2017 - Publications

This has been an eventful year for me on many fronts, and I have an over-riding feeling of gratitude for twelve months of good health and good fortune. I became Chair of the CWA at the start of 2017, and it was always clear that this would take up much more time than does being President of the Detection Club, which is a much smaller and less complicated organisation. I'm the first person to have held both offices at the same time (which could suggest a certain naivete on my part) but despite the time pressures, fortunately I've managed, so far at least, to combine these roles with a reasonable amount of productivity as a writer.

The British Library's publication of The Story of Classic Crime in 100 Books in the summer was a highlight. I wanted this book not to seem like an anti-climax after the unexpected success of The Golden Age of Murder,which in some respect is a once in a lifetime kind of book, and which appeared in paperback in the UK this February. As things turned out, the reviews were great, and sales have been excellent (the two often do not go hand in hand, believe me). Less high profile, perhaps, but very rewarding, was the long-awaited publication of Taking Detective Stories Seriously, the collected reviews of Dorothy L. Sayers, to which I provided an intro and lengthy commentary. I'm so pleased that the Dorothy L. Sayers Society has made these wonderful reviews widely available - for the first time in more than 80 years.

For the British Library, I've also compiled four anthologies of classic crime stories: Miraculous Mysteries, Continental Crimes, The Long Arm of the Law, and Foreign Bodies. I enjoyed putting these books together, and it's also been a pleasure to write a series of intros to new titles in the Crime Classics series, along with a special essay on Christmas crime fiction for the hardback edition of Anne Meredith's Portrait of a Murderer.  I also wrote intros for books from other publishers, including an essay on locked rooms for the Folio Society's box set of three classic novels, Trent's Own Case in the Detective Story Club series, and Agents and Spies, published by Flame Tree. And last but certainly not least was an intro for Locked Room International's reprint of Death in the Dark by Stacey Bishop, an extraordinary book.

For good measure, I edited the CWA's latest anthology, Mystery Tour, to which I contributed a story, "The Repentance Wood" inspired by a trip to Dubai and Sharjah in March.  And in case you're wondering what inspired that particular idea, here's the original Repentance Wood itself...

I published a number of other short stories during the course of the year, including "The Corpse Candle" in Mystery Most Historical and "Bad Friday" in Busted!, an anthology of law enforcement stories. "Bad Friday" had its origins in a train trip from Euston which I and other passengers spent listening reluctantly to the rather offensive rantings of someone on her mobile phone. It wasn't an enjoyable experience, but for a writer, nothing is wasted! And "Farewell Cruise" recently appeared in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine - a story inspired, you guessed it, by trips on cruise ships...

Miraculous Mysteries

Today sees the UK publication of Miraculous Mysteries, my collection of classic locked room and impossible crime mysteries for the British Library. I've always had a love of this paradoxical type of puzzle, and this book is dedicated to the memory of Bob Adey, the greatest expert on the subject, who guided me to so many hidden gems prior to his untimely death.

The first locked room detective story, "The Murders in the Rue Morgue" by Poe, was a short story, and I feel that the short form is best suited to the locked room puzzle, because of the necessarily fantastic nature of most of the plots. Of course, there are some fine novels featuring impossible crimes, and John Dickson Carr wrote a bunch of them. But I see these mostly as exceptions to the general rule.

As ever, I've tried to include a range of familiar and unfamiliar authors. We all know Conan Doyle, but Grenville Robbins is long forgotten. And so too is Marten Cumberland, even though he had a long and relatively successful career. I'm very pleased too that I've been able to include a little known story by Christopher St John Sprigg that I found highly enjoyable.

I'm delighted by the initial reaction to the book, including this splendid review. It would please me enormously if this book were to sell well, since there are plenty of good classic impossible crime stories around, and I'd love to put together a follow-up volume. But that lies far in the future. Right now, I'm celebrating this book, and I hope that it provides thousands of readers with plenty of entertainment.

Miraculous Mysteries and Continental Crimes

I'm delighted to have received my author copies of Miraculous Mysteries, my latest anthology in the British Library's Crime Classics series. The book is due out in a few weeks' time, but I thought I'd whet the appetite of locked room fans by telling you something about it now. And the first thing to say is that I've dedicated it to the memory of the late Bob Adey, from whose superb and truly unique book Locked Room Murders I have derived a vast amount of information and pleasure.

Bob collaborated on the production of one or two locked room mystery anthologies himself, and I hope and believe that he would have approved of this collection of stories dealing with a wide variety of impossible crimes. I've included the work of several major authors, and although this particular book does not include anything by the American maestro John Dickson Carr, it's not impossible (so to speak) that future BL anthologies will feature his work.

As usual with these anthologies, I've aimed to include some stories that are likely to be unfamiliar even to those well versed in the genre. Thus there are contributions from E.Charles Vivian, Grenville Robbins, and Marten Cumberland (best remembered as the creator of Saturnin Dax). I really enjoyed putting this one together, and I'm optimistic that it will encourage even those who aren't Golden Age fans or enthused about locked rooms to sample the delights of this very enjoyable form of the crime story.

In the early summer, there will be another Classic Crime anthology. This time it's Continental Crimes.- stories set in Europe long before the EU, let alone Brexit. I'm delighted to say that an Agatha Christie story - not an especially well-known one - is included, as well as stories by authors as diverse as Ian Hay, E. Phillips Oppenheim, J. Jefferson Farjeon, H.C. Bailey,, and Michael Gilbert.

Finally, a bit of news. I've just reached an agreement to compile two more Classic Crime anthologies - and that will take the total of story collections in the series to twelve. The BL and I are delighted by the way the book-buying public has responded to the short stories as well as to the novels (Crimson Snow,for instance, has done wonderfully well, with very good sales and equally gratifying reviews). And I can promise that there are some real treats in the books that are yet to come.