Forgotten Book - The Adventuress (and a word about Bill Crider)

The Adventuress is an odd title for a crime story, perhaps, but I was tempted to read Arthur B. Reeve's novel as a result of its appearance in the Detective Story Club series. One of the key features of this series, like the British Library Crime Classics, is the sheer variety of the material. Other than one or two short stories, I've hardly bothered with Reeve in the past, but found that this novel had some features of merit, even if its interest is mainly historical.

This edition also benefits from an excellent introduction by David Brawn, which sets the book in context. Reeve had a meteoric rise to fame as a crime writer, thanks to his creation of the "Scientific Detective" Craig Kennedy. The stories were packed with incident, and narrated by an excitable journalist who is constantly baffled by Kennedy's brilliant work and occasional enigmatic pronouncements.

This story gets off to a cracking start, quite literally, as someone attempts to shoot a lawyer who is about to consult Kennedy. And this highlights the nature of the Kennedy stories. Danger and excitement abound, even if some of the action is thinly motivated - I'm still not convinced that the assassination attempt made much sense.

The mystery concerns the murder of a munitions magnate while on board his fancy yacht. Various family members, and even perhaps a rascally lawyer or two, are suspects. And what about the exotic lady adventuress herself? Or the Japanese servant? Or the mysterious foreigner who keeps lurking in the background? Well, the narrator is always asking questions at the end of chapters, so is it any wonder I've found his habit infectious?

There's a lot of scientific jargon intended to impress the bemused reader, and the style is so dated that it's no great surprise that Reeve's reputation faded almost as quickly as it grew. But he was a lively storyteller, and there aren't many dull moments, that's for sure.

Last, but definitely not least, can I mention that many of the Friday bloggers, splendidly marshalled by Patti Abbott, who write about Forgotten Books are today paying tribute to Bill Crider, one of the finest bloggers of them all. Bill is a novelist with a long and distinguished track record, and has also contributed a regular column to Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine. I've been glad to have a word with him, albeit all too briefly, at the last couple of Bouchercons, in New Orleans and a few weeks ago in Toronto. Sadly, Bill has been in poor health for some time, but I'm glad to take this opportunity to express my appreciation of him and his work. Do take a look at other Friday bloggers for more about Bill and his books,

Robert B. Parker R.I.P.

Robert B. Parker died on Monday at the age of 77. I learned of the passing of one of the great private eye writers of the modern era from the excellent and consistently informative blogs of Bill Crider (who met Parker a couple of times) and Sarah Weinman, and I was sorry to learn the news. For I have read perhaps nine or ten of his books, and enjoyed them.

Parker is most famous for creating Spenser, the gumshoe whose first name remained (as far as I am aware) unknown. The Spenser books are very much in the Raymond Chandler tradition, and are distinguished by a real gift for dialogue. There were times when I found the main supporting character, the lovely Susan and the violent Hawk, a bit hard to take for different reasons, but Parker’s snappy way with words made his books insistently readable. He wrote fairly short books, and although it is fashionable to write books twice as long, many writers (including me) can learn from Parker’s succinct style.

I’d like to mention a non-series Parker book which I devoured a long time ago, not long after I started work in 1980. I can’t recall much about the detail of the plot, but I do remember thinking it was one of the most gripping thrillers I’d ever read. It’s a book called Wilderness, and it’s the story of a relatively ordinary man confronting the darker side of life after witnessing a murder, and finding himself plunged into a fight for survival. I really must re-read it to see if it’s as good now as it seemed then. I suspect it is.

Between the Dark and the Daylight

I’ve just received the very handsome and substantial hardback and paperback editions of Between the Dark and the Daylight, edited by Ed Gorman and Martin H. Greenberg, published by Tyrus Books. This is a collection of 28 ‘of the best crime and mystery stories of the year’ and I’m proud to say that it includes ‘The Bookbinder’s Apprentice’, a story which was a joy to write, and which has been so good for me, having won the CWA Dagger for best short story and featured in Maxim Jakubowski’s equivalent UK anthology of Best British Mysteries.

Even before you get to the stories, there is a fascinating and authoritative preface by Jon L. Breen which reviews ‘the mystery year’, covering not only novels and short stories, but also movies; in addition, there is a detailed list of major mystery award winners in 2008.

The list of contributors to this volume is so impressive, that it’s flattering, as well as a privilege, to be part of the project. The authors include Michael Connelly and Joyce Carol Oates, two fellow Brits in John Harvey and Peter Robinson, and fellow bloggers including Bill Crider and Patti Abbott (there is also a story from Patti’s daughter Megan, whom I was glad to meet at the Harrogate Festival last summer.) The collection takes its title from a story by Tom Piccirilli.

Tyrus have done a good job in producing an attractive book which weighs in at just short of 600 pages; having declared my interest, I have to say that it seems a real bargain. One thing I have noticed is that the permissions list indicates that several of the stories included first appeared online. Is this a sign of things to come? It’s notoriously difficult to find print markets for short stories, but maybe the internet offers fresh possibilities. So far I have never had any of my stories appear online prior to print publication, but who knows what the future may bring?

