KNOCK DOWN by Sarah Graves.

  • 13 September 2013

Bantam paperback. Published January 2012. 15th in the Home Repair is Homicide series.

I started reading this series back in 2001 when I was staying with Andre Norton and she recommended it very strongly. I went right to the nearest bookstore and bought the first three that were out in the series, read them, and agreed. They were good, they were fun, (loved the titles) they had an interesting background and I’ve been buying them ever since. In this one Jacobia Tiptree is starting work on the big porch of her home. The porch needs the old paint stripped, then it requires repainting, and there are other things that may improve it as well. Jacobia has started on that work, and then too, she needs to make concrete anchors for Sam’s (her son) for-sale boats, and, as she’s just discovered the presence of a stalker in her small town, that isn’t helping her concentrate on painting and anchors. And being only a stalker isn’t all he is – or plans. Not when Jacobia finds graphic photos appearing. The first on her laptop shows a gruesome murder, the second, found in an abandoned building, shows her son with a target circle drawn around him. And between those pictures, Jacobias has remembered where she saw her stalker, and identifies him as someone with what he thinks is good reason to punish her. Friends and family gather to help, but in the showdown, it will be Jacobia against her stalker, and only her ability to talk fast and speak the truth may save her. I have really loved this series,. But –

I’ve also just read the next in the series and it made me nervous. Many years ago I read Patricia Cornwall’s series and loved it for the first few books. Then she got into the habit some mystery writers fall into, of making her main character the constant target all of the time, with the events and attacks on Kay Scarpetta in each book being more and more horrendous. I don’t read mystery/crime/detective books for that. I read them for the main character solving crimes against others. I don’t mind one now and again that focuses on attacks on them, but not over and over again. (Thanks be that J.D. Robb has never fallen into that trap because I grab every book of the Dallas series as it appears and she uses that plot only around once every 10-12 books.) On the ‘Kay Scarpetta’ series, after two books of that sort and the next indicating clearly that it was similar, I took the entire armful down to the library, donated them, and never bought or read any further books by Patricia Cornwall. She had turned me off her her writing permanently. And to my worry I find that this book is of that type, and the next (Dead Level) is too. However happily, it looks as if A Bat in the Belfrey, latest in the series may not be. Looking forward to it while hoping that it’s another dozen books before Jacobia has a stalker again. That’s if the author wants to keep selling to me, because I’d like to keep buying.

 

Wow, Gales!

  • 13 September 2013

and they certainly were. Although they could have been worse, we didn’t lose power as half the South island did, and we had only 28mls – just over an inch- of rain, not the flooding others had. But it was a wild couple of days. I was watching the 6pm news on TV Wednesday when the first gust came out of nowhere, and if that wasn’t around 150K I’d be surprised. The whole house shuddered, Thunder dived for cover with me, and I sat clutching my cat and being very thankful that I’d anticipated the gale and let the fire go out much earlier. We had a fairly wild night although where I am I doubt that the basic gale rose much above 100k, although in lower immediate areas it was a solid 120k. But no damage here, and even the goose currently nesting doesn’t seem to have been that bothered. But any time we have our gales, I’m reminded that in the USA winds of 119 are classified as a ‘hurricane.’ Yes, well, we just had around 36 hours of ‘hurricane.’

Yes, book contracts signed…

  • 13 September 2013

Last month I was offered a contract for my Sherlock Holmes new (14) short stories collection. REPEAT BUSINESS is now my first book sale for 2013. There is a suggestion that it may be offered to Large Print markets in the UK too. Not as a single collection, but as a duo since they prefer a lower word count. I should be seeing the suggested cover art soonish too, and I look forward to that. I’m very happy that it’s sold, AND that both publisher and editor really liked the stories – written very much in the original style. Yes, I like the Elementary TV series, but  I prefer the written tales to be in the old style and background. If you too like that sort of Sherlock Holmes story, go and buy the collection when it appears from Wildside.

