He's not Scottish, but here's an article on Mike Hodges whose WATCHING THE WHEELS COME OFF was published earlier this month by maXcrime - the lovely people who are publishing OLD DOGS in April. The Times describes WATCHING THE WHEELS COME OFF as 'Viz meets Raymond Chandler' which is brilliant. I read it a couple of weeks ago and it's a darkly comic, slightly surreal romp, full of grubby people doing grubby things. Really good stuff. A fuller reviewlet will follow in my monthly reads summary. Mike Hodges will also be at CrimeFest and there will be a special screening of Hodges' brilliant film Get Carter. And, if you're hesitating about CrimeFest, The Times have a special offer over at the link.
A slew of reviews as Denise Mina and Philip Kerr are reviewed in the New York Times, and also in the Dayton Daily News, while Eurocrime reviews Louise Welsh's NAMING THE BONES, and the lovely Crimeficreader reviews G J Moffat's DAISYCHAIN. Declan Burke, one of my favourite people, also reviews Louise Welsh's NAMING THE BONES, and here's yet another review for Philip Kerr's IF THE DEAD RISE NOT in the Washington Post Bookworld.
And, talking of Louise Welsh, here's more on The Gorbals Vampire, presented by Louise Welsh and on Radio 4 on Tuesday night at 11pm.
Allan Guthrie talks to Chris Ewan in the iomtoday.com. This event is looming far too close for my liking - my stomach's already doing flip-flops. Full interview here. And, talking of the delightful Chris Ewan (aka my son) he's been shortlisted for the Last Laugh Award at the aforementioned CrimeFest. Well done Chris.
Ian Rankin on the ten greatest crime novels of all time. I'm sure these must have been some tough choices. What, dear reader, would your own top 10 be?
Alexander McCall Smith is called to the bar (I'll have a Southern Comfort and lemonade please, Mr Smith).
The sweet and cosy guys at Radgepacket have just posted 6 new stories online. (No, Dad, these aren't suitable for your tender eyes either).
And, finally, a Scottish policeman known as PC Shiny Buttons hands out a sneezing fine, only a couple of months after fining a man £50 for dropping £10 out of his pocket.
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Hi Donna. Glad I'm delightful, though not sure about the son part...
ReplyDeleteFor anyone who might be interested, I've posted the full text of my interview with Allan here: http://tiny.cc/nraaw
Cheerio
Chris
Cheers, son :o) I've amended the post to include the full interview link.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the mention, Donna!
ReplyDeleteWas thinking about that C4 pitch in the bath earlier. 'Killing the Competition' might be a good title...
Great list Ian Rankin has come up with though I prefer Our Mutual Friend over Bleak House. And I loved seeing that Roseanna made it. It is such a fine Scandinavian classic.
ReplyDeletecfr - excellent! Count me in. Errr...unless you want financial backing :o)
ReplyDeleteDorte - he'd obviously thought long and hard about the list. I was really happy to see CONFESSIONS OF A JUSTIFIED SINNER on there. That should be much more widely read.