It was murder, and I loved it

I spent last weekend contemplating murder and other serious crimes. I was in Bristol at the CrimeFest 2012 convention.

I always enjoy this annual get-together of mystery writers and readers. It’s a treat to have a whole weekend devoted to mystery and to books – not to mention seeing old friends, making new ones, and hearing the wit and wisdom of stellar authors.

The 2012 stars included one of my very favourites, P.D. James. She’s the author of the Adam Dalgliesh series, and also of a much shorter series with a woman private detective, Cordelia Gray. She talked about both these, even hinting that she might return to Cordelia Gray sometime. And she spoke of her love of Jane Austen, which led her to write her latest mystery, DEATH COMES TO PEMBERLEY. It continues the lives of the Bennett family, featured in PRIDE AND PREJUDICE. Five years from where Austen left them, James brings us up-to-date with Elizabeth and Darcy, Jane and Bingley, and Lydia and Wickham…and others too I expect. I’m only part-way through the book so I don’t know, (if you do know, please no spoilers!) I wonder if the dreadful Mrs. Bennett may make an appearance to help her daughters deal with the horrors of crime? I bet there are times when her family deem her worthy of being murdered herself.

There were other stars too – there isn’t room to list them all. Frederick Forsyth gave a fascinating interview about his writing career, which he started – like so many authors – not because of artistic ambition or prompting from his Muse, but because he was desperately short of money. He had luck, and he made full use of it. Luck and hard work are the two things all of us writers need if we want to achieve stardom.

Sue Grafton spoke at the Saturday night gala dinner, and produced some wonderful quotes about writing and writers. Some were familiar – like the Groucho Marx crack, “Outside of a dog, a book is man’s best friend. Inside of a dog, it’s too dark to read.” Others were new to me, like Samuel Johnson’s criticism of a book: “Your manuscript is both good and original, but the part that is original is not good, and the part that is good is not original.”

Alongside the internationally famous authors and the not-so-famous names who will rise to be the stars of future conferences, there were plenty of mystery readers from all over the world. Indeed I should have put them first; after all without them there’d have been no CrimeFest at all. Because this is one of the friendliest of conventions, everybody mingled together at every available chance – at coffee-time, over lunch, and in the evenings. As a bonus, the weather was so gloriously warm that we could take our lunchtime snacks or evening drinks outside on the terrace, with never a thought about needing a coat, let alone an umbrella.

I came away, as I’ve done from every CrimeFest, with a head full of happy memories, and a feeling of being refreshed, my batteries well and truly re-charged. If anyone wants to see more about who was there and what we talked about, visit www.crimefest.com. That’s also the site where you can book for CrimeFest 2013.

Trouble Brewing

Welcome to Dolores Gordon-Smith, who’s here to tell us about the latest Jack Haldean mystery, TROUBLE BREWING. In my BBC days, when I did a lot of interviewing, I tried to  think up questions that were a bit different, off-beat, to ask my victims – er, guests. But when I realised that TROUBLE BREWING is set against the surprising background of the 1920s coffee trade, I knew all I need today is one of the classic questions we authors get asked all the time. So, Dolores…where did the idea for this unusual background come from?

Well, you know how it is. Casting around for an idea one day, I picked up the mug beside me… and there it was; coffee. So where did it come from?  Apart from Tesco’s, that is.  Brazil?  Yes, and other exotic places too.

So what about a coffee importers….?  They’d be in London. of course, but they’d have a plantation in Brazil.  Cue for a re-read of Peter Fleming’s wonderful Brazilian Adventure written in 1932.  Lots of background there.

The next stop after that was the 1911 Encyclopaedia Britannica, which is so fascinated by coffee it devotes four and a half double-columned pages to the subject before it can tear itself away.

As the story grew, naturally I needed more information.  Prices became significant, so that was a day or so scrolling through 1920’s newspapers for prices on the London Stock Exchange.

Despite tea being far and away the most popular hot drink in Britain, coffee was readily available to the working class from mid Victorian times.  This is from Henry Mayhew’s London Labour and the London Poor.

For those who were either up late or rose early there were the coffee stalls.  Some opened as early as midnight, while others did not start trading until three or four in the morning.  The former appealed to “‘night-walkers’- fast gentlemen and loose girls” while those that opened in the morning were more likely to be patronized by working men

The price they charge is ld. per mug, or ½d. per half-mug, for the coffee, tea, or cocoa; and ½d. a slice the bread and butter or cake. The ham sandwiches are 2d. each, the boiled eggs ld., and the water-cresses a halfpenny a bunch.

