Reading and Escapism! - By Dr Luke Deckard

Raymond Chandler criticised Dorothy L Sayers in his essay The Simple Art of Murder (1950) for commenting that crime fiction wasn’t a serious type of literature but one of escapism. She’s not the only one to snub the genre that was an author’s bread and butter. Before Sayers, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle famously hated Sherlock Holmes! He didn’t want to be remembered solely for that character because he felt they were silly, unimportant stories. 

I can imagine Raymond Chandler sitting at his desk, reading these quotes while swishing a glass of whisky, pausing to look at his cat and huff. Chandler’s rebuttal to Sayers was simple: all pleasurable reading is a form of escapism. If that meant your jam was mathematics, philosophy, or Western or romance, that was fine. Chandler disagreed with Sayers’s implication that escapist literature is essentially dumb and unimportant literature. 

Nevertheless, this attitude persists today. I once read a press release for a book described as a “frothy thriller” That baffled me! A book without substance! I would be devastated if my work was described as frothy! I instantly felt bad for the author. My reaction couldn’t have been unlike Chandler’s when reading Sayers’s comments. But it’s not uncommon to see people on social media describe a film or a book as ‘turn your brain off fun’ or ‘you don’t have to think about it.’

This attitude of disposable, empty, forgettable storytelling is far too common. And is often used to excuse poorly told stories. 

When I started to write bad Blood, it was for my PhD at Kingston University. One of the most challenging aspects at the start was battling with the idea of how to make this book meaningful and live up to the quality of what a PhD novel should be. I was dead set on writing a historical noir. I wanted gangsters, femme fatales, and a tough-talking yet charming PI. I wanted it to be thrilling, fun, and sexy. 

But is that literary? Is that good enough? Hard-boiled fiction was birthed out of pulp magazines printed on cheap disposable paper. Were the tricks and tropes just as disposable today? Was there any literary appeal left? I wrestled with these questions. 

In the same essay, Raymond Chandler says that form doesn’t matter; it’s style that counts. What he meant was you can write any ole genre, but it is the author’s flare that makes it pop and stand out. Then, Chandler’s criticism of Sayers and his comments on style all clicked. I knew what I needed to do: escape into the genre. I needed to embrace the form shamelessly and respectfully while making it my own.

That’s what Chandler was getting at—there is no literature of escape in a derogatory sense. Meaning no single genre is less than simply because of its formula.

The filmmaker Robert Meyer Burnett once phrased what audiences are genuinely after: they want good stories told well. Genre is irrelevant. The form isn’t the it thing that makes something work. It’s all about style! The execution. That’s why you can read two books in the same genre and love one but hate the other. Audiences don’t seek out bad, forgettable, disposable art. So, we writers shouldn’t treat stories as such. When we’re hungry, we don’t go into a restaurant and say, ‘Give me the worst thing on the menu, please!’ We want something delicious. 

When I think about the book described as a frothy thriller, what the headline was trying to say was it’s a fun ride. The word choice of frothy was a mistake. The value of fiction doesn’t come from the seriousness of its content or ‘realism’, but from the joy the readers have with a well-executed story. That’s what Burnett means by a good story told well.

And that’s what I attempted to do with Bad Blood. It wasn’t about ‘writing literature’ or trying to make something more out of it. The form is the form. So I wrote it for the people who love noir fiction, who love historical fiction, who love Edinburgh, and tough and gritty atmospheres. There was no shame in embracing the tropes and trying to subvert a few along the way! If someone escapes into my book, that’s a beautiful achievement! 

So readers, feel free to escape into fiction! It’s not a bad thing. But do keep your brains switched on!

Bad Blood by Luke Deckard (Sharpe Books) Out Now

London 1922. American ex-pat Logan Bishop, suffering from shell-shock and an addiction to morphine, is working as a Private Investigator. When Logan’s father, Reverend Daniel Bishop, arrives from Chicago, desperate to see his son, Logan wants nothing to do with him. That is, until his father is brutally attacked. Daniel begs his son to find Greta Matas, a Bolshevik woman with an unknown connection to his father, in Edinburgh before she is murdered. Before Logan can learn more, his father slips into a coma. Logan takes the first train to Edinburgh. The journey proves far from routine, however, and two mysterious men follow the investigator out of Waverley Station. Logan soon discovers that Greta is missing and her son, Peter, is wanted for murder. The case begins to take a darker and deadlier turn than he ever imagined. As Edinburgh police suspect Logan of keeping information from them, the pressure to find Greta and her son increases. Secrets and lies are exposed as Logan clashes with Chicago gangsters, the authorities, and Edinburgh’s elite to expose the truth behind the woman's disappearance.

You can find Bad Blood on Amazon UK and Amazon US

More information about Dr Luke Deckard can be found on his website. You ca also find him on X @LukeWritesCrime. You can also find him on Facebook.

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.

Just A Girl With a Gun Q & A with Jakubowski

AO:- Your latest book sees the return of Cornelia a hit woman whom we first encountered in a short story that was published in PARIS NOIR What made you decide to bring Cornelia back?

