A Sextonian Apology (and a Promise of Good Things to Come)

A thousand apologies for the lack of anything new on this blog in recent times.

I will be back with more Sextonianism (including further instalments of my Mark Hodder interview)
as soon as I possibly can.

Keep the Faith !

Nick

Vintage Villainy ; Angela Rigley and Keith Chapman

Before we return to our look at the life and work of Mark Hodder, I`d like to think laterally  and bring to your attention two writers who`ve produced mysteries set in the nineteenth century.

The first is Angela Rigley. Ms Rigley resides in Langley Mill on the Notts/Derbys border - not too far from Chateau Hoonaloon as it happens - and has a number of novels to her credit. She is best known for her historical fiction but has also produced novels aimed at young adults and has recently diversified into editing manuscripts for her publisher.

An interview with Angela can be found at http://bluewoodpublishing.com/Authors/Interviews/I-AngelaRigley.html

Whilst remaining in the world of historical fiction, Lea Croft is the first novel of hers to feature a murder and mystery motif. "An everyday tale of muder and life in a Victorian village" say her publishers and indeed the author does bring a healthy dollop of murder and intrigue into the fictional Derbyshire village that gives the book its` title.

Keith Chapman is an old friend of this blog. His writing career has included stints with the Sexton Blake Library and the Edgar Wallace Mystery Magazine. After working for many years as an editor and journalist in recent times he has written a number of novels, mainly Black Horse Westerns (under the name Chap O` Keefe), though with occasional deviations into other genres, notably Witchery ; A Duo of Weird Tales.

A two-part interview with Keith telling the fascinating story of his writing career was posted at http://tommcnulty.blogspot.com on 8 and 14 Nov 2014.

In a recent e-mail , Keith commented on his fictitious Pinkertons` Detective Joshua Dillard, central character of The Lawman and the Songbird and others ;

"You could say that after all these years I`m still trying to fly the flag for hardboiled mystery, albeit my detective Joshua Dillard, unlike Sexton Blake, operates only in the 19th century !"

The Mark Hodder Interview Part Four

 

 

 

For some time now I`ve been posting my recent interview with Sexton Blake author Mark Hodder on this blog in instalments.

 

Parts 1 - 3 apppeared on 8, 15 and 19 October respectively so now it must be time for Part Four !

 

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Q)  From comments you`ve posted online* I would think you have a very different worldview to that of Blake, yet you clearly have an enduring fascination with his world. Why do you think that is ?

 

A) Yep. There you have Blake upholding the superiority of the British Empire and British principles and British character...and here you have me putting the boot in at every opportunity.

 

Here`s the truth. When you look at propaganda it tells you more about what it`s seeking to defeat than what it`s striving to support. It`s that old truism of psychology : listen to how people insult others, for it reveals what they`re most deeply afraid of. 

 

Blakes` world is intriguing to me because, in the early years, it is so crammed with self-confidence : this is right, that is wrong, end of story. That unquestioning attitude then gets a kick in the teeth with the First World War , and we have this sudden explosion of super-criminals most of whom can be read as physically or psychologically damaged, or as people who can no longer understand how they fit into society.

 

The Second World War knocks the Blake world even harder. Now the adventures are suddenly about ordinary people effected by crime, as if all the big world-spanning ideas and conflicts have been relocated to the average persons` kitchen. Aristocracy becomes an irrelevance. And on into the `50s and `60s , during which time Blake hardly represents anything but himself, in a manner that often feels rather empty and soulless.

 

So for me, the Blake saga, from beginning to end, is a historical document, but rather than examining history from on high, as historians tend to do,  it observes it from pavement level  and so gives a far better feel for how the world was.

 

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That concludes Part Four of my interview with Mark Hodder, author of The Silent Thunder Caper and one of the contributors to the short story collection Zenith Lives. Both titles can be acquired from publisher Obverse Books at http://obversebooks.co.uk .

 

Part Five will be along soon, so watch this space !

 

 

* "The capitalist system, in divorcing itself from social responsibility, has so undermined itself that people are now waking up and fighting back." Mark Hodder - `More Thoughts on Steampunk` -  Mark Hodder Presents, 27 Feb 2012 ( http://markhodder.blogspot.co.uk ).

 

 

 

Voices from America - Daniel Stashower and Lora Roberts

 

 

I abandoned the practise of occasionally looking at the wider world of crime fiction some time ago, largely because I didn`t feel I had the time to do it justice.

