Faith Martin on her journey to writing a classic whodunnit.

Sometimes, writing the book that you always wanted to write isn’t that straightforward.

I was about fourteen when I discovered the crime novels of our wonderful Golden Age authors. Children’s books had lost their appeal and I wanted something more challenging which also entertained me – and in the traditional whodunnit I quickly found my life-long reading obsession.

This literature had it all as far as I was concerned.   Baffling murders, clues, red herrings and memorable characters, all wrapped up in a bygone age that I knew nothing about, but which seemed to me to be filled with charm, atmosphere, elegance and witty humour.

So when I first decided to try my hand at writing a novel of my own, my choice of what kind of book to write should have been obvious, no?

Well…. no.

When I was eighteen my parents were involved in an horrific car accident, and I made the decision to stay at home and become a full-time carer.  This meant that I had the time to write, but also left me feeling ill-equipped to do so.  I would read the ‘about-the-author-blurb’ in the books I was reading, and it seemed to me that nearly all of the writers I admired had been to university and taken degrees (usually in English Literature.)

But I had only my own desire to write and years of reading other author’s works to guide me, and I instinctively felt that trying to write something as complicated as a densely plotted ‘proper whodunnit’ was beyond me. 

So instead I decided to write modern romances which - being the early 1990’s – tended to be about rich and glamorous people, in exotic settings, getting up to no good.   My thinking was, if it turned out that I had no talent and no chance of getting published, at least I’d have a whale of a time and enjoy the process of writing if nothing else!  As I did.  And with the help of a literary agent and after plenty of practise, my first novel, ‘Stolen Fire’ was published in 1993 under the pen name of Maxine Barry.

And after some years producing these, I felt confident enough to try something new. 

So now I was going to write a classic whodunnit, yes? 

Er…. No.

I still wasn’t sure I could measure up to my heroes.   Instead, I decided on staying contemporary and writing police procedural stories about a female detective who lived on a narrowboat and worked out of Thames Valley HQ, by the name of DI Hillary Greene.  These I wrote under the new pen name of Faith Martin.

Yet again I had no high hopes that any publisher would find them good enough, but Robert Hale took them on, and over the next ten years or so produced over 15 in this series.  These originally came out in hardback and were mainly purchased by libraries, and like many authors, I wasn’t well-known, nor was I troubling any bestseller lists.  And after 25 years of anonymity, I never expected things to change. 

But then the Hillary Greene series was published as ebooks by Joffe Books, and suddenly Hillary Greene was finding a wider audience.   And it seemed that readers liked her!

Thus emboldened, I decided to dab a tentative toe into ‘historical’ crime and produced the Ryder & Loveday books, published by Harper Collins, which were set in the 1960’s.  And again, they were well received.

Thus, after nearly 30 years of writing, I finally plucked up the nerve to write something that I had always wanted to write – a classic-style country house whodunnit, set in the golden age of the 1920’s and featuring a traditional locked room mystery.  And created a duo of amateur sleuths to solve the case.

Since I began this process during the doom and gloom days of the lockdowns, I was determined to make it light, entertaining and humorous, and MURDER BY CANDLELIGHT was the result.   Published in January next year, it tells the story of an old lady found dead in her bed, with all the doors and windows locked.  Clues and suspects abound – including the family ghost!  And it’s up to the lazy but amiable Arbie Swift, author of ‘The Gentlemen’s Guide to Ghost-Hunting’ and local vicar’s daughter Val, to sort out the red-herrings from the real clues and uncover the killer.

I only hope my readers are happy with the result.  But for all DI Hillary Greene fans, don’t worry. I’ve just finished writing her latest case also!

Murder by Candlelight by Faith Martin (HarperCollins Publisher)

One suspicious death. Two amateur sleuths. And an utterly impossible crime. The Cotswolds, 1924. At the Old Forge in the quiet village of Maybury-in-the-Marsh a cry of anguish rings out: lady of the house Amy Phelps has been discovered dead. But with all the windows and doors to her room locked from inside, how – and by whom – was she killed? Arbuthnot ‘Arbie’ Swift finds himself in the unlikely position of detective. The celebrated author of The Gentleman’s Guide to Ghost-Hunting is staying at the Old Forge to investigate a suspected spectre, but now the more pressing matter of Amy’s murder falls to him too. With old friend Val, he soon uncovers a sorry tale of altered wills, secret love affairs and tragic losses – and plenty of motives for murder. When events take another sinister turn, Arbie must find the killer, fast. And to do so will mean cracking a most perfectly plotted crime…

More information about the author and her books can be found on her website. You can also find her on X @FaithMartin_Nov and on Facebook.

Murder by Candlelight by Faith Martin will publish in hardback on 4th January 2024 (£16.99).