MJ:- Somehow Cornelia imposed herself as a haunting presence in so much of the crime fiction I have been writing since that particular anthology. On one hand I liked the character and, on the other, I paradoxically identified with her. In the words of Madame Bovary and Flaubert, ‘Cornelia, c’est moi’, even though I am naturally neither a woman or a hired killer, but I did give her traits that I have… Maniac book collecting, a complicated attitude to sex and relationships, a certain detachment that conceals a turmoil inside, tastes in music.... So she kept on reappearing in some of my other novels as a minor character several times and I pursued her ‘adventures’ in over a handful of short stories. Readers also appeared to enjoy her, so I felt it was time to ‘give’ her a book of her own.

AO:- It is pretty much clear that she is named after Cornell Woolrich whom (I know if I am not mistaken) is your favourite writer. How big an influence was Cornell Woolrich on Cornelia as a character aside from her name?

MJ:- Yes, that is indeed the case. Unlike the majority of Woolrich’s characters she is very much proactive, but she navigates in the same waters, streets and nights in a zone where doom is ever on the horizon and fate plays a large part, a demi-monde of noir and fatalism. I had to reverse engineer some of the stories in which she had appeared to avoid repetitions or contradictions and also cannibalised a few in the process, which was an interesting process.

AO:- One of the great things about Cornelia is the fact that she is a collector of books. All book collectors have at least one prized novel in their collection. Does Cornelia have one and if so which book is it and also do you

MJ:- Many of the titles she collects with the proceeds of her hits are books I either have or covet. I’ve never actually asked her if she has any favourites, but I’m sure they would align with mine. This would include first edition F. Scott Fitzgerald titles, a notorious first state advance proof of John Le Carré’s THE NIGHT MANAGER and many more. I don’t think she’s ever collected Woolrich titles, though, as that might have been incestuous, but I, of course, do. Where we do part ways is she doesn’t appear to collect crime and mystery titles like me, but I do make a reference to her owning some books I actually wrote under a pseudonym; all part of my pulling the strings behind the curtains and setting up my customary hall of mirrors. In addition, there is an anonymous writer she comes across in the interests of the plot who might or might not bear similarities to me!

AO:- Is this really Cornelia's last hurrah?

MJ:- It will be. I’ve exhausted her; I’ve exhausted myself. But I hope I’ve done her proud and over the course of JUST A GIRL WITH A GUN I’ve filled in some of the missing gaps, given her an extra human dimension although her motivations and inner life still remain shrouded in mystery and questions, which I feel is true to real life where I find it impossible to ever understand certain people/characters fully. She’s complicated, certainly not evil;, she’s both strong and weak, a mass of paradoxes. 

AO:- Where did the title JUST A GIRL WITH A GUN come from?

MJ:- It came to me out of the blue. It felt right; like the title of a song. And, ironically, gave me a chance to use the word ‘girl’ in a title, years after the time when it was so much in vogue. I enjoy being out of sync with fashion, although in this instance I also happened to be years ahead of the trend in introducing a female hitwoman, decades before Villanelle, of KILLING EVE! Also, JUST A WOMAN WITH A GUN doesn’t sound right, no?

AO:- The book cover for JUST A GIRL WITH A GUN reminds me of Edward Hopper paintings specifically the 1927 painting Automat. How important is Edward Hopper to you?

MJ:- The world of Woolrich, which Cornelia and her hapless companions inhabits is one I’ve always identified with and is very much part and parcel of Hopper’s art and its liminality; a territory of fixed characters in a city landscape at night, where colours and stances determine their fate, like flies caught in a spider’s web. I had suggested a Hopper sort of mood to the publishers when they canvased me for cover ideas, and they tried to use an actual Hopper painting, but that particular one was still in copyright and therefore financially out of reach – unlike earlier Hopper work before he moved into the waters of noir – so they came up with the clever suggestion to commission Martin Baines to do a variation on a Hopper figure in a book-ish context, which I think works very well.

AO:- Is this the end of your writing novels or will you still continue to write even if it is solely short stories? 

MJ:- Without giving away a double spoiler, it might well be. I have always found writing novels agonising, even though I’ve now given birth to 21 of the bastards. I fear age is catching up with me and neither energy nor the will is there any longer. I’m unsure if I can face writing another, with all the inner pain, sleepless nights, doubts and all that entails. Despite my deep immersion into the world of crime and mystery, my novels in the genre have always been marginal. I have no interest in whodunnits, puzzles, police procedure (indeed I have NEVER had a cop as a character, even minor…). I suppose you could call them psychological thrillers but even then, my novels have been on the outer margins of that category; they’ve never fitted in. I prefer to label them twisted love stories. And I’m not likely to change anymore! My previous two novels, respectively THE LOUISIANA REPUBLIC and THE PIPER’S DANCE were actually a dystopia (albeit with a futuristic PI) and a magical realist fantasy about the Pied Piper of Hamelin and castrating mermaids, and harked back to my early years as a writer in science fiction and fantasy, so I felt as I was about to stand down as Chair of the Crime Writers’ Association that surely what might turn out to be my final novel should be a thriller. Who knows what the future might bring? There has always been a strong element of metafiction or autofiction in my books and I’m unsure whether I could sustain another novel. I will certainly keep on writing and reviewing; in fact since completing JUST A GIRL I have penned a half dozen short stories, albeit mostly in the supernatural genre. I love writing short stories and, frankly, I think they are my best work, and it would be nice to accumulate enough new ones to fill a whole collection; all my previously uncollected ones appeared in 2022 in DEATH HAS A THOUSAND FACES, so another such volume would be great if I could come up with sufficient new material. Prior to embarking on JUST A GIRL I consulted with my agent as to which novel I should then write next as I had two other ideas, one for a mainstream historical novel about British expatriates in Paris in the 1950s, and another for a major, and also quite final, ‘big’ erotica opus. She suggested there was possibly more demand for a thriller, but should I find the courage, the time and the will to write another novel, I would opt for the latter project although both she and my own inner voice are sadly aware there is no likely demand for such a book right now, which is sad. Having said that, despite my past and reputation as a literary ‘pornographer’, I don’t think I could ever go out in public again should I ever write ‘that’ erotic book, but what a way to go! Who knows?

