All's Well: He's Here! Adelaide Christmas Pageant 2010

It's a regular event on my calendar, the Adelaide Christmas pageant.
The arrival of Father Christmas marks the beginning of the "silly season" and, for Enfield Brass Band,  a round of weekend pageants stretching from now until a few days before Christmas.



Today the prelude to the pageant was an attempt to enter Adelaide into the Guinness Book of Records with over 15 minutes of continuous simultaneous carol singing. We needed to have at least 7,600 people singing together and were supplied with carol sheets. There seemed to be a lot of people there, and of course we were spread throughout the 4km route.

Here is a some footage from 2009:

Reminder: Add Your Suggestions: Crime fiction to give for Christmas

This is one of two memes that I will be running that have a Christmas theme.

In this one which will run from now until Christmas I'm asking for your suggestions for crime fiction books to give for Christmas.

You may like to create a special page on your blog and list some books there, or alternatively link to already posted reviews on your blog of books you think would make good presents.

Please complete the details in the Mr. Linky below.

1. Suggested format  BOOK TITLE, author name - your name
2. Please link to the actual post on your blog, not just the blog itself.
3. In your post or your blog, please link back to this page, and feel free to use the image I've created.
   
4. You may link to more than one blog post if you wish
5. Links not complying with the above will be edited or removed altogether.
   

Thanks for your participation

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Forgotten Books: BERGERAC: CRIMES OF THE SEASON, Andrew Savill

This week's contribution to Pattinase's Friday's Forgotten Books comes from my records of 1991.

My investigation into this book brought some surprises.
First of all Andrew Savill was a pseudonym for Andrew Taylor
He wrote 6 books in the Bergerac series (from Fantastic Fiction) which became the basis of a 9 series television series. 1981-1991
Bergerac Is Back (1985)
Crimes of the Season (1985)
Bergerac and the Fatal Weakness (1988)
Bergerac and the Jersey Rose (1988)
Bergerac and the Moving Fever (1988)
Bergerac and the Traitor's Child (1988)

from Andrew Taylor's website: As Andrew Saville
 
TV Novelisations (based on scripts by other writers)
EH BRIAN IT'S A WHOPPER
BERGERAC: CRIMES OF THE SEASON

TV Novels (original storylines)
BERGERAC AND THE FATAL WEAKNESS
BERGERAC AND THE MOVING FEVER
BERGERAC AND THE TRAITOR'S CHILD
BERGERAC AND THE JERSEY ROSE

Short Stories (as Andrew Saville)- these were Bergerac stories.

I don't actually remember the BERGERAC series but I'm sure some of the readers of this blog will.
The lead in the Bergerac series was played by John Nettles, whom you will know from the Midsomer series.
Nettles played Sergeant Jim Bergerac in 87 episodes, (1981-1991)
I'm sure now you will recognise the young man on the cover of the Bergerac books.

So did you: read the books, watch the TV series?
Here is a full list of the series, which shows that it was originally created by Robert Banks Stewart who created Shoestring and a number of other television scripts such as Callan.

Remembrance Day, 11 November

Remembering World War One through crime fiction

November 11 is Remembrance Day.
At 11 am on that day (whose 11 am? I always wondered as a child ) in 1918 the Armistice was signed officially ending World War One.
The subsequent Treaty of Versailles contained within it the seeds of World War Two, so that it was destined not to be "the war to end all wars" as was hoped at the time.
World War One saw destruction on a scale that no-one could have imagined, an incredible loss of life for all countries involved, changes to create military technology almost beyond recognition, and it had an economic impact that lasted for decades, as well as being instrumental in re-drawing the geographic outline of Europe and the Middle East with reverberations that we are still feeling today.

At the end of this list you will find links to a number of Agatha Christie novels reviewed on this blog. I have come to appreciate Agatha Christie as a largely under-estimated and under-valued, but excellent, social observer of how World War One changed the world forever.

Here are some other novels to look for too.

THE FIRST CASUALTY by Ben Elton. My rating 4.6
The setting is 1917 and the Great War grinds on, with the youth of the British Empire and Germany being sacrificed on the Somme. Douglas Kingsley, an inspector in His Majesty's Metropolitan Police in London, finds himself in gaol when he declares that the war offends his sense of logic. Rejected by his wife and condemned as a conscientious objector, Kingsley is sent to Flanders to investigate the murder of a British officer, also renowned as a poet. The setting in the war allows the author to ask questions about the importance of investigating the murder of one man when so much bloodshed is occurring all the time.