My Favourite Non Fiction Reads 2023

This year I haven't read as many non-fiction books as I would have liked. However, the following are the non-fction books that I did read and enjoyed. They are in alphabetical order :-

Great and Horrible News: Murder and Mayhem in Early Modern Britain by Blessin Adams (Harper Collins)

Nine historic crimes. One familiar obsession. In early modern England, murder truly was most foul. Trials were gossipy events packed to the rafters with noisome spectators. Executions were public proceedings which promised not only gore, but desperate confessions and the grandest, most righteous human drama. Bookshops saw grisly stories of crime and death sell like hot cakes. This history unfolds the true stories of murder, criminal investigation, early forensic techniques, high court trials and so much more. In thrilling narrative, we follow a fugitive killer through the streets of London, citizen detectives clamouring to help officials close the net. We untangle the mystery of a suspected staged suicide through the newly emerging science of forensic pathology. We see a mother trying to clear her dead daughter's name while other women faced the accusations - sometimes true and sometimes not - of murdering their own children. These stories are pieced together from original research using coroner's inquests, court records, parish archives, letters, diaries and the cheap street pamphlets that proliferated to satisfy a voracious public. These intensely personal stories portray the lives of real people as they confronted the extraordinary crises of murder, infanticide, miscarriage and suicide. Many historical laws and attitudes concerning death and murder may strike us as exceptionally cruel, and yet many still remind us that some things never change: we are still fascinated by narratives of murder and true crime, murder trials today continue to be grand public spectacles, female killers are frequently cast as aberrant objects of public hatred and sexual desire, and suicide remains a sin within many religious organisations and was a crime in England until the 1960s. Great and Horrible News! explores the strange history of death and murder in early modern England, yet the stories within may appear shockingly familiar.

Love Me Fierce in Danger: The Life of James Ellroy by Steven Powell (Bloomsbury Publishing Plc)

Love Me Fierce In Danger is the story of James Ellroy, one of the most provocative and singular figures in American literature. The so-called "Demon Dog of Crime Fiction," Ellroy enjoys a celebrity status and notoriety that few authors can match. However, traumas from the past have shadowed his literary success. When Ellroy was ten years old, his mother was brutally murdered. The crime went unsolved, and her death marked the start of a long and turbulent road for Ellroy that has included struggles with alcoholism, drug addiction, homelessness, and jail time. In tracing his life and career, Steven Powell reveals how Ellroy's upbringing in LA, always on the periphery of Hollywood, had a profound and dark influence on his work as a novelist. Using new sources, Powell also uncovers Ellroy's family secrets, including the mysterious first marriage of his mother Jean Ellroy, eighteen years before her murder. At its heart, Love Me Fierce in Danger is the story of how Ellroy overcame his demons to become the bestselling and celebrated author of such classics as The Black Dahlia and LA Confidential. Informed by interviews with friends, family, peers, and literary and Hollywood collaborators, as well as extensive conversations with Ellroy himself, Love Me Fierce In Danger pulls back the curtain on an enigmatic figure who has courted acclaim and controversy with equal zealotry.

The Mysterious Romance of Murder: Crime Detection, and the Spirit of Noir by David Lehman (Cornell University Press)

From Sherlock Holmes to Sam Spade; Nick and Nora Charles to Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin; Harry Lime to Gilda, Madeleine Elster, and other femmes fatales—crime and crime solving in fiction and film captivate us. Why do we keep returning to Agatha Christie's ingenious puzzles and Raymond Chandler's hard-boiled murder mysteries? What do spy thrillers teach us, and what accounts for the renewed popularity of morally ambiguous noirs? In The Mysterious Romance of Murder, the poet and critic David Lehman explores a wide variety of outstanding books and movies—some famous (The Maltese Falcon, Double Indemnity), some known mainly to aficionados—with style, wit, and passion. Lehman revisits the smoke-filled jazz clubs from the classic noir films of the 1940s, the iconic set pieces that defined Hitchcock's America, the interwar intrigue of Eric Ambler's best fictions, and the intensity of attraction between Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall, Robert Mitchum and Jane Greer, Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman. He also considers the evocative elements of noir—cigarettes, cocktails, wisecracks, and jazz standards—and offers five original noir poems (including a pantoum inspired by the 1944 film Laura) and ironic astrological profiles of Barbara Stanwyck, Marlene Dietrich, and Graham Greene. The Mysterious Romance of Murder is written by a connoisseur with an uncanny feel for the language and mood of mystery, espionage, and noir.

Ian Fleming: The Complete Man by Nicholas Shakespeare (Vintage Publishing)

A fresh portrait of the man behind James Bond, and his enduring impact, by an award-winning biographer with unprecedented access to the Fleming family papers. Ian Fleming's greatest creation, James Bond, has had an enormous and ongoing impact on our culture. What Bond represents about ideas of masculinity, the British national psyche and global politics has shifted over time, as has the interpretation of the life of his author. But Fleming himself was more mysterious and subtle than anything he wrote. Ian's childhood with his gifted brother Peter and his extraordinary mother set the pattern for his ambition to be 'the complete man', and he would strive for the means to achieve this 'completeness' all his life. Only a thriller writer for his last twelve years, his dramatic personal life and impressive career in Naval Intelligence put him at the heart of critical moments in world history, while also providing rich inspiration for his fiction.

Families and secrets by Louise Jensen

 

Newly published, ‘The Fall’ is my 8th Psychological thriller, my 11th published book. It’s a story about the unravelling of a seemingly tight-knit family and the shocking, dark secrets they are keeping from each other.

The book opens with Kate Granger feeling like the luckiest woman alive at her surprise birthday party that she is sharing with her twin sister, Beth. Just hours later her teenage daughter, Caily, is found unconscious under a bridge, miles away from where she should have been at school. 

The police, who don’t believe it was an accident, question Caily’s family and it soon becomes apparent that not everyone in the family was where they claimed to be at the time of her fall, nor who they claimed to be with. While the investigation takes place Caily should be safe in hospital but not everyone wants her to wake up. Someone is desperate to protect the truth and it isn’t just Caily’s life that is in danger.

From the moment I thought of the concept I knew that Caily and her cousin Tegan would be central to the plot. The relationship between cousins is one I’ve wanted to write about for a long time. 