 

Was He Picked On?

  • 11 September 2013

I see on TV this morning that Michael le Vell of Coronation Street fame was acquitted of rape and assault charges after the jury deliberated a bare four (or five, reports claim both)   hours. And when you add in going out to the jury room, sorting out who’s sitting where, hearing from the court official about meal breaks, where the toilet is, being warned at length about not discussing it outside the jury room etc. etc. then  selecting a forewoman/man, and getting started, and once done, having lawyers and others informed that a decision has been made and recalling them to the courtroom, the jury (and judge) coming back and getting seated again, then the time of actual discussion and deliberation by the jury could be down to three hours – or even less.  Three hours to decide if the evidence presented was convincing! And clearly it wasn’t. Evidence that had been even moderately convincing would warrant a day’s discussion. And since when do twelve widely different people agree on something – anything – in three hours? In this case, when it’s clear virtually from the moment they were seated in the jury room that there wasn’t a believable case to answer and so said all of them.

I am not necessarily saying that Le Vell, was innocent. What I am saying, is should this prosecution have ever been brought? This trial in all its ramifications has gone on for two years from start to finish. It’s almost certainly cost Le Vell a fortune, huge anxiety, and caused massive stress for him and his friends, family and employer. Then the jury considered all the evidence that they heard over 7-8 days – and rejected it in three hours. There’s only one reason for a rejection that’s that fast. And that is that no member of the jury believed it. Not that half thought it was reasonable and were argued around. Not that one was a holdout and dug his/her toes in for a day. No, three hours, just long enough to talk it through with each jury member speaking for an average of fifteen minutes. And then – consensus. “We don’t believe any of the evidence presented, we don’t believe any of the witnesses, or the victim, and we’re in no doubt about it. There’s either insufficient evidence or we don’t believe the evidence.” So why on earth did the British Prosecuter bring a case so thin a jury took a mere three hours to dismiss it?

Perhaps for the same reason that other cases have been brought in the past. Because Michael le Vell is a celebrity. It may be that it was argued thus…If we don’t bring a case the plaintiff will say we were prejudiced because the accused is a celebrity. Justice must be seen to be done, therefore we’ll charge this guy and let the jury decide. Did anyone protest that there was insufficient evidence, that very probably the jury would acquit? If so, the reply was likely to have been that so long as it went to a jury, the prosecuters were in the clear, they’d displayed a determination to prosecute no matter how well known the defendant. Did someone point out that a case would cost the defendant a very large sum of money for lawyers, stress, anxiety, appalling media intrusion, and possiblydamage his relationships with family or friends? If so they probably received the same reply. That so long as it went to a jury, the prosecuters were in the clear, they’d displayed a determination to prosecute no matter how well known the defendant.

The trial took a week, and must also have cost the Crown Prosecution Service a small fortune, not just over the trial, but also in the two years leading up to the trial. The question that troubles me is – would this case have ever gone to trial had the defendant been an ordinary mechanic in a garage? Or would the CPS have looked honestly at the probable outcome and decided against bringing such a case, on the grounds that it would be a waste of taxpayer’s money. Le Vell has been pilloried by the media because he drinks and has one night stands. If these things were criminal offences I have little doubt that a solid percentage of the UK Bar Association would be in the dock too – as well as large numbers of the ordinary British population – or the population in any country including ours. But they weren’t charging him on those counts. They were charging him with child rape, indecent assault on a child, sexual activity with a child and causing a child to engage in sexual activity – in a case where there was no physical or forensic evidence or psychiatric reports, where no one else ever reported unease at having him around their children, and where no child porn was ever found in his possession. And one point, he was charged with child rape. This implies full penetration – of a 6 year-old-girl by an adult male. I should have thought that such on-going activity at this age would have produced clear physical damage. Something that her mother should have noticed, and even possibly this would have produced scarring that would still be evident to a medical expert. Yet there was no evidence given on any of this.

