Forgotten Book: Postscript to Penelope

Susan Gilruth's Death in Ambush was a highly successful British Library Crime Classic reprint last year. I enjoyed the book a great deal, and so, it is clear, did many readers. As a result, her Sweet Revenge will be published in the series later this year; it was her first novel, and it's another good one. I can't claim the credit for 'discovering' Gilruth - that goes, as far as I know, to Jonny Davidson, formerly of the British Library - but I have been keen to read more of her work, and I've been encouraged in this endeavour by the enthusiasm for Gilruth of both Barry Pike and Jamie Sturgeon, two great fans of classic mystery.

This brought me to Postscript to Penelope, her third novel. It dates from 1954, and was the last to be published by Robert Hale before she moved to Hodder, a more prestigious imprint. This is another story to feature Liane Crauford as narrator, again in company with her golf-loving and amiable if uninspiring husband Bill and the good-looking Hugh Gordon of Scotland Yard, whose fondness for Liane is all too evident, notwithstanding the banter between the three of them in the course of this story. 

The book opens with a useful cast of characters, and we learn that the Craufords are renting a mews house in London, in an upmarket area near Bayswater. They are renting the house from a model called Penelope, who has gone off on a long working trip to Rio. (Incidentally I was intrigued to find that Heathrow is referred to as Heath Row in the novel; this seems to be a Gilruth mannerism, as I've seen maps from the 1930s giving the spelling we're familiar with, i.e. as a single word). Liane is even more of a gossip and nosey parker in this story than in the earlier Gilruths, but she'd outdone in both respects by some of her neighbours, some of whom are, it must be said, rather irritating people whom I'd hate to have living next door to me.

The structure and plotting of this novel is unusual, and some key information only comes to the reader's attention at a relatively late stage of proceedings. There is a fairly obvious murder suspect, but what has actually been going on in the mews is far from easy to figure out. There's also some cluelessness on the part of Bill and Liane with regard to a weapon that I found as hard to swallow as Hugh's willingness to confide in them so extensively. There's a clever idea at the heart of the story, but I don't want to say too much more about the storyline for fear of giving too much away, but the greatest strength of the novel lies in Gilruth's lively, mischievous style of writing.

   

What to Do When Someone Dies aka Without You - ITV X review

A number of husband and wife duos have written crime fiction with some success, but I'd say that Sean French and Nicci Gerard, who write together as Nicci French, are the leaders of the pack. I've read and enjoyed a number of their novels over the past twenty years or so. I met the couple very briefly at Slaughter in Southwold some years back, but our paths haven't crossed since. However, their vivid storylines are well suited to TV adaptation.

I chanced upon What to Do When Someone Dies on ITV X recently, but this mini-series of three episodes first aired fifteen years ago. It's also appeared as Without You, the name of the source novel. All a bit confusing, and some might say the same is true of the storyline, but I enjoyed it.

The series benefits enormously from the presence in the cast of Anna Friel, whom I've liked since her Brookside days. She strikes me as under-estimated, despite her great success. She really has a great dramatic range and in this series she plays Ellie Manning, a bereaved woman whose mental state is fragile very effectively. Her beloved husband Greg (Marc Warren), a partner in a small firm of accountants, is killed in a car accident, as does a passenger in the car, a woman called Milena about whom Ellie knew nothing.

The plot develops nicely, and there are quite a few twists. Marc's ghostly presence plays a part in the story, a device that needs careful handling. I'm not convinced it added to the story here. Ellie plays detective, and finds that the police are sceptical about her growing certainty that Greg was murdered. There are some very critical online reviews of this min-series, but I liked it.

Secret Service - ITV review

I've never read any of Tom Bradby's thrillers, but I was interested to watch the new ITV series Secret Service, based on one of them which was published a few months before the pandemic. It's a contemporary story, and Tom Bradby is in the perfect position for authorial cameo appearances - he keeps popping up on the screen, reading news bulletins.

The basic scenario - which I would guess is updated from that in the novel - is that the Prime Minister, a centrist Labour politician, resigns after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. The two cabinet ministers poised to do battle for the opportunity (or the misfortune?) of replacing him are Ryan Walker (Mark Stanley) and Imogen Conrad (Amaka Okafor). Both seem equally ruthless.

One of Conrad's closest advisers is Stuart Anderson (Rafe Spall), who is married to Kate Henderson (Gemma Arterton), who is head of the Russian desk in MI6. She's running an operation in Malta with an agent, and learns that the Russians have an agent in the government - seemingly one of the two front-runners to take over as PM.

