Teresa Solana on Black Storms

“Black storms shake the sky/ Dark clouds blind our eyes…” are the opening lines of The Varsovian, a song of Polish origins the Spanish anarchist movement adopted as an anthem at the end of the nineteenth century. The novel’s title refers to the first line of this song that is entitled To the barricades in Catalan and Spanish.

At the start of the twentieth century, the Basque Country and Catalonia were the only territories in Spain that had experienced an industrial revolution that created a wealthy bourgeoise and an organized working-class. The development of the Catalan textile industry meant the workers’ movement became influential, and it was divided as it was in the rest of Europe: at a time when workers faced quasi-slave conditions in factories with long, exhausting days and wages that condemned them to extreme poverty; socialists, communists and anarchist couldn’t agree on how to achieve a better, more just society, and what should be the role of the state. 

The anarchists were prominent in workers’ struggles in Catalonia in the first decades of the twentieth century and during the Civil War (1936-1939). Many of them, like the grandfather of Norma Forester, the detective at the centre of the novel, were young idealists who rejected the Stalinist model that had triumphed in the Soviet Union and who, when war broke out, came to Spain from different parts of Europe to fight for the Republic in the International Brigades. Black Storms isn’t a historical novel, but it does focus on the open wounds of a war that ended with a dictatorship that lasted forty years and allowed a dictator to die in his bed without being tried for any of his crimes.

In July 1936, General Francisco Franco initiated a military coup with a view to overthrowing the Republican government that had been legally elected to power. The war, that Franco extended unnecessarily in order to physically exterminate the Republicans, as pointed out by historians like Paul Preston, lasted three very long years and opened the way to a dictatorship and one-party state. They were grim years, presided over by the khaki uniforms of the military and the black soutanes of priests, while the Europe that had defeated Hitler and Mussolini in the Second World War, fearful of the advance of communism, looked the other way and left the population of Spain to suffer the atrocities wrought by the fascists.

After the dictator’s death in 1975, the period known as the Transition began, based on an agreement to re-establish democracy reached by those who had been committed to the dictatorship and a good number of the parties and organisations that had fought against it. The Transition implied a peaceful transfer of power in exchange for letting the crimes of the Franco regime go unpunished; it pretended to heal a wound that has remained open ever since. In 2007, pressure from the Associations for the Victims of Francoism and the need to bring justice for all those who suffered persecution or violence during and after the civil war led to the passing of a law in Spain that is popularly known as the Law of Historical Memory, a law that at the same time helped to bring to light the crimes committed by Franco’s regime.

This is the context in which Black Storms unfolds, a novel that begins with the murder of a professor of contemporary history and specialist in the civil war. The investigation of the murder, led by a detective who happens to be the granddaughter of a man from Manchester who fought with the International Brigades and was executed in Barcelona at the end of the civil war, takes place in years when Spanish society was debating whether it would be better to forget the past and turn the page, or whether it was necessary to revisit that past, however painful that may be, in order to bring justice to the victims and call to account and name their executioners. It is a debate that remains open in a Spain, where many families are still looking for their dead in unnamed mass graves by roadsides and where streets and squares still carry the names of the fascists who murdered them. And it is a debate that is more necessary than ever in Europe at a time when the black clouds of fascism are returning to haunt the continent. “Black storms shake the sky/ Dark clouds blind our eyes…” are the opening lines of The Varsovian, a song of Polish origins the Spanish anarchist movement adopted as an anthem at the end of the nineteenth century. The novel’s title refers to the first line of this song that is entitled To the barricades in Catalan and Spanish.

At the start of the twentieth century, the Basque Country and Catalonia were the only territories in Spain that had experienced an industrial revolution that created a wealthy bourgeoise and an organized working-class. The development of the Catalan textile industry meant the workers’ movement became influential, and it was divided as it was in the rest of Europe: at a time when workers faced quasi-slave conditions in factories with long, exhausting days and wages that condemned them to extreme poverty; socialists, communists and anarchist couldn’t agree on how to achieve a better, more just society, and what should be the role of the state. 

The anarchists were prominent in workers’ struggles in Catalonia in the first decades of the twentieth century and during the Civil War (1936-1939). Many of them, like the grandfather of Norma Forester, the detective at the centre of the novel, were young idealists who rejected the Stalinist model that had triumphed in the Soviet Union and who, when war broke out, came to Spain from different parts of Europe to fight for the Republic in the International Brigades. Black Storms isn’t a historical novel, but it does focus on the open wounds of a war that ended with a dictatorship that lasted forty years and allowed a dictator to die in his bed without being tried for any of his crimes.

In July 1936, General Francisco Franco initiated a military coup with a view to overthrowing the Republican government that had been legally elected to power. The war, that Franco extended unnecessarily in order to physically exterminate the Republicans, as pointed out by historians like Paul Preston, lasted three very long years and opened the way to a dictatorship and one-party state. They were grim years, presided over by the khaki uniforms of the military and the black soutanes of priests, while the Europe that had defeated Hitler and Mussolini in the Second World War, fearful of the advance of communism, looked the other way and left the population of Spain to suffer the atrocities wrought by the fascists.