 

Having said that, visitors to this blog may be interested in two books I read not so long ago, The Dime Museum Murders by Daniel Stashower and The Affair of the Incognito Tenant by Lora Roberts.

 

I don`t review anything unless it`s fairly fresh in my mind but I will just say that I personally found The Incognito Tenant the more satisfying read and I will certainly be finding out whether Ms Roberts, who has a number of crime novels to her name, has written any other tales featuring her character Charlotte Dodson.

 

 

 

 

I rarely visit the websites of writers ( or actors ) as it only encourages them, but I`m sure if you have a quick search on the web you`ll find plenty of material about Roberts and Stashower, both of whom have added their own personal twist to some fairly familiar ingredients with imnpressive effect.

 

 

The Mark Hodder Interview Part Three ; Plummer v Zenith

We come now to the third part of my recent interview with Mark `The Silent Thunder Caper` Hodder.

Parts One and Two were posted on this blog on 8 and 15 October of this year and are still to be found lurking there.

We turn now to my third and most predicable question ;

Q) Who are your favourite characters from the Blake tales and why ?

A) I`ve always had a soft spot for George Marsden Plummer , simply because his early tales, by the mysterious Michael Storm*, are exceedingly well-written, and also because I think it`s a great idea : a high-ranking Police detective who uses his knowledge of the criminal underworld to his own advantage. That was ahead of its` time for sure. I like the psychology of Plummer. He believes he deserves better by virtue of his family connections to aristocracy , and thinks his less lordly status is an unfortunate quirk of fate that flies in the face of what`s `right`. I really connect with that , as my mother had the same attitude, though she never became a super-villain.

Zenith, of course, is right there at the top of the league. Anyone who`s read Zenith loves Zenith. He has an otherworldliness that really appeals. In some respects he`s an interesting counterpoint to Plummer in that he has the aristocratic position but considers it worthless.

This question of the value of the aristocracy  and the difference (if any) between an aristocrat and a commoner was integral to the zeitgeist of the inter-war years and has always fascinated me. It`s even become a theme of my own `Burton and Swinburne` series. Perhaps it`s why I chose to revive The Three Musketeers**. Three common criminals hiding behind a facade of `Hooray Henrys` ..that`s got to be fun ! A trio of psychopathic Bertie Woosters !

That concludes part three of my Mark Hodder interview, watch this space for more from me and him !

In the meantime you can keep up to date with this literary lad by visiting these sites ;
http://obversebooks.co.uk and www.mark-hodder.com .


* For more on Michael Storm ; http://bearalley.blogspot.co.uk/2007/07/michael-storm.html

** Not the Dumas characters, but three villains from Sextons` illustrious past ;
  http://www.mark-hodder.com/Blakiana/musketeers  .

The Mark Hodder Interview. Part One - An Initial Encounter ; "THIS was Sexton Blake !"

As I`ve mentioned before, celebrated Saville-Row-suited sleuth Sexton Blake has been reborn, re-invigorated and and renewed by the undoubted skills of Mark Hodder and the determination of  Stuart Douglas.

It is with great pleasure that I bring you this interview with the redoubtable Mr H, whose penmanship is equalled only by his courtesy and his commitment to the cause of Sextonianism.

The interview will be delivered to you in instalments, hopefully at very regular intervals but interspersed with other items relating to the excellent Mr Blake.

It may enhance your reading pleasure if you try to imagine this meeting of minds taking place in some appropriate fictitious setting. I personally would want to imagine the encounter occurring in a dimly-lit basement bar somewhere near Londons` dockland in the immediate post-war period.

Q) I believe your initial encounter with a Sexton Blake adventure was not exactly encouraging ?

A)  It was the Sexton Blake Library fifth series novel `The Witches of Notting Hill` by W A Ballinger (actually W Howard Baker).

I`d come to Blake by way of the modern-day Robin Hoods (or `Durable Desperados`) ; characters like The Saint, Bulldog Drummond, Tiger Standish, Nighthawk, Blackshirt, The Toff and so forth. Among them I`d encountered Norman Conquest and Zenith the Albino, both of whose origins lie in Blake tales.
 
My initial research into Blake wasn`t promising. "A cheap Sherlock Holmes rip-off" about sums it up (a judgement I now know to be totally erroneous). As a huge Holmes fan I wasn`t much enthused.