Growing up, my cousins were an integral part of my childhood. They, along with my sister, feature in many of my happiest childhood memories. Then, life seemed less complicated for us growing up, than it is today for young people now. In a time before the internet, smartphones and social media, our world may have seemed a lot smaller but was, perhaps, in a way, larger as we had more freedom to play outside. Everywhere was deemed safter than it is today, perhaps because it was, perhaps because we didn’t have the constant stream of bad news that we do now giving rise to that low-level fear many of us carry without being entirely sure why.

I wanted to give Caily and Tegan the same sense of freedom that I had and this was made possible by the farm they live on. Although during the book it has, in parts, a claustrophobic, chilling feel, they were free to roam and play in the vast open space. Not knowing of course, then, that, for years, there had been somebody watching them all along…

The relationship between cousins is, I think, unique. Both family and friends the bond is a strong one. They are confidants, keepers of secrets. Someone who understands because their family history is entwined with yours. It’s been really interesting to unpick the Granger family dynamics, not only between Tegan and Caily but also their parents and Grandparents.

To explore how far Caily and Tegan would go to protect one another.

I don’t see my cousins nearly as much as I’d like to anymore but if any one of them needed me I’d be there in a heartbeat. But that would be another story…

The Fall by Louise Jensen (Harper Collins) Out Now 

She promised not to tell. They made sure she couldn't... At her surprise 40th birthday party, Kate Granger feels like the luckiest woman in the world but just hours later her fifteen-year-old daughter, Caily, is found unconscious underneath a bridge when she should have been at school. Now, Caily lies comatose in her hospital bed, and the police don't believe it was an accident. As the investigation progresses, it soon becomes clear that not everyone in the family was where they claimed to be at the time of her fall. Caily should be safe in hospital but not everyone wants her to wake up. Someone is desperate to protect the truth and it isn't just Caily's life that is in danger. Because some secrets are worth killing for...

More information about Louise Jensen and her books can be found on her website. You can also find her on Twitter @Fab_fiction, on Instagram @fabricating_fiction and on Facebook.

Thriller Raises Money for Charity

 

Screenwriter and novelist Samantha Lee Howe is supporting the Yorkshire-based domestic abuse charity IDAS with a night of glamour and red-carpet celebrity and a special screening of her award-winning film The Stranger In Our Bed.

The event takes place on 14 March 2023 from 18:30 with the film screening at 19:30. The screening is followed with an exclusive Q&A featuring both Samantha and actress and producer Terri Dwyer. Tickets available from: penistoneparamount.co.uk or telephone: 01226 767532. £12 per person.

Samantha Lee Howe is a Survivor Ambassador for the Yorkshire based charity IDAS. ‘Many perpetrators of abuse almost brainwash their victims into thinking it is all their fault, and I’m here to tell them, it really isn’t!’ says Samantha, whose childhood abuse and toxic first marriage led to her battling trauma and mental health issues for most of her life. Using her writing skills, and with the support and love of her second husband, writer David J Howe, Samantha started to self-heal. She was anxious to help other people battling any kind of abuse and is using her voice to help IDAS.

IDAS – Independent Domestic Abuse Service – is the leading specialist domestic abuse service in Yorkshire, supporting over 20,000 people affected by domestic abuse and sexual violence in Yorkshire each year.

This is Samantha’s first major event for the charity that promises to be a wonderful evening. And a hundred percent of the profits are going to IDAS.

‘I'm delighted to be supporting IDAS with the charity screening of The Stranger In Our Bed at the Penistone Paramount Cinema. As a survivor of child abuse and domestic violence I have an affinity with the charity,’ explains Samantha. ‘I’m looking forward to seeing everyone at the event.’

The Stranger In Our Bed was published on 16 April 2020 by HarperCollins One More Chapter and became a USA Today bestseller before being snapped up by Buffalo Dragon for development into a movie, which was released to all streaming platforms in 2022.

The Stranger in Our Bed by Samantha Lee Howe (Harper Collins)

I ended my marriage for a man who didn’t exist… I have everything money can buy. I’m a good wife, but sometimes I feel trapped. And when I start an affair with a stranger called Ewan, my life changes in ways I can’t begin to understand. Because Ewan breaks apart my marriage piece by piece and then he just disappears. He uses a fake name and leaves no trace behind; it’s like he doesn’t even exist. Someone did this to me and now they’re waiting for me to unravel, watching my every move. I can’t trust anyone, not even myself – not even the people I love.

For press: Steven Smith spman@btinternet.com

For more information on IDAS: www.idas.org.uk 

For more information on Samantha Lee Howe: www.samanthaleehowe.co.uk

Forthcoming Books from Harper Collins

January 2023 

No One Saw It Coming is by Susan Lewis. Secrets lie at the heart of every family... When the unthinkable happens... Hanna's world is crumbling. An unimaginable crime has been committed, and everyone's looking for someone to blame. Her loved ones are under suspicion. Now Hanna must work out who is threatening her family - before it's too late. No one could have seen this coming...

February 2023

They tried to cage us. But a Weyward woman belongs to the wild. We cannot be tamed. Kate, 2019 Kate flees London – and her abusive partner – for Cumbria and Weyward Cottage, inherited from her great-aunt. There, a secret lurks in the bones of the house, hidden ever since the witch-hunts of the 17th century. Violet, 1942 Violet is more interested in collecting insects and climbing trees than in becoming a proper young lady. Until a chain of shocking events changes her life forever. Altha, 1619 Altha is on trial for witchcraft, accused of killing a local man. Known for her uncanny connection with nature and animals, she is a threat that must be eliminated… Weyward is by Emilia Hart. 

