Harriet Devine's Blog

The Book of Forgotten Authors by Christopher Fowler

I saw this book reviewed somewhere not all that long ago, and knew I had to get my hands on it as soon as possible. Luckily the kind publisher got it in the post for me and it landed in my mailbox within a few days. It came at the most opportune time, as I was struck down by a horrid virus and was not in a fit state to read anything that required long periods of concentration. So what could be better than something in highly entertaining, easily manageable chunks. And I have to say that rarely has a non-fiction book given me more unadulterated pleasure. As I'm sure you know if you visit here from time to time, there's nothing I like so much as a forgotten author, and here we have 99 of them getting a chapter each to themselves, plus a whole lot more mentioned in passing in the longer, discursive chapters dotted through the book, with titles like 'The Forgotten Rivals of Holmes, Bond and Miss Marple' and 'The Forgotten Queens of Suspense' - and let's not forget 'The Justly Forgotten Authors'. 

This is a highly opinionated book, and all the better for it. Needless to say I didn't always agree with Christopher Fowler's judgments of books I was already familiar with, or with some of his choices of authors to give chapters to. He kicks off with Margery Allingham, who, as he admits, has almost never been out of print and has a large following. She's included because he says 'few readers have got to grips with her novels', not my impression at all. I was a bit surprised to find Georgette Heyer in there, as I thought she still had a lot  of readers, and as for the much loved and admired Barbara Pym, she would have done better in 'The Rediscovered Forgotten Authors'.

But these are quibbles. Fowler's great skill here, apart of course from finding the authors in the first place, is in the way he writes about them and their creations in the most succinct and witty way possible. I was greatly drawn to Kyril Bonfiglioli, who wrote 'joyous books' about a hero described as 'a politically incorrect combination of Bertie Wooster, Falstaff and Raffles' but who died in alcoholism and poverty. You can't help warming to a man whose party trick was removing shirt buttons with a sword. Fowler, though he covers a wide range of authors, many of them straightforwardly and conventionally talented, seems to have rather a penchant for the outlandish and bizarre. There's Virginia Andrews, for example, writer of the 'perverse fairy tale'  Flowers in the Attic, whose later books are described as 'psychologically upsetting and compellingly awful'. There's Peter Barnes, whose writing 'links death and jokes to create a dark carnival atmosphere'. Alcoholism seems to have been at the root of some bizarre literary productions, such as those of the 'brandy-breathed Soho flaneur' Julien Maclaren Ross, who 'squandered his great ability, the talent to write like a dream', and of Simon Raven, 'a horrible human being', and author of 'a couple of scathing, rancorous novel cycles'. Then there are mental problems, such as those of Richard Shaver, a paranoid schizophrenic whose invented 'Cavern world'  within the earth brought him immense fame and a huge number of adoring believers. Fowler has done a brilliant job of tracking down the authors and discovering their own back stories. My favourite must be that of Maryann Forrest, aka Polly Hope, who, hearing Fowler was looking for her whereabouts, wrote him a letter beginning 'I know, for I am she', which formed the beginning of a very special friendship.

There's a sort of dual pleasure in reading this book, a combination of delight in finding one of your own discoveries in there and excitement at the thought of reading someone you'd never heard of before. Books I now long to read include Brigid Brophy's In Transit, set in an airport lounge, where

Evelyn Hillary O'Rooley suddenly loses any sense of gender, and the unsuccessful, hilarious tests he/she performs to get to the truth are filled with puns, puzzles, meta-fiction moments of awareness and surreal situations that include a dyke revolution at the baggage carousels.

This one is actually back in print, as is Norman Collins' 'great city novel', London Belongs to Me, a 'sprawling 700-plus-page story in the style of Dickens'. Not so is another I'd love to get my hands on, Maryann Forrest's Here (Away From it All) 'an  adult Lord of the Flies, involving holidaymakers instead of children'. Then there are the Forgotten Queens of Suspense, all due for resurrection by the British Library.

I could go on, but you get the idea. This is a brilliant book and you should buy it forthwith.

 

My Shiny Reviews

I've been a bit remiss lately about pointing you to my recent reviews in Shiny. Here are a couple that have appeared in the last few weeks.

Min Kym's Gone is subtitled A Girl, a Violin, A Life Unstrung. Maybe you have heard of Min Kym, a supremely talented violinist of Korean extraction, recognised as a child prodigy by the time she was seven. Maybe you even read about the great tragedy of her life, the loss of her precious Stradivarius violin when it was stolen from her in a café at Euston Station. Or maybe she, and her story, are new to you. Either way, you really should read this book, in which Min tells her amazing story in her own beautifully chosen words.

