CADS 62

I hesitate to say this, because the general standard is always so high, but the latest issue of CADS, edited by Geoff Bradley, is possibly as good as the best of any of its 61 predecessors. It’s absolutely full of great things (I admit these include Angela Youngman’s very kind review of The Hanging Wood) and if you like traditional fiction, you really will enjoy this magazine.

One of the glories of CADS is the sheer unpredictability of the content. There are things here you simply won’t find anywhere else. Contributors aren’t afraid to buck trends. For instance, B.J. Rahn ( a distinguished academic and expert on crime fiction) writes a thoughtful but severely critical piece about the highly popular Camilla Lackberg. Meanwhile Philip Scowcroft not only praises The Five Red Herrings (I don’t share Philip’s enthusiasm, suffice to say) in one article but also contributes another with the memorable title “Visits to Doncaster by Crime Authors” (in which I get a kind mention, and I must say how much I did enjoy my visit to Doncaster!)

Liz Gilbey, a wise and witty writer, contributes “the best of the blurbs” (e.g “A really thrilling thriller which deals cunningly with murder, death and hocus-pocus”, of a Ngaio Marsh title) and a fascinating article about Ian Mackintosh, of whom I’d never heard. Curtis Evans, that splendid researcher, has a nice article about T.S. Eliot as a crime critic, pointing out that Eliot was a pioneer in terms of setting out "rules of the game", while Mike Ripley covers C.S. Forester. My very first contribution to CADS, many years ago, was about Forester, but that was before the rediscovery of that marvellous book The Pursued. I was interested to see that Ripley’s views and mine on Forester’s excellence are pretty much identical.

There are countless other gems, including a short article by Arthur Robinson on Anthony Berkeley’s stage plays, and one by John Cooper on Michael Gilbert’s radio plays. Bruce Shaw casts fresh light on E.C. Bentley, while Bob Adey has unearthed rare articles by Henry Wade and others. Cooper’s article about Clifford Witting, a writer I’ve never read, made me want to read his books. Other expert contributors include Marv Lachman and Barry Pike. The TBR pile will mount! All in all, Geoff Bradley really has excelled himself. I can't wait for the next issue.

CADS 61

I've written before in praise of Geoff Bradley's marvellous magazine CADS, and the recent arrival of the latest issue is cause for celebration, as usual. Its appearance may be irregular, but the high standard of the contents is very regular indeed.

We have another nice mix of material again this time, with pieces from a range of excellent familiar contributors such as Liz Gilbey and Philip Scowcroft - the latter writes interestingly about the John Dickson Carr book I featured a while back, The Problem of the Green Capsule.

The highlight is the lead article, by Peter Lovesey, a very informative piece on the Detection Club. I had the pleasure of seeing a draft of this article, which Peter prepared for a lecture, and it's characteristically enjoyable. Peter's lecture, by the way, was the annual lecture for the Dorothy L. Sayers Society last March. I was asked to speak there myself, but had to pull out because of the day job. However, I'm glad to say that I've been invited to give the annual Sayers lecture next year, and I'm really looking forward to it.

Finally, Curt Evans has unearthed some fascinating correspondence involving J.J. Connington. I haven't yet read all of his article, since he kindly includes spoilers about revealing the solutions to a couple of Connington books I have yet to read. But as ever his research is intriguing and welcome.

Canals and Crime

A highlight of the week-end was a canal cruise with dinner on board, starting out from Bollington in Cheshire and organised by my friend from schooldays, Stephen, who is the dedicatee of The Cipher Garden. Among our fellow guests were Kate Ellis and her husband Roger.

The very agreeable trip reminded me of an article sent to me a while ago by that great crime buff, Philip L. Scowcroft. Philip contributes to many publications, including CADS and Deadly Pleasures, and this essay, ‘Canals and Waterways in British Crime Fiction’, which started life in an American canal history journal, is a very wide-ranging overview.

