Reviews

‘Christine Poulson’s wonderful sense of place brings Cambridge to life. Cassie overcomes the problems facing her with wit and guile aplenty and ensures the reader’s empathy from first word to last . . . an enthralling and engaging read that underlines Christine’s burgeoning reputation as a crime novelist to watch.’ [Stage Fright]

- SHOTS MAGAZINE

Bodies in the Bookshop

More about that in a moment, but first I want to lament the passing of an old friend. Over the years I must have bought dozens of books from Galloway and Porter. They stocked remaindered books and were especially strong – from my point of view – on fiction, art history, cookery and guide books. But they also stocked the academic stuff that you’d expect to see in a university town like Cambridge. You saw the same staff in there year after year. I don’t know how long it had been going, but many years, I think. Certainly it was open when I took up my job in Cambridge in 1990. When I was there a few weeks ago, was a notice saying that it was going into administration and then last week, I saw that it was empty and there was a notice on the door: ‘Galloway and Porter is now closed forever.’ I am sorry for the people who used to work there. And with the shop has gone a tiny bit of my life as a bibliophile.
However my very favourite Cambridge bookshop, Heffer’s, is still going strong and on 15 July the incomparable Richard Reynolds. fiction-buyer extraordinaire, will be hosting the annual Bodies in the Bookshop. The format is the same every year. Forty or fifty crime-writers are invited to sign copies of their books and to chat with fans of crime fiction over a glass of wine. It is very friendly and informal and a lot of fun. This year’s line up includes Don Bartlett, translator of the best-selling Norwegian writer, Jo Nesbo, Veronica Heley, Janet Neel, Sophie Hannah, Sheila Quigley, L. C. Tyler, and many, many more. I’ll be there this year, signing copies of a new paperback edition of MURDER IS ACADEMIC, my first Cassandra James novel (published in the UK as DEAD LETTERS). This is the link to buy it on-line: https://www.christinepoulson.co.uk/index_dl.html. And if you are interested in going to Bodies in the Bookshop, tickets at £5 are available from the Ground Floor Cash Desk at Heffers (01223-568568) or by contacting Richard Reynolds on 01223-568532 or by e-mail at literature@heffers.co.uk.
See you there?

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