All The Danagerous Things is by Stacy Willingham. Today is day 364. 364 days since my last night of sleep. 364 days since my son, Mason, was taken from his bed. The police have stopped looking. My husband wants me to move on. But I need to keep his story alive. Someone knows what happened to my son. And I'm going to find them. It's been a year since Isabelle Drake's son, Mason, disappeared from his bedroom. Since then, she hasn't had a full night of sleep. Everyone else has moved on - the detectives, the press, her husband - but she can't rest until she knows the truth. Teaming up with true crime podcaster Waylon Spencer, Isabelle investigates her son's case. But Waylon has motives of his own and as long-forgotten memories of Isabelle's past resurface, doubt begins to cloud her sleepless nights. What happened to Mason Drake? What if the past is better left buried?

March 2023

An all-new collection of spring-themed mysteries from the master of the genre. The days are growing warmer and the nights are growing shorter... It's the perfect time to relax in the garden with this spring-themed collection from legendary mystery writer Agatha Christie. Blossoming flowers and countryside strolls may sound innocent enough, but not when there's murder in the air. Beware of secluded cottages, stolen treasure and fatal revenge schemes. This compendium of short stories, some featuring beloved detectives Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple, is an essential omnibus for Christie fans and the perfect gift for mystery lovers. INCLUDES THE STORIES: The Market Basing Mystery, The Case of the Missing Lady, The Herb of Death, How Does Your Garden Grow?, Swan Song, Miss Marple Tells a Story, Have You Got Everything You Want?, The Jewel Robbery at the Grand Metropolitan, Ingots of Gold, The Soul of the Croupier, The Girl in the Train, Greenshaw's Folly

At first glance, Jellicoe Close seems to be a perfect suburban street - well-kept houses with pristine lawns, neighbours chatting over garden fences, children playing together. But there are dark secrets behind the neat front doors, hidden dangers that include a ruthless criminal who will stop at nothing. It's up to DS Maeve Kerrigan and DI Josh Derwent to uncover the truth. Posing as a couple, they move into the Close, blurring the lines between professional and personal as never before. And while Maeve and Josh try to gather the evidence they need, they have no idea of the danger they face - because someone in Jellicoe Close has murder on their mind. The Close is by Jane Casey.

The Shadows of London is by Andrew Taylor. London 1671. The damage caused by the Great Fire still overshadows the capital. When a man's brutally disfigured body is discovered in the ruins of an ancient almshouse, architect Cat Hakesby is ordered to stop restoration work. It is obvious he has been murdered, and Whitehall secretary James Marwood is ordered to investigate. It's possible the victim could be one of two local men who have vanished - the first, a feckless French tutor connected to the almshouse's owner; the second, a possibly treacherous employee of the Council of Foreign Plantations. The pressure on Marwood mounts as Charles II's most influential courtiers, Lord Arlington and the Duke of Buckingham, show an interest in his activities - and Marwood soon begins to suspect the murder trail may lead right to the heart of government. Meanwhile, a young, impoverished Frenchwoman has caught the eye of the king, a quiet affair that will have monumental consequences..

The Hike is by Lucy Clarke. Wish you were here? Think again … Maggie, Liz, Helena & Joni. Old friends bound by history, adventures, old secrets. And now, bound by murder. They lace up their hiking boots for the adventure of a lifetime in the Norwegian wilderness: a place of towering mountains, glass-like lakes, log cabins and forests stolen from a fairytale. It's the perfect place to lose yourself - until a broken body is found at the bottom of a ravine. Somewhere out there, someone knows exactly why a woman has died. And in this deep, dark wilderness, there's a killer on the trail.

Also in March there is The Boys by Kimberley Chambers

April 2023

Death Under a Little Sky is by Stig Abell. For years, Jake Jackson has been a high-flying detective in London. But then one day he receives a letter from his reclusive uncle - he has left Jake his property in the middle of the countryside. For Jake, it is the perfect opportunity for a fresh start. A rural idyll the stuff of dreams... At first, life in the middle of nowhere is everything Jake could wish for. His new home is beautiful, his surroundings are stunning, and he enjoys getting back to nature. A death that disrupts everything... But then, what starts as a fun village treasure hunt turns deadly, when a young woman's bones are discovered. And Jake is thrust once again into the role of detective, as he tries to unearth a dangerous killer in this most unlikely of settings.

City of Dreams is by Don Winslow. A quiet, peaceful existence. But the Feds track him down and want Danny to do them a favor that could make him a fortune or kill him. And when Hollywood starts shooting a film of his former life, Danny demands a piece of the action and begins to rebuild his criminal empire. Then he falls in love. With a beautiful movie star who has a dark past of her own. As their worlds collide in an explosion that could destroy them both, Danny Ryan has to fight for his life in a city where dreams are born. Or where they go to die. From the shores of Rhode Island to the deserts of California where bodies disappear, from the power corridors of Washington where the real criminals operate to the fabled movie studios of Hollywood where the real money is made, City of Dreams is a sweeping saga of family, love, revenge, survival and the fierce reality behind the dream.