The first world war broke up the class boundaries and by the time the 1920s arrived, the price seems to be about 3d or so for a drink and there’s plenty of accounts of “Young Gents” stopping by a coffee stall for a pick-me-up after a night out.

However – and here’s the oddity – coffee – “real” coffee was a drink that, to the British, had an awful lot of class.  Mrs Beeton waxes lyrical about Italian coffee and Lord Peter Wimsey seems downright finicky about it.  That’s probably because coffee, for the masses, was not only instant but mixed with syrup and chicory.  This is the coffee I remember from my childhood.  The best known brand was Camp Coffee with the iconic label.
I had great fun inventing my own version of Camp (it’s called Royale in Trouble Brewing) and to find out exactly how important Royale Coffee, with the blue-and-yellow label is and how it plays its part in murder, deception, Jack being very clever and very brave – and misunderstood – well, the answers lie in Trouble Brewing.

TROUBLE BREWING is published in hardback by Severn House in the UK; the US edition will be out this coming August. Watch out for news of other formats, ebooks and paperbacks, on Dolores’ website, www.doloresgordon-smith.co.uk where incidentally anyone anywhere can order a signed copy right now.

 

Dolores Gordon-Smith is here tomorrow

The latest Jack Haldean mystery is out, by my good friend Dolores Gordon-Smith. She will be here tomorrow to tell us about it.

I like the Jack Haldean series a lot – this is the sixth – because they’re excellent traditional mysteries, set in the 1920s, but with long shadows still cast by the horrors of World War 1. And Haldean himself is definitely one of my favourite sleuths. I find him irresistible…an ex-air ace, brave, resourceful, amusing, intelligent, and with a gentle side too.

Dolores’ books have several other welcome ingredients besides a gorgeous hero. There are well-drawn characters, good and bad and of course often not what they seem; the plots are twisty and keep you turning the p ages; and there are also interesting backgrounds. Among others, she’s tacked aircraft manufacture, the gramophone recording industry…and the latest one is coffee.

TROUBLE BREWING promises to lead us through the ins and outs of the coffee importing business in London. It’s so new that I haven’t read it yet, but I know that Dolores always takes trouble with her research, so I expect to learn some fascinating facts about one of my favourite drinks. One of Dolores’ favourites too, judging by the picture she sent me when I asked her for a recent photo!

Was her coffee enthusiasm the reason she chose her latest theme? Join us tomorrow when she’ll be spilling just a few of the (coffee) beans…and don’t forget to bring a cup of coffee with you!

Good news for Aurelia Marcella

My Aurelia Marcella series is to be published in Britain as well as in the USA. I am, as you’ll imagine, delighted, especially as the publisher will be the new and dynamic Head of Zeus.

So I’ll have the best of both worlds: Head of Zeus publishing in the UK and Poisoned Pen Press continuing to handle the books in the USA. Top-notch support on both sides of the Pond.

The first in the series, SHADOWS IN THE NIGHT (formerly GET OUT OR DIE) will be launched here in November. I don’t yet know whether there’ll be any kind of launch party to mark the occasion…a champagne reception, perhaps? (Maybe I can drop a few hints to my new publishers nearer the time!) I’ll be cracking open a bottle or two myself, whatever happens.

My books are already available over here, but being actually published in the UK will make a big difference to the way they are promoted in the UK and Europe. And though I haven’t met them yet, Head of Zeus look like a lively firm. Visit them at www.headofzeus.com.  Their catalogue for this year has a good wide range of both fiction and non-fiction, including several historical mysteries.

The firm was founded by one of the big names in the book business, Anthony Cheetham, and is run by him and his son Nicolas. And talking of names, I wonder which of them came up with Head of Zeus? It’s from a Greek myth about Athene, goddess of wisdom, whom the Romans identified with their Minerva. She was born out of the head of Zeus (Jupiter,) king of the gods.

It’s an interesting tale, but gory, so if you’re eating a snack while you surf, finish it first, or skip this next bit for now. Zeus’ first wife was Metis, the personification of wisdom and prudence. She did one imprudent thing though, prophesying to her husband that she’d give birth to a girl and then to a boy who was destined by fate to rule the world. So when she fell pregnant Zeus panicked, and ate her. Well I suppose it was panic…best not to go there. After nine months were up he began getting dreadful headaches (serves him right, one could argue,) and  asked Hephaestus, the gods’ blacksmith, to split his sore head open with an axe. Athene sprang out, fully armed and ready for anything. Despite her warrior dress, her main role was as goddess of reason and wisdom, so she was often pictured with another wise creature, the owl.

I reckon she’s altogether the best goddess to have on your side when you’re starting a new publishing business in the 21st century…and what an appropriately classical name for the company that’s going to publish the adventures of Aurelia Marcella.