Sunday, 18 November 2012
Josephine Tey: Still in Style

upsonnicola_twoforsorrow
We get so caught up in trying to stay on top of the new novels that are published that we seldom get a chance to revisit the old masters.

The authors who came before–Jim Thompson, Ross Macdonald, Raymond Chandler, Agatha Christie, Dashiell Hammett, and others–laid the foundation on which contemporary authors continue to build.

Boy, that was kinda deep, wasn’t it?

One of my all-time favorite authors who I used to reread regularly is Josephine Tey.

And it’s wonderful that Tey is being introduced to a new generation of readers by British author Nicola Upson who made the author as the heroine of her series. The latest Two for Sorrow has Tey involved with a killer as she researches a novel based on a decades-old crime. Upson takes the classic detective and updates her for a contemporary audience.

Upson’s series is quite good as are the original Tey novels.

Josephine Tey is one of the pseudonyms of Scottish author Elizabeth Mackintosh.

I am by no means an expert on Tey – many of you readers know much more. She wrote dozens of plays under the name of Gordon Daviot, but only four were produced during her lifetime. Her best known was Richard of Bordeaux, which ran for 14 months in England and made a name for a young John Gielgud, who was its leading man and director.

tey_daughteroftimeSo much has been made of Tey’s novel The Daughter of Time, the last of her books published in her lifetime. In The Daughter of Time, her leading character Scotland Yard Inspector Alan Grant is in the hospital. As a diversion, he has his friends help with research so he can figure out if King Richard III of England murdered his nephews, those infamous princes in the Tower of London, back in the 1480s.

OK, I know it was a different time–1951–when The Daughter of Time was published and maybe that debate about King Richard III had more bearing than it does now. At least to me. While I am fascinated by history and am a fan of historical mysteries, The Daughter of Time is not my favorite Tey novel.

For me it was Brat Farrar, published in 1949. As someone who grew up on a farm seven miles from my small hometown of 5,000, I couldn’t really relate to this family of aristocrats.

But what struck me when I read this book when I was about 12 years old was the family made their living breeding, selling and training horses and giving riding lessons. I had just gotten my first horse about that time and the idea of riding all day, of making your living from a horse farm sounded like heaven. That my father was a farmer and made his living off the land also has a resonated with me. That Brat Farrar was an outsider also hit a chord. (I don’t want to give anything away if you haven’t read it.)

Economically and culturally, Ashby family and mine were miles apart. But on another level, we could have lived next door.

Josephine Tey: Still in Style
Oline Cogdill
josephine-tey-still-in-style

upsonnicola_twoforsorrow
We get so caught up in trying to stay on top of the new novels that are published that we seldom get a chance to revisit the old masters.

The authors who came before–Jim Thompson, Ross Macdonald, Raymond Chandler, Agatha Christie, Dashiell Hammett, and others–laid the foundation on which contemporary authors continue to build.

Boy, that was kinda deep, wasn’t it?

One of my all-time favorite authors who I used to reread regularly is Josephine Tey.

And it’s wonderful that Tey is being introduced to a new generation of readers by British author Nicola Upson who made the author as the heroine of her series. The latest Two for Sorrow has Tey involved with a killer as she researches a novel based on a decades-old crime. Upson takes the classic detective and updates her for a contemporary audience.

Upson’s series is quite good as are the original Tey novels.

Josephine Tey is one of the pseudonyms of Scottish author Elizabeth Mackintosh.

I am by no means an expert on Tey – many of you readers know much more. She wrote dozens of plays under the name of Gordon Daviot, but only four were produced during her lifetime. Her best known was Richard of Bordeaux, which ran for 14 months in England and made a name for a young John Gielgud, who was its leading man and director.

tey_daughteroftimeSo much has been made of Tey’s novel The Daughter of Time, the last of her books published in her lifetime. In The Daughter of Time, her leading character Scotland Yard Inspector Alan Grant is in the hospital. As a diversion, he has his friends help with research so he can figure out if King Richard III of England murdered his nephews, those infamous princes in the Tower of London, back in the 1480s.

OK, I know it was a different time–1951–when The Daughter of Time was published and maybe that debate about King Richard III had more bearing than it does now. At least to me. While I am fascinated by history and am a fan of historical mysteries, The Daughter of Time is not my favorite Tey novel.

For me it was Brat Farrar, published in 1949. As someone who grew up on a farm seven miles from my small hometown of 5,000, I couldn’t really relate to this family of aristocrats.