AO:- If any of the answers to my previous question is yes, then what are you working on at the moment that we can look forward to reading.

MJ:- A bunch of short stories are all appearing over the next few months: ‘On Our Way to the Shore’ in TERROR TALES OF THE MEDITERRANEAN, edited by Paul Finch; ‘The Book Collector’ in SOMETHING PECULIAR, GREAT BRITISH HORROR 8, edited by Steve Shaw and ‘Springtime in New Orleans’ in a limited edition collection of new stories inspired by the wonderful French writer Boris Vian from Raphus Press.

AO:- What next for Maxim Jakubowski?

MJ:- You tell me!

Just a Girl With a Gun by Maxim Jakuboswski (Telos Publishing) 1 November 2023

In the neon-lit world of seduction and secrets, Cornelia, a mesmerizing stripper, finds herself pulled into a sinister web spun by the enigmatic organization known only as ‘The Bureau’. Recruited for her hidden talents, she becomes an unlikely assassin, caught between the dance floor and a life of deadly precision. But Cornelia harbours a secret passion that sets her apart from the other killers – she has a penchant for rare books. With each mission she completes, Cornelia indulges her obsession, using her ill-gotten gains to amass a collection that becomes both her refuge and her escape. Amidst the chaos and danger, Cornelia’s path intertwines with Hopley, a fellow assassin haunted by his past. Unwittingly drawn together by their shared world of shadows, they navigate a treacherous landscape where trust is scarce, and survival is paramount. As their forbidden romance blooms amidst the darkness, Cornelia and Hopley find solace in each other’s arms, their connection a fragile thread of love against a backdrop of deceit and danger. Yet, as they delve deeper into the heart of The Bureau, they discover a haunting truth that threatens to tear them apart. In this exotic and gripping thriller, where death is a dance partner and love flickers in the shadows, Cornelia must confront her own loneliness and unravel the mysteries that surround her. Will she find redemption and a chance at a life beyond the deadly stage? Or will the sinister forces at play consume her, leaving only echoes of a lost love in their wake?

Maxim Jakubowski was for over 20 years the owner of the much missed Murder One bookshop which he owned and ran. He was also ran Crime Scene, London's Annual crime film and literary festival. He has worked for many years as an editor in publishing and he currently writes, edits and translates full-time in London where he lives. A former columnist for Time Out and The Guardian he is now a monthly book columnist for Crime Time. Maxim Jakubwoski is also a former Chair of the Crime Writers' Association of Great Britain. More information about Maxim and his work can be found on his website.

Maxim Jakubowski on Black is the Night

 

It actually began with a shot.

An imposing cathedral somewhere in the French provinces. A happy couple on the steps leaving the ceremony behind, smiles on their faces, the bride wearing the obligatory white. And then the shot breaks up the cheering crowd and the groom collapses to the floor.

It was Paris in 1968 and my first encounter with Cornell Woolrich, the week that François Truffaut's 'La Mariée Etait en Noir' opened. A film classic better known here as 'The Bride Wore Black', adapted from the unforgettable novel by Cornell Woolrich.

At first it was a little confusing as, having been brought up in France, I hadn't made the connection between Woolrich and William Irish, a pseudonym he used on a number of books and short stories, and which French publishers somehow had highlighted on the majority of his books issued there. I had probably read a number of his stories in magazines, probably those of a more supernatural bent as I was at the time more of an expert on SF &fantasy and hadn't immediately puzzled out the Irish/Woolrich connection. To this day his books are generally signed by William Irish in France. An oddity of the French publishing scene where, similarly the wonderful novels by my dear, late friend Derek Raymond, are attributed to his real name, Robin Cook (as the US writer of medical chillers is almost unknown there...).

At any rate, this was my introduction to the dark world of death, broken love and melancholy loners that is characteristic of Woolrich.

He is an author's author. The general public mostly know him because of the many film and TV adaptations: 'Phantom Lady', 'Rear Window', Mississippi Mermaid', 'I Married a Dead Man', 'Black Angel', 'Deadline at Dawn', 'Night has a Thousand Eyes', 'Union City', and over 50 others.