It's a good premise, and perhaps doesn't require massive suspension of disbelief. There are quite a few familiar plot ingredients in the storyline, but the story moves along at a decent pace, and it's good to see actors like Alex Kingston and the ever-reliable Roger Allam in the supporting cast. It may not match the best of Le Carre or Deighton, and I did anticipate the final twist, but overall, I really did enjoy this one. 

Forgotten Book - The Body of a Girl

I first read Michael Gilbert's The Body of a Girl when I bought the paperback edition, two years after the book first came out in 1972. It was a book that I enjoyed, and I recall liking the character of the tough cop at the heart of the story, Mercer, although he did not feature in any more novels (there were just three short stories about him, which I caught up with many years later). One of the other detectives, Chief Superintendent Morrissey, also features in other Gilbert stories. Having forgotten the plot of the story, I thought it was high time I took another look at my old paperback edition.

I certainly wasn't disappointed. This is a witty and unpredictable story, which has great pace from start to finish, and the slightly of-its-time title doesn't fully convey the range of plot material that Gilbert handles with great skill, though it is fair to say that the discovery of a female body at an island on the Thames is the catalyst for what follows.

Mercer, who is sent to investigate, is cleverly presented. We can't be sure whether he's a villain or a good guy. Perhaps he is a bit of both. The tensions between the police officers conducting the investigation are handled convincingly, while there's a pleasing array of mysterious characters mixed up in events - including a one-armed garage owner who joviality may conceal a more sinister side. And, this being a Michael Gilbert novel, there is a solicitor in town who is believable yet may not be all that he seems.

I read this book in between two enjoyable novels by Andrew Garve. The similarities between Garve and Gilbert interest me; both were admirably versatile and highly professional in their writing. I have always rated Gilbert ahead of Garve, and I still do, though the more Garve I read, the more I like his books. But Gilbert was less prolific as a novelist, and I think he packs more depth into his novels, albeit with a light touch; perhaps this helps to explain why he won the Diamond Dagger and Garve did not. Both are authors I can recommend. Along with Julian Symons, I'd say they were probably the best male English crime novelists of their generation.

The Thursday Murder Club - 2025 film review

Few crime writers have enjoyed such dazzling success as Richard Osman since The Thursday Murder Club first hit the shelves - was it really as recently as 2020? The Covid-19 pandemic fuelled demand for light entertainment and the book delivered very successfully. The title was in itself a nod to Agatha Christie - Miss Marple, you will recall, first came on the scene in a series of stories in the 1920s about a Tuesday Night Club.

Of course, it helped that Richard Osman was already a well-known and very popular television presenter, and that his publishers got behind him with a great deal of marketing investment. But I am sure his books would not have done as well as they have done if they lacked merit. I find them comic rather than cosy and at his best his writing can make me laugh out loud. There are also touches of genuine poignancy. I've had the pleasure of having dinner with him and also of interviewing him and when (as has happened several times) other interviewers ask me if I resent the intrusion of celebrities into the world of crime writing, my honest answer is no. There are celebrities who write well and those who don't (and those who rely on ghost writers, which is a very different story). Richard is one of those who does write genuinely entertaining books, simple as that.

The film is in roughly the same vein as the book, and it's enjoyed a good deal of success. Again, it's benefited from big investment, but again the money has been well spent. What a cast - Helen Mirren, Ben Kingsley, Pierce Brosnan, Celia Imrie, Daniel Mays, Paul Freeman, David Tennant, Jonathan Pryce, Richard E. Grant...

I enjoyed the film. Like the books, it's good, straightforward entertainment that delivers a pleasing story without being glib or patronising. One remarkable point that occurred to me while watching was that a favourite crime film of mine from the past featured Helen Mirren, Paul Freeman, and Pierce Brosnan. This was The Long Good Friday. A very different film, and very different roles for these fine actors. If I'm honest, I'm not convinced by the casting of Brosnan as a retired trade unionist, but he's such an appealing actor that it really didn't matter.

Agatha and Good Company

 

Saturday was a perfect day in many ways. Wonderful weather - especially for northwest England in April - and a very enjoyable mystery-linked event. This was in the church at Cheadle, where Kate Ellis (who lives in Cheadle) and I were in conversation about Agatha Christie, an event moderated very well indeed by Lucy Dusgate. This was a slickly organised affair with well over 200 people present, and it was great to see a number of old friends including Dea Parkin, Matthew Booth, Jean Briggs, Cilla Masters, and Dolores Gordon-Smith.

I also enjoyed chatting with Andy Sykes, whom I hadn't met before. Andy is a local writer and I included a story of his in a recent CWA anthology. He was happy about that, and from an editor's perspective it is really gratifying to have happy contributors and to give a chance to writers who are relatively new to publication in the crime field. I've always been very keen to try to achieve a pleasing mix between established names and fresh voices. Some of the former group may be good friends of mine (Kate is a good example and she's had stories in several of my anthologies) but I'm not a believer in cronyism. For the sake of the reader, the focus has to be on quality and variety.

