I was delighted to receive an
invitation to iconic British Publisher Faber
and Faber’s Spring Literary Party.
I find the range of
publications from Faber to be eclectic, with a focus on good writing, including
poetry, music, film criticism and the unusual. I am fortunate to have known Publicist
Sophia Portas and Publisher Angus Cargill, for some time; and they kindly keep me
up to date on my
reading, as Faber’s
Crime Thriller List must
never be underestimated.
A few years ago, I was sent a
remarkable novel entitled A
Dark Redemption by Music Journalist Stav Sherez. I was hypnotised by this very
dark tale, which I reviewed excitedly here
We were delighted to see
that his third in this police procedural series is even more remarkable, as
Shots Magazine reviewer Les Hurst reported -
Carrigan and Miller are detectives in the Metropolitan Police,
nominally part of a team, but each suffering their own demons and frequently
having to work independently. In Carrigans’s case he is carrying the extra
weight from an earlier case, described in the previous ELEVEN DAYS, in which he used some extra-judicial
investigations in order to discover the truth; for which an unattractive
superior is hounding him now using the cover of an internal complaint. This
persecution looks as if it will raise its head again very soon, and in a much
worse way.
What are the “intrusions”
of the title? In one immediate sense it is the girl who bursts into the police
station saying that her friend has been kidnapped. Miller begins to investigate
the grotty clubs and back alleys of London where the girls went in search of a
good time. When a dead body is discovered, drained of blood, but on a floor
absent of blood - Carrigan becomes involved. When the two detectives realise
that the missing girl and the murder victim are one and the same they realise
they have a case of horrifying complexity, and previous victims.
Read More Here
So it was most generous of
Faber and Faber to send me an invitation to their Spring Literary Party, held
in The Crypt at Clerkenwell. Though not a Crime / Thriller Event per se; it was
good to meet up with Stav Sherez and the wonderful NJ Cooper aka Daphne Wright [who
is perhaps better known as Natasha Cooper,
from her days as Chair for The Crime Writers
Association before the Millennium].
The event was very well attended,
and robustly organised, with an array of canapes and a well-stocked bar. The
party allowed the guests to mingle with the Faber & Faber Editorial and
Promotional Teams during the evening; and there were readings and talks, all hoisted
in The Crypt on the Green,
Clerkenwell, East London.
We have recorded some of the
highlights for our readers below
We were welcomed to the
event, which included Sebastian
Barry reading a short passage from his Costa Book Awarded ‘DAYS WITHOUT END’,
which is a wonderful novel, and which the BBC dramatized.
Barry received this news last week, and is the only novelist to have won this prestigious literary
award twice.
Then Stav Sherez took to the
stage to introduce his latest work, the prescient and unsettling dark thriller ‘THE
INTRUSIONS’
Kate Hamer spoke about
her follow up to the bestseller The Girl in the Red Coat, and read a passage
from her follow-up ‘The Doll Funeral’
After several other
readings, Hanif
Kureishi closed the proceedings with an extract from ‘The Nothing’.
So after more mingling, it
was time to thank the Faber Team, and emerge back into the London Night, with a
book bag, and memories of a most enjoyable literary gathering from one of Great Britain’s
most iconic publishing houses.
Incidentally Stav Sherez kindly
supplied Shots an intriguing essay about the linkage of Music and Serial
Killers, and can be accessed here
Follow Stav on Twitter @stavsherez and remember Shots
Bookstore have discounted copies of THE INTRUSIONS available here
And
if you haven’t discovered the dark imagination of this former music journalist’s
Carrigan and Miller London based Police Procedural series, why not
head to the beginning, A
Dark Redemption [out in PB] as is the second installment Eleven
Days – and then buckle-up for The Intrusions.
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