There are many pleasures to be had in attending the Lowdham Book Festival: not least of these is to pick up an annual fix of crime fiction (note: I read it the rest of the year too, but I always KNOW I can get some goodies at Lowdham).
Chiefly, this comes via the regular appearance of Creme de la Crime, the publishing house that has been attending Lowdham for several years now - and to whom I run for my annual intake of Bev Morriss-ness. This year I had the bonus of author Maureen Carter speaking at the conference, in conversation with Lynne Patrick (a core part of Creme de la Crime) and new fiction novelist Chris Nickson whose book 'The Broken Token' I am very much looking forward to reading!
Anyway. Regular readers here will know my love for Maureen Carter's flawed lead character Morriss: she has so far appeared in Working Girls, Dead Old, Baby Love, Hard Time, Bad Press and last year, Blood Money. This year's Death Line is another page-turning volume. Whilst each are self-contained stories, suitable for new readers with sufficient background to fill in previous plotlines, those who read the tales in order - who develop their connections to characters - will be richly rewarded for their attentions.
Though Carter specialises in gritty narratives (Lawrence Block's 'Burglar' series is rare in driving a crime narrative with humour, though I'm up for other recommendations), at least Bev is no longer quite in the horrifically dark descending pit she was in Blood Money. By end of this novel though...
I'm torn at this point because I would love to say more about how the novel made me feel, especially by the end. Because it is one hell of an ending. In common with the previous six novels in the series, Carter constructs a tightly woven narrative where the reader is given tantalising glimpses of additional information to see inside character's behaviour - and it isn't always clearly the perpetrator. Carter always holds enough back to keep us guessing, but carefully feeds her readers' paranoia and puzzlement. Never one to shy away from harsh realities (whilst equally never gratuitous), Carter can turn a metaphorical knife into her readers within a few lines. And she certainly does that as the novel reaches its climax.
One of the real rewards of reading a series - and part of the reason why the ending of this novel cuts so deep - is that Carter is so scrupulous in constructing three-dimensional characters; each of the recurring characters especially are beautifully fleshed out as the ongoing arc of Morriss' career continues. Characters who you are initially led to feel dismissive of develop before your eyes, making you far more interested in them than you thought possible; others are brought in, but they always feel as if they can be seen and heard effectively. And always at the heart there is...
I'll leave you to read them now, catch up if you haven't read any already. But for those who have been following this through the previous volumes, get ready.
Showing posts with label Creme de la Crime. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Creme de la Crime. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Vote Vote Vote for Maureen Carter's "Blood Money" in the People's Book Prize!
Some of you will know that I've become a huge fan of Maureen Carter's series of novels about Detective Bev Morriss, published through Creme de la Crime. Shamefully though, I've only just managed to shift my ass over to The People's Book Prize website to cast my vote for Maureen's latest book, Blood Money.
If you haven't already picked up on Creme de la Crime's excellent catalogue of publications, then you are missing a treat, because they are wonderful. Something for pretty much every taste, regardless of whether crime fiction is really your bag or not: sure, there are obviously 'crimes' to be resolved at the heart of each book, but these are so variable in scale and context that I would think most readers would find something they like (I'm hugely impressed by Roz Southey's series about musician Charles Patterson, set in 18th century Newcastle-Upon-Tyne which has an incredibly different tone and style compared to the gritty contemporary narratives of Carter).
The People's Book Prize is a small operation, aiming to bring to public attention works from independent publishers via public libraries and the web. Having been lucky enough to discover the likes of Creme de la Crime publishers, I am very aware that many smaller independent publishers can have a hard time getting shop space and reviews for their works, so I'm all in favour of anything that helps improve awareness.
Anyway, my voting's done for August and September books: I was rather persuaded by the blogger whose comment was used in praise of Carter's book...
;)
[You can read the full review I did on Blood Money here]
If you haven't already picked up on Creme de la Crime's excellent catalogue of publications, then you are missing a treat, because they are wonderful. Something for pretty much every taste, regardless of whether crime fiction is really your bag or not: sure, there are obviously 'crimes' to be resolved at the heart of each book, but these are so variable in scale and context that I would think most readers would find something they like (I'm hugely impressed by Roz Southey's series about musician Charles Patterson, set in 18th century Newcastle-Upon-Tyne which has an incredibly different tone and style compared to the gritty contemporary narratives of Carter).
The People's Book Prize is a small operation, aiming to bring to public attention works from independent publishers via public libraries and the web. Having been lucky enough to discover the likes of Creme de la Crime publishers, I am very aware that many smaller independent publishers can have a hard time getting shop space and reviews for their works, so I'm all in favour of anything that helps improve awareness.
