Decades: Compiling the Ultimate Library with A.K. Turner

I adopted my alter ego of Grab This Book back in the spring of 2014. Initially I had hoped my blog would encourage someone to buy books I had loved reading. Ten and a half years later that hope endures, I love to know my blog is responsible for someone buying a book and discovering the work of an author they may not have previously enjoyed.

As I prepare to share the latest contribution to my Decades Library I am able to report my blog is meeting my primary goal…someone has bought a book which has been recommended on Grab This Book. That someone is me. And the person responsible for me buying a new book is my latest Decades Curator, A.K. Turner (Ali), who has drawn my attention to a book published in the 1950’s that sounds right up my street. You’ll find out which book that is once you scroll further down this post.

But first the Decades introduction: Since January 2021 I have been assembling the Ultimate Library; a collection of unmissable and much loved books. I tried to put myself into the shoes of a librarian who was presented with a brand new library. No Books, dozens of empty shelves. Which books would the librarian (me) add to those empty shelves to ensure library visitors would only have the very best books to choose from. I decided I could not possibly fill the empty shelves alone so I invite guests to nominate their favourite reads and help me assemble a Decades Library.

Why a Decades Library? This is down to the two rules I ask all my guests to follow when making their choices:

1 – You Can Select ANY Five Books
2 – You May Only Select One Book Per Decade From Five Consecutive Decades

Sometimes my guests will “flex” the rules to ensure their favourite books make the cut. But I am happy to report that this week’s guest curator, AK Turner, has stuck to the rules and made five terrific recommendations. I’ve already bought one and I’ve got my eye on the selection from the 1990s too! This is a good week for me (but perhaps not for my bank balance) so over to Ali to terrorise your TBR with more temptation than you wanted.

A K (aka Ali) lives in East London where she writes the mortuary-set Cassie Raven mysteries. Ali produces TV documentaries on true crime and science topics. And just for light relief she is a City of London guide.

Ali likes to create memorable characters, throw them into unusual settings, and add a hefty dose of murder and a twisty-turny plot. Her latest series introduces a forensic heroine – a crime-solving Goth-girl mortuary technician who talks to the dead, a character first launched in two crime shorts aired on BBC Radio 4. A K’s previous series, written under the pen name Anya Lipska, starred a London-based Polish fixer who’s happy to crack heads to solve crimes – which saw her being selected for Val McDermid’s prestigious New Blood Panel at Harrogate Crime Festival in 2012.

Ali is on Twitter (X) as: @AKTurnerauthor

Her website is: https://www.anyalipska.com/ and all of Ali’s books can be found here too: https://www.amazon.co.uk/stores/author/B088P77TFC?ingress=0&visitId=226787bb-40e2-4a4b-a7fa-b09b7cfcfa58

DECADES

FIFTIES

BEAST IN VIEW, MARGARET MILLAR

A US crime novelist famous in the Fifties, Margaret Millar deserves to be better known in the UK. She was a pioneer of the psychological crime genre whose work has (still) rarely been bettered. Her prose is spare yet razor-sharp, the psychology credible, and her ability to conjure a potent noir mood is up there with Ray Chandler. For me, Beast in View – a rattlingly-told, slender but compulsive 160 pages – is her best, and in 1956 the judges of the Edgar Allan Poe Award agreed when they handed her the prestigious prize. Helen Clarvoe, who lives alone in the hotel she has inherited, is brittle and neurotic (I love Millar’s description: ‘skinny in her plaid coat’) and her anxiety is ramped to the max by a series of mysterious taunting phone calls. She hires a private detective to trace the malicious caller – and their relationship provides the emotional bedrock of the tale.

SIXTIES

IN COLD BLOOD, TRUMAN CAPOTE

Way before true crime became a podcast phenomenon this classic of the genre is Capote’s standout achievement and a work of genius. A journalist/columnist more accustomed to necking Screwdrivers in the Ritz Carlton and peddling high society gossip he was an unlikely character to chronicle the horrendous murder of the Clutters, a blameless mid-Western farming family in rural Holcomb, Kansas. Capote tells the chilling story of how a home invasion by two robbers that spirals inexorably into cold-blooded multiple murder but where his account really excels is in his psychological portrait of one of the killers, Perry Smith, who Truman interviewed – and even befriended – on Death Row over several years. Truman interrogates Smith’s utterly grim upbringing (an alcoholic mother who choked on her own vomit when he was 13, abused by nuns in an orphanage,) arguably the triggers that set him on track for a life of petty crime and eventually brutal murder. A beautifully written journey into the dark side of the American dream.

