Crime fiction history buffs will be interested in reading The Notting Hill Mystery, a new (or rather, old) contender for the title of ‘first detective novel ever published’, preceding Wilkie Collins’ The Moonstone (1868) by a good five years. Out of print for over a century, it is now available once more through the British Library.
C.J. Box is a living legend. He has won the Anthony Award, the Prix Calibre .38 (France), the Macavity Award, the Gumshoe Award, the Barry Award, the Edgar Award and been an L.A. Times Book Prize finalist. He has even been nominated for the IMPAC prize.
We were absolutely thrilled to catch up with C.J. recently for a chat about books, writing, and what he’s working on next. (It involves Cody Hoyt, so we’re happy).
In 2010 Allen & Unwin published a remarkable debut thriller, Still Missing. We knew this was white-knuckle, read-in-a-single-sitting material, and we wondered how we could build up the excitement that we were feeling so that the Australian book trade would be buzzing with anticipation too. We decided – in a slightly sadistic manner – that we would print the advance reading copies sans the final three chapters. Instead, readers were left on the most precipitous of cliff hangers and were required to sign an online ‘secrecy pledge’ in order to access those last chapters.
Well! The messages we’d come in to on our answering machines in the morning, from readers who’d run out of book at 3am and were jonesing for the ending… let us just say they were passionate. By the time the book was released we knew the word was out there: this is a writer to watch. (And we were right. Still Missing won the Best First Novel award at the International Thriller Awards in 2010).
So many great reviews, so little time! Let’s get to it.
Look who’s making a comeback… Sydney’s favourite PI Cliff Hardy is back and on form in Peter Corris’s 37th Hardy novel Comeback. Worried that you haven’t read any of his previous adventures? Fear not – Fair Dinkum Crime hadn’t either.
On the 12th February, the cast and crew of Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries gathered for a special screening of the first two episodes – and they were kind enough to reserve a spot for one lucky Allen & Unwin Facebook fan. Leanne ‘Ning’ Curran won her seat in a hotly contested competition of passionate fans – and was kind enough to post her feedback on the experience the next day.
At Allen & Unwin HQ we are counting down the days until the inimitable Phryne Fisher bursts onto our screens in a dazzle of porcelain skin, velvet and sequins, cocktails and pearl-handled derringers. Sometimes you need a break from gritty and all too grotty realism, tell the hard-boiled PIs ‘au revoir’ and just wallow in the sheer delight that is historical ’cosy’ crime. (Though it must be said that Phryne herself is hardly cosy – she is far too fabulous for that).
Fabulous? Moi? Merci.
Do you dare unleash the crime writing beast?
If you are up to the challenge, Faber Academy’s Armed and Dangerous: The Craft of Crime Fiction course could be the perfect accomplice for you.
The course offers the opportunity to work with two established authors of crime fiction (Lenny Bartulin and P.M. Newton), who will assist writers in discovering the many tools and techniques that constitute great crime writing. Week by week, the many elements that contribute to creating a piece of crime fiction will be examined, including plot, place, dialogue and characters.
15 February – 31 March 2012
Allen & Unwin
83 Alexander Street
Crows Nest NSW 2065
Course fee: $1,200 (inc GST)
Maximum of 15 students
For more info on the course and how to apply click here.
Go on. We dare you!
Don’t make us double dare you …