Anyway, my voting's done for August and September books: I was rather persuaded by the blogger whose comment was used in praise of Carter's book...
;)
[You can read the full review I did on Blood Money here]
Monday, June 29, 2009
Book Review: Maureen Carter 'Blood Money'
Since first acquiring her works back in 2007, I've been galloping through Maureen Carter's Bev Morriss novels with furious delight.
(see links for reviews of Working Girls with an aside to the second novel Dead Old, plus the review for Baby Love, Hard Time and Bad Press.)
This year I was delighted to find another Bev Morriss book available. Where once Morriss was merely brittle and acerbic, she's now frequently out of control, spiting herself more than anyone who tries to reach her. She's finding it increasingly impossible to retrieve her humour, a sense of self or her once-famed intuitive insight into human behaviour. I don't think it's a surprise to find she has no Frankie to offer ballast and she's scarcely connected to her once vital family. The isolation has seen her cut off from those she cares about, though even she longs for something, some connection, some reinvigoration of the desire - even love and affection - she once felt. She can see all the signs of destruction but she just can't quite manage to stop her acid tongue and semi-functional lifestyle forcing people away from her either. Indeed, it is this carelessness that creates a sub-plot to the novel whose threat looms into the final pages once the main narrative has passed.
As with her previous works, Carter's spare prose captures locations, temperaments, character and manners with elegant ease. Though it's a trait of her narratives to find that nothing is quite as it seems in terms of victims, Carter always manages to keep an extra twist up her sleeve until late in the day. She cunningly lets you in on things that the characters do not yet know but always holds sufficient information back to throw you a late curve-ball.
In the earliest books, the appropriation of some of Carter's own passions and wit for Morriss were fairly clear cut - and certainly the long-term passion for Mr J Depp remains. But it is telling that he, like most of the other anchors of Morriss's life, is mentioned only in passing in Blood Money. The divergence has been taking place for a long time, but as a long-term reader you hope that the dark places to which Morriss descends, those places of violence and destruction that seem to pull in those around her, reflect only Carter's talent for insightful writing and that a brighter light shines on her own experience of Birmingham life (thankfully I'm pretty damn sure it does!).
Overall a thrilling read. Started it on returning from Lowdham and it was neatly devoured before the day was out. As ever, recommended reading.
(see links for reviews of Working Girls with an aside to the second novel Dead Old, plus the review for Baby Love, Hard Time and Bad Press.)
This year I was delighted to find another Bev Morriss book available. Where once Morriss was merely brittle and acerbic, she's now frequently out of control, spiting herself more than anyone who tries to reach her. She's finding it increasingly impossible to retrieve her humour, a sense of self or her once-famed intuitive insight into human behaviour. I don't think it's a surprise to find she has no Frankie to offer ballast and she's scarcely connected to her once vital family. The isolation has seen her cut off from those she cares about, though even she longs for something, some connection, some reinvigoration of the desire - even love and affection - she once felt. She can see all the signs of destruction but she just can't quite manage to stop her acid tongue and semi-functional lifestyle forcing people away from her either. Indeed, it is this carelessness that creates a sub-plot to the novel whose threat looms into the final pages once the main narrative has passed.
As with her previous works, Carter's spare prose captures locations, temperaments, character and manners with elegant ease. Though it's a trait of her narratives to find that nothing is quite as it seems in terms of victims, Carter always manages to keep an extra twist up her sleeve until late in the day. She cunningly lets you in on things that the characters do not yet know but always holds sufficient information back to throw you a late curve-ball.
In the earliest books, the appropriation of some of Carter's own passions and wit for Morriss were fairly clear cut - and certainly the long-term passion for Mr J Depp remains. But it is telling that he, like most of the other anchors of Morriss's life, is mentioned only in passing in Blood Money. The divergence has been taking place for a long time, but as a long-term reader you hope that the dark places to which Morriss descends, those places of violence and destruction that seem to pull in those around her, reflect only Carter's talent for insightful writing and that a brighter light shines on her own experience of Birmingham life (thankfully I'm pretty damn sure it does!).
Overall a thrilling read. Started it on returning from Lowdham and it was neatly devoured before the day was out. As ever, recommended reading.
Wednesday, July 09, 2008
Maureen Carter: Book Reviews for Baby Love, Hard Time and Bad Press
As mentioned in this year's Lowdham summary, we once again met up with the Creme de la Crime bookstand - and once more with Maureen Carter.