SEVENTIES

DAY OF THE JACKAL, FREDERICK FORYSYTH

When I was eleven or twelve I wasn’t allowed full access to my dad’s book collection. Undeterred, I would wait until my parents were out and clamber on a chair to reach the upper cupboard where the censored works were (poorly) concealed. Here were adult treasures like the X-rated Lolita and Onward Virgin Soldiers, but the books that really stuck with me – and which influenced my debut crime novel nearly 40 years later – was this stellar example of the thriller form.

Nowadays the descriptor ‘thriller’ can be applied indiscriminately, but Day of the Jackal delivers on the original and more precise definition – a story in which we know the identity of the bad guy upfront, and in which the narrative propulsion is whether he is going to fulfil his mission – the assassination of General de Gaulle, or whether his police inspector antagonist will stop him. Why was the book on the ‘top shelf”? I suspect because of the troubling scene in which a woman strays into his path which ends with the pair having an ill-fated one-night stand. Forysth remains unbeatable in my view for sheer storytelling. See also The Odessa Files.

EIGHTIES

NAME OF THE ROSE, UMBERTO ECO

Proof positive that an intellectual like Eco can also write a cracking whodunnit – while in the process exploring the power of heretical ideas that conflict with Church dogma of the medieval era, Greek philosophy, the history of theology, and more. From the moment the

daring thinker Brother William sets foot in a Benedictine monastery in the Italian mountains where he is charged with exploring the mysterious death of one of the brothers, you’ll be hooked. His characters are unforgettable as are his descriptions of the snow-bound monastery and its spooky and labyrinthine scriptorium, where lie hidden forbidden manuscripts which doom the reader to instant death. Cracking stuff.

NINETIES

THE THREE EVANGELISTS, FRED VARGAS

I enjoy having to navigate the unfamiliar both in terms of place and the different vibe non-UK writers, especially the French, bring to the genre. The crime fiction of continental Europe feels more quirky and less mainstream than much of our homegrown crimefic, where writers can face a more commercial attitude from the publishing industry.

Fred Vargas is one of my favourite crime writers of any nationality. Her Inspector Adamsberg policier series is a reliable treat but The Three Evangelists is my standout favourite. The ‘evangelists’ – friends Marc, Mathias, and Lucien – are hard-up historians in a dilapidated house-share who notice that a new tree has unaccountably appeared in the back garden. Soon afterwards a neighbour is murdered and they are drawn into investigating the death. The resulting tale – off-beat, amusing, and indefinably French – effortlessly transported me from workaday East London into a different world.

Five terrific selections which I am adding to my Library shelves. I’ve started collecting the Fred Vargas books but have not yet reached The Three Evangelists so it is really exciting to see this book being nominated for inclusion in the Decades Library, it bodes well for my future reading. I am so grateful to Ali for finding time to make her choices, her Cassie Raven series is easily one of the best collections I have been reading over recent years and I await each new title with an unhealthy obsession. If you have yet to discover the world of Cassie Raven then the best move you can make today is to seek out the first book (Body Language) and then thank me later.

DECADES WILL RETURN

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March 31

Decades: Compiling the Ultimate Library with Alice Bell

Welcome back to the Decades Library. This is my ongoing quest to assemble a Library which features only the very best reading recommendations, the books recommended by authors, bloggers, publishers and journalists – booklovers all.

I started this challenge back in January 2021. Each week a guest joins me and I ask them to help curate my new Library. I want them to recommend some of their favourite books, the unmissable ones which they believe everyone should read. But I ask each of my guests to follow two simple rules when making their choices. Gotta have rules, without rules there is anarchy and if you have anarchy and books in the same place then someone may fold down the corner of a page. *shudders*

The two rules are thus:

1 – You Can Select Any Five Books
2 – You May Only Select One Book Per Decade From Five Consecutive Decades.