MURDER IN MONTPARNASSE by Kerry Greenwood. My rating 4.6
A Phryne Fisher Mystery read by Julia Davis. At the end of World War 1 in Paris, Bert, Cec and 5 other Australian soldiers witness a murder when a man is pushed under a Paris train. Now, in Australia in 1928, two are very recently dead and Bert and Cec believe they are being targetted. Phryne was in Paris in 1918 and remembers the train incident. It also brings back memories of the man she was infatuated with then. Now she learns that he has recently arrived in Melbourne.

THE SHIFTING FOG (aka THE HOUSE AT RIVERTON) by Kate Morton. My rating 4.7
Set mainly during World War I and immediately after it. Six months before the war starts young Grace Bradley, 14, takes up a position as a housemaid at Riverton Manor. Eighty four years on, she is contacted by a young female filmmaker who is making a romance film about the death of Robbie Harrison, a young poet, who suicided at the house during a mid summer's eve party in 1924. Many will argue this is not a murder mystery, but you'll have to decide for yourself.

BIRDS OF A FEATHER by Jacqueline Winspear. My rating 4.6
This novel is set some time after the first in the Maisie Dobbs series. Maisie is now an established detective with rooms of her own and an assistant. It's now the early Spring of 1930. Her friend Detective Inspector Stratton of Scotland Yard's Murder Squad is investigating a murder case in Coulsden, while Maisie has been summoned to Dulwich to find a runaway heiress. The woman is the daughter of Joseph Waite, a wealthy self-made man who has lavished her with privilege but kept her in a gilded cage. His domineering ways have driven her off before, and now she∂'s bolted again. Waite's instructions are to find his daughter and bring her home. When Maisie looks into the disappearance she finds a chilling link to Stratton's murder case, and to the terrible legacy of The Great War.

PARDONABLE LIES by Jacqueline Winspear. My rating 4.6
A deathbed plea from his wife leads Sir Cecil Lawton to seek the aid of Maisie Dobbs to confirm that his son, an aviator in the Great War, did actually die when his plane crashed in France. It was something his wife never accepted and it was a torment that drove her mad. Lawton believes his son is dead and is expecting Maisie to confirm just that. Maisie was in France during the War herself as a nurse and it is where her friend Simon was wounded and brain-damaged, so going back to France is no easy thing for Maisie. She takes on an extra mission - to find out for her friend Priscilla Evernden what happened to one of her three brothers who were also killed there. I would call this book a comfortable, rather old-fashioned read, which are the qualities that I liked in the first book in the series, and which led others to dislike the book.

DEPTHS by Henning Mankell, my rating 4.4   
This is not a Kurt Wallender. The main character is Lars Tobiasson-Svartman a naval depths sounder who is re-charting channels for Sweden's ships at the beginning of World War 1 using a plumb line. He comes across a woman living alone on a skerry, one of the outlying isolated islands, and he can't get her out of his mind. He presents at the beginning of the book as a fairly normal person, if a little too focussed on the power of his plumb line. As the book progresses however you become less and less certain of his normality.

TOUCHSTONE by Laurie R. King, my rating 4.7
Bennett Grey survived being blown up at the end of World War 1. In fact he believes he was blown to pieces and somehow miraculously re-assembled. With the experience came the new ability to see into people, to "feel" accurately whether they are telling the truth. When his ability is noticed he becomes a "touchstone" for British intelligence, useful in prisoner interrogation, and in the development of lie detection technology.  Upset by the brutality of the interrogations he participates in, he withdraws from the project and becomes a recluse, abandoning the woman he was to marry, and going to live in Cornwall.
He emerges to help an American agent attached the Bureau of Investigation who is looking for an anarchist, a bomber, thought to be British, already responsible for a number of deaths in the USA.

