Words, writers and writing
YOU never know where you’ll end up with author Ann Cleeves. An ongoing anticipatory game for crime fiction fans is guessing where her next book will take us. Or rather, which of her characters will be leading our way. Maybe dour Jimmy Perez will be donning his monkey jacket to traipse around the wind-blown Shetlands. Perhaps we will be watching heart-of-gold grumps Vera Stanhope jollying her crew over Northumberland’s moorlands and coast. Or, more recently, the rather pallid and low-key Matthew Venn coping with community rifts along the North Devon estuaries and marshlands. Each are distinctive. Each has an appeal,…
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WHERE does one depart the scene and the other step on to the trail? This is the fascinating additional poser sure to tease readers of The Dark Remains, another welcome addition to the rapidly expanding Scottish noir section of my bookshelves. As the cover exclaims, two highly noteworthy names share…
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MEMORIES never fade of taking the terrifying walk over the divide that once existed between East and West Germany . Trigger-ready guards at your back; trigger-ready guards ahead. One wrong move, however innocent or accidental, and . . . It didn’t bear thinking about. But, nevertheless, you did. Think about…
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There has always been a leisurely air about Guido Brunetti’s approach to crime. In Give Unto Others his creator dips him even deeper into the realm of the soporfic. Better than a warming cup of camomile tea. More digestible than a tab or two of valerian. It’s dreamtime in Venice.
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Crime is universal; not a corner of the globe is immune from the dastardly deeds of its perpetrators. It may not always be as “brutal” as reporters and headline writers around the world seemingly wish us to believe. In many cases (white collar and cyber crime come quickly to mind),…
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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…
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