And, interestingly, the CPS did originally decide not to prosecute because of insufficient evidence, then a year later the CPS head changed her mind – possibly because the plaintiff and her mother threatened to make a fuss in the media as I understand it.  Celebrities have always been easy targets. I suspect that in this case, Michael Le Vell has been another such. Which also leaves me wondering now about the other celebrities who have been changed  in the wake of the Jimmy Saville furore. Are the cases against them as weak? Just how honestly guilty are they? Or are the real charges they face, those of being a celebrity, a male, and being able to produce a media frenzy that makes the CPS look impartial? I guess we’ll be seeing about that…

Possible Book sale

  • 5 September 2013

Some time ago I re-read my volume of the collected Sherlock Holmes short stories. Around the same time I received a fanzine on that subject and the two things, along with one or two other items promptly set off the sort of chain reaction that such events can in the writer’s subconscious. Over the next three week I wrote like crazy, 14 new Sherlock Holmes short stories, (84,000+ words)  based on the idea that one of the reasons for his success was that people he’d helped, and the friends and family members they’d recommended apply to him, added repeat business. I had huge fun writing the tales, keeping to the original language, background, and fitting new stories in that framework. I didn’t want to modernize the works, I wanted the feeling of the originals, and I believed that I’d caught that.

Two of the stories appeared this year in THE GREAT DETECTIVE: HIS FURTHER ADVENTURES, an anthology from Gryphon Press in the USA. And that produced interest from a different quarter. Last month I was offered a contract for the collection by a different publisher. I’ve accepted, signed, and the contracts are on their way back by post – so, unless things go belly up over a clause I’d like added to cover both parties, REPEAT BUSINESS, is the first book sale of 2013. There is a suggestion that it may be offered to Large Print markets in the UK too. Not as a single collection, but as a duo since they prefer a lower word count. So, as soon as the signed contracts reach their destination and I know the publisher agrees with my clause, I’ll be able to announce who that is and possibly a publication shedule as well. This will be the first of two mystery short story collections contracted to appear in the next 2-4 years, and I’m looking forward to both.

 

Visiters Beware!

  • 2 September 2013

It may be just about the first day of spring, so they’re really early, but the gaggle don’t care, they’ve already starting laying. Senior goose has a nest from which I’ve already sneaked four eggs (about 8 days worth) and sister 1 and sister 2 have thoughtful looks on their faces as they prowl up and down considering possible sites. This will result in two effects. The first is that right now they’re (you wouldn’t think it possible but they’re managing ) twice as paranoid as usual. Secondly, once they begin brooding, they stay to one side of the lawn – well away from the gate, yes, but Stroppy and Sunny will be ON GUARD! So while visiters have only to beware of two geese for a while instead of the usual five, that duo will be rampantly ready to attack anything at all  that moves on the lawn. A time when the hens, rooster, outside cat, and visiters move faster. Because being goosed can be unexpected and painfu and at this season the boys don’t just bite and retreat yelling. They hang on, only letting go to take a firmer or better placed grip. Visiters beware, geese on nests, ganders on patrol…

SPIRITS FROM BEYOND by Simon R. Green

  • 2 September 2013

Yes, another excellent episode in the Carnaki Institute’s ghost hunting A-Team of J.C. Melody and Jack. The trio are still shaken from some of what they enduredin the last book (and mourning the loss of J.C.s ghost girlfriend Kim) when the Institute’s head sends them off to the country, tasked to investigate the very odd goings-on in a small rural hotel – the King’s Arms. But right now the team are unhappy for a number of reasons. J.C. hasn’t had a decent night’s sleep since he lost Kim, and Melody is furious to discover that Jack has gone back onto the enormous variety of seriously strange drugs that he uses to potentiate his abilities. Her love isn’t enough, and she resents that, while Jack is merely his usual depressed self.