After the dictator’s death in 1975, the period known as the Transition began, based on an agreement to re-establish democracy reached by those who had been committed to the dictatorship and a good number of the parties and organisations that had fought against it. The Transition implied a peaceful transfer of power in exchange for letting the crimes of the Franco regime go unpunished; it pretended to heal a wound that has remained open ever since. In 2007, pressure from the Associations for the Victims of Francoism and the need to bring justice for all those who suffered persecution or violence during and after the civil war led to the passing of a law in Spain that is popularly known as the Law of Historical Memory, a law that at the same time helped to bring to light the crimes committed by Franco’s regime.

This is the context in which Black Storms unfolds, a novel that begins with the murder of a professor of contemporary history and specialist in the civil war. The investigation of the murder, led by a detective who happens to be the granddaughter of a man from Manchester who fought with the International Brigades and was executed in Barcelona at the end of the civil war, takes place in years when Spanish society was debating whether it would be better to forget the past and turn the page, or whether it was necessary to revisit that past, however painful that may be, in order to bring justice to the victims and call to account and name their executioners. It is a debate that remains open in a Spain, where many families are still looking for their dead in unnamed mass graves by roadsides and where streets and squares still carry the names of the fascists who murdered them. And it is a debate that is more necessary than ever in Europe at a time when the black clouds of fascism are returning to haunt the continent. “Black storms shake the sky/ Dark clouds blind our eyes…” are the opening lines of The Varsovian, a song of Polish origins the Spanish anarchist movement adopted as an anthem at the end of the nineteenth century. The novel’s title refers to the first line of this song that is entitled To the barricades in Catalan and Spanish.

At the start of the twentieth century, the Basque Country and Catalonia were the only territories in Spain that had experienced an industrial revolution that created a wealthy bourgeoise and an organized working-class. The development of the Catalan textile industry meant the workers’ movement became influential, and it was divided as it was in the rest of Europe: at a time when workers faced quasi-slave conditions in factories with long, exhausting days and wages that condemned them to extreme poverty; socialists, communists and anarchist couldn’t agree on how to achieve a better, more just society, and what should be the role of the state. 

The anarchists were prominent in workers’ struggles in Catalonia in the first decades of the twentieth century and during the Civil War (1936-1939). Many of them, like the grandfather of Norma Forester, the detective at the centre of the novel, were young idealists who rejected the Stalinist model that had triumphed in the Soviet Union and who, when war broke out, came to Spain from different parts of Europe to fight for the Republic in the International Brigades. Black Storms isn’t a historical novel, but it does focus on the open wounds of a war that ended with a dictatorship that lasted forty years and allowed a dictator to die in his bed without being tried for any of his crimes.

In July 1936, General Francisco Franco initiated a military coup with a view to overthrowing the Republican government that had been legally elected to power. The war, that Franco extended unnecessarily in order to physically exterminate the Republicans, as pointed out by historians like Paul Preston, lasted three very long years and opened the way to a dictatorship and one-party state. They were grim years, presided over by the khaki uniforms of the military and the black soutanes of priests, while the Europe that had defeated Hitler and Mussolini in the Second World War, fearful of the advance of communism, looked the other way and left the population of Spain to suffer the atrocities wrought by the fascists.

After the dictator’s death in 1975, the period known as the Transition began, based on an agreement to re-establish democracy reached by those who had been committed to the dictatorship and a good number of the parties and organisations that had fought against it. The Transition implied a peaceful transfer of power in exchange for letting the crimes of the Franco regime go unpunished; it pretended to heal a wound that has remained open ever since. In 2007, pressure from the Associations for the Victims of Francoism and the need to bring justice for all those who suffered persecution or violence during and after the civil war led to the passing of a law in Spain that is popularly known as the Law of Historical Memory, a law that at the same time helped to bring to light the crimes committed by Franco’s regime.

This is the context in which Black Storms unfolds, a novel that begins with the murder of a professor of contemporary history and specialist in the civil war. The investigation of the murder, led by a detective who happens to be the granddaughter of a man from Manchester who fought with the International Brigades and was executed in Barcelona at the end of the civil war, takes place in years when Spanish society was debating whether it would be better to forget the past and turn the page, or whether it was necessary to revisit that past, however painful that may be, in order to bring justice to the victims and call to account and name their executioners. It is a debate that remains open in a Spain, where many families are still looking for their dead in unnamed mass graves by roadsides and where streets and squares still carry the names of the fascists who murdered them. And it is a debate that is more necessary than ever in Europe at a time when the black clouds of fascism are returning to haunt the continent. 

Black Storms by Teresa Solana (Corylus Books) Out 25th October 2024

A country that doesn't acknowledge its past is destined to repeat its mistakes. Why murder a sick old man nearing retirement? An investigation into the death of a professor at the University of Barcelona seems particularly baffling for Deputy Inspector Norma Forester of the Catalan police, as word from the top confirms she's the one to lead this case. The granddaughter of an English member of the International Brigades, Norma has a colourful family life, with a forensic doctor husband, a hippy mother, a squatter daughter and an aunt, a nun in an enclosed order, who operates as a hacker from her austere convent cell. This blended family sometimes helps and often hinders Norma's investigations. It seems the spectres of the past have not yet been laid to rest, and there are people who can neither forgive nor forget the cruelties of the Spanish Civil War and all that followed.

