. -- Orlando Murrin

Miss Winter is an absolute treat for armchair detectives! With a cast of suspicious characters, a bleak, snow-bound location, and a plot full of unexpected twists and turns, it's a Christmas slay ride every murder mystery fan will enjoy. ― Fiona Leitch

Miss Winter in the Library with a Knife is a fiendishly clever murder mystery rooted in the traditions of the Golden Age but also fresh and innovative. Plot wrapped in plot, puzzle wrapped in puzzle - it's delicious fun to peel back the layers and see if you solved the mysteries of Midwinter before the hapless Harry Crystal and his fellow sleuths. ― Andreina Cordani

Brilliant ― The Courier, Dundee

Full of twists, red herrings and whodunnit fun, this is a treat for crime fans. ― Yours Magazine

A fabulously twisty and delightfully devious Christmas mystery beautifully contained within a snowed-in remote hamlet in North Yorkshire. ― LoveReading

An absolute treat. This is really clever, cosy, and full of delicious twists. The perfect winter read to curl up with - just not at a remote manor house. ― Twin Perspectives

Only a writer with Martin Edwards's knowledge of and feeling for British crime fiction in all its breadth and depth could have pulled off Miss Winter In The Library With A Knife such is its subtlety and ambition. ― Morning Star

A celebration of crime fiction... By mixing tradition with modern insight, Edwards presents a puzzle that's as thoughtful as it is fun ― Crime Fiction Lover

Hounded - 2022 film review

A popular sub-genre of horror films has emerged in recent years - films about people hunting other people for sport. The idea has a lot of potential for writers who want to explore the darker side of human nature. The recent TV version of Lord of the Flies shows not only that it isn't really a new idea (William Golding's brilliant novel was written more than sixty years ago), but also that it's capable of being developed in depth and with subtlety.

This is one of the reasons I was tempted to watch Hounded, a British film from four years ago. The other reason was the presence in the cast of Samantha Bond and James Faulkner, two high-calibre actors who have always seemed to me to be reliably entertaining. I was hopeful, but regrettably this is one that falls into the category of 'films I watched so that you don't have to'. 

The set-up is that a group of youthful burglars from Peckham target a posh mansion for what their leader wants to be their 'last job'. Unfortunately for them, they are caught by the owners, led by Bond (who demonstrates her quality in the sense that at least she seems to be having a lot of fun with the risible dialogue the scriptwriter inflicts on her) and Faulkner (who rather gives the impression that he wishes he was appearing in some other movie where his character was allowed more than one dimension). And because the posh people belong to the fox-hunting set, they decide that the burglars should be their prey.

You can figure out the rest without watching the film. The film was, apparently, retitled Hunted at some point, a change which, in its dismal lack of subtlety, is at least in keeping with the content. The screenplay is feeble: the satirical possibilities of the premise are squandered by the banality of the writing and the action is too often cartoonish. You could write a great film about the class divide in modern Britain. But this is not it.  

Normal - 2025 film review

Normal is a recent film which has been quite a hit, and it stars Bob Odenkirk, who co-wrote the story with Derek Kolstad on which Kolstad based his screenplay. If those names seem familiar to you, then you may recall that they featured in my recent review of Nobody, which also starred Odenkirk and was written by Kolstad. And there is a similarity in style between the two films, though the storyline is very different.

In a gruesome start to the film, a Japanese gang boss exacts a nasty revenge on three of his men who have messed up before announcing that the gang has to deal with a problem in Normal, Minnesota. We then move to that (fictitious but ironically and rather wonderfully named) small town. Of course, life there proves to be anything but normal.

Odenkirk plays Ulysses, an interim sheriff who has been sent to supervise law and order after the untimely and - Ulysses soon discovers - rather suspicious death of his predecessor. Normal seems quiet enough, and Ulysses isn't unduly stretched at first. The local mayor (nicely played, as ever, by the estimable Henry Winkler) suggests he might like to take the job on a permanent basis, but it's pretty clear that what the mayor really likes about Ulysses is his low-key approach to law enforcement. What is going on in the town?

The answer emerges after a young couple stage an inept robbery at the local bank. The central idea of the story is a neat one, although I'm not sure that Derek Kolstad made as much of it as he could. The screenplay is awash with the often cartoonish violence that was a weakness of Nobody, and here I think Kolstad overdoes it. Again, Odenkirk does well in the lead role, but the earlier film was more character-driven than this one, and I think the story was more effective as a result.

