Books
In this hefty volume of over 550 pages, Sims has assembled “A Connoisseur’s Collection of Victorian Detective Stories.” The authors include names both familiar (Edgar Allan Poe, Charles Dickens, Wilkie Collins, Arthur Conan Doyle) and not so well known, at least to me (Harvey O’Higgins and Hesketh Prichard).
The title story is by an Australian, Mary Fortune, which Sims says is the first known detective story by a woman. That’s reason enough right there to get a copy of the book, but Sims also provides an excellent introduction and a bibliography with suggested further reading for those interested in the time period or the history of the crime story.
"For me, the books I read were the call—the call to adventure, to thinking, to acknowledging other points of view. But to complete the ritual, I needed to respond."
I am surrounded by books. Every room, every space in my large, sprawling 1750s house is full of books...
Our history and experiences can define us, inspire our actions, and as writers impact our words and stories. Mine most definitely has: my father was a small-time gangster. Really.
"My ah-ha moment came when I read The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald.... That was it for me – I was off to the races."
Nietzsche once wrote, “There is always some madness in love. But there is also always some reason in madness.”
"Mystery books were daring and exciting, firing up my imagination and making me yearn to become a girl detective or even a secret agent. They also empowered me to make up impromptu ghost stories around the campfire for my Girl Scout troop and sneak into the cemetery at night on a dare."
Fire and Ashes, the latest Angela Richman Death Investigator mystery, is an exploration of a fatal fire. To research this novel, Viets delved into the devastating consequences of junk science and arson investigations.