Philip identifies The Canal Mystery (1928) by John Remenham – an author unknown to me, I must confess – as the first British detective story with a canal setting; that is, if one discounts spy stories and books set around the navigable River Thames. He points out that the Grand Union Canal features in books by Margery Allingham and Harry Keating, while the Oxford Canal plays a part in two of Colin Dexter’s novels.

A good many other crime writers have used canal settings in their fictions. Examples that Philip gives include Andrew Garve, Marjorie Eccles, John Gano and Reginald Hill. And there’s a pleasing paradox about this, which struck me as we dined on Saturday evening. For to drift along an English canal in a comfortable narrow boat is one of the most peaceful experiences imaginable. It takes the imagination of a crime fan or writer to turn such tranquillity into something sinister!

25 Great Years

CADS 58 has just been published and this marks 25 years of publication of a wonderful magazine. This milestone represents a triumph for editor Geoff Bradley, who has produced every single issue over a quarter of a century and established CADS as a truly unmissable publication for crime fans, especially for those fascinated by obscure and less well remembered books.

As usual, there are many, many good things in this issue (and also, I should declare, an article by me about Gory Knight, and a review of The Serpent Pool). I shall write on another occasion about Liz Gilbey’s informative article about Helen Simpson. An old article by George Bellairs about Sherlock Holmes and the Bankers has been unearthed, Nick Kimber writes about Hilda Lawrence (a writer whose Death of a Doll I much enjoyed) and other notable contributions come from Philp Scowcroft, Mike Ripley, Christine R. Simpson, Bob Adey and Marv Lachman.

Really, though, it verges on the invidious to single out particular items, because the contributors are both knowledgeable and enthusiastic. The letters column of CADS is always interesting, and so is The Questionnaire, in which Bob Cornwell puts questions to a leading writer – this time, Frances Fyfield.

Producing CADS is a labour of love. A great deal of hard work must be involved, but I can only hope that Geoff will keep the magazine going for many years to come. CADS is indispensable for the crime buff and I recommend it unreservedly to readers of this blog.

Snowbound - and Murder Mysteries

I don’t remember snow like this in Cheshire since my schooldays. Lovely to look at, even if massively inconvenient as regards commuting to work or hospital visiting. Yesterday evening, the dramatic weather prompted me to reflect on murder mysteries that I’ve enjoyed over the years where snow falls have played a prominent part in the story. One of the best in the last twenty years was Jim Kelly’s Death Wore White, a modern take on the classic locked room mystery, which I reviewed on this blog a year or so ago.

Snow also plays a background role in Cyril Hare’s An English Murder, a classic whodunit, and one of the finest of all mysteries set at Christmas, which dates from 1951. It was based on a radio play that Hare had written three years earlier; this was one of a series of six plays written by member of the Detection Club, and it would be wonderful if some enterprising publisher could one day republish them all.

An English Murder features an appealing amateur sleuth, Dr Bottwink, who is very different from Hare’s regular characters, notably the sceptical barrister Francis Pettigrew. It’s a thoroughly enjoyable story, which I first read more than twenty years ago. At the time of his premature death, Hare had just started writing another novel featuring Dr Bottwink, and a few years ago, I had the privilege to be shown the very short incomplete manuscript by Hare’s son. It was utterly fascinating to see it, although Hare wrote so little of it that it was impossible to figure out the nature of the mystery, far less the prospective solution.

A couple of years ago, I co-authored with Philip Scowcroft for CADS an article about Cyril Hare, and anyone interested in this fine writer (who is referenced in the latest P.D. James) can find the piece on the articles page of my website.

CADS 57

There are many, many good things in the latest issue of CADS – issue number 57, in fact, of this ‘irregular magazine of comment and criticism about crime and detective stories’ edited by Geoff Bradley, whom I first met at a Bouchercon held in London almost two decades ago.