A TEST OF WILLS by Charles Todd, my rating 4.8
The Great War is over, and Ian Rutledge has survived. He's come back to London Yard to pick up the brilliant career he left in late 1914. But though he's survived he hasn't come through unscathed. He's suffering from shell shock, the legacy of the Somme where he was buried alive, subsequently spending time in a psychiatric hospital. And he carries with him memories that he can't escape.
Rutledge is turning out to be a problem for Superintendent Bowles, his superior at Scotland Yard. Bowles dislikes Rutledge, his education, his reputation as a war hero, and his pre-war history as an intuitive clever detective.
So the request from Warwickshire for help in managing the investigation into the murder of Colonel Harris seems as if heaven sent. The most obvious suspect is a much decorated pilot, a favourite of the Queen's no less, and so the policeman who brings him to trial will be very unpopular.
A TEST OF WILLS is the first in the Ian Rutledge series, written by mother and son team Caroline and Charles Todd.

Agatha Christie titles:

1. 1920, THE MYSTERIOUS AFFAIR AT STYLES
2. 1922, THE SECRET ADVERSARY
3. 1923, THE MURDER ON THE LINKS
4. 1924, THE MAN IN THE BROWN SUIT
   1924, Poirot Investigates (short stories: eleven in the UK, fourteen in the US)
5. 1925, THE SECRET OF CHIMNEYS
6. 1926, THE MURDER OF ROGER ACKROYD
7. 1927, THE BIG FOUR
8. 1928, THE MYSTERY OF THE BLUE TRAIN
9. 1929, THE SEVEN DIALS MYSTERY
   1929, Partners in Crime (fifteen short stories; featuring Tommy and Tuppence)
10. 1930, THE MURDER AT THE VICARAGE
    1930, The Mysterious Mr. Quin (twelve short stories; introducing Mr. Harley Quin)
11. 1931, THE SITTAFORD MYSTERY (aka MURDER AT HAZELMOOR)
12. 1932, PERIL AT END HOUSE

World's first Lego Book

We've all seen lego, played with it, built castles, landscapes, farms, but BOOKS?

"They have fully realized covers, spine, and pages that open flat and maintain the curvature of a real book. Each one is created out of 200+ LEGO parts. Each edition will use over 20,000 individual pieces. The dimensions of the books are approximately 3 1/4" wide x 3 3/4" tall x 2" thick. Only 4 points on the book are cemented ( for permanence ) but being LEGO, the balance of the book is held together via the power of the bricks. "

Check the site for more.

Who reads e-books? Take a poll

I'm going to quote quite a bit of a post I located today, simply because it is so interesting.

In a report released 4 days ago Forrester Research says eBook Buying is about to Spiral Upward.

James McQuivey says

2010 will end with $966 million in eBooks sold to consumers. By 2015, the industry will have nearly tripled to almost $3 billion, a point at which the industry will be forever altered.

.. the success of the devices(eReaders, beginning with the Kindle in 2007) has been fueled by the convenient availability of the most popular books in digital form, often priced significantly below their physical counterparts. This fact has drawn consumers in more rapidly than we have seen in any other media.

He claims that research shows that most readers today either get their books from a library or borrow from a friend. Currently only 7% of online adults who read books read e-books, but he says

that 7% happens to be a very attractive bunch: they read the most books and spend the most money on books. And here’s the kicker – the average eBook reader already consumes 41% of books in digital form. Oh, and that includes the people who don’t have an eReader yet, which is nearly half of them. For those that have a Kindle or other eReader, they read 66% of their books digitally.

He goes on to say this has huge implications for the publishing industry. How does it feel to be part of a revolution?

I've run the poll over on the right twice already this year, but now I'm curious to see what the results are this time.

ACRC Update - 6 November 2010

My intent in the Agatha Christie Reading Challenge is to read her books in order, so that I can get some idea of what she is doing, problems she is attempting to solve, and her development as a writer. If you look at some of my reviews you will see that I have been able to undertake some of this reflection.

Currently I am managing about a book a month, and now I'm back on schedule.
I've read 20 books and 11 collections of short stories.
MURDER IN MESOPOTAMIA is my 11th title for 2010.