Sherlock Holmes in America

Skyhorse Publishing have sent me a copy of a new anthology edited by Martin H. Greenberg, Jon L. Lellenberg and Daniel Stashower which brings together sixteen brand new short stories from a wide range of contributors. The unifying theme is evident from the title, Sherlock Holmes in America.

There is a continuing demand for Sherlockian pastiches, and I’ve been responsible for several myself over the years. I very much enjoy trying to capture Watson’s voice, and the Conan Doyle style, and it’s apparent that the contributors to this volume had quite a bit of fun too.

Pleasingly, the contributor list includes a mix of well-known names and those who are less familiar. I was pleased to see a story from Gillian Linscott, creator of the suffragette sleuth. I’ve not seen Gill for a few years, but back at the Nottingham Bouchercon in the mid-90s, Gill and I, together with Stephen Murray (whose forgotten book I discussed recently) performed a dramatic version of the history of the detective story at the city’s main theatre. For me, an enjoyable and memorable experience, given that I am definitely not one of life’s great performing artists.

Back to the book. There’s a nice story by Bill Crider – known not only as a prolific author, but also a top blogger – and a contribution from a writer I’ve long admired, Loren D. Estleman. I haven’t read all the stories yet, but already I’d say that this is a collection that will appeal strongly to fellow lovers of the Sherlockian pastiche.

Blogs and Inspiration

One of the blogs I study most closely is Kerrie’s Mysteries in Paradise, and I was flattered a few days ago when Kerrie mentioned this blog as one of seven that she’s found inspiring. She asked that I name seven blogs which I regarded as inspirational. Since then, I’ve kept on deliberating (once a lawyer, always a lawyer?)

A tricky aspect of these memes is that selectivity is challenging. How can I confine myself to picking just seven blogs? Amnesia afflicts me regularly, and I’m bound to forget to highlight at least one that I really enjoy, probably half a dozen or more. (When I wrote up my 16 allegedly interesting things about myself, I clean forgot that I’d once been involved with a feature film – a story for another day, perhaps.)

Yet I didn’t want this post simply to be a list. I’m sure that readers will find plenty of interest in all the blogs listed in the blogroll - please don't overlook the ones I haven't mentioned specifically in this post. I thought that, as well as mentioning some blogs by name, I’d also make one or two brief general observations.

There are different types of inspiration, as well as different sources. For instance, Kerrie’s blog contains a number of adventurous technical features that one day I’d like to emulate (lack of time, as well as a massive techy expertise, is the snag here.) Then there are blogs which contain a good deal of useful info – examples include Karen Meek’s Eurocrime blog, It’s a Crime, Detectives Beyond Borders, Petrona (Maxine Clarke is an advocate of Friendfeed, something else I regret not having got round to investigating in sufficient detail yet), Murderati, Criminal Brief (Steve Steinbock’s Friday column is a definite must-read), Gerald So’s blog, and The Rap Sheet.

Several American writers have terrific blogs – Ed Gorman and the witty Bill Crider are among the names that spring instantly to mind. Patti Abbott’s series of Friday’s Forgotten Books is fascinating, and I am really pleased to be involved with it.

Then there are the blogs of readers and fans, sometimes focusing heavily on crime, like Ali Karim’ The Existentialist Man (with an emphasis on the contemporary), and Xavier Lechard’s At the Villa Rose (with an emphasis on the traditional detective sotry), sometimes ranging:far and wide (beyond books, let alone mysteries) for example, Letters from a Hill Farm, Books Please, Confessions of a Book and Opera Lover, Harriet Devine's blog, and the blogs of Roberta Rood and Lourdes Fernandes, two Americans I met when they were visiting England, and before I started blogging. In fact, I’ve met a number of fellow bloggers for the first time in the past twelve months, although often all too briefly, and this too has been a tremendous plus.


And then there are blogs which, at least at first sight, don’t have much to do with my fields of interest. One is Juliet Doyle’s Musings from a Muddy Island; yet her interest in letterpress has influenced me in developing one of the characters in my current work in progress. Another is a blog which links to Jane Gallagher’s writing blog – also by Jane, it’s called Work that Wardrobe. Now, nobody who has ever met me would ever confuse me with a dedicated follower of fashion. Yet as a novelist, I’m bound to be interested in most things – including what my female characters wear. But it’s a subject on which I’m pretty ignorant. And it occurred to me not long ago that I could pick up some good ideas for their appearance from Jane’s blog.

All this means that blogs can inspire me in a whole variety of ways. To guide me to interesting books I haven’t read before (old as well as new), to introduce me to delightful people and to help me, in one way or another, with my own writing. One thing is for sure. When I started off on this blogging lark, I had absolutely no idea how much fun it would give me. It’s been a revelation - and it’s become an addiction, but a very pleasurable one.