Forgotten Book - Greenshards

I don't think there's much doubt that Greenshards (published in the US under the title Anima) is a forgotten book. It dates back just over half a century, to 1972, but in many ways I think it remains a fresh read, and a gripping one. The author was Marie Buchanan, but she later became much better known as Clare Curzon, a name she adopted in 1979 when A Leaven of Malice, one of her most notable books, was published by Collins Crime Club. She later wrote a long series about the cop Mike Yeadings.

As I mentioned in a blog post after I learned of her death, thirteen years ago, Clare (as I knew her) was a very pleasant woman. She was also a very interesting and versatile writer. One of the comments on that blog post mentioned (and praised) Greenshards, which I came across much later, thanks to acquiring a copy inscribed to another Eileen, my friend and fellow writer Eileen Dewhurst. It's taken me ages to get round to reading it, but I'm very glad I did.

The Gollancz first edition jacket describes the book as 'one of the strangest first novels ever to arrive on its publisher's desk'. In fact, she'd already published novels under another name, Rhona Petrie, but there's no denying that it's a strange and unusual book. Daphne du Maurier admired it, and apparently it even drew comparisons with The Exorcist (although the mood is very, very different). There is a strong supernatural element in the story, but it never overwhelms the story, which definitely counts as a mystery, albeit of an unorthodox type.

I don't want to say anything that will spoil the story (the Gollancz jacket tells far too much of it, and I'm glad I didn't read it until after I'd finished the book) but suffice to say that Greenshards is an old house with a melancholy history and that the connections between two families, the Mintons and the Blanchards, are at the heart of a twisting storyline that ensures you can never be sure what is coming next. This is a sophisticated, superior novel which I'm glad to recommend.

  

Forgotten Book - Three-Core Lead

I was sorry to learn – in the first instance, in an email from our mutual friend Margaret Yorke- that Clare Curzon had died, about three weeks ago. As a small tribute to her, therefore, my choice for today’s entry in Patti Abbot’s series of Forgotten Books is the first Clare Curzon novel I came across, Three-Core Lead.

This novel was first published in 1988, not long after I began reviewing crime fiction – a hobby which introduced me to many good writers. It features Detective Superintendent Mike Yeadings, of Thames Valley Serious Crime Squad. He had a passing acquaintance with a ‘spook’ called Howard Swaffham, whose obituary he reads. Swaffham died in Prague, and soon Yeadings receives a posthumous letter from him, which makes enigmatic reference to a ‘three-core lead’.

This is a solid mystery, of the type so often published under the imprint of the Collins Crime Club in the days when the late Elizabeth Walter was a distinguished editor there; she was a woman with a real love of the traditional-ish crime story, and published many reliable purveyors of whodunits, such as Anthea Fraser, Martin Russell and Clare Curzon, as well as higher-profile writers like Reginald Hill and Robert Barnard.

Some years after reading this book, I came to know Clare Curzon personally, as she regularly attended CWA conferences. She was a pleasant companion, and a highly professional writer, who produced a long series featuring Yeadings and was latterly published, like myself, by Allison & Busby (whose list features a number of former Collins Crime Club novelists.) Her real name was Eileen-Marie Duell-Buchanan (her late husband, who also attended CWA conferences regularly, was Jimmy Duell) and she also wrote as Rhona Petrie. She was 87 years old – but I gather that her latest book is due to appear in paperback in August, so clearly she was productive to the end. Three-Core Lead may not be a ground-breaking masterpiece, but it is a decent book, which should not be forgotten. And I am one of those who will remember Clare Curzon with affection.