Martin Edwards's Blog

I'm in a sort of 'if it's Tuesday, it must be Belgium' kind of state of mind at the moment, as I dash around the country, mainly (but not exclusively) doing events to promote Miss Winter in the Library with a Knife. I'm just back from Henley Literary Festival, where I hosted another murder mystery evening to a large sell-out audience in pleasant surroundings. Again, the story came alive thanks to the delightful cast of volunteer 'suspects': Kelly, Joey, Alexandra, and Piers. My thanks to Terry Grourk for the below photo of Alex as Lady Cynthia.

Thursday evening saw another appearance on Radio Warrington's Culture Show with Andy Green and Brian Spooner, and it was good to meet Julie Clegg and Jane Banks from Livewire - Jane was one of the very first women players to be inducted into rugby league's hall of fame. Later this week, I'll be travelling south to take part in the Isle of Wight Festival; I'm doing a couple of events next Sunday, one of them an interview, the other a panel, and having greatly enjoyed my last appearance at this festival, I'm very much looking forward to the return trip.

Other activities have included an online Q and A with Bede College students who are, lucky things, studying crime fiction as part of their A Levels, and a zoom with Barbara Peters of Poisoned Pen bookstore in Scottsdale, Arizona, to help promote the book in the US. American publication is scheduled for tomorrow.

Also tomorrow I'll be down in London having a celebratory lunch with my editor Bethan and my agent James, whose support regarding the book has been so important. A chance to discuss future plans as well. And I've also been to see a classic detective play, which I'll discuss on this blog before long. 

My copy of Freeman Wills Crofts' fourth novel about Inspector French, The Sea Mystery (1928) once belonged to Helen Simpson, and although it lacks the original jacket, it bears her ownership inscription, dated 'Christmas 1928'. My guess is that, at the time, she was studying the detective novel prior to co-writing Enter, Sir John! with her friend Clemence Dane. She may also have intended to review it. I say this because she included a few handwritten notes, including one on the very last page, which mainly highlight flaws in the story.

There are only a few flaws, however, because Freeman Wills Crofts was, along with Richard Austin Freeman, the most meticulous detective writer then at work. Interestingly, given that identity confusion is a key part of the story, two mistakes concerned his giving the wrong names to characters. You may wonder how such a mistake can be made, but believe me, it is very, very easy. Good writers check their work endlessly prior to publication - yet still errors creep through. Sometimes it's because one reads what one thinks one wrote, rather than what actually appears on the page. I've done it myself, even with books that have had extensive checks by editor, copy editor, and proof reader as well as me.

To a limited extent this story reworks elements of Crofts' bestselling debut, The Cask. Indeed, we learn that Inspector Burnley, who solved that case, is now retired and is friendly with French. Alas, Crofts does include spoilers about the plot of The Cask, which to my mind is a more heinous mistake than those with Helen Simposn picked up. In this novel, as in the earlier one, human remains are found in a crate (by a father and son out on a fishing trip in south Wales), and the hard-working Scotland Yard man has to trace how they got there. 

Most of the action, it must be said, takes place in Devon rather than at sea, not that it matters too much. There's a lot of pleasure to be had in following French's careful investigative process. I must say that one key deduction of his, early in the story, was foreseeably mistaken, but even so I enjoyed seeing how he finally got on the right trail. Crofts was probably at or close to the peak of his powers when he wrote this one. And it shows.

I like to keep busy, but by any standards last week was full-on - and full, fortunately, of interesting and varied activities as I continue to promote Miss Winter in the Library with a Knife as well as developing other projects for the British Library and Crippen & Landru. I very much enjoyed returning to Bromley House, a delightful independent library in a Georgian building, with a garden, last Wednesday. Matt Dolman interviewed me about the book and I was pleased to meet some delightful readers - including a Mrs Winter (although she wasn't armed with a knife...) who is pictured with me below.


Next day, it was back in the car and off to Cumbria, where I hosted murder mysteries on three successive evenings in three splendid libraries. The mystery in question was set in the 1920s and my publishers had kindly produced Miss Winter-themed answer sheets as well as offering a discount code for library users who want to buy the book. There were great audiences each night, and I was delighted with the feedback, sent over by Kinga from Kendal, who organised this mini-tour and who was as hugely supportive as always.