Forgotten Book - Panic in Box C

My Pan paperback of John Dickson Carr's Panic in Box C  (see the above cover image) contains the ultimate endorsement - a positive quote from Agatha Christie, who said, 'Very few detective stories baffle me nowadays but Mr Carr's always do.' Of course, the two writer were friends, but it's certainly true that at his best, and even when not quite on top form, Carr was very, very good at bamboozling his readers. Alas, this is a story when I was able to figure out whodunit, even if some aspects of the solution weren't clear to me.

This was the penultimate novel to feature Dr Gideon Fell, although he pops in and out of the action in a rather disjointed way. The novel was published in 1966, and although Carr was barely sixty years old at that time, it does read like an old man's work, lacking the tightness and intensity of his excellent Golden Age mysteries.

The first two chapters, which are quite lengthy, represent a sort of extended prologue. They take place on ship, the RMS lllyria , which is sailing for the States. Fell is on board, and so is a famous actress called Margery Vane. We are given quite extensive chunks of information in slightly indigestible form, and events conclude with Margery Vane talking about a ghost and apparently being shot at.

We then leap forward several months, and Fell again becomes involved with Margery Vane and members of her circle. There's a lot of discussion about a performance of Romeo and Juliet and some of the odd bits of trivia that Carr drops into the narrative are interesting if not always hugely relevant. But some of the characters are irritating (the relationship between Fell's pal Philip Knox and his long-estranged wife Judy in particular - this pair were far less appealing to me than they seemed to be to Carr). And the murder mystery aspect of the novel is disjointed. All in all, I was pretty disappointed with this one. 

70 Up

I'm not a fan of reality television, mainly because it seems to me to present a false version of 'reality', but I have long admired 7 Up, the long series of documentaries which have followed the lives of a group of British children, from the age of seven, sixty-three years ago, to today. The show began as a 'World in Action' documentary, with a political axe to grind - an examination of the nature and future of the 'class system' in Britain - but evolved over the years into something more fascinating and thought-provoking. It's really a study of humanity.

Michael Apted, the film-maker whose achievements included a Bond film and Gorillas in the Mist, was the key figure who kept the show on the road, although it has now been revealed that by the time 63 Up was shown he was in the early stages of dementia, and he died in 2021. 70 Up makes clear that he did make mistakes, and he admitted himself that he was excessively judgmental in his early days. To some extent, clips were chosen selectively to make specific points (much to the annoyance of John, for instance, the public schoolboy who became a KC and felt - with some justice - that he was exploited, and that of the women who were challenged about their willingness to marry young). So even this 'reality' show is not beyond criticism.

Overall, though, Apted did a great job. One or two of the participants dropped out over the years, but most stayed the course. It was very sad to learn that Nick, the young Yorkshire lad who became a scientist in the US, had died of cancer just three days after filming his final clip. He was one of the characters who fascinated me particularly, as did Neil, an equally likeable but more obviously vulnerable person who has struggled with depression for many years. Andrew, the solicitor, seems on the surface to have had an unusually untroubled life, while Tony, the charismatic former jockey, was as engaging as he was outspoken. Everyone had a story to tell that was well worth hearing.

Of course you can question some of the choices made at the start of the series, which helped to define the way it developed, as well as the rather patronising way that Michael Apted interviewed some of the young women in the early shows. But as a window in the lives of real people over the course of a lifetime, this series is unmatched. I can't be the only viewer who felt a great deal of warmth towards everyone who took part over the years. The final sequences were poignant, the whole exercise genuinely impressive.  

Frederick Knott and Dial M for Murder

I'm fascinated by books which give a detailed insight into the way leading crime writers think. Examples that spring to mind are John Curran's study of Agatha Christie's notebooks and Barbara Reynolds' explanation of the collaborative writing process of The Documents in the Case by Dorothy L. Sayers and Robert Eustace, in her bio of Sayers (extracts from which I included in Howdunit). 

And now I've read an interesting study of a niche topic - the way that Frederick Knott went about writing his highly successful stage play Dial M for Murder, famously filmed by Alfred Hitchcock. Richard Weill's Frederick Knott and Dial M for Murder: The Creation and Evolution of an Iconic Thriller, published by McFarland, gives info about Knott's life and other work for stage and screen, as well as including a previously unpublished version of the play.