Flash forward 20 years and I decide to launch Black Box Thrillers, a new imprint to rediscover some of the classics of noir, much inspired by the fact that so many wonderful US authors appear to be better known in Europe and are mostly out of print in their own language. And my first choice is, naturally, Woolrich. By now I have read all his books and a good chunk of his hundreds of stories and I am not just a fan but, with my own writing hat on, heavily under his influence.

He 'talks' to me; over the gulf of years we share some of the same obsessions: the cloak of night, the breathless passage of time that none of us can halt, the seductiveness of the femme fatale who we know is bad for us but can't stop lusting after, the downbeat endings, the strong sense of despair that life sometimes throws in our path.

I have no doubt that had I not read Woolrich (and a few other noir poets of the night like Marc Behm, David Goodis and Jim Thompson) I might have not begun writing crime & mystery and remained in the SF & fantasy ghetto. So, you know who to blame!

A Sunday dim sum lunch with Nick Landau and Vivien Cheung of the Titan group and my erstwhile silent partners in Murder One saw us brainstorming ideas for some new projects for Titan Books to follow up on the anthologies I had edited for them and which had performed reasonably well. Somehow the subject of Woolrich came up in the conversation as Nick is as much of a classic film fan as I am.

There have been a spate of recent anthologies with American small presses featuring stories influenced by the music of many luminaries: Joni Mitchell, Bruce Springsteen, Billy Joel, Jimmy Buffett, etc... Lightning struck Baker Street (which is where the restaurant we were dining in was...)! Why not do the same with influential writers? We agreed on the spot Woolrich would be the first (I have since followed up with a similar book under the halo of J.G. Ballard, which will appear in 2023).

There were crime authors I knew who shared my passion for Woolrich which I approached and every single one came on board without a moment's hesitation. Then I mentioned the project on social media and was deluged by fervent expressions of interest. Some writers I would never have dreamed of contacting, others whose work does not on the surface appear to have any connection with Woolrich but were adamant in expressing how important he was for them. I had an embarrassment of potential contributors to the anthology and had to turn down so many with a heavy heart. And then there were dozens of speculative submissions; two of which actually made it into the final book.

I am absolutely delighted by the volume that came together. Truly marvellous stories, each and every one flying high under one aspect or another of the melancholy and murderous world that Cornell Woolrich created. Not imitations, but tales that are in his image, some that reflect twists on his themes, others that ingeniously transpose his world into contemporary times without losing the essential poignancy that lies at the heart of his work, every one a winner.

I have now edited, for good or worse, well over a hundred anthologies but 'Black is the Night' is undoubtedly in my Top 5.

Black is the Night edited by Maxim Maxim Jakubowski (Titan Books) Out Now

A gritty and thrilling anthology of 28 new short stories in tribute to pulp noir master, Cornell Woolrich, author of 'Rear Window' that inspired Alfred Hitchock's classic film. Featuring Neil Gaiman, Kim Newman, James Sallis, A.K. Benedict, USA Today-bestseller Samantha Lee Howe, Joe R. Lansdale and many more. An anthology of exclusive new short stories in tribute to the master of pulp era crime writing, Cornell Woolrich. Woolrich, also published as William Irish and George Hopley, stands with Raymond Chandler, Erle Stanley Gardner and Dashiell Hammett as a legend in the genre. He is a hugely influential figure for crime writers, and is also remembered through the 50+ films made from his novels and stories, including Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window, The Bride Wore Black, I Married a Dead Man, Phantom Lady, Truffaut's La Sirene du Mississippi, and Black Alibi. Collected and edited by one of the most experienced editors in the field, Maxim Jakubowski, features original work from: Neil Gaiman, Joel Lane, Joe R. Lansdale, Vaseem Khan, Brandon Barrows, Tara Moss, Kim Newman, Nick Mamatas, Mason Cross, Martin Edwards, Donna Moore, James Grady, Lavie Tidhar, Barry N. Malzberg, James Sallis, A.K. Benedict, Warren Moore, Max Decharne, Paul Di Filippo, M.W. Craven, Charles Ardai, Susi Holliday, Bill Pronzini, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Maxim Jakubowski, Joseph S. Walker, Samantha Lee Howe, O'Neil De Noux , David Quantick, Ana Teresa Pereira, William Boyle

Charlotte Carter - In a world of jazz with Nanette Hayes

 

New Yorker Nanette Hayes the main protagonist in Charlotte Carter's excellent noir jazz infused series is a young black jazz musician who not only has a lust for life but an aptitude for solving crimes. Set in streets of New York this acclaimed series has just been republished by Baskerville with some glorious covers by Bristol based artist Lucy Turner who was asked to redesign the covers. Originally published in the 1990s this underrated but brilliantly written series when first published pointed me in the direction of a character who was not only funny with a sense of humour that made the series stand out but also showed that there could be strong sexually confident women who knew what they wanted and be a dab hand at solving crimes as well. 

At a time when there were not (in my opinion) enough black female crime writers visible within the genre (we did have Eleanor Taylor Bland, Barbara Neely, Valerie Wilson Wesley, and Grace F. Edwards) coming across Charlotte Carter made me realise that one had to dig deeper to find these gems to read and also the fact that this series was and still is a delight, whether you are reading them for the first time or whether you are reacquainting yourself with them like I am. Any author who uses Theolonius Monk song titles as chapter headings is is certainly worth reading.

