2016 - Publications

In 2016, I didn't publish a new novel, although The Dungeon House appeared in paperback, and earned very pleasing reviews. I'm afraid the same will be true in 2017 (though I am working on a new novel, promise!) Even so, this past twelve months proved to be the most wonderful of my entire writing career. And one of the main reasons is the success of The Golden Age of Murder, which outstrips anything else in my experience.

There was a dizzying 48 hour spell last April when I took the train from DC to New York, won the Edgar award for best non-fiction book on a fantastic evening, then returned just in time to take part in a panel at Malice Domestic celebrating the work of Patricia Moyes, before the gala dinner the next evening when the book won the Agatha. The company of great friends made the celebrations all the more special. Something I'll never forget.

As if that were not enough, the next month the book won the H.R.F. Keating award at Crimefest; it was especially pleasing that the award was presented by Harry Keating's widow, Sheila. I'd had dinner with her and her agent the previous night, but they'd kept secret the judges' verdict, although they'd been told of it. Then at Bouchercon in New Orleans, Janet Rudolph presented me with the Macavity award, given to the book by Mystery Readers International. Given that the book was also shortlisted for the Anthony award and the CWA Gold Dagger for non-fiction, and that fellow authors on the shortlists included some renowned writers, not least Val McDermid, Frederick Forsyth and Adam Sisman, it was almost overwhelming. Memories to cherish. I'm also delighted to say that I've recently signed contracts to have the book translated into both Japanese and Chinese.

Another memory to treasure concerned the Detection Club's annual dinner at the Dorchester in November, the first over which I'd presided. We presented the US and UK editions of Motives for Murder, a collection of new stories that I'd edited in honour of Peter Lovesey's 80th birthday to the man himself. In the summer the Club had also published The Sinking Admiral, masterminded by Simon Brett, to which I'd contributed a chapter.

During the year, I've published occasional short stories, and I've written plenty of intros to books published by the British Library, Dean Street Press, and Harper Collins. The British Library published three anthologies that I've edited: Murder at the Manor, Serpents in Eden, and Crimson Snow, and they've all sold very well; far better than most of the anthos I've worked on over the years. I was especially gratified by reaction to my new solution to Anthony Berkeley's The Poisoned Chocolates Case, which was published in the autumn by the BL. And there are plenty more BL books to come in 2017. Including three more anthologies. So although I aim to have another novel out in 2018, there's plenty to keep me occupied between now and then....

Finally, I wrote something else that didn't appear in print, but which has enjoyed a splendid short life within the British Library - the puzzle for customers of the Classic Crime pop-up shop, Murder at Magenta Manor. Attending the opening and seeing how imaginatively the design team had interpreted my material was fascinating, quite a unique occasion, as well as one more reminder of the reason for the endless appeal of crime fiction. The subject is deadly serious - but the genre is fun..

Murder at the Manor - and other classic mysteries

I've just received my author copy of Murder at the Manor, another anthology that I've compiled for the British Library. It will be available in early February. Compiling this book has given me the opportunity to bring together another selection of vintage mysteries. I've adopted the same general approach as for Resorting to Murder, Capital Crimes, and Silent Nights. The theme this time is the country house mystery. There are a few (relatively) familiar authors and stories, and a number of less obvious choices, including a little known, but in my view excellent story by Anthony Berkeley.

Over the Christmas break, The Times published a detailed article about the British Library series, after interviewing John Bude's daughter and me, and listed the top ten bestsellers in the series. Even then, a few weeks after its publication, Silent Nights had reached number seven in the list, and the other two anthologies have also sold many more copies than any of the other twenty-odd story collections I've edited. We're very encouraged by this, and several more anthologies are in the works.

The success of the British Library series is being emulated, and sometimes quoted in the publicity material of, other publishers who are, understandably, keen to take part in the current revival of interest in Golden Age fiction. I'm sure there are many people like me who feel that having so many of these old, and previously hard-to-find, books available again at affordable prices, is very good news.

A particular shout-out for Harper Collins, who - even before the BL series took off - have been doing great work in terms of bringing back books like The Floating Admiral and Ask a Policeman. They have more recently been reprinting Francis Durbridge's Paul Temple books, and have launched the very attractively presented Detective Story Club reprints. I hope to cover one of their titles, The Mystery at Stowe by Vernon Loder, before long. Loder is a writer I've heard good things about for years, not least from my friend Nigel Moss, who has written the introduction. Yet I've never come across one of Loder's books, so I was delighted to read it; the book will be on the shelves in the shops in March. Another book in the series, Freeman Wills Crofts' The Ponson Case, with an intro by crime novelist Dolores Gordon-Smith, will also feature here before too long.

Among the estimable smaller presses active in this field are Dean Street Press, whom I've mentioned several times before on this blog. In the coming months, I'll be talking about quite a few of their titles in more detail, The authors they are publishing include Ianthe Jerrold and E.R. Punshon, and I've just received a copy of a book by the highly obscure Robin Forsythe. It's called "Missing or Murdered".

Happy New Year!

I'd like to wish all readers of my blog and my books a very happy - and healthy - 2016. Let's hope it's a year when good things far outweigh the bad. To get myself in the right sort of mood, I've already typed "Chapter One " today - the chapter heading rather than the whole chapter, I hasten to add! As well as managing to start the year without the faintest hint of a hangover, I've also been delighted to find The Golden Age of Murder named as book of the year on the widely read Random Jottings blog.

After a flurry of brand new books in 2015, this year will be slightly quieter for me - but the key word there is "slightly". I'm already looking forward to paperback publication of a revised edition of The Golden Age of Murder (a first draft of the proposed cover is above) and of The Dungeon House.  I'm also hoping for an ebook publication of a new collection of my short stories, but this has yet to be finalised.

I'm now working on a couple of new books, but neither of these will achieve publication in 2016. However, I have also signed up with the British Library to compile no fewer than six new anthologies of classic crime stories, and three of these will appear this year. The first two will be Murder at the Manor - country house mysteries - and Serpents in Eden - countryside crimes. The third will be announced later n the year. .I've also reached agreement in principle for the British Library to publish something which, although short, is unusual and in the Golden Age vein- and, for me, rather exciting and unique. The details are being finalised, and I hope to say more about this before long.

Harper Collins will publish The Sinking Admiral by "certain members of the Detection Club", including me. This collaborative novel, supervised by Simon Brett, has proved very enjoyable to create and it will also give a welcome boost to the Club's coffers. There may also be a further Detection Club project later in the year, if all goes according to plan.

I've already written intros for a host of new entries in the British Library Crime Classics series, and there are some very good books to look our for. There will also be a reissue in the Collins Detective Story Club of an old Edgar Wallace for which I've written an intro.

I'm hoping that this year will see the publication of Taking Detective Stories Seriously, the collected Sunday Times crime reviews of Dorothy L. Sayers, for which I've written a detailed commentary. The Dorothy L. Sayers Society is publishing this, and I must say the reviews are a mine of information. They are also very enjoyably written.

It's going to be a busy year in terms of festivals - Crimefest, Malice Domestic, St Hilda's, The Bodies in the Library, Deal Noir, Essex Book Festival and Felixstowe Book Festival are already in the diary. I hope very much to meet some of you at one or another of those events. Last year, this blog sailed past the million pageview milestone, and your comments and emails continue to give me enormous pleasure - I'm truly grateful for your support. Writing is satisfying in itself, even if what one writes never sees the light of day, but there's something special about writing something that appeals to discerning readers.