Forgotten Book - A Twist of the Rope

The revival of interest in the crime fiction of John Bude is nothing less than astonishing. A few years ago, I was barely aware of him, and had read none of his books. Then Nigel Moss, a keen collector of Golden Age fiction, and one of the most knowledgeable authorities on the subject, told me how much he liked Bude's work, and kindly gave me a copy of one of the author's books. Some time after that, the British Library asked me to write introductions to Bude's first two mysteries, which they were planning to reprint.

The rest is history. The Cornish Coast Murder and The Lake District Murder proved hugely popular, and have since been followed in the Crime Classics series by The Sussex Downs Murder, The Cheltenham Square Murder, and Death on the Riviera. Another Bude novel is also due to appear in the series in due course - more of that at a later date. Meanwhile, I've been trying to find out as much about Bude and his work as I can, not least from members of his family, whose help has been invaluable.

Despite the success of the Bude reprints, his other books are still very hard to find, but my Forgotten Book for today is his penultimate novel, published in 1958. A Twist of the Rope is praised by Herbert Harris in an essay about Bude in Twentieth Century Crime and Mystery Writers, dating back to 1980, and this tempted me to have a look at the story. It's a pacy novel, a thriller in much the same style and mood as those black and white crime B-movies that were popular in the late 50s..

It's a multiple viewpoint story. A deranged serial killer has escaped from an asylum, and takes refuge with an astonishingly obliging woman - I have to say that I found the police's failure to pick him up quickly rather unimpressive. We also follow the intertwined lives of several other people in the same small town, including a young guitar player called Johnny who falls for a rich but flaky young woman. When the girl is killed, it seems at first that the crazy serial killer is responsible. But Bude shifts the suspicion for the crime around quite neatly. It's a sound mystery, very much in keeping with its period, and reflecting Bude's desire to move with the times and update his approach to the genre, something he accomplished quite effectively.

Serpents in Eden and other British Library Crime Classics

The British Library is responding to reader demand by continuing to publish a diverse range of titles in its Crime Classics series. The latest John Bude book, Death on the Riviera, which is in my opinion highly enjoyable, is selling tremendously well, while my anthology Murder at the Manor is also going great guns. The next anthology in the series, Serpents in Eden, is now out, and here I've gathered together stories about crime in the countryside. Some great writers features - Conan Doyle, E.C. Bentley, Margery Allingham and the under-valued H.C. Bailey among them. And there are also some less familiar names, including Leonora Wodehouse - yes, the daughter of the legendary P.G....

I'd also like to mention two other novelists whose work is due to appear in the series shortly. The first is Miles Burton, one of the aliases of Major John Cecil Street - crime fans know him best as the ultra-prolific John Rhode. The BL have opted to publish two of his stories about Desmond Merrion - The Secret of High Eldersham and Death in the Tunnel.

A writer who was, I have to confess,previously unknown to me before the BL identified his potential is John Rowland. He usually wrote about Inspector Shelley, who features in Murder in the Museum and Calamity in Kent. In writing my introductions to the books, I benefited greatly from information supplied by Fytton  Rowland, son of the author, and I discovered that Rowland was an interesting chap whose other writing included a tribute to Eden Philpotts and a number of true crime books -including a significant study of the Wallace case.

There's plenty more to come in the second half of the year, including another anthology, and a book that has a quite unique dimension; I'm especially excited about the latter project. At present, my lips are sealed, but all will be revealed before too long!