The first book in the series Rhode Island Red sees jazz loving Nanette offering a fellow street musician a bed for the night. Finding him dead the following morning Nanette is soon involved with a strange and sinister couple, a fellow jazz lover who just happens to be a gangster as well and who is someone that she could easily fall for as well as trying to solve what might be the mystery that the jazz world has been trying to solve for quite sometime. Rhode Island Red was clearly inspired by Dashiell Hammett's The Maltese Falcon, which being one of my all time favourite crime novels is another reason to enjoy this book so much. Furthermore, Charlotte Carter's love of film noir also comes shining through in her prose.

The second book in the series is Coq Au Vin and this time it sees Nanette in the city of love that is Paris. Nanette is trying to find her aunt Vivian who has disappeared. As Nanette hooks up with André a self-taught violinist from Detroit (who is also in Paris) as she searches for her bohemian aunt she finds herself once again deep in the midst of danger, this time in the dark side of historic Paris and at the centre of attention of some extremely dangerous people. Once again Charlotte Carter has continued to share her love of jazz by giving the chapter titles the names of songs sung by some very impressive jazz artists including Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald, John Coltrane, Billy Strayhorn and Clifford Brown to name a few. 

© Ayo Onatade

Like Rhode Island Red, Coq Au Vin is an intensely jazz filled book. Jazz is certainly the main narrative that is seen via both Nanette and André and their interactions with each other. This time around one has the added love affair, that of the relationship between Paris and Black Americans. One cannot forget that some of the best jazz musicians for example Miles Davis, Dexter Gordon, Billie Holiday, John Coltrane, Nina Simone, Theolonius Monk and Charles Mingus all spent time in Paris during their lives. 

The third book in the series is Drumsticks and after a rather tragic sojourn to Paris, Nanette is back in New York drowning her sorrows metaphorically and figuratively and just about managing to make ends meet. Things start to look up when she receives a Voodoo doll as a present. Could her luck be changing after all? It falls to Nanette to investigate when the lady who sent her the doll is found dead. Who killed her and why? Liking up with some unlikely allies sees Nanette delving into the life of Ida the dead women who had rather a large number of dark skeletons in her cupboard.

Whilst it was great to see Nanette in Paris in the second book in the series seeing her back in her usual haunt of New York was a delight. There was slightly more grittiness in the dialogue (which I loved) which was not so evident in Coq Au Vin, but the descriptions of New York were just as vivid as those of Paris. Charlotte Carter certainly knows how to draw her readers into a city. Her descriptions are profound, lush and very much part and parcel of this trilogy. Again Charlotte Carter does not disappoint us when it comes to her chapter titles, with song titles from the Nat King Cole Trio, Ella Fitzgerald, Charlie Parker, Sarah Vaughan, Horace Silver, John Coltrane, Chet Baker and Dexter Gordon.

Nanette's ability to be ferocious in what she delights in whether it be falling in love with men (decent or not) fine wine and food and of course the best of jazz music and not forgetting her innate ability to solve mysteries is what makes this series amongst the best music inspired series to read. 

It is an utter shame that we readers only have a trilogy to read about Nanette Hayes. I certainly wish that there were more. Charlotte Carter not only managed to write a thrilling series with a strong, sexy female character but she also brought jazz to life and enthused this series with jazz music that would delight anyone whether or not the are a novice when it comes to their love of jazz or a longstanding lover of Jazz. 

One of the best things of this series which always makes these books worth rereading is the great sense of place, characterisation and the love of jazz and jazz history that flows through the pages. I love the fact that jazz songs are cited, it makes you want to go and seek out all of them, You don't have to be a fan of jazz to enjoy this series but it does help and its incredibly easy to immerse yourself in reading this series with jazz playing in the background.

If you haven't read this series before then do so. They may have been originally published in the 90s but that has not stopped them from being great reads today. Welcome to the world of sexy, sassy Nanette Hayes, who if anything will bring jazz to life as she solves a number of mysteries. Re-reading these have been a joy. 

Charlotte Carter's Nanette Hayes series has been re-issued by Baskerville a John Murray Press imprint. More information can be found here.

More Classic Hardboiled Crime From Telos

By popular demand, Telos Publishing is reprinting two more of the classic pulp 'hardboiled' Hank Janson detective novels from the 50s. Written by and starring the Chicago Chronicle reporter Hank Janson, the books sold in their millions back in the day, and were also subject to various 'obscenity' trials and court cases for their content and 'salacious' covers.

The two new titles, Milady Took the Rap and The Jane with Green Eyes hail from 1951 and 1950 respectively, and the latter title particularly is noteworthy for it's stand on racism, with several of the characters being particularly nasty examples of the type, and a racially-motivated trial taking place.

Both titles are being reprinted intact, with a warning that the content may offend modern readers, and they also have their original cover art from acclaimed artist Reginald Heade on the front. In the case of Milady Took The Rap, this is reissued complete for the first time with the sensational cover artwork that was intended for its original September 1951 edition but was dropped prior to publication in an act of self-censorship.