The Age of Curiosity by Leonora Nattrass

It was Christmas 2022, and I was between projects, whiling away the holiday by mulling over my favourite Georgian romantic poets, and wondering if some episode in their often eccentric lives might provide a spark for my next historical mystery.

Modern biographies are all very well, but the most fun and detailed accounts are often contained in older ones, usually heavier on narrative and lighter on analysis. Accordingly, I was sitting in the festive kitchen, idly reading Alexander Gilchrist’s 1880 Life of William Blake, when I first came across the extraordinary story of seventeen-year-old Blake’s involvement with Westminster Abbey. 

Blake, then apprenticed to an engraver in London, was sent to the abbey to make sketches of the tombs and monuments for a forthcoming book. “From 1773, the Gothic monuments were for years his daily companions,” Gilchrist says. “Shut up alone with these solemn memorials of far-off centuries, the spirit of the past became his familiar companion.” 

This seemed very romantic – and nicely humanised by the fact that he often got locked in when the vergers forgot about him. I could already easily imagine strange goings on between the hundreds of eerie carved figures which crowd the abbey. 

But then, reading on, the plot thickened. 

In 1774, members of the London Society of Antiquaries appeared at the abbey, with permission from the king to open the tomb of Edward I, “Longshanks”, of Braveheart fame. The tyrant who threw his son’s lover bodily out of a window, sent Mel Gibson to be disembowelled, and pinched the Stone of Scone. (Other accounts of his character are available.) 

Edward’s tomb was of special interest to the antiquaries, since his will had ordained that after his death (in 1307) his tomb should be regularly opened and his body embalmed so that it might accompany any future English army against the Scots. This task had apparently been faithfully performed throughout the medieval period but the custom had been forgotten during the English Civil War and Commonwealth. 

When Longshanks’ tomb was opened, the antiquaries were delighted to find the still-robed, well-preserved mummy holding replicas of Edward the Confessor’s coronation sceptres which Cromwell had melted down a century earlier.

“I cannot help hoping that Blake (unseen) assisted at the ceremony,” Gilchrist ended his account of this little episode. 

By now, I certainly hoped so too, and only a brief recce on Google revealed that Gilchrist had missed out the best bit: Blake hadn’t just been present; he’d actually been roped in to sketch the mummified body of the king for posterity! 

What could be more fabulous than Westminster Abbey, the Society of Antiquaries, medieval mummies, and William Blake all together? 

The Society of Antiquaries was the archaeological equivalent of the Royal Society for scientists. Its members were very eager to find physical evidence for old historical accounts, some of which read like outrageous fiction to us today. The earth had been created at twelve noon, on the 23 October 4004 BC for instance; and Britain’s origin story involved exiled warriors from Troy fighting giants and tossing them off the cliffs at Totnes. 

The driving force behind the Society’s request to open the tomb was the elderly Joseph Ayloffe, who went on to write the official account of the event, ably assisted by (among others) fellow antiquarian, Daines Barrington. 

Barrington was a member of the Royal Society as well as the Antiquaries and, with the characteristic chutzpah of the times, was a prolific author on a remarkable variety of topics: childhood prodigies (how created?); bird song (a language?); and the possibility of reaching the North Pole (James Cook was to be roped in). With such eclectic expertise, opening the tomb of an ancient king wasn’t going to faze him!

Nowadays such an undertaking would doubtless be hedged about with safeguards and sucked-teeth warnings, but they were an intrepid lot in those days. And even a hundred years later, the Dean of the Abbey cheerfully dug up dozens of tombs on the flimsiest of pretexts. Such irreverence in such a reverent place seemed even riper for murder and mayhem. 

I was lucky enough to see the Abbey accounts for 1774, with all the names of the gardeners, vergers and other abbey servants of that year neatly inscribed beside their wages. Their names make it to the novel, but my badly behaved clergymen are all fictional, along with the outrageous, murderous consequences of what Gilchrist calls that “highly interesting bit of antiquarian sacrilege.”

Bells of Westminster by Leonora Nattrass (Profile Books) Out Now 

London, 1774. The opening of a royal tomb will end in murder...Susan Bell spends her days within the confines of Westminster Abbey, one of many who live in the grounds of the ancient building. Her father, the kindly but foolish Dean of Westminster, is always busy keeping the many canons and vergers in check, when not being romantically pursued by forceful widows. Life at the abbey is uneventful, even after the unwelcome arrival of Susan's cousin Lindley and his unusual scientific demonstrations. That is until the Society of Antiquaries come armed with a letter from King George III. They wish to open the tomb of Edward I, each to investigate their own academic interests - whether it be rumours of the royal body's embalmment, an obsession with Arthurian legends or even a supposed Roman temple to Apollo beneath the abbey's undercroft. However, as the Society prepares to open the tomb, a ghostly figure is seen walking the abbey cloisters, wearing the crown and shroud of the dead king. There is further uproar when one of the Antiquaries is found viciously murdered, and the corpse of Edward I is stolen. With her father's position under threat from the scandal, Susan feels bound to investigate these strange occurrences. Could one of the Society members be harbouring a murderous secret? Or is one of the abbey's own a killer?

More information about Leonora Natrass can be found here.

She can also be found on X @LeonoraNattrass and on instagram @leonoranattrass.