Read the whole review here.

 

 
My Name is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout

 

This is a very short novel – only just over two hundred pages. But it’s a little jewel of a book, not only for the wonderfully compressed truths about the way people communicate with others but also for the great beauty of Strout’s simple, spare, immensely telling prose. I loved every single second of it. 

That's what I said about it in my review. Certainly this was one of the best novels I read in 2016, and it's now out in paperback. 

Read the whole review here.

Shiny 9 Goes Live

Yes, the Spring issue of Shiny New Books is now up and running. A new issue is always a cause for rejoicing, but this one is a tiny bit more special because it's also our second birthday. Two years ago today we first dipped our toes into the world of the internet review magazine, and things have gone wonderfully well. As always many thanks are due to our great team of reviewers, to the publishers who kindly supply is all with books, and of course to my wonderful, hardworking co-editors, Victoria, Annabel and Simon. If you feel like writing reviews for us, check out this link on our review policy.

This issue, as usual, is stuffed with great reviews of newly published books in Fiction, Non-Fiction and Reprints, plus an excellent set of articles is the BookBuzz section. I'll be bringing you some highlights on all these soon. Meanwhile, head over and enjoy!

Shiny 8 Out Today!

Yes today's the day for our Shiny issue 8, with lots of new reviews for books you'll really long to read! And don't forget to check the winner and runners up for our really successful Poetry Competition.

For some reason it turned out that I only reviewed one novel in the Fiction section, but what a great novel it was  -- Francesca Kay's The Long Room, which I mentioned to you yesterday. Here's the beginning of my review:

A gripping story of obsession and spies set in eighties London.

So says the blurb on the back of this truly excellent novel. But this is no ordinary spy story, though it’s as convincing and authentic as any I’ve ever encountered. There are no guns, no globe trotting, no car chases, and only one episode of lurking in a doorway, which though an important part of the plot is not part of the protagonist’s job description....

 

To read more, click here -- and then do stay around and have a browse!

Shiny Poetry Competion Update

The Shiny editors have decided to give all you budding poets a chance -- we are extending the deadline for the Shiny Poetry Competition to 19 December (was 3 December). 

We are looking for original poems of no more than 25 lines on the subject of ‘Reading’, and you can interpret that as widely as you like, feel free to be innovative.

So get writing -- we are looking forward to reading your entries. 

Shiny 7 Out Today!

Once again the Shiny editors have pulled out all the stops to bring you another lovely edition of Shiny New Books.  Each of us editors looks after a particular section, and the picture here is the header for 'my' section, Non-Fiction, which for some reason (partly review copies not turning up or arriving late) has turned out to be a little slimmer than usual, but is nevertheless stuffed with some great reads. Elsewhere there's masses of good stuff too - I never cease to marvel at the quality of the reviews we get from our excellent team of contributors. The BookBuzz section is remarkably full this time round, and includes our first ever original fiction piece, a previously unpublished short story by Angela Young. Hopefully this will become a regular feature of Shiny in future.

I'll be posting links to my own reviews and those of others during the coming days, but meanwhile, why not dip in and see what takes your fancy? 

Shiny Poetry Competition

While we Shiny editors are all slaving over hot computers to get next week's edition off the ground, we thought we should remind you that you need to write and submit your entry to the Shiny Poetry Competition.  With a nice broad subject (Reading -- so you could even write about the Berkshire town and get away with it), a 25-line limit and some tasty prizes, what's not to lose?

It's a fact that many people write poetry secretly, perhaps never thinking of publication. But it's also an obvious fact that some of those poems are probably really good. So if you have even a faint hope that yours might be, just bite the bullet and send it in. Full details here. 

Shiny Extra 6a Out Today!

Yes, Shiny Extra, otherwise known as Extra Shiny, formerly 'the inbetweenie' is out today. There are no fewer than 22 new reviews and features there for your enjoyment, plus we are opening the Shiny Book Club discussion on Sarah Waters' brilliant novel, The Paying Guests (see my review here), is now open. And there's a great new feature -- our first writing competition, which is actually a Poetry Competition. So, any poets out there should click on this link and start writing!

As always, we've had huge fun compiling this, writing our own reviews and commissioning others from our increasingly large and superbly talented team of reviewers.  Hope you will have fun browsing, too. 