'Hank Janson' was in fact a pseudonym for British author Stephen Frances, who enjoyed much success with his novels in post-war Britain.

The two titles join the others already reprinted by Telos, and also herald the publication in December of Hank Janson Under Cover, a sumptuous large format, full colour, guide to every cover that the Hank Janson books have enjoyed world-wide, including many rarities and hard-to-find editions. Author and Janson collector Stephen James Walker has scoured private collections and libraries world-wide in his search for the titles, and this book is an unparalleled work, guaranteed to appeal to pulp paperback collectors world wide.

Milady Took The Rap and The Jane with Green Eyes are published on 26 November 2021

Hank Janson Under Cover is published 4 December 2021

For more information please contact David J Howe - 07905 311 733 david@telos.co.uk

Q & A With Silvia Moreno-Garcia

 

Ayo:- Would you like to tell us a bit about yourself?

Silvia M-G:- I’ve been a writer for about 15 years. I started writing short stories in fanzines and semi-pro zines, then eventually published my first novel in 2015. I’ve written seven novels so far, including Mexican Gothic and Gods of Jade and Shadow.

Ayo:- Who or what made you want to be a writer?

Silvia M-G:- I said I would be a writer since I was a kid. I loved books and movies rather than people. I wasn’t social at all. 

Ayo:- Who or what was the inspiration for Velvet Was The Night?

Silvia M-G:- A real incident. In 1971, the Mexican government sent a paramilitary group to attack and kill students who were marching down a large avenue. It was a peaceful protest but the government was intent on sowing fear. 

Ayo:- Loneliness is a big thread that is running through this book what made you decide to do this as it could equally have worked solely as a historical political thriller.

Silvia M-G:- I wrote this as a noir and my go-to definition of noir comes from Nino Frank who says noirs are "essentially psychological narratives with the action—however violent or fast-paced—less significant than faces, gestures, words—than the truth of the characters.” You have to dig into the minds of the characters, it’s not about the action. 

Ayo:- Why is music also so important in Velvet Was the Night?

Silvia M-G:- Political repression was taking place in Mexico in conjunction with musical repression.

Ayo:- Is there any true life element to your book.

Silvia M-G:- The whole political background of it. My mother remembers the opening incident of the novel. She remembers gunfire and having to hide for hours in a loading dock. 

Ayo:- How much were Elvis and Maite based on real people?

Silvia M-G:- I don’t carbon copy people. Elvis is dyslexic and I’m dyslexic. I read comic books when I was a kid, like Maite does, albeit I read horror ones. But neither one of them is templated after a particular person. 

Ayo:- Book titles are always very important how and why did you decide on Velvet Was The Night? Was this the only title you had for the book?

Silvia M-G:- It was called A Dangerous Eagerness originally, which was a phrase I got from some declassified government documents where functionaries discussed the incident. But my publisher didn’t really like that and pushed me to look for something else and I picked a line from “Blue Velvet.”

Ayo:- How important is politics to you in your writing?

Silvia M-G:- The Dirty War had a profound effect on Mexico and Mexicans and the aftermath is still being felt to this day. 

Ayo:- Can you talk about the significance of The Dirty War?

Silvia M-G:- In general, the USA intervened throughout Latin America, sponsoring and backing coups and destabilizing countries in an effort to impede communist activities. The result is the region that was shredded to pieces. All the undocumented immigrants from Central America who try to make their way north are doing that because their countries were destroyed with the aid of American forces.

Ayo:- What was your research process like?

Silvia M-G:- Secondary sources are relatively easier to obtain in Canada, but primary sources are a pickle. I can’t just walk to an archive and get newspapers from 1971 with any ease. It’s a lot of making do and seeing what I can scrounge. For this, I actually do have a lot of photocopies of newspapers and magazines of the time period. 

Ayo:- What is the more important for you characterisation or plot or do you try and have a happy medium between the two?

Silvia M-G:- I think characters are the backbone of noirs, but it depends on the genre. 

Ayo:- Do you plot before hand or do you just let the writing flow?

Silvia M-G:- I had a calendar of the month of June that I used to determine what happened in each chapter. 

Ayo:- Is there anything you found out whilst writing the book that surprised you?

Silvia M-G:- Some details about the music scene. I hadn’t realised the level of censorship there was. 

Ayo:- Is there anything you wish you hadn't found out? 

Silvia M-G:- No, although it’s never pleasant to look at photos of people who died in a conflict like this. 

Ayo:- Mexican Gothic is about gothic horror. This is a total departure from what you usually write. What made you want to write a noir novel.

Silvia M-G:- I switch between genres. Last year saw the release of two books. The more famous one is Mexican Gothic, but I wrote a noir called Untamed Shore which is very different from this book. There we have a sleepy, coastal village. 

Ayo:- You are also well known for writing short fiction. Which do you prefer?

Silvia M-G:- Novels these days. They pay more, for one. 

Ayo:- Writing is very solitary. How do you maintain that creative process and what advice would you give someone thinking of becoming a writer?

