Monday, January 1st 2003
David Stuart Davies
Let me introduce myself, I am David Stuart Davies and as well as writing crime fiction, I am the editor of Red Herrings, the CWA's monthly bulletin, published especially for its members only. I am also the editor of the commercial magazine SHERLOCK which appears every two months and contains articles about Sherlock Holmes (naturally) but also general articles about crime fiction. Among the regular features, Mike Ripley presents his own unique view of the crime fiction world and Calum McCleod writes incisive author profiles. There are other goodies, too. SHERLOCK highly regarded review section often includes reviews of members' books. Each year the magazine presents The Sherlock Awards for the best in crime writing both in Britain and in the States.
One of the great problems for most crime writers is to get their book reviewed so that the great number of crime fiction fans out there know about it. In general, the national press restrict their reviews of the genre to the well known names. I needn't list them - you know who I mean. As result many really good books go under-publicised and therefore fail to sell as well as they deserve. That's why if you are a devotee of crime fiction you should visit this website every month to check out the new titles and also get hold of publications like SHERLOCK and CRIME TIME for reviews of books and author profiles you are unlikely to read about anywhere else.
The big news on the CWA front this month is the announcement of this year's CWA Diamond Dagger Winner. This prize is awarded for 'a lifetime's achievement in the genre of crime writing'. This year's recipient, who will be presented with the wonderful Cartier Diamond Dagger at a ceremony at the British Museum in May, is Robert Barnard. Robert was born in Essex and educated at Balliol College, Oxford. After finishing his degree, he taught English at universities in Australia and Norway, where he completed his doctorate on Dickens. He returned to England to become a full time writer.
Robert has been called the 'Jane Austen of crime writers'. I am always a little suspicious of such apparently clever summations which, on closer inspection, don't seem to say very much. I suppose this soubriquet was meant to indicate how Robert's novels cleverly observe society with a trenchant eye and a dry wit. His books do explore a variety of themes, not least the pretentiousness of certain classes of society and the hypocrisy that prevails in all walks of life.
His recent work has featured his black PC Charlie Peace who is based in Leeds (as is Robert now) and a particular favourite novel of mine involving this character is his 1998 novel The Corpse at the Haworth Tandoori (a wonderful title which gives a hint of the classy humour imbued in the text). The review in the Sunday Times for this novel sums up the appeal and talent of this special writer: 'Barnard's graceful prose and keen wit add greatly to the joy to be had from the book, and, as always, he manages to pull off one shocker.' (Donna Leon)
Bob, as he is known to his colleagues in the CWA, is a great admirer of and expert on Agatha Christie. He has penned one of the seminal critiques about the Queen of Crime and her fiction, A Talent to Deceive (1980). It can be said that there is some of Christie's skill of plotting evident in Bob's work but, unlike Christie, his characters and situations have the bite of reality. If you haven't tried a Barnard, now is the time to start. Take any of his novels off the shelf for an enjoyable time, but no doubt Bob would encourage you to choose his latest, The Mistress of Alderley, (Allison & Busby £17.99)
That's all for this month. A Happy New Year to you.
[Next entry: "Television adaptations: a mixed blessing"]
01/01/2003: "Introducing Crimesheet"
Hello and welcome to a new monthly feature on the CWA website: a chatty news-type letter all about the world of crime fiction.
David Stuart Davies
Let me introduce myself, I am David Stuart Davies and as well as writing crime fiction, I am the editor of Red Herrings, the CWA's monthly bulletin, published especially for its members only. I am also the editor of the commercial magazine SHERLOCK which appears every two months and contains articles about Sherlock Holmes (naturally) but also general articles about crime fiction. Among the regular features, Mike Ripley presents his own unique view of the crime fiction world and Calum McCleod writes incisive author profiles. There are other goodies, too. SHERLOCK highly regarded review section often includes reviews of members' books. Each year the magazine presents The Sherlock Awards for the best in crime writing both in Britain and in the States.
One of the great problems for most crime writers is to get their book reviewed so that the great number of crime fiction fans out there know about it. In general, the national press restrict their reviews of the genre to the well known names. I needn't list them - you know who I mean. As result many really good books go under-publicised and therefore fail to sell as well as they deserve. That's why if you are a devotee of crime fiction you should visit this website every month to check out the new titles and also get hold of publications like SHERLOCK and CRIME TIME for reviews of books and author profiles you are unlikely to read about anywhere else.
The big news on the CWA front this month is the announcement of this year's CWA Diamond Dagger Winner. This prize is awarded for 'a lifetime's achievement in the genre of crime writing'. This year's recipient, who will be presented with the wonderful Cartier Diamond Dagger at a ceremony at the British Museum in May, is Robert Barnard. Robert was born in Essex and educated at Balliol College, Oxford. After finishing his degree, he taught English at universities in Australia and Norway, where he completed his doctorate on Dickens. He returned to England to become a full time writer.
Robert has been called the 'Jane Austen of crime writers'. I am always a little suspicious of such apparently clever summations which, on closer inspection, don't seem to say very much. I suppose this soubriquet was meant to indicate how Robert's novels cleverly observe society with a trenchant eye and a dry wit. His books do explore a variety of themes, not least the pretentiousness of certain classes of society and the hypocrisy that prevails in all walks of life.
His recent work has featured his black PC Charlie Peace who is based in Leeds (as is Robert now) and a particular favourite novel of mine involving this character is his 1998 novel The Corpse at the Haworth Tandoori (a wonderful title which gives a hint of the classy humour imbued in the text). The review in the Sunday Times for this novel sums up the appeal and talent of this special writer: 'Barnard's graceful prose and keen wit add greatly to the joy to be had from the book, and, as always, he manages to pull off one shocker.' (Donna Leon)
Bob, as he is known to his colleagues in the CWA, is a great admirer of and expert on Agatha Christie. He has penned one of the seminal critiques about the Queen of Crime and her fiction, A Talent to Deceive (1980). It can be said that there is some of Christie's skill of plotting evident in Bob's work but, unlike Christie, his characters and situations have the bite of reality. If you haven't tried a Barnard, now is the time to start. Take any of his novels off the shelf for an enjoyable time, but no doubt Bob would encourage you to choose his latest, The Mistress of Alderley, (Allison & Busby £17.99)
That's all for this month. A Happy New Year to you.
David Stuart Davies on Monday, January 1st 2003 @ 01:25 PM GMT [link]