Music of the Night

Today sees the official publication of Music of the Night, the latest anthology of the Crime Writers' Association. The publishers, Flame Tree Press, have made a lovely job of production of the book. I've been editing the CWA anthologies since the mid-90s and I continue to enjoy the privilege of being the first person to receive so many wonderful stories. As I've said before, the only regret is that there is never space for all of them. However, the 25 that I did manage to fit into this book offer a very varied mix and there have already been some wonderful reactions from a wide range of bloggers who kindly took part on a blog tour organised by Flame Tree.

The contributors range from Diamond Dagger winners (four of them) to authors who have never previously featured in a CWA anthology (nine people in all). The range of approaches to the linking theme of music is, I think, utterly fascinating. 

To whet your appetite, here is a list of the stories:

Abi Silver – Be Prepared

Alison Joseph – A Sharp Thorn

Andrew Taylor – Wrong Notes

Antony M Brown – The Melody of Murder

Art Taylor – Love Me or Leave Me

Brian Price – The Scent of an Ending

Cath Staincliffe – Mix Tape

Catherine Aird – The Last Green Bottle

Chris Simms - Taxi

Christine Poulson – Some Other Dracula

David Stuart Davies – Violin CE

Dea Parkin – The Sound and the Fury

Jason Monaghan – A Vulture Sang in Berkeley Square

Kate Ellis – Not a Note

L C Tyler – His Greatest Hit

Leo McNeir – Requiem

Martin Edwards – The Crazy Cries of Love

Maxim Jakubowski – Waiting for Cornelia

Neil Daws – The Watch Room

Paul Charles – The Ghosts of Peace

Paul Gitsham – No More I Love Yous

Peter Lovesey – And the Band Played On

Ragnar Jonasson - 4x3

Shawn Reilly Simmons – A Death in Four Parts

Vaseem Khan – Bombay Blues  

Music of the Night - a new CWA anthology

 

During the past year I've worked on a wide range of projects. Among them is Music of the Night, a new anthology published by Flame Tree Press under the aegis of the Crime Writers' Association. This follows Vintage Crime, a collection of stories culled from previous CWA anthologies and again published by Flame Tree. They produce very attractive books and I find them a pleasure to work with - they are enthusiastic and (not quite such a common trait among publishers!) very quick to respond.

I've been toying with the idea of a music-related anthology of mystery stories for quite a long time. Music means so much to us that it inspires some wonderful fiction. When I was invited to edit another CWA collection, it seemed like the perfect theme. And CWA members responded with their customary energy and enthusiasm. I was inundated with submissions, and making final choices was far from easy. The toughest part of editing an anthology is to reject stories. It comes with the job, of course, but I hate disappointing people. It's never enjoyable to receive a rejection. But I console myself with the reflection that many if not all of the stories that didn't make the cut will surely surface elsewhere in due course.

We have a nice mix of contributors. So there are four CWA Diamond Dagger winners, including Catherine Aird, Peter Lovesey, and Andrew Taylor, as well as high profile younger authors such as Ragnar Jonasson and Vaseem Khan and writers from overseas such as Art Taylor. And then there are various authors whose names are not yet as well-known. I'm extremely pleased that no fewer than nine of the 26 stories in the book have been written by CWA members whose work has never before featured in a CWA anthology. And yes, I found room for one of my own efforts. Somehow I resisted the temptation to take inspiration from the work of Burt Bacharach (in the past I've produced such stories as 'A House is Not a Home' and 'Twenty Four Hours from Tulsa') and instead wrote a story which relates to Joni Mitchell. It's called 'The Crazy Cries of Love'.

This year sees the 25th anniversary of publication of the first CWA anthology that I edited, Perfectly Criminal. A long time in the hot seat! Suffice to say that I've really enjoyed introducing a very wide range of talented authors to new readers and that I'm optimistic that this latest collection will entertain at least as much as its predecessors. 

Vintage Crime

Vintage Crime is published tomorrow. It's my latest anthology to be edited on behalf of the Crime Writers' Association, and it differs from its predecessors in a couple of respects. First, we have a new publisher, Flame Tree Press, with whom I've worked in the past. They are lovely people to work with, and the care they devote to their publications is admirable. The production values on Vintage Crime are terrific.

Second, this is not a collection of newly written stories, but rather a book that is designed to showcase the evolution of the crime short story throughout the existence of the CWA. The CWA was founded back in 1953, and its first anthology appeared in 1956. Since then the CWA has been a major supporter of crime short stories, and many award-winning stories made their first appearance in a CWA collection.

In essence, I've mined the CWA archives to put together a book of stories which have appeared in previous CWA anthologies but which seem to me to deserve a new life. I've chosen stories dating back to the 1950s, written by a range of writers whose names are mostly well-known, including the brilliant Mick Herron and the equally gifted Andrew Taylor, two of the finest authors working in the genre today.

There are some terrific names here, including Robert Barnard (whose "Sins of Scarlet" won a Dagger), Frances Fyfield, Celia Fremlin, Peter Lovesey, Liza Cody - and John Dickson Carr. Yes, the king of the locked room mystery was a CWA member. The contributors have, between them, won enough awards to fill a locked room, and I'm hopeful that many readers will enjoy devouring these mysteries from the (sometimes quite recent) past.