Silvia M.G:- I like being alone. Writing is freelancing, so you need to know there are years of plenty and of famine, and plan accordingly. Most writers have multiple income streams. Don’t expect to live off only one book and one advance check. Learn about the industry, including contracts and taxes. 

Ayo:- Do you have any favourite noir books or films and also historical books. If so which ones are they and why?

Silvia M-G:- I wrote a piece for the Criterion Channel about Le Samourai, which is a magnificent, restrained, French Western with one of the coolest assassins on film. 

Ayo:- Your earlier books have tended more towards Science Fiction and Fantasy this is a dramatic departure. Will you continue to write similar books?

Silvia M-G:- I don’t want to be beholden to one genre. 

Ayo:- What are you working on at the moment?

Silvia M-G:- I have a new novel out next year called The Daughter of Doctor Moreau.

Velvet is the Night by Silvia Moreno-Garcia (Quercus Publishing) Out Now

1970s Mexico City: while student protests and political unrest consume the city, Maite escapes from her humdrum life in the stories of passion and danger that fill the latest issue of Secret Romance. She is deeply envious of her neighbour, Leonora, a beautiful art student who lives the life of excitement and intrigue Maite craves - so when she disappears under suspicious circumstances, Maite jumps at the chance to uncover Leonora's secrets. Maite is not the only one searching for the missing girl. Elvis, a goon-for-hire who is longing to escape his violent life, has been assigned to find the student. Like Maite, he loves old movies, comics and rock 'n' roll . . . and he's beginning to be interested in the mousy secretary who is fast becoming involved in a world of political intrigue. As Maite and Elvis follow Leonora's trail, they journey deeper into a world of student radicals, hitmen, government agents and Russian spies, who are all determined to unearth Leonora's secrets – at gunpoint.

More information about Silvia Moreno-Garcia and her work can be found on her website. You can also find her on Twitter @silviamg and on Facebook.

New Noir Novels

 

More than just a crime fiction, the noir explores how amoral protagonists deal with a corrupt world where everyone has fallen. The genre that thrived in the war-torn 40s and the tumultuous 70s, has made a comeback in the past years. 

Respectively the authors of bestsellers Sirens and The Lost and the Damned, Joseph Knox and Olivier Norek have played a major part in this revival. In a discussion chaired by Ayo Onatade, they tell us what makes the noir genre so riveting and what its resurgence tells about our era. The discussions will be interspersed with readings by actor David Mildo.

New Noir Novels is part of the Beyond Words French Literature Festival and is taking place on Saturday 22 May at 6:00pm. More information can be found here. You can watch it free on the French Institute UK YouTube Channel or on the Institute Francais London Facebook page.

The Lost and The Damned by Olivier Norek (Quercus Publishing) Out Now

A corpse that wakes up on the mortuary slab. A case of spontaneous human combustion. There is little by the way of violent crime and petty theft that Capitaine Victor Coste has not encountered in his fifteen years on the St Denis patch - but nothing like this. Though each crime has a logical explanation, something unusual is afoot all the same, and Coste is about to be dragged out of his comfort zone. Anonymous letters addressed to him personally have begun to arrive, highlighting the fates of two women, invisible victims whose deaths were never explained. Just two more blurred faces among the ranks of the lost and the damned.

Sirens by Joseph Knox (Transworld Publishing Ltd) Out Now

It starts with the girl. How it ends is up to Detective Aidan Waits. Isabelle Rossiter has run away again. When Aidan Waits, a troubled junior detective, is summoned to her father’s penthouse home – he finds a manipulative man, with powerful friends. But retracing Isabelle’s steps through a dark, nocturnal world, Waits finds something else. An intelligent seventeen-year-old girl who’s scared to death of something. As he investigates her story, and the unsolved disappearance of a young woman just like her, he realizes Isabelle was right to run away. Soon Waits is cut loose by his superiors, stalked by an unseen killer and dangerously attracted to the wrong woman. He’s out of his depth and out of time. How can he save the girl, when he can't even save himself?

The Sleepwalker by Joseph Knox (Transworld Publishers Ltd) Out Now

He said he didn't remember killing them... As a series of rolling blackouts plunge the city into darkness, Detective Aidan Waits sits on an abandoned hospital ward, watching a mass murderer slowly die. Transferred from his usual night shift duties and onto protective custody, he has just one job... To extract the location of Martin Wick's final victim before the notorious mass murderer passes away. Wick has spent over a decade in prison, in near-total silence, having confessed to an unspeakable crime that shocked the nation and earned him the nickname of The Sleepwalker. But when a daring premeditated attack leaves one police officer dead and another one fighting for his life, Wick's whispered last words will send Waits on a journey into the heart of darkness... Manipulated by a reticent psychopath from his past, and under investigation from his new partner, Detective Constable Naomi Black, Waits realises too late that a remorseless contract killer is at work. Can Aidan Waits solve his last case before fleeing justice? Or will his name be next on the hit list?

Get Carter and Getting Carter

 

March 2021 marks the 50^th Anniversary of the UK Release of the Cult Classic British Crime Film, Get Carter – Adapted from Ted Lewis' seminal Crime Novel Jack's Return Home.

