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... and this is it. This is the weakest of the Flaxborough novels I've thus far re-read.
The plot is ... unlikely ... at best. The large chunk devoted to washing powder probably seemed like an excellent satirical take at the time but doesn't age well. Lucy Teatime pops in only briefly and why she's doing what she's now going in not well explained and the whole thing just doesn't hang together well.
If you've been following my reading this year you'll know that I'm working my way through Colin Watson's Flaxborough chronicles. Watson also wrote this book, about the early days of crime and thriller fiction and it's an interesting read ... if you can find a copy. It was written in 1971 so it's long out of print. There's copies on eBay but I confess I found an ePub on the Web (strictly illegal as it must still be in copyright but whatever).
It's largely a series of essays on aspects of the genre but it also reveals a lot about how people read books, from Dickens onwards, with particular reference to the golden days of lending libraries between the wars where some writers were churning out books at a fantastic rate. Some names you will have heard of, like Christie, some you may have heard of, like Edgar Wallace (who, …
If you've been following my reading this year you'll know that I'm working my way through Colin Watson's Flaxborough chronicles. Watson also wrote this book, about the early days of crime and thriller fiction and it's an interesting read ... if you can find a copy. It was written in 1971 so it's long out of print. There's copies on eBay but I confess I found an ePub on the Web (strictly illegal as it must still be in copyright but whatever).
It's largely a series of essays on aspects of the genre but it also reveals a lot about how people read books, from Dickens onwards, with particular reference to the golden days of lending libraries between the wars where some writers were churning out books at a fantastic rate. Some names you will have heard of, like Christie, some you may have heard of, like Edgar Wallace (who, by the way, at his prime was the author of 25% of all books being published in Britain), but what about A. E. W. Mason or William Le Queux, to name but two of the many authors of whom I'd never heard.
Overall a fascinating read and I may find myself a dead tree copy of eBay now, not that Watson's estate will be any better off as a result mind you ...
A tongue-in-cheek history of England which takes as its basic tenet the idea that history …
I first discovered this book when doing history at school. Our teacher, Mrs Lashley, would finish each part of the history of the country by reading Sellers and Yeatman's version of what she had just taught us. As this book is making continuous, slightly incorrect, references to real events that worked very well and it was very funny.
At the time I bought my own copy in paperback and it's still somewhere in the house however I've since bought it in Folio Society a hardback slip case edition (twice it seems, not sure how that happened, if anyone wants a copy, in mint condition, then do shout!) and it's that which I've just re-read.
Reading it now is odd. I know they're making jokes, but I only dimly recollect the things they're making jokes ago. I repeatedly found myself stopping and Googling to find out, again, about things. But it …
I first discovered this book when doing history at school. Our teacher, Mrs Lashley, would finish each part of the history of the country by reading Sellers and Yeatman's version of what she had just taught us. As this book is making continuous, slightly incorrect, references to real events that worked very well and it was very funny.
At the time I bought my own copy in paperback and it's still somewhere in the house however I've since bought it in Folio Society a hardback slip case edition (twice it seems, not sure how that happened, if anyone wants a copy, in mint condition, then do shout!) and it's that which I've just re-read.
Reading it now is odd. I know they're making jokes, but I only dimly recollect the things they're making jokes ago. I repeatedly found myself stopping and Googling to find out, again, about things. But it was still an enjoyable read even with my memory of schoolboy history now a fading memory.
In book 6 of the Flaxborough Chronicles Purbright and Teatime continue their crime detection, from different sides of the fence, through the sleepy 1960s town. One more for the style than the plot I think, but fun nonetheless.
This is only a book for Ransome enthusiasts, but if that's you - and there's a lot of us - then this is a book you need to read as it concludes with the opening four chapters, and some other snippets, of what would have been the thirteenth book of the Swallows and Amazons saga, which Brogan speculatively titles 'Coots in the North'. What there is of it suggests it would have been a fine addition to the novels but it wasn't to be.
The book also features some other, complete, short stories Ransome wrote at various times and some of those are very fine too as are the opening chapters of another novel which he never finished.
After a bit of a hiccup plot wise with the last book in the series I think Marion Todd was right on the money with this one. Good procedural stuff. Some nice hints for the reader to let them get a little bit in front on the plot and an excellent ending.
This is the third of the DI Clare Mackay books and it's a fine and easy read. My only reservation is that the central plot behind it is ... implausible, both in execution and final outcome. But it's nicely woven together all the same.
A mystery set in the quiet and respectable market town of Flaxborough and featuring the …
Book 5 of the Flaxborough chronicles and we're now into the late 60s and so there's even the mention of a computer. Watson was really getting into his stride by this book with a pleasing plot and some engaging characters.
From Maurice Prior's review in The Spectator, 17 March 1967:
"A fine example of an …
In book 4 of the Flaxborough novels the foil to Purbright finally arrives and it's an enjoyable read as a result.
This one shows its age a bit: references to WWII, Philby and the cold war, a woman described as a nymphomaniac (a term I've not heard in a long while); but it's an entertaining plot with a neat twist in the end. And Colin Watson books are just an easy and entertaining read - I read this one completely today.
Although a Flaxborough novel this one isn't set in Flaxborough but a nearby town so our hero, Purbright, doesn't turn up until about a third of the way through. But it's an amusing read, with a nice cast of characters.
I've been a fan of Colin Watson's Flaxborough novels since I was first introduced to them via the dramatisation of a couple of them on BBC Radio 4. This is the first, where we meet Purbright and Love for the first time and get to know the fictitious Lincolnshire town.
Lucilla Teatime, perhaps my favourite character, comes later in the series but it's still a good read.
The Ankh-Morpork Post Office is running like . . . well, not at all like …
An enjoyable second romp with Moist von Lipwig. I'm still not completely convinced about the golum parts but it's still good value.
... so you can't say I didn't try, but a vast array of cardboard cut out characters with a lot of back story pasted into an implausible plot really didn't do it for me. This is book 7 in the series so they're obviously rocking some people's boats. Not mine though.
Suddenly, condemned arch-swindler Moist von Lipwig found himself with a noose around his neck and …
I confess that 'Going Postal' was never one of my favourite of the Discworld novels but re-reading it for the first time (I think) since I first bought it revealed some nice bits of Pratchett humour which I'd forgotten. The passing references to the gods particularly amused me. I'm still not convinced that Moist von Lipwig is one of his best heroes but I do have 'Making Money' to hand, which also features him, so I'll give that a go and see if Terry can convince me.