But what struck me when I read this book when I was about 12 years old was the family made their living breeding, selling and training horses and giving riding lessons. I had just gotten my first horse about that time and the idea of riding all day, of making your living from a horse farm sounded like heaven. That my father was a farmer and made his living off the land also has a resonated with me. That Brat Farrar was an outsider also hit a chord. (I don’t want to give anything away if you haven’t read it.)

Economically and culturally, Ashby family and mine were miles apart. But on another level, we could have lived next door.

Wednesday, 14 November 2012
S.J. Watson and Nicole Kidman

beforeigotosleep_sjwatson2
S.J. Watson’s Before I Go to Sleep is one of those novels that caught me by surprise.

I almost didn’t review it because I had just reviewed three British novels and I strive for balance.

But Watson’s novel was immediately mesmerizing as he tackled the power of memories while writing about a woman with no memory. Christine Lucas not only has lost any recollections about her past, but her lack of memory has robbed her of any feelings.

Each day, Christine wakes up not knowing who she is or who the man is next to her. She believes she is 27 years old, but beyond that she has no immediate clue to her past. Each day she is stunned to see in the mirror the face of a 47-year-old and to learn that she has been married for 22 years to Ben. Each morning, before he leaves for work as a teacher, Ben explains to Christine that she lost her memory 20 years before in an accident.

Or did she?

To try to remember, Christine writes down everything that has happened to her, and these journals are her only connection with the past. Because each day, her memory is wiped clean. But those journals also include a chilling note: “Don’t trust Ben.”

In my review of Before I Go to Sleep that ran in the Sun Sentinel and other newspapers, I said: “Watson bends his intense psychological thriller in myriad ways, making the reader simultaneously empathize and doubt each character. Ben appears to be a devoted husband; [her doctor] appears to be a compassionate physician; Christine appears not to know of her past.

“Each snippet of Christine’s memory appears to be a victory as well as a setback. Recovering her memory may be more frightening than she imagines. At each turn, clues to Christine’s past and present spin in different directions, leading to a shocking finale,” I wrote in the review in the Sun Sentinel.

And here is the review that ran in Mystery Scene magazine.

Before the book hit the stands, Before I Go to Sleep already had been sold to become a film produced by Ridley Scott. It will star Nicole Kidman as Christine and Mark Strong (Sherlock Holmes) as her psychiatrist. Rowan Joffe will direct. The film version of Before I Go to Sleep is scheduled for release during 2013.

S.J. Watson and Nicole Kidman
Oline Cogdill
sj-watson-and-nicole-kidman

beforeigotosleep_sjwatson2
S.J. Watson’s Before I Go to Sleep is one of those novels that caught me by surprise.

I almost didn’t review it because I had just reviewed three British novels and I strive for balance.

But Watson’s novel was immediately mesmerizing as he tackled the power of memories while writing about a woman with no memory. Christine Lucas not only has lost any recollections about her past, but her lack of memory has robbed her of any feelings.

Each day, Christine wakes up not knowing who she is or who the man is next to her. She believes she is 27 years old, but beyond that she has no immediate clue to her past. Each day she is stunned to see in the mirror the face of a 47-year-old and to learn that she has been married for 22 years to Ben. Each morning, before he leaves for work as a teacher, Ben explains to Christine that she lost her memory 20 years before in an accident.

Or did she?

To try to remember, Christine writes down everything that has happened to her, and these journals are her only connection with the past. Because each day, her memory is wiped clean. But those journals also include a chilling note: “Don’t trust Ben.”

In my review of Before I Go to Sleep that ran in the Sun Sentinel and other newspapers, I said: “Watson bends his intense psychological thriller in myriad ways, making the reader simultaneously empathize and doubt each character. Ben appears to be a devoted husband; [her doctor] appears to be a compassionate physician; Christine appears not to know of her past.

“Each snippet of Christine’s memory appears to be a victory as well as a setback. Recovering her memory may be more frightening than she imagines. At each turn, clues to Christine’s past and present spin in different directions, leading to a shocking finale,” I wrote in the review in the Sun Sentinel.

And here is the review that ran in Mystery Scene magazine.

Before the book hit the stands, Before I Go to Sleep already had been sold to become a film produced by Ridley Scott. It will star Nicole Kidman as Christine and Mark Strong (Sherlock Holmes) as her psychiatrist. Rowan Joffe will direct. The film version of Before I Go to Sleep is scheduled for release during 2013.

