I seem to have spent most of the summer, so far at least, reading crime and detective fiction of various shades of intensity. This was not planned, it just seems to have fallen that way, and I am having a thoroughly good time. I was in Waterstone's yesterday and picked up their Quarterly (new format, don't like it or the texture of the paper), and found that they, too, are featuring crime writing which made for an interesting read and gave me some names to check out.
A couple of months ago, Oxford University Press sent me A New Omnibus of Crime which is being published in paperback next week. Back in 1929 Dorothy L Sayers, the creator of the divine Lord Peter Wimsey, published her landmark anthology The Omnibus of Crime, and the editors of this anthology, Tony Hillerman and Rosemary Herbert, decided it was time to produce a new edition representing the
genre since then. I was very pleased to have this drop though my letterbox (and not through the kitchen window as seems to be the current practice from the GPO), and checked the list of authors featured with interest. They include Sara Paretsky, Ed McBain, Ian Rankin, Ruth Rendell, Ross Macdonald, Dashiel Hammett, Sue Grafton, Patricia Highsmith, Ian McCall Smith and Sayers amongst others.
I will be perfectly honest here and own up to the fact that I am not a particular fan of the American school of thriller writing. I find it all a bit hard nosed for me and cannot empathise with the characters. That sounds a daft thing to say as I have no problem with this when I read a Ngaio Marsh or a Ruth Rendell and there are pretty unsympathetic characters in books by these authors, particularly Rendell who can make you feel nauseous at times, so it is not as if I know or have met people like this, but on the whole I find the USA scene a bit bewildering though I am trying more American authors as I don't wish to miss out on a brilliant story teller just because of my narrow mindedness. I have been a life long fan of Ed McBain and his 87th Precinct novels, so I am not a lost cause, and was delighted to find a short story from him in this anthology - and a damn good one too.
But on the whole, it is the British authors I gravitated to first when flicking through the New Omnibus of Crime and I was not disappointed. First up, The Man who Knew How by Dorothy L Sayers. Her character, a man called Pender, while riding in a train car, falls into conversation with a complete stranger seated across from him who is reading a detective story and they fall into conversation about murder:
"Oh come" said Pender"You can't expect committing a murder and getting away with it is as simple as shelling peas"
"Ah!" said the other man "You think that do you?"
The other man then goes on to tell him of a perfect method of murdering somebody while in their bath with an untraceable poison "It is odd how often one seems to read of people being found dead in their baths. It must be a very common accident. Quite temptingly so...."
The man leaves the train leaving Pender disturbed and worried but he shrugs off his concerns and decides to forget about him, until the next day when he sees a headline in the local paper "Wealthy Manufacturer dies in Bath. Wife's tragic Discovery"
OK I am going to stop there. This ten page story, written in 1932, is a simply perfect example of Dorothy L Sayer's craft and had me pinned to the sofa while I read it and left me longing for more. Quite quite brilliant, most of the action taking place inside the mind of Pender as he stumbles across more deaths which happen when the deceased is in the bath and he becomes increasingly obsessed and panic stricken and determines to do something about it. We are at one with his fears and outlook and it is this which works the Sayers magic.
This New Omnibus of Crime is excellent. I have merely given you a taster of its content but it is packed with treasures and much though I would like to review each story, I had better not or else this post will be the longest ever, and I would rather you went and purchased a copy and discovered its gems for yourself.
I cannot go though without mentioning three others:
Rumpole and the Bubble Reputation - John Mortimer. Have not read any of these books and this made me laugh and want to discover more.
Great Aunt Ellie's Fly Papers - P D James. O joy! An Adam Dalgliesh story, full of grace and delight as is always with this superb writer.
Loopy - Ruth Rendell. If ever I happen to bump into this author, I think I will probably turn and run. She is the mistress of psychological oddities and insight and this story is, well, mmmm. The editor says that "Rendell writes from the point of view of a mother's boy who discovers a wild way to get relief from the unwelcome challenge of leading an adult life. The result may make your skin crawl". He was right, it did.
As I have said before I cannot keep all review copies sent to me, I just don't have the space, but this one is staying. Brilliant.