After the event, a number of us went on a very enjoyable walk to nearby Abney Park and Hall, the former home of Agatha's sister Madge, who was married to a local businessman, James Watt. It was fascinating to walk along paths that Agatha once walked - she made no secret of the fact that she loved Abney. And then we repaired to the James Watt pub (yes! that's its name) in Cheadle, and had a half of Sherlock Holmes ale.

Later, there was a lovely barbecue with Kate and her husband Roger and other friends. It was all very enjoyable, and to top it all, Kate kindly presented me with a copy of her new Joe Plantaganet book, Killing in the Shadows. She really is good at titles, and I'm sure the content will be equally pleasing.  

Forgotten Book - The Cuckoo Line Affair

During my recent trip on the Seabourn Ovation, I had plenty of time for pleasure reading on sea days and on flights to and from the cruise. I took advantage of this to fill in quite a few gaps, and read as many as five books by Andrew Garve, a writer whom I've always liked, but on whose work I've become increasingly keen lately, as the sheer extent of his versatility has become more apparent to me.

The Cuckoo Line Affair, first published in 1953, is a relatively early Garve novel, but it is, like all his books, a fast read and it has the almost mandatory Garve ingredient of small boat sailing (this is one of the reasons I felt his books were very appropriate to a boat trip!) One of the characters, Hugh Latimer, is a writer of crime fiction, and although this aspect of his life is not developed to any great extent, it allows for a very entertaining conversation with his family when he bemoans the way critics review his novels - either because they begin too slowly, or too fast and then tail off - or if they are pacy all the way through, they are dismissed as melodramatic. I bet Garve enjoyed getting that off his chest!

The opening chapter conjures up a rural idyll. Edward Latimer is a jobbing freelance writer of articles who had a brief career as an MP (like Garve's father, who may have been an inspiration for the character in some respects) but has now settled for a quiet life of good works in the English countryside. We meet his unmarried daughter Trudie, his lawyer son Quentin, and Hugh and his delightful future wife Cynthia. The story is almost soporifically pleasant at this point, but drama is injected when Edward goes on a rail journey on the eponymous Cuckoo Line (not the real life one in Sussex/Kent, which fell into disuse but has now been revived, partly, in preserved form, as the Spa Valley Railway, a trip I'd like to make some day). 

Edward meets a pretty girl on the train but disaster occurs when she accuses him of sexual assault. It seems unlikely that this nice chap could be guilty, but witnesses corroborate the claim (there is also a sort of foreshadowing of the crime in the much better-known 4.50 from Paddington, published a few years later: I wonder if Agatha had read this novel, also published in the Collins Crime Club) and Quentin wants Edward to plead guilty in the hope of getting a soft sentence. But Edward has other ideas, not all of them sensible.

The plot quickly thickens and the focus shifts to the attempts of Hugh, Cynthia, and Quentin to help Edward restore his reputation. There are several ingenious twists, although some suspension of disbelief is required (why didn't they talk to the police sooner? for instance). But when Garve does skate on thin ice, he does so cleverly, and there was a plot twist regarding the train incident that I didn't see coming. An enjoyable book.   

Unhinged - 2020 film review

There are plenty of psychopaths about in the world, and all most of us can hope for is not to fall foul of them. Especially not in a road rage incident. One remembers, for instance, the terrible road rage murder of Stephen Cameron, a young man who had the misfortune to cross paths with the most unpleasant antagonist imaginable. In Unhinged, a young single mother encounters someone even more violent.

That someone is Tom Cooper, played by Russell Crowe. Before the credits roll, we're introduced to him, a malevolent figure parked outside a house (which, we will discover, is occupied by his ex-wife). He goes inside, armed with a hammer and a can of gasoline and proceeds to wreak havoc. 

Attention then switches to the difficult life of Rachel Flynn (Caren Pistorius). Her marriage has broken down, although she seems to have got involved with the lawyer handling her divorce (never a great sign of judgment on either side), but her main interest in life is her son Kyle (Gabriel Bateman), who belongs to that currently fashionable group of children in movies who are irritatingly smarter than their admittedly inept parents. She's driving Kyle in a rush, as usual, when she is annoyed by Cooper's failure to move quickly at a green light. When he challenges her and asks her to apologise, she is tense - having just lost a major client - and irritable. Big mistake.