Liz Gilbey writes about Adam Diment, a trendy and very successful writer of the Swinging Sixties, who literally disappeared from sight. What on earth happened to him? Marvin Lachman contributes a long list of obituaries concerning crime writers or those otherwise connected with the genre. There are articles on a range of tiopicesby seasoned commentators such as Philip Scowcroft, Mike Ripley and Bob Adey. B.A. Pike, who knows a great deal about Golden Age mysteries, contributes a piece about an Irish writer unknown to me, Sheila Pim, who published four novels between 1945 and 1952 – he makes them sound well worth searching for.

Pim apparently included ‘erudite footnotes’ in her work, and ‘Footnotes in Crime and Detective Stories’ is the title of a fascinating article by David Ellis. He covers footnotes in the work of Poe, and the pseudonymous early crime novelist Charles Felix, in Golden Age stories, and in modern books by the likes of Somoza and Mark Haddon.

I find articles on quirky subjects, such as Ellis’s, thoroughly enjoyable as well as informative. Geoff Bradley, the editor of CADS, does a great job in bringing these pieces together in a form where they can be widely appreciated. For anyone interested in the genre, especially in mysteries of the past, I can recommend this magazine without any reservations whatsoever.

George Easter and Deadly Pleasures

I haven’t had much time for reading since my return from holiday, but at least I’ve managed to devour the latest issue of George Easter’s fanzine ‘Deadly Pleasures’. This is issue 58, and I’ve been a reader (and, often, a contributor) to the magazine from the outset, having first got to know George as long ago as the memorable 1992 Bouchercon in Toronto.

‘Deadly Pleasures’ differs from other crime fan magazines that I’ve mentioned here, such as CADS and Give Me That Old-Time Detection, in that the focus is primarily on reviews of modern books. (We're talking here about print magazines; there are also some superb online publications such as Shots and Crime Time). But DP features numerous shortish articles too, invariably including a piece from the admirable Philip Scowcroft: this time, Philip surveys ‘Asia in British Crime Fiction’.

One of the many things I like about George is that he has a very soft spot for British mysteries, and from that first meeting I’ve always found him very generous about my own books. A regular section in DP is ‘News and Reviews from the UK’, and there is also an article on Scottish crime fiction by Jeff Popple. There is extensive treatment of Second World War mysteries, and Laura Wilson is featured on the cover.

Among many interesting bits and pieces this time around is a short article by Carlos R. Zafon and this reminds me that I still haven’t got round to reading The Shadow of the Wind. I bought my copy at the time of original publication after that very good judge Maxim Jakubowski told me it was his favourite book of the past twelve months. But somehow it’s slipped down the pile...

Canals and Crime

Yesterday evening we went on a canal cruise that involved a very good dinner, consumed in excellent company that included crime writer Kate Ellis and her husband Roger (picture getting on to the narrow boat). The round trip along the Macclesfield Canal began and ended at Bollington, on the Cheshire side of the border with Derbyshire. There can be few more restful or enjoyable ways to travel.

And yet. Canals have been a scene of fictional crime more often than you might guess. I’ve even been responsible for one short story myself, ‘To Encourage the Others’, which included a canal-side murder.

Philip Scowcroft, an indefatigable researcher and expert on the genre, recently sent me a copy of an article he wrote some years back on the subject of ‘Canals and Waterways in British Crime Fiction’. Classic titles cited include The Riddle of the Sands by Erskine Childers, the first great spy story of the last century, and The Pit-Prop Syndicate by the alibi king, Freeman Wills Crofts.

Among the many other titles Philip mentions are Death in Little Venice (2001) by Leo McNair, and Joan Lock’s historical mystery Dead Image, as well as a book I have read, Night’s Black Agents, by the under-rated David Armstrong. The Llangollen Canal features in Andrew Garve’s The Narrow Search, and a fictionalised Stourbridge Navigation in Marjorie Eccles’ Requiem for a Dove. The most famous book in this sub-genre is, though, surely Colin Dexter’s acclaimed The Wench is Dead, which is distantly based on a real-life case.