Born in Manchester in 1940, Ted Lewis grew up in the tough environs of post-war Humberside, attending Hull College of Arts and Crafts before heading for London. His life described a cycle of obscurity to glamour and back to obscurity, followed by death at only 42. 

He sampled the bright temptations of sixties London while working in advertising, TV and films and he encountered excitement and danger in Soho drinking dens, rubbing shoulders with the ‘East End boys’ in gangland haunts. He wrote for Z Cars and had some nine books published. 

Alas, unable to repeat the commercial success of Get Carter, Lewis’s life fell apart, his marriage ended and he returned to Humberside and an all too early demise. 

Getting Carter is a meticulously researched and riveting account of the career of a doomed genius. Long-time admirer Nick Triplow has fashioned a thorough, sympathetic and unsparing narrative. Required reading for noirists, this book will enthral and move anyone who finds irresistible the old cocktail of rags to riches to rags.

In The Spotlight: Sara Sheridan

Name:- Sara Sheridan

Job:- Author and activist

Website:- http://www.sarasheridan.com

Twitter @sarasheridan

Introduction:-

Sara Sheridan is a Scottish writer over over 20 books which the include cosy crime Mirabelle Bevan noir series. The first book n the Mirabelle Bevan series is Brighton Belle (2012) subsequently followed by London Calling (2012), England Expects (2014), British Bulldog (2015), Operation Goodwood (2016), Russian Roulette(2017) and Indian Summer (2019). The most recent book is Highland Fling (2020). In 2017 she wrote the companion guide to the ITV series, Victoria and in 2019 she also wrote the companion guide to Andrew Davies’s adaptation of Jane Austen’s final, unfinished novel, Sanditon.

Current book?

Literally finished last night: Tough Jews by Rich Cohen, which is non-fiction about 1940s Jewish gangsters in New York. 

Favourite book

This is like picking a favourite kid. I mean HOW? I’m going to reply by saying books that resonate with me are Eva Ibbotson’s adult fiction, Lorna Moon’s brilliant short stories, The Green Mile by Ann Enright, The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman.

Which two characters would you invite to dinner and why?

If you mean fictional characters: - Jane Marple because she is my lifelong favourite character (even though someone might get murdered while she was visiting cos that happens a lot) and Johnathan Strange because of the magic. 

How do you relax?

I’m not very good at relaxing but I deep breathe several times a day and that helps me to pace myself. I also love walking and swimming. Plus if things get really stressful I knit. (I know – I’m a granny, basically)

What book do you wish you had written and why? Oh gosh – well you wanted 2 of my favourite historical novels and why and these tie in with this question so….

Water Music by TC Boyle, which is about Mungo Park’s doomed trips down the Niger in the late 1700s/early 1800s – absolutely the best historical novel I ever read. I seethe with jealousy over the way Boyle captures the rambunctious late Georgian era. 

Next – Poor Things by Alasdair Gray, which I love for its wit. Alasdair was a very funny man and this book set in Victorian Glasgow is a riot. 

Now this is tricky cos neither of those are historical crime. I mean – I don’t consider Christie historical crime cos she wrote contemporary crime – it’s just that time passed. This is further complicated because the two genres tell their stories in different ways. So if I’m picking 2 historical crime books ie crime stories written in a past era by a writer not living in that era, it would be:

Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco. The medieval fascinates me and there is an inescapable tension to this book that I LOVE. 

Fingersmith by Sarah Waters which is clever but still manages to engage the heart. I also enjoy Waters’s female characters a lot – they feel real.

What would you say to your younger self if you were just starting out as a writer.

I’d say keep going! I never meant to be a writer so I think the younger me would reply ‘what are you talking about?’ I was always an enthusiastic reader, and then I had to take some time off work and decided to write a novel (really so I could say I was doing something….) It sold 3 weeks after I sent off the first draft and went into the top 50 when it was published and that was that. 

How would you describe your series character?

Mirabelle is an evolving character – we first meet her in the early 1950s when she is grieving and in post-war traumatic shock. Today we’d recognise her as being mildly depressed. The whole country was, pretty much. Over the series, she cheers up (in fact, the series in a way is that story, about how Britain cheered up after WWII). She’s resourceful, moral, clear-sighted and sexy. She also dresses very well. Nothing like me. 

Highland Fling by Sara Sheridan.

Scottish Highlands, 1958, Britain is awash in Cold War anxiety as Mirabelle Bevan heads for the Highlands on a holiday to visit Superintendent Alan McGregor's family. More glamorous than she expected, the Robertsons welcome her with open arms and an array of cocktails, but she has scarcely arrived when the body of an American fashion buyer turns up brutally murdered, plunging the local village into disarray and sending shockwaves around the close, Highland community. Mirabelle can't resist investigating, but what she finds lays the limitations of her feelings for McGregor bare and calls into question the loyalties of all those around her from the Robertson's housekeeper Mrs Gillies to the family of the dead woman. What started as a relaxing break in scenic surroundings soon spirals into a week fraught with danger. As the press descend on the Robertson's Highland estate, it rapidly becomes clear that things are not as black and as they first appeared and Mirabelle can't count on anyone . . .