The Picture of Deon Meyer

 

We hadn’t seen Deon Meyer in the UK for a few years, much of the interruption being the COVID-19 global pandemic – which was eerily echoed in his extraordinary novel FEVER released in the summer of 2017.

FEVER was met with huge acclaim – here’s the Shots Magazine review HERE – it also enjoyed a second burst of interest in 2020-2021 during the global pandemic years due to its apocalyptic themes that had migrated from fiction into fact.

I enjoyed spending an afternoon with him back in 2017 discussing our mutual interest in post-apocalyptic fiction both literary and film.

Deon highlighted his favourite Post-Apocalyptic works HERE and when we compared notes naturally Stephen King’s The Stand as well as Robert McCammon’s Swansong and Richard Matheson’s I am Legend came up.  We were also both readers of John Christopher [though he was actually Sam Youd and deployed an array of pennames over the years of which the John Christopher is the one he was most associated with]. From the pen of Christopher would come many science fiction novels that featured apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction. It was his 1956 novel The Death of Grass that allowed him to write full-time [filmed as No Blade of Grass] which he wrote while working in South Africa.

We had both read work such as Neville Shute’s On the Beach, A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller, Jr., John Wyndham’s The Day of the Triffids, PD James’ Children of Men, and then we discussed the films that evoke that Mad Max world, as well as the myriad disaster movies of this sub-genre.

The article that came from that afternoon in 2017 is archived HERE

But back to 2024, post pandemic…..

Hodder and Stoughton had organised a small gathering of London Book Reviewers at the renowned Vivat Bacchus restaurant in the Farringdon district of London.  We were treated to fine South African wine and exotic delicacies, while we chatted to Deon and his charming wife Marianne and our host Naimh Anderson from Hodder and Stoughton publishing.

Joining the Shots Teams of Mike Stotter and Ayo Onatade were the ubiquitous [and knowledgeable] Barry Forshaw from the Financial Times [among others], Jon Coates, editorial from The Express and other journalists.

Of great interest was the extraordinary Netflix action thriller Heart of the Hunter written by Deon Meyer and Willem Grobler based on Deon’s novel of the same name.

Deon’s book HEART OF THE HUNTER was first published in Afrikaans in 2002 (as PROTEUS) and has since been translated into 14 different languages worldwide. It is published in South Africa in Afrikaans by Human & Rousseau and translated into English by K.L. Seegers: in the UK it is published by Hodder & Stoughton, and in the US and Canada by Grove Atlantic. It was selected as one of Chicago Tribune’s 10 best mysteries and thrillers of 2004, longlisted for the IMPAC Literary Award 2005 (now the Dublin Literary Award) and won the Deutsche Krimi Preis, International Category, 2006.

In the Netflix Original film adaptation, Zuko Khumalo is an unassuming family man with a deadly past – but his tranquil world is abruptly turned upside down when an old colleague calls on him to honour an oath he made and save the country from venal political interests. Though he resists being pulled back into his previous life, it becomes clear that events already pose a deadly threat to his domestic ambitions and the peaceful family life he holds so dear. HEART OF THE HUNTER is a tale of one man’s struggle for survival against a corrupt government, a group of bloodthirsty killers and, most of all, against his past.

Read More from Blake Freidman Agency HERE

Though the main talking point was Deon’s upcoming novel LEO which I just read –

It has been a little while since we’ve been riding shotgun with Detective Benny Griessel in South Africa but the wait is finally over with the release of this explosive and violent thriller.

While preparing for his upcoming wedding, Griessel with partner Vince Cupido get involved investigating the death of a female student cyclist on a desolate mountain pass, as well as the principal suspect Basie Small found dead with all the trappings of a professional assassination. Their superiors seem keen to dismiss Basie Small’s murder as a robbery gone tragically wrong. What Basie Small was ‘doing’ may lead Benny and Vince into dangerous intrigue and a conspiracy of sorts that lies at the heart of the country – or does it?

Read the full Shots Magazine review HERE

We present a few photos of the evening as well as Deon’s previous UK visits – I remarked to Deon Meyer that he must have a special painting in his attic, as he has not aged at all over the years we’ve known him – Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray comes to mind I said - which produced a roar of laughter. 

Shots Magazine would like to pass our thanks to Niamh Anderson of Hodder and Stoughton for managing a wonderful launch for Deon - and thanks to his wife Marianne for a wonderful chat.

Foot Note: In memory of Saul Reichlin (1943-2023) from Ali Karim

I would encourage our readers to seek out Deon’s audiobooks narrated by the late Saul Reichlin. His narration / readings are excellent, bringing Deon Meyers’ [and other authors] work to vibrant life.

I was fortunate to have been seated next to him during Crimefest 2009’s Gala Dinner – we had a memorable evening and he is without doubt one of the most interesting people I have met. To cap the evening in style, Saul Reichlin was presented with the best audiobook of the year as voted by Crimefest delegates for The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. We kept in contact for a number of years, and I so miss his laughter.

Saul Reichlin worked for six decades as an actor, writer, producer and director, but was most in demand for his rich, warm vocal tones, which he lent to many video games and audiobooks. He narrated more than 245 books including work by Deon Meyer.

He was a tremendous man of the arts, and great raconteur.

