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Janet Roger

Goodreads Author


Born
in The United Kingdom
Website

Genre

Influences
Chandler, Dickens, Simenon, Joyce, Greene, Le Carre

Member Since
July 2019


* WINNER 2019 - BEVERLY HILLS BOOK AWARD - SHAMUS DUST
* WINNER 2019 - FULLY BOOKED BOOK OF THE YEAR - SHAMUS DUST
* FINALIST 2020 -ERIC HOFFER AWARD - SHAMUS DUST
* FINALIST 2020 -INTERNATIONAL BOOK AWARDS - SHAMUS DUST
* FINALIST 2020 - NATIONAL INDIE EXCELLENCE AWARDS - SHAMUS DUST

As a teenager I'd read all of Raymond Chandler’s Philip Marlowe stories - not so long after they were written as I’d like to think - and they knocked my socks off. He wrote about Los Angeles and its neon-lit boulevards, its sour, gritty downtown and gun-toting cops (a novelty to this young European) and made them exotic. But what really got under my skin was Marlowe's voice guiding me around the next street corner, and beyond it into a stale apartment block or a do
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Janet Roger Well, thank you so much for asking Jason.

Let me start with the City. Shamus Dust is set there at Christmas 1947, when - as it still is - the City of …more
Well, thank you so much for asking Jason.

Let me start with the City. Shamus Dust is set there at Christmas 1947, when - as it still is - the City of London was financial heart of the capital, often simply known as the Square Mile. Think of it as London’s Wall Street. In fact, it genuinely is, even now, the more or less single square mile contained inside the arc of London’s ancient Roman walls, with the Thames running along its southern boundary.

What drew me, was living and working there for a long time. You can walk the whole City very easily, and if you do that you inevitably get up close to its geography and history.

As for period, those early years of Cold War fascinate me in general. But in the City something very special happens. It had taken a hammering in the London blitz. Hundreds of its acres - some of the most valuable real estate on the planet - were flattened rubble. Which made it archaeologists’ dreamland. For a few short years, digging in those blitz sites gave them unimagined access to the two-thousand years old Roman city right beneath their feet. They wasted no time. Before reconstruction got seriously under way they’d made monumental discoveries: a Roman temple, a Roman fortress on the line of the wall, even the foundations of an arena - a Roman coliseum, no less. And there was the puzzle. The discovery of the temple and the fortress made instant splash headlines. Yet London’s very own Roman coliseum - yes, there really is one - got overlooked. Seriously, it completely escaped notice for the next almost forty years. Which started me wondering what the story was…(less)
Janet Roger I was interested to think back and find this out myself. Thank you for asking Bruno. I started by looking at my reviews on Goodreads - and what a mixe…moreI was interested to think back and find this out myself. Thank you for asking Bruno. I started by looking at my reviews on Goodreads - and what a mixed bag they are – ranging from Play It As It Lays (Joan Didion); Maigret’s Memoirs (Georges Simenon); Mahoney Reconsidered (David Van Zanten); The Complete Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant, and Monet’s Impression Sunrise (Marianne Mathieu).

But I travel a lot and often my choice of reading is determined by which country I find myself in. For example I came across Olivia Manning’s Balkan Trilogy in a bookshop in Bucharest, which is where her story begins. So how could I not read it? And many years ago, in a hotel room in Swaziland of all places, I browsed the first couple of chapters of Dr. Johnson’s Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland. Then on a chance visit to second-hand bookstore on quite another continent, there it was again, and so of course I snapped it up. Serendipity. You just can’t beat it.

For influential authors let me start with Raymond Chandler. My noir crime thriller Shamus Dust tips its hat to the novels of Chandler in all sorts of ways. After all it’s a dark take on city crime, corruption and a series of murders set in 1947, when not only Chandler’s Philip Marlowe mysteries but the entirely new form of film noir were both hitting their stride. But it also owes much to Charles Dickens, with his well-observed, powerful descriptions of the seedy underbelly of London with more than its fair share of murderous thieves and villains from the gutter to the government - a hundred years before my own story begins. (less)
Average rating: 4.29 · 550 ratings · 177 reviews · 1 distinct work • Similar authors
Shamus Dust

4.29 avg rating — 550 ratings — published 2019 — 2 editions
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Ranger's 5-star Goodreads review of SHAMUS DUST: HARD WINTER, COLD WAR, COOL MURDER by Janet Roger

Outstanding debut novel mixing detective fiction and historical fiction with a liberal dose of noir atmospherics. Shamus Dust is a surprisingly good debut detective novel, one of the best mystery debuts I have read.

