Month: March 2024

I am a huge fan of Anthony Horowitz’s Magpie Murders, both the book and BBC/PBS TV series.  With a cold Scottish rain rattling against the windows, I recently spent an entire Sunday afternoon re-bingeing the TV show from start to finish.  I have no regrets!

For those of you who aren’t familiar, the basic conceit of Magpie Murders is a mystery within a mystery.  Alan Conway, a successful crime writer, dies in suspicious circumstances, circumstances that only make sense if one is aware of how his latest novel, Magpie Murders, concludes.  The problem is, no one knows how Magpie Murders ends because the last chapter is missing from the manuscript he handed in to his publishers.  His frustrated editor, intent on locating some usable version of the final chapter, finds herself inadvertently investigating a murder.

There are a few things I always take away from watching the TV show.  First, Lesley Manville is a simply brilliant actress; second, that I will never, ever behave like Alan Conway, a vile man who treats everybody, including the readers he is so lucky to have, with contempt; and, third, if it were me rather than Alan Conway who was the subject of Horowitz’s murder mystery, he’d have to come up with a completely different ending.

Without giving too much away, the reason I say this last thing is that the titles of Alan Conway’s books are an integral part of the plot.  “Not The Magpie Murders.  Magpie Murders.  That’s the bloody title!” as he tetchily informs his publisher.  But for the titles to fit into the plot like this, Alan Conway had to have control over them, something that yours truly absolutely does not.

As regular readers of this blog will know, no one trusts me with titles.  Neither of my two published novels, Braking Day and A Quiet Teacher, were called those things when I wrote them, not even close.  So chastened was I by this experience that I refused to reveal the title of my next novel, E________, because I was certain that it, too, would be changed.  (I keep saying I hope to be able to share news about E________ soon, and I really, really will.  Soon.)

With my fourth novel, though, the sequel to A Quiet Teacher, I was sure I had cracked it.  From the estimable Brady’s tongue-in-cheek 2 Quiet 2 Teacher, we (by which I mean I) settled on Critical Death Theory.  Brady liked it, Editor Rachel liked it, we were good to go.  I revealed it to the world.

And then I handed in the manuscript.

“Yes, well, the team is leaning against Critical Death Theory,” which is publisher-speak for, “You must be out of your mind.”  Needless to say, I didn’t put up much of a fight.  After a bit of toing and froing about what would best fit with an educator who solves mysteries, we came up with Two Times Murder.

So, there you have it.  Two Times Murder, the sequel to A Quiet Teacher.  Coming soon.  More details to follow!

Back from a fun weekend in Aberdeen attending the Granite Noir crime festival.  First though, a word about trains: they are awesome.  Scots complain a lot about the trains but, coming here after twenty-three years in the States, I have nothing but praise for them.  Sure, they sometimes run late or get canceled, but they mostly don’t.  They mostly run on time (to the minute) and, importantly, take you where you want to go when you want to get there.  If Amtrak got only half the support British railroads (railways!) get, travel in America would be revolutionized.

I mention the trains because that’s how I got to Aberdeen in the first place.  It took less than three hours. The route runs along the east coast of Scotland, around the firths of Forth and Tay, and then into northeastern Scotland with the icy blue of the North Sea for company.  It’s the most spectacular train journey I’ve ever taken and, if you ever get the chance to do so, I can’t recommend it highly enough. Just make sure to sit on the right/eastern side of the train!

Aberdeen’s nickname is the Granite City (hence Granite Noir) because granite is the local building material, and it shows.  All the older buildings are constructed with it, and many of the modern ones at least pay homage to the concept.  I was expecting a grimly gray metropolis, but Aberdeen is nothing like that.  The sun was shining and everything looked bright and crisp, even the seagulls that cruised low over the streets looking for scraps.  I look forward to visiting again.

As for the festival, it was an absolute blast and, as usual, I couldn’t stop myself from buying books.  All the hard work I put into reducing my TBR pile undone at a stroke.  I shared a panel with Briar Ripley Page (The False Sister) and Maud Woolf (Thirteen Ways to Kill Lulabelle Rock).  Both were delightful company, although I thought it was a little ironic that I, who consider myself a SF author with a sideline in crime, was the only one on the panel who’d written a straight up murder mystery.  Briar’s The False Sister, is a horror story set in the past and Maud’s Thirteen Ways to Kill Lulabelle Rock is very much a sci-fi.  Maud, indeed, was way more interested in Braking Day than A Quiet Teacher!

It never ceases to amaze me how receptive book festival audiences are to new(ish) authors.  I’m still at the stage where I dread sitting down to do a book signing because I don’t think anyone will come.  Once again, though, I was proved wrong.  It was a joy to meet new readers and talk books and book writing with them.  Also, I remain forever grateful that they are tolerant of my appalling handwriting!

I am looking forward to attending more festivals.  Critical Death Theory is now at the publisher’s, being gone over by Editor Rachel.  Fingers crossed she doesn’t hate it! Assuming no major rewrites, we look to be on track for a November 2024 release so, the next time I am on a stage, I should hopefully have a new book to talk about.