Read More HERE

Second Coming

 

The original title of Stephen King's second novel “Salem's Lot” was “Second Coming”. King was inspired to write the novel after brainstorming about what would happen if Dracula were to appear in modern-day small-town America.

“I decided I wanted to find out, so I wrote a novel,” said King in 1975.

Though he initially planned to title the novel “Second Coming, he changed it to “Jerusalem's Lot” on the advice of his wife, novelist Tabitha King, who thought the original title sounded too much like a "bad sex story." King's publishers then shortened it to “Salem’s Lot”, considering that “Jerusalem's Lot” sounded too religious.

The corruption in the government was a significant factor in the inspiration of the story, King recalls at that paranoiac time of Nixon, corruption and the Whitehouse tapes in 1973 –

“Every novel is to some extent an inadvertent psychological portrait of the novelist, and I think that the unspeakable obscenity in 'Salem's Lot has to do with my own disillusionment and consequent fear for the future. 

In a way, it is more closely related to Invasion of the Body Snatchers than it is to Dracula. The fear behind 'Salem's Lot seems to be that the Government has invaded everybody.”

The novel was first adapted into a highly successful CBS miniseries in 1979, directed by Tobe Hopper [renowned for his Texas Chainsaw Massacre] and now in 2024, a new film version directed by Gary Dauberman has been released. Dauberman is best known for writing horror films Annabelle, Annabelle: Creation and The Nun, as well as co-writing the 2017 film adaptation of Stephan King’s “It”.

So it was excitement all the way when Shots Magazine Editors Mike Stotter and Ali Karim were invited by Stephen King’s UK publishers [Hodder and Stoughton] to a press screening of the new film version [and reworking] of Salem’s Lot ahead of its UK Cinema release.

It should be noted that Warner Brothers [Discovery] released Salem’s Lot in America to its streaming service MAX [much to Stephen King’s irritation] while in the UK Warner Brothers Pictures opted for a full nationwide cinema release. To celebrate this theatrical release Warner Bros UK hired out the prestigiously historic venue, London’s Regent Street Cinema for its launch on Tuesday 8^th of October.

The Regent Street Cinema was first opened in 1848 and is housed in the flagship building of the University of Westminster. When it was first opened, it was used as a theatre. In late February 1896, the cinema played a short movie by the Lumière Brothers. It was the first motion picture shown in the United Kingdom.

The cinema was decorated in spooky fashion, with actors mingling amongst the invited guests and assembled journalists – with bloody cocktails, wine and blood bags with a weird concoction.

The film though two hours long moved at a frantic pace, with plenty of jump scares bound to a rousing soundtrack which included the late Gordon Lightfoot’s Sundown, as well as Donovan’s Hurdy Gurdy Man.

We were talking to journalist and editor at The Express Jon Coates prior to the start of the film. It was no surprise that Salem’s Lot was his first Stephen King novel and how it deeply impacted his love of this author’s output. Coates was not alone.

Jeffery Deaver noted that “King Singlehandedly made popular fiction grow up. While there were many good best-selling writers before him, King, more than anybody since John D. MacDonald, brought reality to genre novels. He's often remarked that Salem's Lot was Peyton Place meets Dracula, and so it was. The rich characterization, the careful and caring social eye, the interplay of story line and character development announced that writers could take worn themes such as vampires and make them fresh again.”

Peter Straub recalls that "One day I wandered into a very good book store and saw Salem’s Lot on the main table. If I had known that the book was about vampires, I might not have bought it. But I did buy it, and when I learned that one of the main characters was a vampire, it hit me like a ton of bricks. I thought, 'Oh my God, this guy is working with a very tired, almost exhausted, trope and he’s making something really vibrant out of it.' So I became a huge Stephen King fan on the spot."

So as the curtain came down, and we mused over the new film, the consensus we agreed upon was -

It’s hard to pare down such a dense and thematically complex novel such as Salem’s Lot into a two hour movie, even Tobe Hooper struggled with a two part miniseries back in 1979/1980. In our opinion Gary Dauberman had crafted an elegant updating to this gothic tale – though as readers, we would always steer you to grabbing a copy of King’s novel from Hodder and Stoughton – click here

Or explore Stephen King’s more recent books – reviewed here at Shots Magazine via the links below.

HOLLY – now out in paperback

YOU LIKE IT DARKER – still out in Hardcover

And an article here WORKING WITH THE KING is worth perusing.

We present a few photos from the launch party for SALEM’S LOT 2024 in LONDON

Shots Magazine would like to thank Philippa Pride and Francesca Russell of Hodder and Stoughton as well as Warner Brothers Pictures UK for a wonderfully creepy evening.

New historical novel set in Bristol and Shropshire published

A true tale of attempted murder, mystery and love that marked a landmark case in British legal history 

Bristol-born author Frederick J Hillberg is celebrating the publication of his new historical novel, ‘The Dangerous Journey’. Set in 1840’s Victorian England, the story brings to life the brutal attempted murder on Bristol accountant William Miller Mackreth  in the Shropshire town of Ludlow - a crime that reverberated across Britain and the colonies. Based on real events, this gripping tale of mystery, love and endurance, is written by William’s great-great-grandson who recreates a moving and faithful account of the shocking attack by the enigmatic Josiah Mister, William’s recovery and the sensational trial that followed.