Prague, 1588. A city of tolerance, peace… and treachery. The Holy Roman Emperor, Rudolf II, wants to expand the boundaries of human knowledge, and his court is a haven for scientists, astrologers and alchemists. His most abiding passion is the elusive hunt for the philosopher’s stone and thus immortality. The Catholic Church fears he has pushed too far—into the forbidden realm of heresy and magic. Giordano Bruno is sent to his court by Sir Francis Walsingham, Elizabeth’s spymaster, to contact John Dee, a famous English alchemist. But Dee is nowhere to be found, having disappeared after the brutal murder of a rival. Ordered to track Dee down, Bruno’s investigations bring him face to face with an old enemy from the Inquisition and he finds himself once more pitted against the might of the Catholic Church. When another murder takes place, Bruno is forced to re-evaluate everything he thought he knew. And he soon realizes that his own life is at stake. Alchemy is by S J Parris.

May 2023

Twenty victims. A race to zero. The countdown has begun... A shocking crime scene... DCI Adam Bishop has never seen anything like it. Five murder victims - all with numbers written above. And the spray-painted daubs reveal a horrific truth: the killer is counting down... A case that twists and turns... When Dr Romilly Cole learns of the murders, they trigger memories of a traumatic past she has tried hard to forget. But getting involved with the case is a bad idea. She and Bishop have history - and working together could never end well. A race against time to stop a killer... Adam and Romilly soon realise the truth lies in a decades-old case, and only Romilly holds the key. But they must act quickly, because with every passing day, there are more victims. And as the numbers edge toward zero, the murders get closer to home. The Twenty is by Sam Holland.

Outback is by Michael Davies based on an idea by Desmond Bagely. A brand new novel that continues the legacy of 'Master of the Genre' Desmond Bagley by the co-author of Domino Island. Insurance investigator Bill Kemp had never wanted to trek deep into Australia's remote interior. But when his clients Sophie and Adam Church inherit an abandoned opal mine, triggering some explosive long-lost secrets, they - and Kemp - find themselves facing an unknown enemy even more deadly than the vast, forbidding wilderness of the Outback... The Desmond Bagley centenary novel honours the legacy of the bestselling thriller writer with a new adventure featuring Bill Kemp, described by Jeffrey Deaver as 'part James Bond, part Philip Marlowe, and all hero'. Writer Michael Davies, who completed the first Kemp novel Domino Island for publication nearly 40 years after the author's death, now weaves an original tale of danger and death under the blistering Australian sun.

Cult is by Camila Lackberg & Henrik Fexeus.  A kidnapped boy... A young child is snatched in broad daylight outside his nursery. Nobody in charge sees a thing, but the other children say a woman is the culprit … The police find a link … Detective Mina Dabiri calls on her close friend Vincent to untangle the puzzle that surrounds the kidnapped boy. As he finds a link between the boy and other others who have gone missing, it becomes clear that time is running out for everyone involved .... A looming threat... Meanwhile, Mina's estranged daughter gets caught up in the secretive world of Epicura, a shadowy organisation that claims to be a centre for leadership development. Can Mina protect her child-a child who doesn't even know she exists?

Now You See Us is by Balli Kaur Jaswal. We are invisible: we clean your houses, we look after your children, we know your secrets. But now you know one of ours... Rules for being a maid: * No smoking * No boyfriends * No visitors * And most importantly: be invisible... Corazon, Angel and Donita have all come to Singapore to work for a living. The thing that unites them? Their labour must remain unseen. But when a friend is accused of murdering her employer, everything changes. The accused could be any of them; they all know the stories of women who were scapegoated or even executed for crimes they didn't commit. Each woman has secrets to keep, yet they must gather every ounce of bravery, fearlessness and complete audacity to clear the name of one of their own. After all, no-one knows the secrets of Singapore's elite quite like the women who work in their homes...

June 2023

Twenty classic authors from the Golden Age of Detective Fiction are brought together in the latest in the celebrated "Bodies from the Library" anthology series of previously unpublished and uncollected stories of crime and suspense. The end of the First World War saw the rise of an insatiable public appetite for clever and thrilling mystery fiction and a new kind of hero - the modern crime writer. As the genre soared in popularity, so did the inventiveness of its best authors, ushering in a "Golden Age" of detective fiction - two decades of exemplary mystery writing: the era of the whodunit, the impossible crime and the locked-room mystery, with stories that have thrilled and baffled generations of readers. The Golden Age still casts a long shadow, with many of the authors who were published at that time still hugely popular today. Aside from novels, they all wrote short fiction - stories, serials and plays - and although many have been republished in books over the last 100 years, Bodies from the Library collects the ones that are impossible to find: stories that appeared in a newspaper, magazine or an anthology that has long been out of print; ephemeral works such as plays not aired, staged or screened for decades; and unpublished stories that were absorbed into an author's archive when they died . . .Complete with fascinating biographies by Tony Medawar of all the featured authors, this latest volume in the annual Bodies from the Library series once again brings into the daylight the forgotten, the lost and the unknown, and is an indispensable collection for any bookshelf. Bodies from the Library 6: Lost Tales of Mystery and Suspense from the Golden Age of Detection is edited by Tony Medawar

The Imposter is by Susan Allott. London 2008. The house Maxine and Seb have bought is a beautiful wreck, so considering the amount of work they need to do, this is a bad time for Seb to have lost his high-flying City Job in the financial crash. Home alone as a local workman starts the renovations, Seb begins to spiral into dispair and obessession. Yerss before in1992, the previous ownersdied in the house under suspicious circurmstances, castng suspicion on the family lodging with her – Ruth, her gambling addicted husband Lee and their sensitive young son Cookie. And in 1842, Horatio Lloyd the house for his family only for his wife and a servant to die there – he is sure the 'miasma' from the local river Peck is to blame, but others believe he may have a guilty secret. These threads wind together into a portrait of betrayal, guilt and murder across 150 years...