It's no accident that this fine noir detective mystery echoes Raymond Chandler's Marlowe novels. The author, Janet Roger, is a fan of Chandler's Marlowe and wanted her debut to pay homa Read more of this blog post »
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Published on December 29, 2023 15:30 • Tags: 1947, historical-fiction, london, murder, mystery-thriller, noir, review
A Tree of Night a...
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Janet’s Recent Updates

Guys and Dolls by Damon Runyon
" Irena wrote: "Interesting. I love Walter Matthau, which is why I watched Little Miss Marker more than once. Didn't know it was based on Damon Runyon's ...more "
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Four Queens by Nancy  Goldstone
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I think I read this somewhere before. At least the story seems familiar. You know the one I mean. The one about four beautiful princesses living in a medieval castle under the bluest sky deep in the South of France. Where four handsome noblemen arriv ...more
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The Glass Bead Game by Hermann Hesse
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Compare this: Do I know where hell is? Hell is in hello. Heaven is goodbye forever, it’s time for me to go.

With this:

If we accept a home of our own making, Familiar habit makes for indolence. We must prepare for parting and leave taking Or else remai
...more
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The Balkan Trilogy by Olivia Manning
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I came across this in a bookshop in Bucharest, which is where Olivia Manning's story begins. Her heroine is newly arrived there when war is declared in 1939. Six books later - there’s a Levant Trilogy as well - her characters have taken you with them ...more
Janet Roger and 26 other people liked Brian 's review of Zen in The Art of Writing:
Zen in The Art of Writing by Ray Bradbury
"

Another update 5/19/20: Bradbury suggests reading poetry every day. Even if you don't get it, try. I don't get it. Still trying. Every day. Reading Whitman.

Update 5/16/20: The best advice comes back to me when I need it, although I can't recall when " Read more of this review »
The Diving Pool by Yōko Ogawa
"I read this book because I enjoyed the author's previous work, 'The Housekeeper and the Professor'.

As the title suggests, this book comprises three distinct stories.

1. The Diving Pool

2. Pregnancy diary
I didn't like these stories very much. Maybe I w" Read more of this review »
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Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington Architecture by John Walsh
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Congratulations, Massey University Press!This expanded revised edition arrives only three years after the first, which I hope means the series has been a roaring success (there are also guides to Auckland, Christchurch and Dunedin by the same author ...more
On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong
"I have noticed something about novels by poets. Their prose is achingly beautiful, but often their stories lack strong plots. This falls right in line with that expectation, but it doesn't make it any less powerful. This book reads like a memoir. I h" Read more of this review »
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Guys and Dolls by Damon Runyon
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Damon Runyon’s short stories of Prohibition era Broadway, its wiseacres and professional ne’er-do-wells, have been collected in any number of formats since they first appeared in 1931.

Mine is from 1956 (Complete & Unabridged, Price in Australia 4 Sh
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A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce
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This has to be one of my all-time favorites! I first read this as a student, then read it again years later and if anything enjoyed it even more. And I hadn’t thought that possible. This year I came across it and decided it was worth yet one more rea ...more
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Topics Mentioning This Author

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Quintilian
“Erasure is as important as writing. Prune what is turgid, elevate what is commonplace, arrange what is disorderly, introduce rhythm where the language is harsh, modify where it is too absolute. . . . The best method of correction is to put aside for a time what we have written, so that when we come to it again it may have an aspect of novelty, as of being another man's work; in this way we may preserve ourselves from regarding our writings with the affection that we lavish upon a newborn child.”
― Quintilian, De Institutione Oratoria

Freya Stark
“The great and almost only comfort about being a woman is that one can always pretend to be more stupid that one is and no one is surprised. When the police stopped our car at Bedrah and enquired where we were staying, the chauffeur, who did not know, told him to ask the lady.
"That is no good," said the policeman. "She's a woman."
"Yes," said the chauffeur, "but she knows everything. She knows Arabic."
The policeman asked me.
I had not the vaguest idea of where we were staying, and looked at him with the blank idiocy which he thought perfectly natural.”
― Freya Stark, The Valleys of the Assassins: and Other Persian Travels