Sunday, 11 November 2012
On Tour With Agatha Christie

christieagatha_grandtour
For years, in between real trips, I enjoy arm-chair traveling with mystery authors.

If I want an extra dose of San Francisco, I turn to Marcia Muller or, if I want an historical view of San Francisco, I seek out Kelli Stanley.

Julie Smith took me to areas of New Orleans I had never seen and new author Joy Castro does the same thing.

For the Florida Keys, I go with James W. Hall. And for Los Angeles, the choices are myriad—Michael Connelly, Robert Crais, Denise Hamilton. Jo Nesbo brings Norway to my door. And any number of authors writing for Soho Crime deliver evocative scenes of Europe, England and Ireland.

Fantasy travel thrives in the newly released The Grand Tour: Around the World with the Queen of Mystery Agatha Christie edited by Matthew Prichard, her grandson (Harper).

Prichard has compiled Christie’s letters and photographs she took that chronicle her travels around the British Empire during 1922.

The trip took nearly a year with stops in South Africa, New Zealand, Australia, Canada, and Hawaii. The trip was part of a trade mission that her husband, Archibald, had been invited to take to promote the British Empire exhibition.

Today we would call this a junket. The trip, according to The Grand Tour, had the following goals: "to produce new sources of wealth by exploiting the raw materials of the Empire; to foster inter-Imperial trade; to open new world markets for Dominican and British products; and to encourage interaction between different cultures and people of the Empire.…"

This was indeed a trip of a lifetime so Christie put her 2-year-old daughter in the care of her sister, packed her bags and went on the trip shortly after her second novel had been published.

Through the photos and letters, The Grand Tour shows a side of Christie most of us readers are just learning about. After all, according to An Autobiography, Christie was one of Britain's first stand-up surfers. She was an avid body boarder, taking up the sport during a 1922 holiday in South Africa. The Grand Tour touches on her surfing hobby and includes several photos, including several taken in Hawaii.

The Grand Tour also puts travel in its historical perspective. While Christie and the others travel in style for the day, nothing on this trip was easy. Certainly not by today’s standards.

2012 marks the 120th anniversary of Christie’s birth. Her work continues to be in style.

On Tour With Agatha Christie
Oline Cogdill
on-tour-with-agatha-christie

christieagatha_grandtour
For years, in between real trips, I enjoy arm-chair traveling with mystery authors.

If I want an extra dose of San Francisco, I turn to Marcia Muller or, if I want an historical view of San Francisco, I seek out Kelli Stanley.

Julie Smith took me to areas of New Orleans I had never seen and new author Joy Castro does the same thing.

For the Florida Keys, I go with James W. Hall. And for Los Angeles, the choices are myriad—Michael Connelly, Robert Crais, Denise Hamilton. Jo Nesbo brings Norway to my door. And any number of authors writing for Soho Crime deliver evocative scenes of Europe, England and Ireland.

Fantasy travel thrives in the newly released The Grand Tour: Around the World with the Queen of Mystery Agatha Christie edited by Matthew Prichard, her grandson (Harper).

Prichard has compiled Christie’s letters and photographs she took that chronicle her travels around the British Empire during 1922.

The trip took nearly a year with stops in South Africa, New Zealand, Australia, Canada, and Hawaii. The trip was part of a trade mission that her husband, Archibald, had been invited to take to promote the British Empire exhibition.

Today we would call this a junket. The trip, according to The Grand Tour, had the following goals: "to produce new sources of wealth by exploiting the raw materials of the Empire; to foster inter-Imperial trade; to open new world markets for Dominican and British products; and to encourage interaction between different cultures and people of the Empire.…"

This was indeed a trip of a lifetime so Christie put her 2-year-old daughter in the care of her sister, packed her bags and went on the trip shortly after her second novel had been published.

Through the photos and letters, The Grand Tour shows a side of Christie most of us readers are just learning about. After all, according to An Autobiography, Christie was one of Britain's first stand-up surfers. She was an avid body boarder, taking up the sport during a 1922 holiday in South Africa. The Grand Tour touches on her surfing hobby and includes several photos, including several taken in Hawaii.

The Grand Tour also puts travel in its historical perspective. While Christie and the others travel in style for the day, nothing on this trip was easy. Certainly not by today’s standards.

2012 marks the 120th anniversary of Christie’s birth. Her work continues to be in style.