Last year, Cloud and I had ventured to purchase Carter's first two Bev Morriss novels: Working Girls and Dead Old. Both were smart and entertaining, well structured and convincing in their portrayals of Birmingham life and times and of human nature. She has a wicked ear for detail in vocal expression and interior dialogue, most especially - but not exclusively - for her lead character, Morriss.
I had hoped then to get to the two other Carter books of Morriss stories soon after Lowdham 07 - but circumstances, yadda, yadda. Therefore I was excited to get back to be able to pick up more of her work this year - and delighted to find preview copies of Carter's new Morriss novel. With my self-imposed online absence it was a great way to distract myself!
Baby Love
There's a dark streak running through Carter's novels: dark locations, dark violence, dark humour. Yet they are always handled with such deftness that you never feel you are watching something quite as voyeuristically nasty as Wire in the Blood [which, on a different note, I actually think is far better than it is often criticised as being]. Characters frequently have carefully constructed back histories that come through piece by piece. Carter doesn't shy from making people 'nasty pieces of work' but she does fine line sketches for even the most potentially unsympathetic figures. It's hard not to feel deep empathy for the situations in which the three generations of Maxine, Natalie and Zoe Beck find themselves - and what may become of them next (not just as the narrative progresses but at its end as well).
The Morriss we started off with in Working Girls - all mouth and human insight, both quick and painfully slow to act on and deal with emotional issues - changes in subtle degrees as the novels progress. Dimensions that make sense in the context of the narratives, as well as being coherant and logical to the character themselves, are added as we go through each book. By the end of Dead Old, Morriss's swift ability to put her foot into her mouth has become physical ('boot in head' if you like): and although this made perfect sense with the events of Dead Old, the consequences for both Morriss and those around her bleed through to its follow-up Baby Love.
What is interesting for the novels as a series is how Carter manages to create such vibrant characters regardless of how much we are meant to like them. Powell, who in the first two novels is pretty much uniformly an ass - misogynistic and full of self-importance (though nevertheless sadly believable for all that) - doesn't lose these characteristics as the novels develop. But creepingly we become more aware of his life outside and what drives him. There is a nice moment at the end of Baby Love where Powell takes hold of Morriss and - for the first time in the three novels to date does not use a dismissive epithet or insult along with her surname but simply calls her Bev [it's not a romantic moment either - Carter doesn't do anything as simplistic as turning former antagonists into lovers]. As a minor criticism, personally, I would have preferred the remark to just be left as written, without the need to comment on this being a shift, with simply a context description of the setting to finish the chapter - but that's me and maybe says more about leaving some things for the reader/viewer to recall and contextualise or ponder on.* Nevertheless, recommended reading as are they all.
Hard Time
If Baby Love saw Bev Morriss distanced from her mother and especially her grandmother, Hard Time sees her increasingly distant from someone who had grown physically close to her in the first two novels - and instead the admiration/love that many readers recognised from the start of the series comes to the fore in its place. For me, this worked well as a move. It was also good to see the 'Guv' come increasingly to the fore in the overall crime narrative, and either I just haven't read enough crime fiction or Carter is great at throwing curveballs into the stories because whilst she will often dangle the carrot of one 'solved' element to the reader from around the mid-point of the novel to smart readers, she invariably manages to withold a crucial realisation until the denouement. Everyone has/or has had a hard time in this novel: no one comes out well. Politically, personally - the characters are suffering and then suffering some more.
Bad Press
One character whom I haven't made much of before is Frankie - best friend to Bev. Her importance is key as the friend who puts up with it all, dishes it out and will still carry you home and hold the hair out your mouth when you throw up. She pushes when Bev needs it, engineers when she needs it, takes not crap and will still manage to cook a beautiful meal. Bev isn't so much of a great friend, but she knows enough to recognise she has a good one in Frankie. Bev is more vulnerable than ever throughout this novel - and the ending makes for an interesting working and personal set of prospects in any next book. But despite this additional vulnerability, Bev keeps digging herself into holes; tellingly though by now they are ones that often involve protecting others rather than opening her mouth to change feet. Again, there's longer histories at stake in the crime narrative than just what seems to be at the surface and Carter brings them to vivid enactment.
A TV series anyone? or at least one-off dramas?
So that's my lot: you've now been fully briefed in pretty unspoilered terms about all the Carter/Morriss novels to date. Buy them, borrow them from your library, but above all read them. They're great little page-turners and Morriss and co are a wonderfully vivid set of characters.