And if the personal problems won’t keep them fully occupied there’s the hotel – where the ghost of a girl who hanged herself 40 years ago and rooms that eat customers are just for starters. Kim is back at least, but the main course is going to be really taxing – if they even survive it. Nothing to worry about really. Just a sacrifice from 1500 years ago who would like vengeance on her killers, the ghost of an old God who may or may not be helpful, a number of druid spirits who definitely don’t plan on playing nice, darkness that keeps seeping through the walls, and the worst storm you can imagine ramping up outside for a final visitation. J.C. Kim, Melody and Jack are going to have their hands full, and readers are going to have an great read. Recommended.

 

 

 

 

THE WILD WAYS by Tanya Huff.

  • 22 August 2013

Daw Paperback November 2012.

I’ve always enjoyed Tanya Huff’s work ever since I purchased her first book in 1989. Her work is always well written and although now and again I don’t like one of her series, it’s never because the work is of poor quality. The Wild Ways is the second in a possible new series, sequel (although it reads perfectly well as a standalone) to The Enchantment Emporium. Charlie Gale, (cousin to Allie from the previous book) is the main character and the book focuses on her external travels as a musician with a couple of bands, and her internal search for just what to do and who to be with the ‘wild power’ that is Charlie. As a nice change of pace to many urban fantasy books these days, Huff’s work in that sub-genre is set in Canada, and while she often incorporates well-known mythological species, they rarely appear as expected. I loved Jack, the Dragon Prince and his family, and the corporate activist selkies (very logical considering what they are.)

Huff writes some great stuff and is one of the authors whom I buy without question. In all 25 of her books I’ve purchased to date, there’s only been three that I didn’t love, the characters just didn’t resonate for me, but that wasn’t her fault and I have friends who did love them. My favourites have to be the ‘Summoning‘ trio, hotly pursued by the ‘Valor‘ series, and the single, Gate of Darkness, Circle of Light. And the ‘Gale‘ books may be right up there. I’ll know for sure once I’ve read them several more times. Because that’s the other thing I find about her work, it gets better each time you re-read it. I have the next of her books already on order, and I’m eagerly waiting for that to arrive – can you say a.n.t.i.c.i.p.a.t.i.o.n?

An Odd year So Far

  • 20 August 2013

Weatherwise that is, and it has been. For several months at the start of the year it was very dry. Not a real drought, not where I am, but much drier than usual. (Tararua is a good place to farm, the weather evens out better, fewer dry spells, fewer floods – although there’s no wind shortage.) Then came June and it rained, not heavily, but a steady drizzle that went on and on and… to the tune of some 175mls. Followed by July which gave us just under four inches, briskly followed by August. So far this month we’ve had 151mls as of this morning. Another 25mls or so this month and we will have seen an average of six inches a month for the past three. And that’s precipitation by most standards. It’s good, it hasn’t been downpours, just steady drizzle and showers, so that the ground has soaked it up as it hit, but with the mild winter, grass is already growing well – a month early – my sheep are all looking smug about that. Not so smug are any visitors. Encouraged by the early spring the gaggle are already courting and seeking suitable nest sites. They are also into full paranoid mode in case anyone approching up the lawn is a would-be eggnapper. It’s wise if you’re calling and unknown to the ganders, to stop at the gate and wait for my arrival – that or be very fast on your feet and wearing tin trousers.

Story Speed May be a Record.

  • 19 August 2013

yesterday afternoon at 1pm I sat down to write a story that had been flapping about the back of my head for weeks. I finished the work shortly before 5pm, filed to flash drive and wandered off to have dinner. Then this morning I submitted the story – at 9.52am. At 10.11 I had the acceptance back. 19 minutes! And all over, from the time I started writing the story to the time it was taken for a specific magazine issue, it took just under 21 and a half hours. I wasn’t trying for a record, but this has to be at least one of the fastest results ever, particularly as the story was in no way solicited, or even expected. But this result makes up for any recent rejections – and all the rain this weekend that’s left my damaged leg complaining. Whooppee!