Fifteen years after the events of the Natchez Burning trilogy, Penn Cage is alone. Nearly all his loved ones are dead, his old allies gone. But Penn’s self-imposed exile comes to an abrupt end when a brawl at a Bienville music festival triggers a shooting—one that nearly takes the life of his daughter Annie. Before the stunned populace can process the tragedy, an arsonist begins torching antebellum plantation homes in Bienville. When an unknown Black group claims the fires as acts of justice, panic ensues, driving the Mississippi River town to the brink of war. When Penn’s closest friend in Bienville is shot to death on the street by a county deputy, mass protests ignite, and the community descends into open hostilities. State and county politicos use the mayhem as an excuse to dissolve the city government and seize control, and enraged activists begin converging on the town from far-away states to see their own brand of justice done. Southern Man is by Greg Iles

There will also be a new Will Trent thriller by Karin Slaughter published in June 2023.

In The Lyme Crime Spotlight: Charlotte Philby

Name: Charlotte Philby

Job: Author

Website: http://www.charlottephilby.com

Twitter: @PhilbyWrites 

Introduction:

Charlotte Philby is a former editor, reporter and columnist. Her grandfather was Kim Philby. Her debut novel Part of the Family was Waterstone's Thriller of the month in May 2020 Her second novel A Double Life was not only one of the New York Post's best book for the summer 2021 but also the Time's book 2020 and The Observer's thriller of the month. The Second Woman, her third book was a Mail on Sunday best new fiction book as well as being a Time's thriller of the month pick. Her most recent book is Edith and Kim. 

Current book? 

An Olive Grove in Ends by Moses McKenzie. It is a powerful, original and beautifully written fictional account of one young man's life growing up in Stapleton Road, in Bristol - it's a debut novel about masculinity, love, friendship, loyalty and betrayal, and it's so impressive I cannot believe the writer is only twenty-three years old.

Favourite book

Too many to choose from but Alex Garland's The Beach is seminal for me because of where I was at in my life when I read it.

Which two characters would you invite to dinner and why?

Edith Tudor-Hart and Kim Philby - the two characters from my novel Edith and Kim, which reimagines the lives of my grandfather (Kim), and the woman who recruited him to the Soviet cause (Edith) - so that I could grill them on all the questions I was trying to answer when writing the book.

How do you relax?

Going for walks with my kids and the dog we share with my mum (although the dog runs off and refuses to come back and the kids generally spend the whole time shouting in glee or protest, so it's rarely very relaxing), More likely, watching television and drinking red wine. My favourite comfort watches include Inspector Morse and Bosch, or if the children are still awake, Brooklyn 99, which is the only thing we all agree on as a family.

What book do you wish you had written and why?

Victoria Selman's forthcoming Truly, Darkly, Deeply because it's a fresh and genius take on the traditional serial killer story. Or The Girls by Emma Cline because I was obsessed with the Mansons as a teenager and love how she managed to bring a well-trodden crime story to life in a new and brilliant way.

What would you say to your younger self if you were just starting out as an author?

Don't rush, you don't have to do everything at once. And never read your reviews.

Why do you prefer to write standalone books as opposed to a series and would you consider writing a series.

I am easily bored so I worry I would tire of writing the same character again and again. But then I do tend to be fascinated by recurring themes - women leading duplicitous lives, familial betrayal, love - and subverting traditionally male stories by placing women at the centre of the narrative. My first three novels are all stand-alone but very much connected, and best read in chronological order!

What are you looking forward to at Lyme Crime?

Seeing some of the best writers in the business descend on my adopted home-city. Watch out now...

Edith and Kim by Charlotte Philby (HarperCollins) Out Now

To betray, you must first belong...In June 1934, Kim Philby met his Soviet handler, the spy Arnold Deutsch. The woman who introduced them was called Edith Tudor-Hart. She changed the course of 20th century history. Then she was written out of it. Drawing on the Secret Intelligence Files on Edith Tudor-Hart, along with the private archive letters of Kim Philby, this finely worked, evocative and beautifully tense novel - by the granddaughter of Kim Philby - tells the story of the woman behind the Third Man.

You can also find Charlotte Philby on Instagram @Charlottte_Philby

Tickets can be bought here :- https://www.lymecrime.co.uk/tickets--contact.html

Top 5 thrillers that explore female friendships By Bryony Pearce

Female friendships can be closer and more intense than romances. Women can be the most loyal and the most vicious in defence of one another and enduring female friendships get us through the hardest of times. We develop these close relationships through sharing mutual life experiences, from our first days at school, university or work, to the antenatal groups that get us through early motherhood. Female friends can be therapists, staunch defenders, cheerleaders and partners in crime. 

But when things go wrong, oh boy! The ending of a close female friendship can be more crippling and more brutal than the ending of a romantic one, yet this is not generally acknowledged. 

When friendship turns to enmity, women can be enormously underhand and creative in their cruelty. Even the ancient Greeks knew that when a woman turns to vengeance it can be shockingly scorched earth (see Euripedes’ Medea).

Consequently, female friendships are rich material for novelists writing thrillers. How could they not be?