Frederick J Hillberg

The author Frederick J Hillberg, who is retired, shared his insights into researching and writing his great-great-grandfather’s extraordinary near-death encounter over 150 years ago, “I began working on the project several years ago when investigating our family tree. I knew that William Mackreth was a wealthy businessman in Bristol but it wasn’t until a visit to the Bristol Archives and a reference to the ‘Ludlow Chest’ that the full story began to unfold.”

 

A landmark case in British legal history that shocked Victorian society

A trip to Ludlow revealed an unexpected truth: William Mackreth had been at the heart of a famous local tale of mistaken identity, culminating in a vicious attack with a razor blade at the well-known Angel Inn (still standing) and became a landmark legal case in British history.  “As I delved deeper, I was amazed at the extent to which my great-great- grand father’s ordeal had captured the attention of Victorian society. Even Charles Dickens is believed to have mentioned the case in a letter to a friend.” Hillberg added.

The novel not only recounts the events in Ludlow but also paints a vivid picture of life in Bristol during the era, highlighting Mackreth’s struggle to recover with the help of his fiancée, Jane. Hillberg explores a time when Bristol was governed by ‘Bristol Time’ and ‘Bristol Nails,’ and where an ‘upstairs downstairs’ culture was still prevalent and the scourge of cholera outbreaks spared no one. 

The author added, “It is a remarkable tale, almost stranger than fiction, not only due to the nature of the crime and the sheer number of coincidences but also the fact that my great-great-grandfather survived the attempted murder that left him scarred for life.  I am incredibly proud to have been able to bring this piece of family history to light. I think the book will appeal strongly to anyone with an interest in local history, crime and mystery, or a touch of romance.”

When not writing, Fred is an active figure in his local community and his pastimes include gardening, photography, coin & stamp collecting and reading historical biographies. In 2023 Fred published his first children’s book, Brave Cat Millie (ISBN: 9781916095069 ).

 

The paperback version of The Dangerous Journey (ISBN: 9781839528200) published by Brown Dog Books (https://www.browndogbooks.uk/) is priced at £9.99 (RRP) and is available to order from all bookshops from 17^th October as well as on-line. An eBook version priced at £3.99 will be available via Amazon (Kindle), Kobo devices and Apple iBooks.

Petrona Award Shortlist Announced

 

Outstanding crime fiction from the Kingdom of Denmark, Iceland, Norway and Sweden shortlisted for the 2024 Petrona Award 

Six impressive crime novels from the Kingdom of Denmark, Iceland, Norway and Sweden have been shortlisted for the 2024 Petrona Award for the Best Scandinavian Crime Novel of the Year. The shortlist is announced today, Thursday 10 October and is as follows:

The Collector by Anne Mette Hancock tr. Tara F Chace (Denmark, Swift Press)

Snow Fall by Jørn Lier Horst tr. Anne Bruce (Norway, Michael Joseph)

The Girl by the Bridge by Arnaldur Indriðason tr. Philip Roughton (Iceland, Harvill Secker)

Dead Men Dancing by Jógvan Isaksen tr. Marita Thomsen (Faroe Islands (Kingdom of Denmark), Norvik Press)

The Sins of our Fathers by Åsa Larsson tr. Frank Perry (Sweden, MacLehose Press)

The Prey by Yrsa Sigurðardottirtr. Victoria Cribb (Iceland, Hodder & Stoughton)

The winning title will be announced on 14 November 2024. 

The Petrona Award is open to crime fiction in translation, either written by a Scandinavian author or set in Scandinavia, and published in the UK in the previous calendar year.

The Petrona team would like to thank our sponsor, David Hicks, for his continued generous support of the Petrona Award. 

The judges’ comments on the shortlist:

There were 31 entries for the 2024 Petrona Award from six countries (Kingdom of Denmark, Finland, France, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden). This year’s shortlist sees both the Kingdom of Denmark and Iceland represented with two novels each and Sweden and Norway with one novel each. The judges selected the shortlist from a strong pool of candidates with the shortlisted authors including Petrona Award winners, Jørn Lier Horst and Yrsa Sigurðardottir.

As ever, we are extremely grateful to the six translators whose expertise and skill have allowed readers to access these outstanding examples of Scandinavian crime fiction, and to the publishers who continue to champion and support translated fiction. 

The judges’ comments on each of the shortlisted titles:

Anne Mette Hancock - THE COLLECTOR translated by Tara F Chace (Denmark, Swift Press)

When ten-year-old Lukas disappears from his Copenhagen school, police investigators discover that the boy had a peculiar obsession with pareidolia: a phenomenon that makes him see faces in random things. A photo on his phone, posted just hours before his disappearance, shows an old barn door that resembles a face. Journalist Heloise Kaldan thinks she recognizes the barn - but from where? When Lukas’s blood-flecked jacket is found, DNA evidence points to Thomas Strand, a former soldier suffering from severe PTSD, but then Strand turns up dead in his apartment. 

This is a complex thriller of buried secrets, that beautifully wrong-foots the reader from beginning to end.

