WITH Covid and staff shortages becoming the default excuse for poor service and faulty products it is sad to see the malaise spreading to the world of publishing. Errors there are so visible and so irritating to readers. For publishers they are so difficult and costly to correct. In specialist areas, editing shortfalls can bring onerous penalties and litigation. Not all that long ago even the merest typo was a rarity. Now, at least a couple or so such errors can be expected in the average bookshop-bought volume. Regardless of how well-established and accepted is the publisher. And all bets… Continue reading
Books
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A HYPOTHETICAL: what would make a good Christmas gift for an avid reader of crime fiction? Faced by a pile of recent reads, I soon realised this was an almost impossible task. Too much choice; too many vying for the top spot. And such a broad range of preferences among… Continue reading
IT has been a while – far too long, in fact – since I was last in the moody company of Arkady Renko, the rebellious investigator who is a perennial thorn in the side of Moscow prosecutor, the devious Zurin. Back then, in 1981, Arkady’s creator, Martin Cruz Smith, was… Continue reading
November 30, 2021
Trigger-happy woke brigade way off target →
WHO would have thought it? Who in their wildest imaginings would have been prepared for such a sudden assault on their mental processes? Thank goodness, therefore, for those ever-alert guardians of our sensibilities and weak spots. The do-gooders who see harm where none exists; and attach needless warnings of possible… Continue reading
THE joys of reading are many and varied. Too many delights exist to be contained within a strictly defined list. And always they are dependent on time, place, purpose and numerous further variables. It’s a statement clearly not made to broadcast some newly discovered truth. But uttered in the hope… Continue reading
A BOOK with a cover claiming the contents are “eerie, unnerving and buckets of fun” presents a puzzle before a single page is turned. Unnerving and fun? Such an odd mix. Especially for what is also billed as “a thriller”, and involves “one kidnapping, one liar, one chance”. Where are “the buckets of fun” going to be found amid such ingredients? And will they detract from the promised unnerving thrills? The answer, of course, is to venture forth. To succumb to the lure dangled by the blurbs (“fear, secrets, lies” forewarns the back cover) attached to Black River, the latest… Continue reading