My own novel, Little Rumours, deals with three women living in a small Devon village, their relationships to one another and to others. When one of their children goes missing, rumours swirl that one of them, at least, knows why.

But mine is only the latest in a run of thrillers focused on female friendships. Here are some of my favourites:

From Ruth Ware, who writes brilliant thrillers, The Lying Game, is a novel about four women who haven’t seen one another in years, but who literally drop everything to reunite when one of them sends a text: I need you. Secrets and lies surrounding their youth in a boarding school in the marshes come to light when a dead body is discovered. Has one of them broken the rules of the lying game (lie to everyone else but not to one another)?

Claire McGowan’s The Other Wife, is, like Little Rumours, told from the points of view of three very different women whose lives have been or are being controlled by terrible men. But their own secrets mean these women are stronger than anyone realised. 

Cass Green is another of my favourite writers. The Woman Next Door was her debut adult thriller and is told from the point of view of neighbours Hester, a lonely and obsessive older woman, and Melissa, a young mother with a teenaged daughter. When something terrible happens, Melissa is forced to turn to Hester for help. But Hester is not the kind of person you want on your side.

Sarah Naughton is a wonderful writer, who creates characters that completely draw you in (did you read Tattletale?). In The Festival she writes about four friends, who were close in school but have since drifted apart. When one of them turns 40, they go to a festival in their old hometown to celebrate and recapture their youth. But as always, things are not as they seem and not all the women will leave the festival alive.

My final choice is Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty, which tells the story of a group of women, who like those in Little Rumours are forced together by the school gates. But these friends come together to face the world head on, and deal with an issue of school bullying that has its roots in something so much worse. For a change, a thriller about women united, rather than divided. A murder, secrets coming to light and twists and turns make it a tense and unputdownable thriller.

Little Rumours by Bryony Pearce (Harper Collins) Out Now

It started with a rumour. But rumours can be deadly... In a small town, three mothers wave goodbye to their children at the school gates. Naomi has lived in Exton Cross since she was born, and she knows everything there is to know about everyone. Aleema hates it here. It's been three years and she's yet to make a single friend. And she's sure the other mums whisper about her behind her back. Kelly is an outsider. New to the town, she arrives with nothing but her son - and a dark secret. By the end of the school day, one of their children will be missing. And rumours will swirl that one of them knows why...

You can find Bryony Pearce on Twitter @BryonyPearce and on Instagram @BryonyPearce. She can also be found on Facebook.

J M Hall on the idea for A Spoonful of Murder

 I had never seriously considered writing a crime novel. Don’t get me wrong- I love reading them, I’m a massive fan of Agatha Christie. But the truth is- they’re not my world. Incident rooms, forensic science, police procedure- they’re a world away from my world, the Primary school, where wrongdoing consists of cheating in spelling tests, and the odd nicked packet of highlighters.

Then I was the victim of crime. Or rather my father was.

Following the death of my mother it became increasingly apparent that Dad was in the early stages of dementia; the focus of our family became dealing with his daily muddles and confusions. His vague comments about phone calls from the bank were easily lost in amongst all the other day to day mistakes.

The fact that he was subsequently defrauded out of a life-changing sum of money wasn’t actually the most shocking thing to. It was the response of the bank. Confused, inefficient, cheerfully unsympathetic- coupled with a bland, blanket assurance that they were in no way responsible. Hours were spent in communication on our part- calls, emails, letters, reports- all effortlessly disregarded by them. But what emerged, for me as a writer, was a narrative. 

Events- exchanges- mistakes…cover ups. A mundane, almost humdrum reality of evil that felt a lot closer to my world than those high-octane incident rooms I’d read avidly about.

And on top of this emerged other examples of wrongdoing, of other people taking advantage of Dad. The solar panel firm pestering him on a daily basis. The mobile phone company who trapped him into some ludicrous contract. The sackfuls of junk mail promising Dad life-changing wins.

It was almost as shocking as the fraud, to realise just how very vulnerable the elderly are, and how many many people are routinely prepared to exploit that vulnerability.

To say I sat down and turned this all into my first novel is an oversimplification. For a start I’ve been writing all my adult life, so in many ways, it was a case of ‘same old, same old’… But there were three factors in my life at this time that really fired up the writing of the story that became ‘A spoonful of Murder’.

Firstly, it was a great feeling to be taking all that awful experience and using it. In all probability I’ll never have that sense of redress from knowing the fraudster has been brought to book for his actions- but in my mind, my world- they have. The things I wanted to say to him- and to the bank, the junk mail people, the man selling solar panels… I’ve managed to say.

Then there was the world I work in, the primary school. Working full-time would seem to be a massive hindrance to writing a novel- but it was actually the opposite. There’s that massively comforting truism that’s gained when working with 200 plus children- life really does go on. And then working with the people in that environment- predominantly women- afforded me as a person (and a writer) a wonderful sense of context and perspective. However awful my family’s story- it’s just one of many. And whatever the events, whatever the ups and downs- they can be shared, over the photocopier or during playground duty, with people who’ve been there, done that or at the very least know people who have. To make my sleuths retired lady primary school teachers was the ultimate of no-brainers.

And then there was the act of writing itself. Early, early morning, before work, often dark outside, sitting at the dining room table… I was in a world I had complete control over. All the shocks and sadness’s, twists and upsets- were all of my own doing. My creation. For that brief time, I was in a place I couldn’t be touched.

