Peter Lovesey
For me as for many other crime-writers a shadow fell across the day last Friday when I heard that Peter Lovesey had died. He was a giant among crime-writers and won every award going, sometimes more than once. But that is not why he is so much mourned in the crime-writing community. It is difficult […]
A little bit of buried treasure
‘Un petit pincement au coeur’ can be translated as ‘a little pang in the heart’. Years ago I was on holiday in France and read a notice on the door of a shop that had recently closed. It explained that the owners had retired, thanked all their customers and said that every Christmas they would […]
Truly a Reading Life
While shelving books of poetry on my new bookshelves, I came across a copy of a Penguin Classic, The Last Poets of Imperial Rome. I seemed to remember that there was something special about it, and when I opened it, I found this inscription ‘To my dear friend, Chrissie, “Youth’s the season made for joy,” […]
GA crime fiction and Martin Edwards
The last year or two have been somewhat turbulent for me with a lot of challenges, not least the house move which I have written about in earlier posts. For comfort reading I have turned to Golden Age crime fiction and have read vast amounts of writers like Freeman Wills Crofts and George Bellairs. They […]
A grand day out
The last time I posted I mentioned that I had donated 350 of my husband’s books to Robinson College in Cambridge. Last week I returned to Cambridge, the city where Peter and I met and got married. His books have now been catalogued by Robinson’s splendid librarian, Judith Brown. I had lunch with her and […]
Three Little Words
What do these things have in common: my daughter’s birthday present, the printer cable, several thousand books and the kitchen scissors. Just this: I have no idea where any of them are. Well, I know where the books ARE. They are in one of the many many cardboard boxes that surround me as I write, […]
Crime Fiction Inspired by the Songs of the Beatles
Last year a family holiday took an unexpected turn. A couple of days before it was due to start, the holiday company rang to say that we couldn’t have the house that we had booked because the owners had notified them that there was a rat infestation. However they could offer us a more expensive […]
Ink and Daggers
It is always nice to get back from holiday and find that a book has arrived in the post and it’s even nicer when the book contains one of your own short stories. I’ve written elsewhere on my website about how much I enjoy the short story form. It is possible be playful and experimental […]
A friend for life
Yesterday on a day trip from Sheffield to Oxford the train speed through Solihull. I can never see the sign go flashing past without being profoundly thankful that I am no longer working for the Inland Revenue. It’s many years since I caught the train from Birmingham to Solihull every day to my job at […]
A Weekend to Remember
I have been a member of the London Library for almost forty years, and have often mentioned it on my blog as one of my favourite places in the world. And Cambridge University Library has a special place in my heart too. All in all, I love libraries. It was Borges who wrote, ‘I have […]