Adrian Ure
Guest: Adrian Ure, Audience Development Officer, Essex Libraries.
Books
Oscar Wilde and the Candlelight Murder by Gyles Brandreth
London, 1889. Oscar Wilde, celebrated poet, wit, playwright and raconteur, is the literary sensation
of his age.All Europe lies at his feet.Yet when he chances upon the naked corpse of sixteen-year-old
Billy Wood, posed by candlelight in a dark and stifling upstairs room, he cannot ignore the brutal
murder. With the help of fellow author Arthur Conan Doyle, he sets out to solve the crime - and it
is Wilde’s peculiar genius and his unparalleled access to all degrees of late-Victorian life - from
society drawing rooms and the bohemian demi-monde to the criminal underclass-that prove the decisive factors in their investigation of what turns out to be the first in a series of bizarre and
apparently inexplicable killings.
The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde
Great Britain in 1985 is close to being a police state. The Crimean war has dragged on for more than
a 130 years and Wales is self-governing. The only recognisable thing about this England is her
people's enduring love of literature. And the third most-wanted man, Acheron Hades, is
stealing characters from England's most cherished novels and holding them for ransom.
Thursday Next, a literary detective, is without any fear or boyfriend. Thursday is hot on the trail
Hades who has kidanpped Jane Eyre from Charlotte Bronte's masterpiece. And Thursday must find a way into the book to repair the damage. She also needs to find the time to stop the Crimean war(to which lost a brother), reconcile with her love and stop his wedding, rescue her aunt from a Wordsworth
poem and figure out who really wrote Shakespeare's plays. Together with this splendid mish-mash of
characters, Thursday also has to contend with a pet Dodo, a time-travelling father and Edward
Rochester himself.
A Gentle Axe by R.N.Morris
It is St Petersburg in the winter of 1867. Two frozen bodies are found in an isolated corner of
Petrovsky Park. The first - that of a dwarf - has been packed neatly in a suitcase, a deep wound
splitting his skull in two. The second body, of a burly peasant, is hanging from a nearby tree, a
bloody axe tucked into his belt.
Porfiry Petrovich -investigating his first murder case since the homicides recounted in Dostoevsky's
Crime and Punishment-suspects the truth may be more complex than others wish him to believe.Porfiry's investigation leads him from the squalid tenements,brothels and drinking dens of the city's Haymarket district to an altogether more genteel stratum of society, in a thriller that is atmospheric and tense from its dramatic opening to its shocking climax.
Lord Peter Wimsey Stories by Dorothy L.Sayers
1. Murder Must Advertise
Lord Peter Wimsey,under the pseudonym of "Death Bredon"(his real middle names),takes up employment as a copywriter for an advertising agency in order to discover more about the recent mysterious death of one of the employees. In the process he discovers much of the convoluted private lives of the other employees, not to mention getting a feel of what it is to actually work for a living.
Eventually he traces the connection to a drug-smuggling operation, which he proceeds to infiltrate
and uncover. Wimsey makes the connection between the drug-smugglers and the employee who has become their tool and has responded to a blackmail threat with murder.
2. Five Red Herrings
The story is set in Galloway, a part of Scotland popular with artists because of its landscapes.
Sandy Campbell is a talented painter, but also a notoriously quarrelsome drunkard. When he is found
dead in a stream, with a half-finished painting on the bank above, it is assumed at first that he
fell in accidentally, fracturing his skull. Lord Peter Wimsey points out the inconsistency which
makes it impossible for Campbell himself to have worked on the painting. (Sayers deliberately leaves
the reader to work out what exactly the clue is.) Campbell's death is now a murder case.
Whoever killed Campbell also did the painting in his style,to contrive the appearance of an accident.
Six other artists in the region are talented enough to have achieved this, and had also had public
brawls with Campbell in the recent past. Now Wimsey has to figure out who done it and who the five
red herrings are.
Ashenden by Somerset Maugham
Inspired by Maughams's own experiences as a British secret agent in World War I, this series of
stories features a fictional spy, John Ashenden, whose dangerous assignments entangle him with
traitors, assassins and beautiful but treacherous women.