First came a visit to Penrith, a town (and library) I really like, and then on Friday I headed to Keswick to check out some bookshops and also do some research for the next Rachel Savernake novel, which is set around Derwent Water. It's always good to get the real feel of a location, and I believe it does make a difference (for the better) to one's writing. Then it was off, via Kendal, to Barrow-in-Furness, and another excellent evening ensued. The actors this time were members of the Ulverston Outsiders am dram group (photo at the top of this post). Like the library volunteers who took the suspects' parts on the other two evenings, they really got into the swing of things.


Saturday was devoted to Kendal, and lunch with Jean Briggs, who is organising Death on the Dales at Sedbergh later this month - a terrific festival. Logistics for the murder mystery were slightly complicated by road closures for a torchlit procession (no, not organised in my honour😄) but the staff were extremely helpful and it was another truly enjoyable evening.
 

Death is a Good Living is an extremely obscure BBC crime serial in four parts, dating from 1966. It was co-written by Brian Degas and Tudor Gates, both of whom were established screenwriters, and is said to be based on a novel by Philip Jones, but I can't trace the book at all. There seems to be no mention of it on the internet. I stumbled across the serial on YouTube, on the excellent 'Classic British Telly' subscription and I was drawn to it by the fact that the cast was led by the late, great Leonard Rossiter.

I'm a long-time fan of Rossiter. He was superb in Rising Damp and The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin; in both these comedy series he brought a melancholy edge to the character he played, and the same is true here. He plays a man called Lynch and he is - remarkably - a hit man. Yep, Leonard Rossiter as a gun for hire. An unexpected piece of casting to say the least but it works - just about.

The story isn't brilliant but it's ok. An exiled foreign political figure called Ramon travels to London, knowing that his enemies want him dead. The British security services set out to protect him and Jack May (known to me from Adam Adamant Lives!) is in charge of their efforts. In a playful bit of writing, he is given the name Major T. Gates (like the co-writer).  

Rossiter is sick of his work as an assassin, working under cover for a tour company whose boss asks him to do 'one last job', mentoring a new recruit, a killer from Finland, who it must be said is pretty useless at his job. His acting isn't great, either. Rossiter is a bachelor who lives with his elderly mother and promises to take her off to a new life in...Bournemouth once his last mission is complete.

Needless to say, things don't go to plan. This is quite a cheaply made show, and quite talky at times, but there are enough plot twists to hold the attention and I felt the last episode was the best. It's definitely not a classic, and not - for instance - in the same league as a Francis Durbridge serial, the standard which the writers were probably aiming for.  A curiosity, and not Rossiter's finest hour by any means, but worth watching.

Words for Murder Perhaps is a quirky title for a quirky novel which was first published in 1971 but probably seemed rather old-fashioned even then. The author, Edward Candy was actually female - she was a doctor called Barbara Neville (1925-93). There are quite a few oddities about the book, including the fact that the dust jacket of the Victor Gollancz first edition refers to the protagonist as Robert Gregory; it's a bit disconcerting to read the story and discover that he's actually called Gregory Roberts. 

The jacket info also proclaims this as Candy's second detective novel, appearing long after Which Doctor? (which I haven't read, but which Francis Iles and Edmund Crispin both praised highly), despite the fact that Candy's detective, Superintendent Burnivel, also makes an appearance in another book published before this one, Bones of Contention. Candy also wrote several non-criminous novels.  

There are some interesting ingredients in this book, which has an unusual version of the academic setting - an Extra-Mural department in a minor university - and which is also, to some extent, a bibliomystery. Roberts is taking a course on detective fiction, and there is some intriguing discussion of detective stories, with mention of Sayers, Michael Gilbert, Michael Innes, and Wilkie Collins among others. I enjoyed these aspects of the story, although they were not especially well integrated into the storyline.

After a rather slow scene-setting start, things warm up a bit when Roberts is contacted by his ex-wife Audrey, whose second husband (who was a friend of Roberts' prior to cuckolding him and leaving him in a suicidal state) has gone missing. Audrey has received a strange literary message which implies that the missing man is dead. As the story develops - in fits and starts - the theme of an apparent murder accompanied by a literary clue concerning an elegy recurs. I really like this concept.. I just don't think Candy made the best use of it.