Read & reviewed so far

1. 1920, THE MYSTERIOUS AFFAIR AT STYLES
2. 1922, THE SECRET ADVERSARY
3. 1923, THE MURDER ON THE LINKS
4. 1924, THE MAN IN THE BROWN SUIT
   1924, Poirot Investigates (short stories: eleven in the UK, fourteen in the US)
5. 1925, THE SECRET OF CHIMNEYS
6. 1926, THE MURDER OF ROGER ACKROYD
7. 1927, THE BIG FOUR
8. 1928, THE MYSTERY OF THE BLUE TRAIN
9. 1929, THE SEVEN DIALS MYSTERY
   1929, Partners in Crime (fifteen short stories; featuring Tommy and Tuppence)
10. 1930, THE MURDER AT THE VICARAGE
    1930, The Mysterious Mr. Quin (twelve short stories; introducing Mr. Harley Quin)
11. 1931, THE SITTAFORD MYSTERY (aka MURDER AT HAZELMOOR)
12. 1932, PERIL AT END HOUSE
    1932 The Thirteen Problems (thirteen short stories; featuring Miss Marple, also known as The Tuesday Club Murders in the US)
13. 1933, LORD EDGEWARE DIES (aka THIRTEEN AT DINNER)
    
14. 1934, MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS (aka MURDER IN THE CALAIS COACH)
15. 1934, WHY DIDN'T THEY ASK EVANS? (aka THE BOOMERANG CLUE)
    1991, Problem at Pollensa Bay publ. 1991 (Two of them feature Hercule Poirot, two Mr. Satterthwaite and Mr. Harley Quin, and two Mr Parker Pyne.)
16. 1935, THREE ACT TRAGEDY (aka MURDER IN THREE ACTS)- Hercule Poirot and Mr Satterthwaite.
    1933, The Hound of Death - 12 short stories, UK only
    1934, Parker Pyne Investigates - 12 stories introducing Parker Pyne and Ariadne Oliver
    1934, The Listerdale Mystery - 12 short stories, UK only
17. 1935, DEATH IN THE CLOUDS (aka DEATH IN THE AIR) - Hercule Poirot
18. 1936, THE A.B.C. MURDERS (aka THE ALPHABET MURDERS) - Hercule Poirot
    1947, The Labours of Hercules - Hercule Poirot - 12 short stories
19. 1966, THE THIRD GIRL - Hercule Poirot and Ariadne Oliver
    1997, Miss Marple: complete short stories - Miss Marple - 20 short stories
    1997, While the Light Lasts - 9 short stories - incl. 2 Hercule Poirot
20. 1936, MURDER IN MESOPOTAMIA
    
    Reading schedule
    
    
21. 1936, CARDS ON THE TABLE
22. 1937, DUMB WITNESS (aka POIROT LOSES A CLIENT)
23. 1937, DEATH ON THE NILE
24. 1938, APPOINTMENT WITH DEATH
25. 1938, HERCULE POIROT'S CHRISTMAS (aka MURDER FOR CHRISTMAS, aka A HOLIDAY FOR MURDER)
26. 1939, MURDER IS EASY (aka EASY TO KILL)
27. 1939, TEN LITTLE NIGERS (aka AND THEN THERE WERE NONE; also TEN LITTLE INDIANS)
28. 1940, SAD CYPRESS
29. 1940, ONE, TWO, BUCKLE MY SHOE (aka AN OVERDOSE OF DEATH; also THE PATRIOTIC MURDERS)
    

Check the opening blog post of the Agatha Christie Reading Challenge here.
If you'd like to join the Agatha Christie Reading Challenge click here.

I am using the list at Wikipedia of novels and collections of short stories. I will interlace the short story collections into the list where I can, but may have to read them out of order. I have decided on a method for reporting on the short stories.

Please feel free to join in my challenge, comment on my reviews etc.

I have set up a block over in the right hand column called Agatha Christie Reading Challenge (with the same logo as this post) where I am listing the books I'm currently reading and those I've finished.
The challenge is called ACRC so each review will be preceded by those letters.

If you want to follow my progress through your RSS reader, then the RSS URL is
http://www2.blogger.com/feeds/8273911883856580200/posts/default/-/Agatha%20Christie%20Challenge
Just save that in your bookmarks or RSS reader and you will be notified when I have written a new post.
Alternatively you could subscribe to the feed through FeedMyInbox. Just copy the RSS URL, click on the FeedMyInbox link and paste the URL in there.
You will need to confirm your subscription by email.

Contribute your blog postings about any Agatha Christie novels to the monthly carnival. Make an agreement with yourself that whenever you complete reading an Aggie you will write a blog posting about it and then submit the posting to the carnival.
If you are participating in the Agatha Christie Reading Challenge then write updates like this one and submit them to the Carnival. Let us know what progress you are making.