Tess of d'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy
The novel centers around a young woman who struggles to find her place in society.When it is discovered that the low-class Durbeyfield family is in reality the d'Urbervilles,the last of a famous bloodline that dates back hundreds of years, the mother sends her eldest daughter, Tess, to beg money from relations with the obvious desire that Tess wed the rich Mr. d'Urberville. Thus begins a tale of woe
in which a wealthy man cruelly mistreats a poor girl. Tess is taken advantage of by Mr. d'Urberville
and leaves his house, returning home to have their child, who subsequently dies. Throughout the rest
of this fascinating novel, Tess is tormented by guilt at the thought of her impurity and vows to
never marry. She is tested when she meets Angel, the clever son of a priest, and falls in love with
him. After days of pleading, Tess gives in to Angel and consents to marry him. Angel deserts Tess
when he finds the innocent country girl he fell in love with is not so pure.
Made of Steel by Terence Dicks
Returning from the Cretaceous period, The Tenth Doctor and Martha Jones journey to the present day,
where Cybermen have been teleporting into labs and stealing technology.
The Doctor takes Martha back to the Royal Hope hospital, where they have a confrontation with a pair
of Cybermen in the car park. After nearly being captured, the Cybermen suddenly disappear, due to
faults with their unfamiliar teleportation technology. The Army also want to get their hands on the
Doctor, and ask for his help, so the Army capture him and his TARDIS from the Royal Hope Hospital,
and he is separated from Martha.
This book is apart of the 'Quick Read Initiative'.
The Essex Book Festival
For more information about the festival, please log on to www.essexbookfestival.org.uk
You can also pick up the Festival schedule from your local library and community centres.
However, here are a list of events in Brentwood and Billericay-
1) Sarah Hall: Ursuline School, Queens Road- Saturday 8th March at 2.30pm
A chance to meet the talented author who lives in North Carolina.Sarah Hall published her first novel
Haweswater, in 2002. A rural tragedy about the disintegration of a community of Cumbrian hill-farmers
in the 1930s, it won the 2003 Commonwealth Writers Prize.Her second book, The Electric Michelangelo,
set in the turn-of-the-century seaside resorts of Morecambe Bay and Coney Island, was shortlisted
for the 2004 Man Booker Prize.
In her new book, she depicts a changed world. War rages in South America and China, and Britain –
now entirely dependent on the US for food and energy – is run by an omnipresent dictatorship known
simply as The Authority. Assets and weapons have been seized, and women are compulsorily fitted with
contraceptive devices.
2) Terence Dicks: Brentwood County High School,Seven Arches Road-Wednesday 12th March at 7.30pmTerrance Dicks was a cowriter on The Avengers,has edited scripts for the Dr.Who series over a 14 year
period and penned more than 60 Doctor Who novels,novelisations and two stage plays. His books for
children include The Baker Street Irregulars (recently adapted for TV), TR Bear, Sally Ann and the
Unexplained series.
In partnership with Brentwood County High School
3) Alan Mallinson: Brentwood Library- Thursday 13th March at 7.30pm
A new Matthew Hervey story from the author of best selling Sabre’s Edge and Rumours of War.
Captain Peto finds his forthcoming marriage jeopardised when he gets embroiled in a military enquiry
that could result in public humiliation.
4) Julie Myerson: Billericay Library- 1st April at 8.00pm
Booker Long-listed novelist.Her latest novel 'Out of Breath' is a haunting story featuring a
group of runaway kids and the 'unspeakably malign and terrifying presence' they're running from.
All this and more going on during the Essex Book Festival. Check out the website for more details
regaring events and admission. www.essexbookfestival.org.uk
You cn also drop in to your local library or community centre for more info.
On Book Club next week, I'll be chatting to a Rep from the Basildon Children's Book Festival. Also,tune in to find out how you can win R.N.Morris' "A Gentle Axe" and his most recent "Vengeful Longing" sponsored by Faber and Faber.
Take care and have a fabulous Week!
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