Above all, it's odd that a book that explicitly discusses fair play in detective fiction should be so clumsily structured. It's not a fair play novel, and a sub-plot involving a painting seemed to me to be rather tacked on to the main story, while the developing relationship between Roberts and an attractive widowed student didn't strike me as convincing. These weaknesses are a pity, because Candy could write quite stylishly, making me really want to love this book. But telling a coherent story was, on this evidence, not such a strong point. And that may explain why, after this novel, she never returned to the detective novel.   

It's all go at the moment and I've been delighted by some more great reviews for Miss Winter in the Library with a Knife. Here's what Geoffrey Wansell had to say in the Daily Mail: ‘Engaging mystery…Packed with clever clues…Written with theaward-winning Edwards’ usual wry elegance, it is a delight from the first pageto last.’ 

And Erin Britton of Crime Fiction Lover gave a long and wonderful review which concluded that the book is 'a celebration of crime fiction. It’s a novelthat understands and appreciates the joy of a mystery – of suspects andsecrets, of red herrings and hidden truths. It’s also a reminder that the genreis still capable of innovation. By mixing tradition with modern insight,Edwards presents a puzzle that’s as thoughtful as it is fun.'

All very encouraging as I headed for the Booksellers' Association's annual conference in Hinckley this weekend. It was lovely to meet some delightful booksellers, and I particularly enjoyed chatting to James of Curious Cat bookshop in Frodsham. James is the mastermind behind the Cheshire Crime Writing Festival, which launches next February.
Bloomsbury (of which Head of Zeus is part) sponsored a breakfast for booksellers which featured four very different authors, including me, talking about their new books. This was great fun - not only meeting some fellow writers, but also more booksellers from around the country. And I was truly heartened by their enthusiastic reaction to Miss Winter. 

For the past 25 years, Murder Squad has been a brilliant part of the lives of Ann Cleeves, Margaret Murphy, Cath Staincliffe and me. For over a decade Chris Simms and Kate Ellis have been part of the group and before them, John Baker, Chaz Brenchley and the late Stuart Pawson were founder members. The above photo of the original group was taken by Zoe Sharp in 2006 and the below photo of the current group four years ago. We've had a great time this year, celebrating a quarter-century of collaboration and fun, a time during which there have been many highlights, certainly too many to cram into a single blog post.

The real challenge that we faced was simply, where do we go from here? The Squad has done so much over the years - anthologies (yielding Dagger-winning stories), a website, a newsletter (long before such things became commonplace), a CD, a TV appearance, and innumerable events. Because we live in different parts of the north of England, it has become increasingly difficult for all six of us to get together in the same place at the same time. We managed it for our big celebration at Stockport's Guild Hall this year, and it was wonderful. But the last time we'd done so was a very long time ago, to celebrate our 21st anniversary with a launch of our last anthology, in Whitley Bay, and before then at a lovely weekend at the Word in South Shields before the pandemic. Diaries being what they are, it did look as though it might be a long time before all six of us could get together again.

To cut a long story short, as we said in our latest newsletter, we came unanimously to the view that, as a collective, it made sense to quit while we're ahead, while continuing to work collaboratively whenever the opportunity arises. We've achieved what we set out to do and much more besides. In practical terms, it has to be emphasised that the only difference this decision makes is that we'll retire our website and the group newsletter (though I am now sending out a newsletter each month via Substack and encourage new subscribers!) For instance, the latest CWA anthology, Then There Were More, contains stories by most of us, and we'll continue to get together in smaller groups in future as in the past few years.

The above photo was taken at Ann's house in Huddersfield at the time we were discussing the TV programme; some filming also took place that evening, as well as on location. It's poignant to see Stuart and Ann's late husband Tim in the picture - it brings back so many happy memories. Murder Squad has been a massive success, and particular credit goes to Margaret Murphy, whose brainchild it was. I've loved every minute of my involvement with my friends in the Squad - and I'm looking forward to our continuing to give each other mutual support whenever the opportunity arises. As I'm sure it often will.

And finally, let me sign off this blog post with a favourite photo. For one event in CrimeFest, John Baker became unavailable (yes, even twenty years ago, diaries were a challenge). So Cath created a puppet of John to take his place on the panel! 

 

Dead Men at the Folly (not to be confused with Agatha Christie's Dead Man's Folly) dates from 1932. My copy is the US edition, emblazoned with the legend 'A Dr Priestley Mystery', even though the crusty old professor doesn't play much of a part until the story until the closing scenes. The majority of the detective work is conducted by Superintendent Hanslet of the Yard, ably assisted by a capable local cop called Inspector Richings. One entertaining feature of the story is the way the cops defer to Priestley, following his instructions to the letter once he stirs himself to take an interest in the mystery.