Maths Formula to Solve Christie's Whodunnits

You may have seen the recent articles in the Telegraph, Daily Mail and elsewhere proclaiming that there's now a mathematical formula for finding the identity of the killer in Agatha Christie's novels. Not being a mathematician I can't try it out, but I thought you might like to see the full press release. The study was commissioned by UK TV.

 

SO THAT’S HOW SHE DUNNIT!

On the 125^th Anniversary of Agatha Christie’s birth, scientists reveal the key clues behind the world’s best-selling novelist

 

 

• ·         Panel of experts reveal the secret to Agatha Christie - the world’s best-selling novelist’s success
• ·         Greatest mystery in fiction solved – how to spot ‘whodunnit’
• ·         Where the novel is set, the primary means of transport used throughout the book and how the victim dies, are all key factors that give away who the killer is
• ·         New research released today was commissioned by TV channel Drama to celebrate their Agatha Christie Hour, weekdays at 8pm, 3^rd – 14^thAugust

 

As Agatha Christie fans across the world celebrate the 125th anniversary of the best-selling author’s birth, new research reveals the formula for her incredible success and crucially – how to spot whodunnit!

 The research, commissioned by UKTV channel Drama for their Agatha Christie Hour at 8pm, weekdays from 3^rd – 14^th August, tasked a panel of experts including Dr. James Bernthal from the University of Exeter; Dr. Dominique Jeannerod, Senior Research Fellow at the Institute for Collaborative Research in the Humanities at Queens University; and data analyst Brett Jacob, with analysing a selection of Christie’s top selling mystery novels** to discover the secret to her success and the ultimate formula for predicting who the killer is.

 Key Findings:

Ø  The killer will be introduced within the first half of the book

Ø  The killer is likely to be emotionally involved with the victim, most killers are spouses or blood relatives of their victim

Ø  If there are a lot of land vehicles in the story, the killer is most likely female

Ø  If there are a lot of nautical vehicles and aircraft in the story, the killer is most likely male

Ø  If the victim is strangled, the killer is most likely male (or male with a female accomplice)

Ø  If the setting is a country house, the killer is most likely female (75% chance)

Ø  The language used throughout the book to describe a female killer is usually more negative than when describing a male killer

Ø  Female killers are normally discovered due to a domestic item

Ø  Male killers are normally found out through information or logic

Ø  If Poirot is the detective, and the cause of death is stabbing, the killer will be mentioned more frequently at the beginning of the book

Ø  If Miss Marple is the detective, and the motive for the murder is money/affair, the killer will be mentioned more in the later stages of the novel than the beginning.

 Adrian Wills, General Manager for Drama said “Agatha Christie is the best-selling novelist of all time, so the television adaptations of her books are hugely popular.  To mark the 125^th anniversary of her birth, the Drama channel decided to pull together 10 nights of some of her most famous stories in the Agatha Christie Hour, weeknights at 8pm from August 3^rd. Given her on-going popularity, we wanted to know her formula for success, especially since the whodunit is such a classic of the crime drama genre.  We hope that her legions of dedicated fans will revisit their favourite whodunits with a better understanding of how to crack the ultimate code.”

 Christie’s Work:

The study found that Christie features similarities in language style, word length and sentence length across her works. According to a team of researchers lead by Dr Jeannerod, a key element of Christie’s writing style is to keep it simple; using middle-range language and repeating it. In fact, according to research, the most used word in Christie’s novels is ‘said’.

 Jeannerod's team also found that the structure of a Christie novel can be simplified down to a list of key events: the body will be found early on; a closed group of suspects (achieved either by remote location or the confines of a social group) will be presented to the reader; the detective will then be introduced and a series of red herrings will follow; and finally, after the outcome, the solution will wrap up the story quickly and efficiently, leaving the reader satisfied.

 The Main Clue:

As any mystery novel goes, the reader is subjected to the occasional red herring. Clues need to offer the reader an experience that satisfies expectations whilst avoiding disappointing predictability. According to Dr. Bernthal, Christie’s novels tend to include a “main clue” which is revealed “approximately half way through the text” and “it will usually be highlighted as it appears in the text,” so the reader is likely to remember it.

 However, according to Bernthal, even if the main clue is easily missed or consciously skimmed over by the author, with Christie’s work, because the “the reader already remembers the clue, this creates an impression of fair play,” so the reader doesn’t feel cheated by the addition of a random detail they could never have spotted. He also reveals that Christie’s female killers tend to be given away by domestic items whilst the male killers are discovered by information or logic.