It kept nagging at me, though ; "I ought to read some Sexton Blake". So when I saw `Witches...` in a secondhand bookshop I snapped it up and... God it was awful ! I couldn`t understand how such drivel could have such an incredibly long history.

After recovering from that wasted reading time I thought I should give it another chance and perhaps look out for some of the earlier material. Not long after, a complete set of 1919 Union Jack magazines came up on E-Bay. It co-incided with me having a bit of cash to spare so I bid and won. The moment I eased open one of those browned and crumbly pages with its` tiny print and advertisements promising manly moustaches  and cures for blushing , I was hooked. THIS was Sexton Blake ! 

The next instalment follows shortly. In the meantime you can learn more of the activities of Hodder and Douglas by clicking on these links ;


http://obversebooks.co.uk  

www.mark-hodder.com

Walter Tyrer - A Writers` Life

 

Regular visitors to this blog can hardly be unaware of my fondness (some would say fascination) with the works of Walter Tyrer. Whether it`s The Strange Affair of the Shotgun Sniper, The Crime at Fenton Towers or one of his many other SBL titles, Walt`s the man for me.

Until recently, I have known little about the life of our witty wordsmith but now I am in a position to do something I`ve long wanted to do, which is to provide the world with a potted biog of Mr Tyrer.

I`ve previously referred to Walter as having grown up "in a tough part of Liverpool" and engaging in a highly lucrative writing career which eventually saw him  set up home in swish Kingston Upon Thames.

I`ve since been fortunate to hear from one of his daughters, retired journalist Jennifer de Fries, who was able to correct the impression I had formed ;

"It wasn`t quite the rags-to-riches story the blog mentions but the family did struggle when his mother was widowed. He must have won a scholarship (I never thought to ask) and became a 16 year old Midshipman in the Royal Navy in World War One."

War service over, Walter turned his hand to writing, initially penning some of the schoolboy stories which were popular at the time. I believe he had his first book published in 1921.

 He was later to reflect with wry amusement on the stories he wrote at that time, stories which reflected a world he had, presumably, never encountered in real life ;

"For years I wrote about mysterious public schools with neither discipline nor lavatories, where everything happened in the same queer place called the Quad and my characters never emerged from an odd form called the Shell."

Having cut his teeth on schoolboy stories it was soon time for some stylistic diversification. He pursued a lucrative career as a freelance writer of short stories, embracing a number of different genres as he did so. While it`s true that he penned a number of novels, it seems that his work for short story magazines financed his upward mobility. He contributed cowboy stories to the Western Library series and romances to the Miracle Library.  He also wrote for the Lucky Star Library under the name Raven Head*.

Now came World War Two. I am indebted once again to Jennifer de Fries  for her recollections ;

"When we moved (to Kingston Upon Thames) I was aged seven, my sister eleven ,and we spent nights of the Blitz in the large wine cellar in the garden, complete with electricity and tiny cooker. My father did ARP (acted as an Air Raid Precaution warden) and fire-watching but worked in Fleet Street most days, not forgetting the Press Club."

In the post-war period writers like Walter Tyrer and John Hunter may have begun to seem a little old-fashioned. The Sexton Blake Library was also undergoing something of a crisis. The world had seen  Hitler and Stalin and had no more appetite for super-villains. SBL mysteries became lower-key, often with regional settings and crimes that were less exotic than in the past.

Many freelance writers of the pre-war period found a new home writing for the SBL, but few did so with the wit and ingenuity that characterised Walters` works at this time. It`s true, as Jennifer de Fries comments "he was never at a loss for a plot and I think he was very good at dialogue" but to my mind it`s more than that  - he had class.  

                                                      Walter Tyrer 1900 - 1978






   
Footnotes

*Other pseudonyms used by Walter are J T Lang and Oliver Seed. I am not aware of any others.

As ever, thanks to Keith `Chap O`Keefe` Chapman, Ray Elmitt and Jennifer de Fries.

Philip Chambers

Once again this blog is indebted to Keith Chapman, this time for drawing my attention to a posting about Philip Chambers, who wrote a number of Sexton Blakes in the `60s, from Finnish blogger Juri Nummelin.

Keith has been able to add valuable information in a comment, which will no doubt be of interest to Sextonians.