Jørn Lier Horst - SNOW FALL, translated by Anne Bruce (Norway, Michael Joseph)

The discovery of an Australian backpacker’s body in Spain prompts a group of amateur true crime detectives into action. They are scattered online around the world, attempting to solve the mystery of her death. Astri, a young Norwegian woman whose intense pursuit takes her closer than anyone else to solving the case, prepares to reveal her findings and then goes offline. When William Wisting reluctantly gets involved in the investigation, he is faced with the unusual, unorthodox investigators of varied skills and intentions, and puzzling connections. 

A slow methodological approach gathers pace and pulls readers into a complex web of low-key international ties. As always Lier Horst delves deep into the psychology and motives of the characters, creating a slow-burning police procedural of empathy and human interest, firmly rooted in Norwegian society. 

Arnaldur Indriðason - THE GIRL BY THE BRIDGE translated by Philip Roughton (Iceland, Harvill Secker)

When a young woman known for drug smuggling goes missing, her elderly grandparents have no choice but to call friend of the family, retired detective Konrád. Still looking for his own father's murderer, Konrád agrees to investigate the case, but digging into the past reveals more than he set out to discover, and a strange connection to a little girl who drowned in the Reykjavík city pond decades ago recaptures everyone's attention.

One of Iceland’s most established authors, Indriðason skilfully interweaves different timelines along with assured characterisation, in this second book to feature Konrád.

Jógvan Isaksen - DEAD MEN DANCING translated by Marita Thomsen (Faroe Islands (Kingdom of Denmark), Norvik Press)

Similar to the story of the ancient god Prometheus, a man has been shackled to rocks and left to drown on the beach. But this time it happens on the Faroe Islands. The discovery of his body throws the local community into an unsettling chaos. As the journalist Hannis Martinsson investigates, he comes across evidence of similar deaths. He realises they are linked to the events in Klaksvik in the 1950s, and a local revolt which tore the community apart. As Martinsson digs into the past, he learns about his country’s history, and the reader has a chance to discover what makes the Faroes intriguing and spellbinding. 

This is only Isaksen’s second novel to be translated into English. The contemporary Faroese crime fiction writer places his characters in the wild, beautiful, and unforgiving environment and allows them to search for truth. Dogged and uncompromising, Martinsson is a superb creation. 

Åsa Larsson - THE SINS OF OUR FATHERS translated by Frank Perry (Sweden, MacLehose Press)

Rebecka Martinsson, disillusioned with her challenging job as a prosecutor, initially has no intention of looking into a fifty-year-old case involving the missing father of Swedish Olympic boxing champion, Börje Ström. Agreeing, however, to the dying wish of her forensic pathologist friend she begins to follow links when a body is found in a freezer at the house of a deceased alcoholic. The grim realities of life in the area years ago, and the current influx of criminals attracted by developments in Kiruna make for a tough investigation and difficult soul-searching, coupled with Rebecka’s own history in a foster family.

Larsson remains a wise, observant, social commentator and creator of a gripping, suspenseful and utterly moving series, with her eye to the past and the future, and emotive style. Delicate and relevant humour adds hope to the fragile lives of the main characters.

Yrsa Sigurðardottir - THE PREY translated by Victoria Cribb (Iceland, Hodder & Stoughton)

Kolbeinn has been called to his old home as the new owners have uncovered some photos, and a muddied child's shoe bearing the name 'Salvor'. A name Kolbeinn doesn't recognise. Soon after, his mother's carers say that she has been asking for her daughter, Salvor.

Jóhanna is working with the search and rescue team in Höfn to find two couples from Reykjavik. Their phones' last location, the road leading up into the highlands. In a harsh winter, the journey is treacherous, and they soon find the first body.

Hjörvar works at the Stokksnes Radar Station in the highlands. He's alone when the phone connected to the gate rings: the first time it's ever done so. Above the interference he can hear a child's voice asking for her mother. 

How are these events connected?

Sigurðardottir balances these three storylines, each with her trademark creeping sense of unease, in this dark and disturbing standalone.

Extract from A Case of Matricide by Graeme Macrae Burnet

Graeme Macrae Burnet is one of the UK’s brightest literary talents. His second novel, His Bloody Project, was shortlisted for the Booker Prize 2016, won the Saltire Society Fiction Book of the Year Award 2016, and was shortlisted for the LA Times Book Awards 2017. His fourth novel, Case Study, was longlisted for the Booker Prize 2022 and was included in the New York Times 100 Notable Books of 2022. His most recent book is A Case of Matricide.

One 

Hôtel Bertillon was situated in an inconspicuous, whitewashed building at the intersection of Rue de Mulhouse and Rue Henner. Aside from a modest sign on the wall above the entrance, there was little to alert passers-by to its existence, and even this sign was in such a state of neglect that it was more likely to deter than entice potential custom. The bill of tariffs taped to the inside of the glass panel by the door was yellowed and torn. The surrounding paintwork was blistered, and bare wood was visible where it had flaked away altogether. A quantity of dry leaves had accumulated in the corner of the vestibule. 

Inside, the establishment was no more appealing. The narrow foyer was dimly lit and smelled of stale carpet. The décor was tired. 