My world is still the staff room rather than the incident room. I still don’t really follow the ins and outs of police procedure. But having seen how mundane and ordinary evil can be- I’ve found of way of addressing that, and making stories about it through the world that I live in.

A Spoonful of Murder by J M Hall (HarperCollins Publisher) Out Now. Introducing the three unlikeliest sleuths you'll ever meet... Every Thursday, three retired school teachers have their 'coffee o'clock' sessions at the Thirsk Garden Centre cafe. But one fateful week, as they are catching up with a slice of cake, they bump into their ex-colleague, Topsy. By the next Thursday, Topsy's dead. The last thing Liz, Thelma and Pat imagined was that they would become involved in a murder. But they know there's more to Topsy's death than meets the eye - and it's down to them to prove it...

Cold Cases in Fiction by Steph Mullin and Nicole Mabry

Get ready to cozy up with page-turning thrillers that solve old cold cases. There’s little more satisfying than when a character solves a mystery that’s haunted them and their town for years, putting together clues and turning lies on their head. In our second thriller, When She Disappeared, we explore the case of popular high school senior, Jessie Germaine, who has been missing for 15 years, only for her body to then be discovered at the bottom of a local swimming hole. Our protagonist Margo, Jessie’s childhood best friend, teams up with a documentary crew that comes to their small mountain town hoping to shine a light on the dark mystery. We loved exploring the idea of this big secret going unsolved for so long in a town where everyone knows everyone, yet they all have something to hide.

Here are five other thrillers that explore cold cases coming back to life after years of the unknown.

In My Dreams I Hold a Knife by Ashley Winstead is a psychological thrill ride that combines fascinating relationship dynamics with a haunting murder on a college campus. Now, those whose lives were turned upside down by the murder are back on campus for their class reunion, haunted by old ghosts everywhere they turn. Alternating between multiple timelines to carefully unravel the web of lies each character has left behind in a group of so-called best friends, Winstead delivers mesmerizing pacing in this exciting “whodunnit” that leaves you second guessing motives every step of the way. Even after the mystery is finally solved…the satisfying conclusion will leave you breathless.

The Chalk Man by C.J. Tudor explores not just one, but three cold cases: the murder of a high school girl, the poisoning of a dog, and the brutal attack on a pastor that leaves him catatonic. The story goes back and forth in time from the 80’s with a group of childhood friends who use a secret code, scrawling stickmen in different colors to pass hidden messages to one another, to present day, where they reconnect after they’ve each received a disturbing note with a scrawled stickman. When one of them dies mysteriously, only our main character, Eddie, believes it was murder. In trying to figure out who’s leaving the notes, Eddie must delve back into the original crimes and uncover the culprit from so long ago. This stunning psychological debut is a must read for solving cold cases.

The Mentor by Lee Matthew Goldberg may need a trigger warning for graphic violence but is well worth the read. This incredible plot follows Ryan, a rising star at a big publishing house, and alternates with his aging college mentor, William. When the two reconnect after many years, William asks Ryan to consider publishing his novel, his magnum opus. While Ryan is ecstatic to give a break to the man who did so much for him, the minute he dives into the manuscript he realizes the book is the most depraved thing he’s ever read. Under pressure from his girlfriend and William to give the book a chance, Ryan reluctantly agrees to finish the book. But by midway through, it’s clear William’s book is outlining the kidnapping and murder of Ryan’s former girlfriend who disappeared in college. Goldberg expertly creates a disturbing psychological tale of murder and revenge to satisfy even the savviest mystery readers.

The Dead Season by Tessa Wegart is the second in her Shana Merchant detective series but could be read as a standalone. After Shana survives being kidnapped by the serial killer, Blake Bram, The Dead Season picks up when Shana is days away from her psych evaluation to rejoin the police force. Just getting her life back together, Shana is shocked when the body of her uncle, who disappeared when Shana was 13 years old, is discovered. Everyone believed he was a deadbeat dad who’d abandoned his family. But the truth was, he never made it out of town. When a young boy is kidnapped, Bram reappears to manipulate Shana into investigating her uncle’s murder, or else the blood of the missing child is on her hands. Stepping back in time to relive old family dramas, Shana must race against the clock to find out what happened to her uncle so many years ago.

Then She Was Gone by Lisa Jewell is a moving family drama that simultaneously pulls at your heartstrings and sends a chill down your spine. After 15-year-old Ellie Mack, the golden child of her family, disappears, they are left to pick up the pieces. Through the darkness and the eventual discovery of Ellie’s remains, they create new relationships and try to mend the deep hole in their hearts from their loss. Navigating these new relationships 10 years after Ellie’s disappearance, her mother, Laurel, meets a new man and his own daughter…who looks exactly like Ellie as a child. Forging connections and asking uncomfortable questions, Laurel is determined to uncover the truth of what happened to her daughter.

When She Disappeared by Steph Mullin and Nicole Mabry. (HarperCollins) Out Now

'On May 26, 2004, Jessie Germaine rode her bike into the forest and disappeared...into thin air.' Margo hasn't been back to Lake Moss since her friend went missing. But as she returns, the news breaks. Her hometown's swimming hole has been Jessie's grave for fifteen years. Digging out her old diary, and steeling herself to face unfriendly ghosts from her past, Margo sets out to help a documentary crew as they return to investigate the infamous case the police bungled. In a town where everyone knows everyone, the killer is certain to be close to home. But the question is: How close?

More information about both authors can be found on their website. You can also find them on Facebook. You can also find them both on Twitter @Steph_Mullin and @NicoleAMabry