Before you know it, Cooper has launched on a horrible campaign of vengeance. The film moves at a brisk pace. The script is by Carl Ellsworth, whose CV includes Red Eye and Disturbia, and although it was never going to win an Oscar, it's a competent piece of work, sliding over the improbabilities (the limited involvement of the police above all) in a way that - just about - enables the viewer to suspend disbelief. Russell Crowe gives a compelling performance as the madman, and it's his contribution to the film that makes it worth watching.  

Back from the Seabourn Ovation

Last spring, I had my first taste of life as a 'guest conversationalist' on board a Seabourn cruise ship. This was a short but delightful trip, so I was very pleased to be invited back by Seabourn, for a much longer trip. I was asked to become a conversationalist on a trip that involved flying to Barbados, where I stayed for one night, before boarding the luxurious Seabourn Ovation, with over 500 guests, as one of a team of four conversationalists working alongside the talented, highly capable, and incredibly hard-working entertainments team. 

The trip involved nine sea days as we headed for Morocco, with stops at Casablanca and Tangier, both of which I've visited in the past, and then at Portimao, for the Algarve, which was new ground for me. The crossing was, therefore, even longer than that I had on my trips as a speaker on the Queen Mary, but there was never a dull moment. I met some delightful people from all four corners of the world and had a fantastic time.

My brief was to hold six conversations, about different aspects of crime fiction, and also to host three dinners; in addition, I hosted a murder mystery event, the very first time I've done anything like that on board ship. It was a great experience, made all the better by the terrific performances of the cast - cruise director Nick Martland, entertainments manager Caroline Miller, and entertainers Nicole and Matthew. I was very pleased by reaction to the event and felt I learned a lot about how these things can be done to best advantage while on the ocean wave. I also met (for example) someone who had actually known Gladys Mitchell, someone who told me about G.K. Chesterton's old home in Buckinghamshire, and someone who had (by pure coincidence) brought several of my books on board. 

After so long at sea, it was fun to visit the medinas in Casablanca (and to see Rick's Cafe!) and Tangier, where it was fascinating to visit St Andrew's Church, a unique survival with gorgeous gardens. 

On the Algarve, there was a trip to Cape St Vincent, aka 'The End of the World', which is the south westerly most point of Europe and quite special. We also travelled to the historic and delightful town of Lagos. The ship finally docked at Lisbon, and the journey home took rather longer than the original trip to Barbados, thanks to the new ID requirements and the fact that everyone's luggage failed to arrive at Manchester airport. But it finally arrived the next day. All in all, a wonderful trip. I'm hugely grateful to everyone at Seabourn, not only for inviting me, but for making it such a great experience.  

Forgotten Book - Men for Pieces

Thanks to Steve Barge, who blogs as The Puzzle Doctor (and if you don't know his blog, it really is consistently interesting and I recommend it unreservedly) and Dean Street Press, most of Brian Flynn's long-neglected detective novels are available again at modest prices. I've read several of them, and the latest is Men For Pieces, which was the 36th Anthony Bathurst mystery and first hit the shelves in 1949.

The title comes from Omar Khayyam, suggesting that Brian Flynn was keen on literature. However, it has to be said that his own writing was unsophisticated. He was mostly published by John Long, whose main market was the libraries and they don't seem to have bothered much with the tedious task of editing. I could quote innumerable examples of Flynn's clunky prose, but perhaps this simple example will suffice: 'Senora Garcia looked incredulously surprised.' 

But even if Flynn wasn't, in terms of the quality of his prose, a good writer, he was a pretty good storyteller and more specifically he had a real gift for coming up with interesting ideas for mysteries. At the time this book appeared, he had been published for almost a quarter of a century, and there were times when I felt the padded and ornate style suggested a certain loss of energy. 

A young man who works for a bank goes missing unexpectedly, and a young woman who is devoted to him becomes concerned. She involves Bathurst and he discovers the missing man's body - an apparent suicide. There's a lot of inconclusive discussion, and no shortage of red herrings, one of them (an enigmatic note) a bit irritating - but the story really comes alive in the later stages. After a slow start, the puzzle proves to be unexpectedly ingenious. I'm not convinced, mind you, that Flynn plays totally fair with the reader in the way that he presents some information, especially relating to two key characters.

Good editors make a big difference to their authors. For instance, I have no doubt that my own writing has benefited from the work of several very good editors over a long period of time. Brian Flynn's writing gives me the impression of an affable man - in this book, for example, there's a very witty reference to a crime writer called Charles Wogan, which happens to be his own pen-name - and I think he would probably have been receptive had his editor made a serious effort to help him to improve his writing skills. Ruthless editing of the first two-thirds of this book would have improved it, for sure. Nevertheless, in all the books of his that I've read, there has - at the very least - been something of real merit that made me glad that I've overcome my reservations about his style. So I'll be very happy to read more.