To see the posting ;

http://pulpetti.blogspot.com/2014/05/philip-chambers-and-sexton-blake.html

Walter Tyrer - A Professional Job

Visitors to this blog can hardly fail to have noticed the warm regard I have for writer Walter Tyrer and the many classic stories he contributed to the Sexton Blake Library in the post-war period.

It gives me great pleasure to tell you that a previously unpublished Tyrer tale is about to see the light of the day due largely to the efforts of Keith `Chap O`Keefe` Chapman, who may be known to you for his past involvement with both the Sexton Blake Library and the Edgar Wallace Mystery Magazine.

It gives me even greater pleasure to tell you that I played a part in helping bring the book into the public gaze. Not in a big way, but still it`s something.

The story, entitled `A Professional Job` is not a Sexton Blake story, but is firmly in the crime/suspense category and is well worth a read.

To learn more about the unearthing of this long-forgotten gem, see my article `Walter the Wordsmith`, posted at http://bookshelvesandbrownale.blogspot.co.uk earlier today.

 

 

Thanks to Ray Elmitt for this photo of Walter Tyrer circa 1956

 

Tales From the Tainted Archive

Its` always interesting to encounter another Walter Tyrer fan online, particularly when said fan is also complimentary about this blog.

Such is the case with Gary M Dobbs, who has recently blogged about the joys of finding Walters` 1952 Sexton Blake Library title  `The Hire Purchase Fraud` in a second-hand bookshop in Cardiff recently (see http://tainted-archive.blogspot.co.uk/2014/02/sexton-blake-and-secondhand-books.html ) .

I`m sure Garys` blog will be of interest to many Sextonians and booklovers generally, so give it a look when you have a couple of minutes to spare.

Additionally, his comments have served to remind me that this blog hasn`t been getting my full attention lately.

There are reasons for that, but none that I choose to share with you ! Instead, I shall apply myself to the matter of rectifying the situation.


Happy detecting,

Nick

Thanks to Keith Chapman (aka Chap O`Keefe) for drawing my attention to Garys` blog.

Obverse Books Acquires License to Sexton Blake From IPC Media

It gave me great pleasure earlier this week to receive a Press Release from Obverse Books announcing  their "acquisition from IPC media of the license to the famous Baker Street detective Sexton Blake."

The release goes on to give a quick summary of the history of our fictional sleuth before explaining their plan "to resurrect the famous Sexton Blake Library, commencing with a new novella by best-selling genre author George Mann entitled `Sexton Blake and the Vengeful Dead` , combined in one hardback and electronic volume with a reprint of a rare, classic Blake story from the inter-war years. "

For more information contact Stuart Douglas at Obverse Books via their website www.obversebooks.co.uk .

I for one will be very happy to see a  re-invigorated SBL with new titles by current authors. I personally would hope that they will also seize the chance to reprint some of the more interesting post-war Blakes as well as the pre-war stuff, but that may be just me.

Anyway, it`s a worthy venture which I hope all Blake fans will support.

Just a hasty note

Just a hasty note from me to say I haven`t abandoned this blog, but circumstances beyond my control have kept me from giving it any attention recently.

I will be back for some serious sleuthing in due course.

 Until then, keep up with me at http://bookshelvesandbrownale.blogspot.com and http://hoonaloon.blogspot.com .

Even More From Undershaw

 

 

This poster advertises an event due to take place in Hindhead during December in aid of the Undershaw Preservation Trust.

 

I must admit I`m not a lover of the wacky spoof thing, but it`s in a good cause.

 

More details from www.saveundershaw.com

 

 

The Assassin`s Wedding

 

 

There are those who say that crime fiction is not as popular as it was, and that it largely caters for a readership who (dare we say it ?) are not as young as they were.

 

I must admit that last time I went to a crime fiction event there was a preponderance of grey hair and sensible sweaters. I also have to admit that while I tend to think of myself as some one who`s still quite young, a quick glance in the mirror shows that this is not actually the case !

 

Having said that, I`m not so sure that crime fiction is in terminal decline. Since I`ve expanded the scope of this blog to encompass a wider variety of material, I`ve been struck by how many different permutations on the theme of crime writing there are ; historical, contemporary and golden age crime fiction are just three of the varieties that spring to mind.

 

A newcomer to the field is W.W. Morgan, whose third novel The Assassin`s Wedding is out now. 

