Anna Karenina
I’d intended to spread reading this over several months, but in the event it took a lot less. I was just enjoying it so much that I wanted to keep on reading, though maybe at some points enjoyment isn’t the word, cathartic may be better. One of the fascinating things about rereading a great work […]
Thrilled to Bits
Last week I was surprised and delighted to get a letter from the editor of ELLERY QUEEN MYSTERY MAGAZINE telling me that my short story, ‘A Tour of the Tower’ has been nominated for the Short Mystery Fiction Society’s Derringer Award for the Best Long Short Story. It appeared in the March/April 2010 edition. I’ve […]
Read All About It
There were several things that I thought of blogging about today – including that fact that I have finished reading ANNA KARENINA – but in the end there is only thing to write about: the earthquake in Japan. These days many of us will know someone affected in some degree. My son’s brother-in-law lives in […]
Ex Libris
“‘Alas,’ wrote Henry Beecher Ward, ‘Where is human nature so weak as in the book store?’” Where indeed? (Unless it is while browsing on Amazon, finger hovering over ‘Buy with One Click’?) This, from an essay on second-hand book shops, is just one gem from Anne Fadiman’s delightful little book, EX LIBRIS: CONFESSIONS OF A […]
Lost in Translation
‘All happy families are alike but an unhappy family is unhappy after its own fashion.’ This, the opening sentence of ANNA KARENINA, is one of the most famous in literature. But would it be better like this: ‘All happy families are alike: each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way’? I’ve decided that it […]
Martin Edwards Guest Blog
Martin Edwards is one of my favourite contemporary crime-writers. His first series featured the lawyer, Harry Devlin, and were set in Liverpool. There’s a second series set in the Lake District and the fourth of those, THE SERPENT POOL, has just come out in paperback. I loved the previous one, THE ARSENIC LABYRINTH (great titles!). […]
The Secret in Their Eyes
I can heartily recommend this fabulous Argentinian thriller, which is so much more than a thriller. It’s a story too of middle-aged love, deeply romantic, and a meditation on justice. It’s one of the most gripping films I’ve seen for ages. Having read so many crime novels and seen so many thrillers and film noir, […]
Spuds, Spam, and Eating for Victory
The full title of this book is RATIONING IN THE SECOND WORLD WAR: SPUDS, SPAM, AND EATING FOR VICTORY. I met the author, Katherine Knight, at a Society of Authors event last year and liked the sound of her book. It is just as interesting as I thought it would be, both in itself and […]
A Good Thing
A few years ago, my friend, Anca Vlasopolos, wrote a haunting short story about an immigrant family trying – unsuccessfully – to sell fish by the roadside in Detroit. It ended with one of them saying ‘Don’t they know a good thing when they see it?’ I have been have been brooding over that story […]
The Art of Not Writing Too Much
I’ve been neglecting my blog a bit. It’s been very busy time for me as the CWA membership secretary. Subscriptions were due on 1st January and we have around 500 members so that’s an awful lot of renewal forms and cheques. (And by the way, if you’re a crime writer and you’re not a member, […]