Working out the Formula*:

 Relationship to the victim (=)

Dr. Bernthal’s research highlighted that the killer is likely to be emotionally involved with the victim; the most common relationship being a spouse or relative. Furthermore, if the killer’s victim is their spouse, the most probable motive will be love, whereas murders committed by blood relations are more varied in motive.

 Primary means of transport associated with the novel (=)

According to Dr Jeannerod's team, the novels which include a female killer are more likely to feature land vehicles (such as cars, vans, trucks), whereas novels with a male killer are more likely to involve nautical vehicles and aircraft (such as boats and planes).

 The sentiment of the language used in association with the killer (=)

By using a sentiment analysis program called “Semantria”, Dr Jeannerod's team found that in general, Christie uses more negative language to describe her female killers, whereas with male killers, she uses “higher levels of neutral or positive sentiment”. It was also found that in her later novels, Christie portrays her culprits in an overall more negative light.

 Method of murder and the detective characterized in the novel  

Jeannerod’s team also found that if the victim is strangled, the killer is more likely to be male (or male with a female accomplice) and that there is a correlation between the killer being a doctor and the victim dying from either stabbing or strangulation. The results also suggest that if Poirot is the featured detective, and the cause of death is stabbing, it is extremely probable that the killer will be mentioned more frequently at the beginning of the book rather than in the concluding chapters. However, if the detective is Miss Marple, and the motive for the murder is money/affair, “the culprit will be mentioned more in the later stages of the novel than the beginning.”

 Setting for the novel  

Dr. Bernthal’s research revealed that if the setting is a country house, there is a 75% chance that the killer will be female.

 Chapter of introduction of the killer 

Bernthal also discovered that the murderer will be introduced within the first half of the novel, and almost always within the first 20% of the book. 

 Number of mentions of the killer  

Furthermore, the later the book was published, the more the murderer will be mentioned throughout the novel according to Dr Jeannerod's team. In fact, it was found that on average the culprit had 11.7 new mentions with every new novel. The findings also reveal that “there is a 27% chance that the culprit will be mentioned most in the first quarter of the novel, a 36.5% chance for the second quarter, an 18.5% chance in the third quarter, and an 18% chance for the fourth quarter.”

 Agatha Christie Hour will air on TV channel Drama at 8pm, weekdays from 3^rd – 14^th August

* And for anyone who's keen to try it, here's the key to the formula:

My Shiny 6 Reviews

This time round, I wrote fewer reviews for Shiny 6 than usual. I didn't plan it that way at all, but a variety of things conspired to make it happen. For a start, I'd been going to review Martin Edwards' fantastic Golden Age of Murder, which I read with huge enjoyment, but then one of our regular reviewers, Lyn Baines, posted such an excellent review on her own blog that I thought I couldn't better it, and asked if we could republish it, which she kindly agreed to. Then the same thing happened with Nicola Upson's London Rain -- I'd enjoyed it tremendously, but very much liked the review by another of our regulars, Rob Spence, so he ended up rejigging it for Shiny. In fact I did interview both these writers, and the Q&As appear in the BookBuzz section. Martin's is here, and Nicola's is here. I also got a review copy of A.N. Wilson's The Book of the People: How to Read the Bible, which I thought sounded fascinating. But oh dear, it wasn't -- not to me, anyway. So that one bit the dust. 

However, I did review some excellent books. One was Kate Atkinson's wonderful A God in Ruins -- I'd already talked about it on here with relation to the audiobook, but my Shiny review goes into more depth. Then there was a late addition, All the Light We Cannot See, the Pulitzer prizewinner from Anthony Doerr, newly out in paperback. I normally review several contemporary crime novels, but this time round the only one was Laura Wilson's intriguing The Wrong Girl, set partly in the 1970s. My only contribution to non-fiction was a review of Stanley Wells' Shakespeare: A Very Short Introduction, and I also reviewed two brilliant golden age crime novels in the reprints section: a British Library Crime Classic, Resorting to Murder: Holiday Mysteries, and Ianthe Jerrold's The Studio Crime, published by Dean Street Press.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So, just six reviews in total. I feel vaguely guilty about not doing more, but I also know that's really silly. One of the great things about Shiny New Books is the way we are recruiting such a superb bunch of reviewers. I do most of the proofreading before we go live, and I am constantly bowled over by the quality of the writing that comes in. So, though I'll never end up taking a back seat (or I hope not, anyway), this is actually a really healthy sign, and I can only say long may it continue. 

Have you explored Shiny 6 yet?