The story opens shortly before Christmas. A chap on a motorbike gets lost in rural south west England and finds himself close to a slightly sinister tower, which turns out to be known as Tilling's Folly. What is definitely very sinister is that he also stumbles across a dead body close to the tower.

There is some confusion about the identity of the deceased, which isn't cleared up for some time. Without giving too much away, two men in the story bear a very strong resemblance to each other. Now I thought this was a pointer to a particular kind of plot twist, but it proved not to be, although that strong resemblance does play an important part in the storyline. Hanslet soon thinks he's solved the case without needed to rely on Dr Priestley. But, surprise, surprise, he is mistaken.

This is a solid and readable story, but I felt that it suffered somewhat because of a lack of suspects. I had a pretty good idea of whodunit from about halfway through the book. Overall, I'd say this isn't one of Rhode's best books (although some Rhode fans rate it very highly), and it's definitely not as lively as the Christie with the similar title, but it's still a sound mystery, in which he draws on his personal experience in engineering for one particular murder method. Worth a read? On balance, I'd say yes. 

I missed Perfect Strangers when it first aired on BBC back in 2001 and I'd never heard of it until I read that it is now to be found on BBC iPlayer. The premise, about a family reunion, sounded interesting, and I was also attracted by the fact that the writer was Stephen Poliakoff, who is truly gifted, and the cast was terrific - Michael Gambon, Lindsey Duncan, Muriel Pavlow, Matthew Macfadyen, Claire Skinner, Toby Stephens, Timothy Spall, Anton Lesser....wow.

So I was hopeful about it when I sat down to watch. What I didn't really except was a drama that I found truly outstanding and also strikingly original and unpredictable (I had one theory about what was going to be revealed about the family which proved way off beam). There are touches of humour as well as pathos, and Poliakoff's understanding of human nature is to the fore in his subtly nuanced screenplay. Even some of the minor characters (such as Poppy, who is obsessed with table plans) are memorable. A special word for the reliable Lesser, who is terrific as an enthusiastic genealogist.

The story begins with a glitzy reunion of the Symon family at a fancy London hotel. Gambon and his wife (Jill Baker) and son Daniel (Macfadyen) are poor relations who, for some mysterious reason, have been out of touch with their relations for twenty years. But secrets slowly start to emerge from the darkness where they have been long buried.

This is a story about the long shadows cast by past events. It's not a crime story, but there is a significant 'detective' element. Daniel is drawn to his pretty but enigmatic cousin (Skinner) and is befriended by Duncan, whose relationship with Skinner is mysteriously strained. Hidden truths of all kinds slowly emerge. It is a subtle story, marvellously told, and amounts to a masterclass in screenwriting, immeasurably superior to most present day fare. Very highly recommended.  

Amongst all last week's excitement of publishing Miss Winter in the Library with a Knife, a couple of anthologies, and the new ebook edition of The Arsenic Labyrinth, I made brief mention on this blog of another project I've been involved with. For me it's a first, and it reflects my interest in films, an enthusiasm with which readers of this blog will be very familiar.
I was approached about a year ago, quite out of the blue, by Hammer Films - a legendary name in the movie business, and one I never expected to have any association with. They told me that they were planning to bring out a collector's edition of one of Hammer's early films, The Man in Black. This one has been unavailable for a long time, but they made it possible for me to watch it by way of background.
The reason for their approach was that, although the film screenplay was not written by John Dickson Carr, it was inspired by a radio series of the same name with which he was very closely involved. For this edition of the film, Hammer wanted to supply a lavish range of bonus extras. And one of them was to be a discussion about the work of John Dickson Carr.
I was due to go to London to take part in the Lansdowne Club Literary Festival, with an event scheduled for me to be in conversation with Andrew Taylor. So it made sense for the bonus extra to be filmed during the Festival and for it to take the form of another conversation between the two of us. It's always great to work with Andrew, and the whole experience was most enjoyable. And I'm delighted with the Blu-Ray. The accompanying booklet, for instance, is very impressive as well as informative. Although nothing is settled, there is at least a chance that I'll do another of these features at some future date, and I must say that the prospect does appeal to me. We'll see. In the meantime, I'm glad to be a bonus extra!