Category Archives: Murder!
Murderous knick-knacks and artefacts: a re-post
Our BBC Four series on the history of murder is being re-shown on BBC Four at the moment (episode one is on Iplayer now, episode 2 will be shown next Saturday at 8pm) so I thought I would re-post this article from BBC History Magazine. You can also hear me talking about it on the
Continue ReadingA bit of a swoon about Chicago private eye V.I. Warshawski
In the 1980s I was a bit of a stalker. Fortunately, the object of my affections was not a person but a thing: it was West Bridgford Library in the suburb of Nottingham where we lived. I can’t really remember how I started ‘working’ there – something to do with the Girl Guides, I think
Continue ReadingWhy I like Victorian murderesses
This week, I’m happy to say, my book about the history of detective fiction is out in paperback. A bargain, if I may say so myself, at £9.99 (or even less from the Evil Empire). To get you in the mood, I’m posting an extract from one of my favourite chapters, which is about Victorian
Continue ReadingWhy I love Dorothy L. Sayers
The final episode of ‘A Very British Murder’ will be on the goggle box again on Saturday 17th January at 8pm, and it includes my absolute tip-top favourite detective novelist, Dorothy L. Sayers. I really wanted to make the entire programme about her, but they wouldn’t let me! So, for my fellow enthusiasts, here’s the
Continue ReadingWhy I love Sherlock Holmes
On tonight’s ‘A Very British Murder’, we cover a bit of Sherlock Holmes, so here’s my recent article from the Telegraph about how much I love him. Apologies if you’ve read it already, I did tweet the link on New Year’s Day when it came out. (Oh, and did you know there’s a book to
Continue ReadingMurder behind the scenes
Our BBC series A Very British Murder is back tomorrow night, starting a new run at 8pm on BBC Four. To get you in the mood, here are some behind-the-scenes photos from when we were making it last year…. Here Matthew Sweet, a very naughty man, and an expert on Wilkie Collins, is administering my first
Continue ReadingThe first fictional female detectives!
Here’s a little article on the first female detectives, which first appeared on the Dead Good crime writing website… ‘As an avid reader of crime stories, I’ve always had a soft spot for a female detective, with Nancy Drew, Harriet Vane and Miss Marple among my favourites. What is it that readers particularly like about
Continue ReadingHow to film a murder in a library … a guest post from TV researcher Chloë Penman
Hello from me! I’m here only briefly today, to introduce my guest. Chloë Penman (left), who works for BBC Bristol, was our brilliant young researcher on the series ‘A Very British Murder’. I’ve asked her to tell you a bit about her experience of what became known as ‘Library Day’, the day we spent filming
Continue ReadingOn the perils of writing book reviews
I’ve been getting some reviews for my new book A Very British Murder this week, and I’m delighted to reveal that the Sunday Times, the Independent, the Evening Standard, Literary Review and the Express have all had something nice to say. THERE, having got the real reason for this post (a bit of showing off)
Continue ReadingMurderous ornaments, puppets, knick-knacks, ritual artefacts and books
Well, as you seem to have been enjoying the pictures of various murderous ornaments I’ve been putting on Twitter and Facebook recently, I thought I’d share an article I recently wrote in the BBC History Magazine with more detail… As Britain’s cities expanded in the early 19th century, so too did the nation’s obsession with
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