One of the key points that emerges from the text is the extent to which Knott laboured over his work. He was something of a perfectionist, and this may explain why he was very, very far from prolific (it probably helped that he earned a great deal of money from Dial M, despite selling the film rights for just £1000). There is a lot of detail about how he tinkered with apparently small elements of the story; this, I think, illustrates a level of care about his work that is common to a number of really successful creative people.

Knott met a variety of interesting people during his life - names like Selwyn Jepson, Maurice Evans (a fascinating character who not only starred in the stage play, but also, by the way, among other notable achievements, encouraged Hal David to become a lyricist), Roald Dahl, and Grace Kelly appear in the text: Weill squashes the notion that Knott and Kelly (who starred in the film of Dial M) had an affair, by the way. I was very glad to read this book and, who knows, it may well be a contender for next year's Edgar awards.

Forgotten Book - Illegal Tender

I felt a genuine sense of regret when I finished reading Dominic Devine's 1970 novel Illegal Tender. Not because of any flaws in the storyline, but because it meant I'd read all thirteen of his novels. They are all stand-alones, which usually means that quality can vary quite a bit, but in fact Devine is very, very good at ringing the changes while making the most of his strengths, which are considerable.

His ability to construct a strong whodunit plot is especially impressive. But he also understood office life, and its tensions, and the secrets hidden within seemingly respectable lives. His fiction gives a pretty good insight into the social mores of middle-class Britain at the time. Most of his stories are set in Scotland, and even those that aren't generally have some Scottish characters or scenes. He was very strong on academic life, which he knew intimately, but he also seems to have had a very close knowledge of local government and how it operates on a day to day basis. The background seems to me to be highly authentic.

This story is set in a fictitious local authority, Kilcrannon, and it's one of a number of crime novels written during the same period which deal with local government corruption. Michael Gilbert's The Crack in the Teacup was another, but Devine explores the topic in greater depth, even though his protagonist, Jennifer Ainslie is, like Gilbert's, a trained lawyer. In some ways, their work was prescient, because not long after those novels appeared, the Poulson scandal began to unfold. 

There haven't been many major crime novels in recent times that I can think of which deal with similar themes, which is surprising, because corruption in local government definitely hasn't gone away. The municipal hierarchy in Scotland at the time was evidently quite complex, and Devine might have given us a bit more explanation about how it operated, but he is content to tell the story in a pacy way and trust his readers to work things out for themselves. 

Did I manage to deduce the identity of the culprit? In this case, no, I was miles out. Devine was a very crafty crime writer indeed.

  

Books

 

This week saw the publication by the British Library of The Classic Crime Companion, my updated and expanded version of the award-winning The Story of Classic Crime in 100 Books. Here is a link if you're interested in buying from Amazon.

And next week sees publication by Head of Zeus of the paperback edition of Miss Winter in the Library with a Knife. Of all the books I've written, this has - already - been the most commercially successful, and the most widely translated. If you're interested in preordering from Amazon, you can do so here.

Torquay Books

I came home from Torquay with an interesting haul of books, and pride of place goes to Lucy Foley's latest. I'm pleased to say that Lucy has written an essay for Agatha Christie: A World of Mystery, edited by another Lucy (Ms Rowland) and myself for the British Library exhibition about the Queen of Crime. That book is due out on the day the exhibition opens officially, 30 October, but Lucy's novel is already available.

I've been interested in Lucy's writing ever since she turned to the crime genre with her fourth novel, The Hunting Party, eight years ago. That book established her distinctive style, which makes skilful use of multiple first person viewpoints, and was one of the novels that has helped to revive the 'whowasdunin' type of mystery, which I'd argue dates back to Anthony Berkeley's Murder in the Basement, in recent times. She has achieved huge success and, during the pandemic, I enjoyed moderating an online panel to which she made an excellent contribution.

Now she's been appointed by the Agatha Christie estate to write continuation novels featuring Miss Marple, and the first is Murder at the Grand Alpine Hotel. She hasn't tried to ape Agatha's style, and again it's a 'whowasdunin' with multiple viewpoints (not Miss Marple's, though - some mysteries have to be preserved!). What I liked about this story was the cunning way she used one of Agatha's favourite pieces of trickery (no, I'm not going to say what it is, but it features in at least two novels and one short story, arguably more) but gave it a very distinctive twist of her own. So distinctive that I have to admit I didn't see it coming. I'm now kicking myself, of course...

A word too for a pleasing new 'stocking filler' book, Agatha Christie: The ABC of Murders, written and illustrated by Tom Racine. Well worth considering as a Christmas present for the Christie fan in your life.