Crime is busting out all over...
It’s June, and we’re beginning a month-long paean of praise for crime-writing in all its guises: police procedurals, psychological thrillers, mysteries (including historical mysteries like my Quintus Valerius series), spy thrillers, cosy and Golden Age crime AKA Agatha Christie, classic detective noir like The Maltese Falcon, sci-fi mystery like I, Robot — the list is endless. According to the Crime Writers’ Association (of which I am proud to be a member), crime fiction is now the biggest selling part of the fiction market. So a lot of you like crime reading too!
If you’re in the UK, you’ll find the whole month is given over to celebrating crime reading. You can find an up-to-date listing on the relaunched crime readers’ website, crimereading.com. Events are being held at most local libraries, and great promotions in many bookshops. It might seem odd to focus on the dark and deadly in this, the sunniest month of the northern hemisphere, but ask most holidaymakers which paperbacks they’ve got tucked in their luggage, or loaded on their Kindles, and they’ll tell you: Girl on the Train; the latest Thursday Murder Club mystery; a James Bond; or a Jo Nesbo. We all love suspense, shock and intricate puzzling while we’re lying on the beach or relaxing in a sunny garden.
Not convinced yet? Here are some fun facts I sleuthed off the interweb:
The world’s bestselling fiction author of all time is … Agatha Christie. Quel surprise! She’s also the most translated author round the globe (103 languages — I can only dream!).
The earliest known crime story? ‘The Three Apples’, told in Scheherazade’s The Arabian Nights. Which, by the way, was one of the first books I read to myself as a child. I thought I was feeding my fetish for fantasy; turns out I was starting a lifelong addiction to crime fiction as well.
Edgar Alan Poe’s Murders in the Rue Morgue is regarded as the first modern locked-room mystery. Ah, I hear you ask, but what was the earliest one? We have to go all the way back to Herodotus in the 5th century BC for that one.
The Library Journal survey of 2013 showed that in the US the most frequently borrowed genre was crime fiction, at a whopping 78%.
So, if by any remote chance you are one of the handful of people who hasn’t yet read a crime novel, go to your library or local bookshop, and get turning the pages. If that library is the wonderful Malvern Library, at 10.30 on Friday 2 June, you’ll find me there. I’ll be part of a local crime author panel, alongside Linda Mather and Duncan Peberdy. We’ll fielding your questions and talking all things crime fiction.
[librarian James Robertson, with me at Malvern library]
My May News
Progress update on The Loyal Centurion: we’re well over the halfway point, with tension building and a surprise at Tayside for Quintus and Tiro (a nice one, which I hope will please lovers of Rosemary Sutcliff). Quickly followed by a very nasty shock, of course. Meanwhile, back in Eboracum (York), Julia discovers that for once she knows more about what’s going on than her clever but remote husband. But knowing the wrong things can be rather dangerous, especially when you have a newborn to care for, and other people’s secrets to keep …
(If anyone knows definitively whether Emperor Caracalla built a permanent bridge, or just a pontoon, at Carumabo — now part of Edinburgh — please do drop me a line!)
Prolific Scottish/American crime author Val Penny (yes, it is a scary combo!) publishes a very popular blog at valpenny.com. I was delighted to be her guest recently, when I discussed how I plan my novels. Thanks for the space, Val! (Another recent interviewee was fellow Roman author Alistair Forrest. It’s a fascinating discussion about where he got the inspiration for his latest Roman adventure, Sea of Flames. Sea of Flames is a terrific read, about to be re-issued by his new publishers, Sapere. So If you can’t find it on Amazon, keep trying. Val’s own latest Edinburgh noir novel, The First Cut, is out now on Amazon and in bookshops.
This month I was privileged to be featured in Inside History. If this online publication hasn’t come your way yet, it’s a serious history magazine, and a very attractive newcomer to the field. My article is about how I researched my new book. Some of what I found was shocking and very topical: genocide, trafficking, betrayal, even fratricide … If you’re not fed up by now with hearing about Scottish bogs and strings of Roman forts in Caledonia, do take a look.
Finally, I went back to my roots, my Governor’s Man Somerset roots, that is. I was invited to talk by the very book group I used to be a member of, back when I lived in the Somerset Levels. It was a lovely evening, arranged and hosted by my good friend Louise. Such a thrill to come back to familiar territory, to talk to friends old and new, who know every nook and cranny of where The Governor’s Man takes place. I was quite nervous about having got it right, but they had no quibbles or complaints. Whew, got away with that one! Thank you so much, Louise and the Mark Book Group.
[A skirmisher of a later age, at Bridgwater, Somerset]
That’s it for May. Do join in the Crime Reading fun in June, and I’ll be back next month.