 

Needles to say, I am giving this Nottingham lad a plug partly to encourage an unknown writer, partly because he is based in the city of my birth and partly because we have a copy of his book to sell !

 

Our copy of this worthy tome is at 5352 in our listings and can be ordered in the usual way. If you`d like to know more about this writer, an interview can be found by clicking here ;

 

http://www.leftlion.co.uk/articles.cfm/title/wilf-morgan-interview/id/2632

 

He looks a cheerful sort of lad, so good luck to him !

 

If that`s not enough to satisfy your literary longings, you may wish to search our catalogues by clicking here ;

 

http://www.abebooks.co.uk/Hoonaloon-Books-Derbyshire/53404521/sf

 

The next Hoonaloon Newsletter will be online in the next few days - to check it out, click here ;

 

http://hoonaloon.blogspot.com

 

That`s enough from me for now. Happy reading and don`t forget, Respect the Book  !

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Karen Maitland

As you may have noticed, I`ve taken to punctuating my online journeys into the world of Sexton Blake with short pieces of news, comment etc to do with crime-writing generally.

My spies tell me that author Karen Maitland made an appearance at the library in Arnold, Nottinghamshire recently, to speak to a local reading group, an appearance that by all accounts has made a few more converts to her literary cause.

Ms Maitland is a new name to me, but a spot of googling reveals that she is the author of seven novels, all published by big-name publishers (Penguin and Simon and Schuster). Her choice of venue seems a little surprising given that she is, seemingly, quite a big name and does not live in Notts.

Myths, magic and medieval murder mysteries are Maitland`s thing. She writes these individually and also jointly with a group of writers known as the Medieval Murderers (the others are Philip Gooden, Susanna Gregory, Michael Jecks, Bernard Knight and Ian Morson). I seem to recall reading that a group of Sexton Blake writers did something similar in days gone by.  If you missed her trip to the Midlands then don`t despair as she will be hitting the road, Jack, quite a bit in the near future, including return visits to Notts later this month and in October.

For more information on her doings and goings-on, click here ; http://www.karenmaitland.com/news-and-events.

Hoonaloon News September 2012

The latest Hoonaloon Books Newsletter is online now. Uncover more clues at http://hoonaloon.blogspot.com.

News From Hoonaloon 31 August 2012

After our sale in July we entered into an arrangement with ABE whereby those of our books that had been discounted as part of the sale remained at the sale price, but new titles added subsequently went online at their full price.

In light of the difficult times we are all living in, we`ve decided to leave that arrangement in place a little longer - all the items we have in stock that were reduced as part of the July sale will continue to be discounted until 15 Sept 2012.

Whether you`re planning some early Christmas shopping, looking for something to read for pleasure or pursuing a hobby or other leisure interest, this is your chance to pick up a bargain or two from our splendid stock of literary loveliness.

Remember our slogan - Respect the Book !

Vintage Magazines Revisited

Call it serendipity, but quite by accident recently I came across this excellent online source for vintage magazines of a variety of types and persuasions ;

http://www.unz.org/Home/Introduction

http://www.unz.org


I have hardly scratched the surface of the many old periodicals on offer, but here are a few items which may interest visitors to this blog ;

Periodicals

http://www.unz.org/Pub/DetectiveFictionWeekly

http://www.unz.org/Pub/FantasticMysteries

http://www.unz.org/Pub/MercuryMystery


Authors

http://www.unz.org/Author/HammettDashiell

http://www.unz.org/Author/DoyleArthurConan

http://www.unz.org/Author/QueenEllery

I must stress that I`ve only made the most cursory search of the site so far and this is really just meant as a taster. Investigate ardently and I`m sure other treasures will be revealed !

Having digressed quite a bit recently, I will return to the subject of Sexton tout suite.








 

Edinburgh Crime Panel Event

I`m grateful to Ross Bradshaw of Nottingham`s Five Leaves publishing company for providing details of another crime writing event, this one being at Waterstones, Edinburgh West End on Thurs 6 Sep 2012 ;

http://www.list.co.uk/event/262317-crime-panel-event/

Crime Writers Association

Should you wish to spend your leisure time in the company of people who spend much  of their waking hours dreaming up new and ingenious ways in which people might do away with each other, and speculating about the motives which might drive them to do so, then this link may be of interest ;

http://www.thecwa.co.uk/events.php