Asides: I also had a little smile when I reached page 197 where there is an exchange about "cravings" and the line "Does David Tennant count?" is raised. The conversation concludes with "Great family. Good mates. What more does a girl want?" - to which the wry reply is "Doctor Who?"... I chuckled so much when I was reading this in the run up to Saturday's episode!
* It rather reminds me of the scene in Crash (the Best Picture Oscar winner that pissed so many people off) where we are gratuitously flashed a scene of the bullets being replaced by blanks. I understand why it was there to make things clearer about the significance and meaning of the scene but the emotional resonance - for me - was somewhat undercut by the explicitness of the sequence.
Last year, Cloud and I had ventured to purchase Carter's first two Bev Morriss novels: Working Girls and Dead Old. Both were smart and entertaining, well structured and convincing in their portrayals of Birmingham life and times and of human nature. She has a wicked ear for detail in vocal expression and interior dialogue, most especially - but not exclusively - for her lead character, Morriss.
I had hoped then to get to the two other Carter books of Morriss stories soon after Lowdham 07 - but circumstances, yadda, yadda. Therefore I was excited to get back to be able to pick up more of her work this year - and delighted to find preview copies of Carter's new Morriss novel. With my self-imposed online absence it was a great way to distract myself!
Baby Love
There's a dark streak running through Carter's novels: dark locations, dark violence, dark humour. Yet they are always handled with such deftness that you never feel you are watching something quite as voyeuristically nasty as Wire in the Blood [which, on a different note, I actually think is far better than it is often criticised as being]. Characters frequently have carefully constructed back histories that come through piece by piece. Carter doesn't shy from making people 'nasty pieces of work' but she does fine line sketches for even the most potentially unsympathetic figures. It's hard not to feel deep empathy for the situations in which the three generations of Maxine, Natalie and Zoe Beck find themselves - and what may become of them next (not just as the narrative progresses but at its end as well).
The Morriss we started off with in Working Girls - all mouth and human insight, both quick and painfully slow to act on and deal with emotional issues - changes in subtle degrees as the novels progress. Dimensions that make sense in the context of the narratives, as well as being coherant and logical to the character themselves, are added as we go through each book. By the end of Dead Old, Morriss's swift ability to put her foot into her mouth has become physical ('boot in head' if you like): and although this made perfect sense with the events of Dead Old, the consequences for both Morriss and those around her bleed through to its follow-up Baby Love.
What is interesting for the novels as a series is how Carter manages to create such vibrant characters regardless of how much we are meant to like them. Powell, who in the first two novels is pretty much uniformly an ass - misogynistic and full of self-importance (though nevertheless sadly believable for all that) - doesn't lose these characteristics as the novels develop. But creepingly we become more aware of his life outside and what drives him. There is a nice moment at the end of Baby Love where Powell takes hold of Morriss and - for the first time in the three novels to date does not use a dismissive epithet or insult along with her surname but simply calls her Bev [it's not a romantic moment either - Carter doesn't do anything as simplistic as turning former antagonists into lovers]. As a minor criticism, personally, I would have preferred the remark to just be left as written, without the need to comment on this being a shift, with simply a context description of the setting to finish the chapter - but that's me and maybe says more about leaving some things for the reader/viewer to recall and contextualise or ponder on.* Nevertheless, recommended reading as are they all.
Hard Time
If Baby Love saw Bev Morriss distanced from her mother and especially her grandmother, Hard Time sees her increasingly distant from someone who had grown physically close to her in the first two novels - and instead the admiration/love that many readers recognised from the start of the series comes to the fore in its place. For me, this worked well as a move. It was also good to see the 'Guv' come increasingly to the fore in the overall crime narrative, and either I just haven't read enough crime fiction or Carter is great at throwing curveballs into the stories because whilst she will often dangle the carrot of one 'solved' element to the reader from around the mid-point of the novel to smart readers, she invariably manages to withold a crucial realisation until the denouement. Everyone has/or has had a hard time in this novel: no one comes out well. Politically, personally - the characters are suffering and then suffering some more.
Bad Press
One character whom I haven't made much of before is Frankie - best friend to Bev. Her importance is key as the friend who puts up with it all, dishes it out and will still carry you home and hold the hair out your mouth when you throw up. She pushes when Bev needs it, engineers when she needs it, takes not crap and will still manage to cook a beautiful meal. Bev isn't so much of a great friend, but she knows enough to recognise she has a good one in Frankie. Bev is more vulnerable than ever throughout this novel - and the ending makes for an interesting working and personal set of prospects in any next book. But despite this additional vulnerability, Bev keeps digging herself into holes; tellingly though by now they are ones that often involve protecting others rather than opening her mouth to change feet. Again, there's longer histories at stake in the crime narrative than just what seems to be at the surface and Carter brings them to vivid enactment.