Georges Gorski rang the brass bell on the counter. A man emerged from the office, which was partitioned from the counter by a rectangular glass panel, so that it resembled a large aquarium. He was very small and neatly dressed in grey slacks and a shirt and tie beneath a V-neck sweater. Around his shoulders was a pair of reading glasses on a chain. He had the grey pallor of a man who rarely exposed himself to sunlight. He had mentioned his name on the telephone, but Gorski had forgotten it, an increasingly regular occurrence. 

Gorski held out his ID. ‘Monsieur Bertillon?’ he said, though he knew this was not correct. 

‘Oh no,’ replied the little man. ‘I am not Bertillon. Bertillon was my wife’s name. Well, my wife’s maiden name. The hotel belonged to her parents before ... before it, eh, passed to us.’ He paused, realising perhaps that Gorski was not in need of a history of the business. ‘My name is Henri Virieu.’ 

‘Yes,’ said Gorski, as if refreshing his memory, ‘Monsieur Virieu.’ 

There was a short silence. The man’s fingers fidgeted on the counter as if playing a toy piano. His hands were bony and flecked with liver spots. 

‘You’ll probably think me a dreadful busybody,’ he said. ‘It’s just that, well, I suppose it seemed the right thing to do. In case, in case of, you know—’ 

‘In case of what?’ said Gorski. He had taken a dislike to Virieu on the telephone. He was a man who opened his mouth without having first formulated what he wanted to say. His explanation for calling had consisted of a string of meaningless half-formed phrases and fatuous aphorisms. ‘Prudence is the mother of security, as they say,’ he had wittered. 

Ineffectual. He was an ineffectual little man, and meeting him in person only confirmed the impression. 

Rather than answering Gorski’s question, Virieu lowered his voice and, with a furtive glance along the passage, invited him into the office. ‘There we can converse undisturbed,’ he said, as if he was a member of the DST.* He raised the flap on the counter and ushered Gorski into his sanctum. 

Everything was neatly arranged. Behind the desk were shelves of box files, each one clearly inscribed with the year. On the desk was a copy of L’Alsace, open at the page with the crossword, which was half-completed. There was a glass cabinet displaying a number of small trophies. 

‘From my chess career,’ said Virieu, seeing Gorski glance towards them. He unlocked the cabinet and handed one to Gorski. It declared him champion of Haut-Rhin. It was thirty years old. ‘I still play of course, but the mind, well, the mind isn’t what it used to be. One finds oneself besieged by the young. Do you play at all? Perhaps we could have a game sometime.’      

_____________________ 

* Direction de la Surveillance du Territoire, the French internal security service – translator’s note 

Gorski shook his head. 

A cat was asleep on the chair in front of the desk. Virieu tickled it behind the ear and murmured some soft sounds, before shooing it onto the floor. ‘Our oldest employee,’ he said, with a little laugh. 

Gorski smiled thinly and took the cat’s seat. The glass wall afforded a panoramic view of the foyer. Virieu sat down behind the desk, then immediately leapt to his feet. 

‘Perhaps you would do me the honour, monsieur, of sharing a glass with me.’ From a filing cabinet he produced a bottle of schnapps. Gorski corrected his mode of address but did not decline the drink, which Virieu had in any case already poured. 

He resumed his seat. 

‘Your very good health, Chief Inspector,’ he said, with an ingratiating emphasis on his title. 

He knocked back his drink. Gorski did the same. Virieu refilled the glasses. It was half past nine in the morning. 

A Case of Matricide by Graeme Macrae Burnet (Saraband) Out now

Chief Inspector Gorski returns … In the unremarkable French town of Saint-Louis, a mysterious stranger stalks the streets; an elderly woman believes her son is planning to do away with her; a prominent manufacturer drops dead. Between visits to the town’s hostelries, Chief Inspector Georges Gorski ponders the connections, if any, between these events, while all the time grappling with his own domestic and existential demons.  Graeme Macrae Burnet once again pierces the respectable bourgeois façade of small-town life in this, the concluding part of his trilogy of Gorski novels. He injects a wry humour into the tiniest of details and delves into the darkest recesses of his characters’ minds, but above all provides an entertaining, profound and moving read. 

More information about his books and writing can be found on his website. You can find Graeme Macrae Burnet on Facebook. You can also follow him on X @GmacraeBurnet and on Instagram @graememacraeburnet.

The Queen of Fives by Alex Hay

The compelling new novel from the author of THE HOUSEKEEPERS in which London's most talented con woman has five days to lift a fortune from the richest family in England. I’m delighted to be taking part in the cover reveal for #TheQueenOfFives by @alexhaybooks Out 30th Jan 2025 from @headlinepg

'The Queen of Fives by Alex Hay (Headline Publishing Group)

They whisper her name in every corner of town.The lady with a hundred faces, a thousand lives. Five moves, five days - for such are the rules of her game.' 1898. Quinn Le Blanc, London's most talented con woman, has five days to pull off the seemingly impossible: trick an eligible duke into marriage and lift a fortune from the richest family in England. Masquerading as a wealthy debutante, Quinn is the jewel of the season. Her brilliant act opens doors to the grand drawing rooms and lavish balls of high society - and propels her into the inner circle of her target: the corrupt, charismatic Kendals. But as she spins in and out of their world, Quinn becomes tangled in a dangerous web of love, lies and loyalty. The Kendal family all have secrets of their own, and she may not be the only one playing a game of high deception...