T.S. Eliot
“A heap of broken images, where the sun beats,
And the dead tree gives no shelter, the cricket no relief,
And the dry stone no sound of water. Only
There is shadow under this red rock,
(Come in under the shadow of this red rock),
And I will show you something different from either
Your shadow at morning striding behind you
Or your shadow at evening rising to meet you;
I will show you fear in a handful of dust.”
― T.S. Eliot, The Waste Land

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message 14: by Janet

Janet Roger Good to meet you here Sandra. I'm enjoying your reviews.


message 13: by Sandra

Sandra Hi Janet,
Thanks for the friend-invite! :)


message 12: by Janet

Janet Roger Mike wrote: "Janet wrote: "Are you by any chance Mike Coyne - the same GR account that Will talked into letting him post the second half of his review of Shamus Dust on? It's disappeared now so I can't check bu..."

Well that's one mystery solved Mike. And thank you for hosting the second part of Will's review.

I'm very happy to know The Shamus has got the edge on all those Chandlers in storage.

Have a lovely holiday ... Janet


message 11: by Mike

Mike Janet wrote: "Are you by any chance Mike Coyne - the same GR account that Will talked into letting him post the second half of his review of Shamus Dust on? It's disappeared now so I can't check but do let me kn..."

Yes, I am. I had a look at Will's review again and he used the 1st comment post to continue his review so it is still there for everyone to see.

Thank you kindly for the offer of the ebook but I'll be good with my physical copy. I gave it a pet of reassurance yesterday. I'll get to it before any of Chandler's as those all remained packed up in storage.

Happy Holidays ... Mike


message 10: by Janet

Janet Roger You are very kind Majenta. Thank you for your encouraging words and greetings. I'm working hard on my sequel and enjoying the research that goes into it. I hope you also have a good week and wish you every happiness. My very best wishes, Janet


Majenta Hello, Janet! Thank you for contacting me. Congratulations on your book and its success and I hope you're enjoying working on your next one...and thinking about your next one...and so on! Happy reading, writing, creating, and everything else. Blessings! Have a great new week.
Best wishes from Majenta 💙💛🌻


message 8: by Janet

Janet Roger I'm looking forward to reading your review Anna. And I hope you enjoy Wilson's book when it gets to the top of your pile!


message 7: by Anna

Anna Thank you for the invitation Janet, I am as you said (or just have been) reading about Victoria Princess Royal and my reflections are due at any time now. You message has also prompted me to look at the biography that you mentioned- looks very interesting! Now it too is residing in my very long TBR list. I am looking forward both to your thoughts about it and to more book-thought-exchanges in the future!


message 6: by Janet

Janet Roger Are you by any chance Mike Coyne - the same GR account that Will talked into letting him post the second half of his review of Shamus Dust on? It's disappeared now so I can't check but do let me know?

Will has been a good friend and his review was unique and very kind. Since then he's done even more to keep the Shamus in the limelight.

I'm delighted you still have your copy of Shamus Dust. When Will started reading his he asked me for the ebook to help him keep track if things. Just let me know if you'd like it too and it will be my pleasure to send it to you.

Don't read all the Chandler's before Shamus Dust though ... I implore you. I'm not so young! And I really do want to know if you agree with our friend.

Kind regards ... Janet


message 5: by Mike (last edited Dec 13, 2022 10:11PM)

Mike Hi Janet. Thank you kindly for your friend invite. That Will Byrnes fella has led me to some outstanding reads with his spectacular reviews. His review for "Shamus Dust" had me really intrigued and excited and I'm elated to see you are working on the sequel. I recently moved and had to pack up all of Mount TBR.

However, I did pull out my copy of "Shamus Dust" because I know it's going to a special read that I want to tackle in the near future. I'll have to get going on some Chandler as well so I can full appreciate what you're writing. Looking forward to future interactions. Happy reading and writing in the meantime!!


message 4: by Janet

Janet Roger You too William, It's especailly good to meet another Chandler addict! - Janet


William Thank you for the friendship!

I look forward to reading your reviews!


Richard Dominguez Thank you for the friend


Ivonne Rovira Thank you so much for the Friend request.


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