A TV series anyone? or at least one-off dramas?
So that's my lot: you've now been fully briefed in pretty unspoilered terms about all the Carter/Morriss novels to date. Buy them, borrow them from your library, but above all read them. They're great little page-turners and Morriss and co are a wonderfully vivid set of characters.
Asides: I also had a little smile when I reached page 197 where there is an exchange about "cravings" and the line "Does David Tennant count?" is raised. The conversation concludes with "Great family. Good mates. What more does a girl want?" - to which the wry reply is "Doctor Who?"... I chuckled so much when I was reading this in the run up to Saturday's episode!
* It rather reminds me of the scene in Crash (the Best Picture Oscar winner that pissed so many people off) where we are gratuitously flashed a scene of the bullets being replaced by blanks. I understand why it was there to make things clearer about the significance and meaning of the scene but the emotional resonance - for me - was somewhat undercut by the explicitness of the sequence.
Friday, July 04, 2008
This week I have been mostly...
--- avoiding any mention of Doctor Who anywhere. This has proved hard going and has not been easy on anyone I know. My psyche has been battered this week - apologies to all on the sharp end.
--- reading Creme de la Crime novels: I've belted through all three outstanding Maureen Carter books and will be reviewing those in due course. I've also galloped through another of this fine publishers' texts 'If it Bleeds' and am working my way through their Australia-set 'A Certain Malice'. May do reviews on those if I get chance.
--- dealing with workstuff: it's what is known as our 'quiet-time' since most of the undergraduates are back home or working through the summer. Hmm. That only really works if you don't still have lots to do! Regular checks on our record system also keep reminding me I have the largest caseload of students and I'm still stuck in stats land trying to wrangle Access and SPSS data into a report that doesn't go on for 20 pages. Brevity was never one of my strong points. The phrase "skip to the end" comes to mind!
--- trying to deal with the prospect of social interaction. I'm not the most capable attendee of parties and social events at the best of time: in the run up to this Doctor Who finale I'm fucking lousy and working hard at gearing myself up to be what I want to be (cheery, supportive and having a good time). If someone brings out an L-plate I suggest I may not be responsible for my actions. I may have to focus on the dancing that will happen after 11pm and pray that I get at least one tune that I feel able to dance to without having to send my credibility a long-distance postcard.
--- planning for more building work. Birds got in our roof space so we need to sort that out and it would be sensible to have (at least part of) the roof space then boarded so we can use it for storage. We also need chimbleys sorting out so whilst we have this in place, some pointing would be good. Old houses eh: doncha luv em?!
Anyway, on the upside not long to go now. This time tomorrow most of you will already know what has happened in the world of DW; I will have around 3-4 more hours to wait... See you on the other side!
--- reading Creme de la Crime novels: I've belted through all three outstanding Maureen Carter books and will be reviewing those in due course. I've also galloped through another of this fine publishers' texts 'If it Bleeds' and am working my way through their Australia-set 'A Certain Malice'. May do reviews on those if I get chance.
--- dealing with workstuff: it's what is known as our 'quiet-time' since most of the undergraduates are back home or working through the summer. Hmm. That only really works if you don't still have lots to do! Regular checks on our record system also keep reminding me I have the largest caseload of students and I'm still stuck in stats land trying to wrangle Access and SPSS data into a report that doesn't go on for 20 pages. Brevity was never one of my strong points. The phrase "skip to the end" comes to mind!
--- trying to deal with the prospect of social interaction. I'm not the most capable attendee of parties and social events at the best of time: in the run up to this Doctor Who finale I'm fucking lousy and working hard at gearing myself up to be what I want to be (cheery, supportive and having a good time). If someone brings out an L-plate I suggest I may not be responsible for my actions. I may have to focus on the dancing that will happen after 11pm and pray that I get at least one tune that I feel able to dance to without having to send my credibility a long-distance postcard.
--- planning for more building work. Birds got in our roof space so we need to sort that out and it would be sensible to have (at least part of) the roof space then boarded so we can use it for storage. We also need chimbleys sorting out so whilst we have this in place, some pointing would be good. Old houses eh: doncha luv em?!
Anyway, on the upside not long to go now. This time tomorrow most of you will already know what has happened in the world of DW; I will have around 3-4 more hours to wait... See you on the other side!
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