This week (spoiler) we are kicking off in the 1940’s and we end up with one of my favourite books of the 1980’s (it’s actually one of my favourite books EVER, but it was published in the 80’s)

This week I am delighted to be joined by Alice Bell, author of the upcoming new release: Grave Expectations. When I saw Alice was a deputy editor at Rock Paper Shotgun I gave serious consideration to making the library a multi-media experience and ask her to nominate her five decades selections for videogames too, but if Manic Miner didn’t represent the 1980s then I’d have a sad-face day.

So lets stick with books and hand over to Alice so we can see her selections:

Alice Bell grew up in South West England, in the sort of middle-of-nowhere where teenagers spend their weekends drinking Smirnoff Ice in a field that also has at least one horse in it.

She is the deputy editor of Rock Paper Shotgun, a popular PC gaming website, and in 2019 she was named one of the 100 most influential women in the UK games industry.

After spending several years in London, Alice now lives in Cork in Ireland. She has probably read more detective fiction and watched more episodes of Midsomer Murders than you.

Alice is on Twitter as @ABeeWords.
Grave Expectations publishes on 4 May 2023 and you can order a copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0BLRKD54J/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i0

DECADES

1940s – I Capture The Castle by Dodie Smith

This pick hamstrung me a little, because it set, to within a few degrees, the other decades I could work with. But I couldn’t not choose it! It was the first book I thought of, and is always one of the answers I give to the ‘what is your favourite book ever?’ sort of questions. It’s the diary of a young girl who lives in a falling-down castle with her poor and eccentric family, and their lives are thrown into turmoil when some Americans who are a) handsome b) youngish and c) rich turn up – which is all anyone can hope from an American, isn’t it? It’s a wonderful book full of humour and pathos, and there was a decent film adaptation years back as well. I suppose if it came out now it would be classed as YA, but I really think of I Capture The Castle as timeless and ageless.

1950s – A Murder Is Announced by Agatha Christie

I had to get Agatha on my list somewhere, and luckily she’s prolific enough I could have got here in any of my decades or more. A Murder Is Announced really is one of her best, though. I’ve always favoured Marple over Poirot (which might be an unpopular opinion), partly because her adventures always seem that little bit more whimsical and strange. In this one a murder is, indeed, announced in a local paper, which confuses Letitia Blacklock, the owner of the house named in the appointment. Several of her friends turn up to see if one happens – who wouldn’t? I’d be there with great big bloody bells on – and, indeed, it does. It’s a real showcase of Christie’s wit as well as her prowess at crafting fiendishly difficult mysteries. The Queen of Crime indeed!

1960s – In Cold Blood by Truman Capote

True crime is an unstoppable monolith these days, and there’s a good argument that Capote’s In Cold Blood was the template for its modern incarnation (including, I should say, probable editorialising on the part of the creator when the facts didn’t work quite well enough for a good story). I have the morbid fascination with ‘orrible murderers that a lot of women my age have, and In Cold Blood is remarkable in how it chronicles the personality and psychology of two family annihilators who killed the Clutter family of Western Kansas, creating a holistic picture of them and their crime – most especially Perry Smith. But Capote also gives great detail on the victims themselves and the wider community. It’s a sad story told in great and elegant detail.

1970s – The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison

The Bluest Eye was Morrison’s first novel, and it’s an extraordinary one, about the young life of Pecola Breedlove, an African American girl regarded as ugly because of the darkness of her skin – though it’s obviously about much more than that, too. It’s a short book, and largely told from the point of view of Claudia MacTeer, whose parents foster Pecola for a short time. I think it’s the book of Morrison’s that sticks out most to me because I read it when I wasn’t much older than the characters in it, so it really stuck with me. Although I think it sticks with anyone when you read it. The writing is so emotive, the story so artfully constructed – right down to the chapter titles.

1980s – Wyrd Sisters by Terry Pratchett

This is not, technically, the first of The Witches books in Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series, but in my heart it is, because it’s the first to feature the whole coven. It’s also, quite possibly, my favourite Discworld book, although that changes based on the time of year, how warm my toes are, etc. and so on. I think I get a lot of my own writing style and sense of humour from reading so much Pratchett in my formative years (she says, hopefully), and the witches were always the ones I enjoyed most. Wyrd Sisters is a version of Shakespear’s Macbeth from a sideways point of view and with extra magic, and it has what I think is the best opening of a Pratchett book. Right away he sets the scene and the tone in fantastic style. He’s an inimitable writer, really.

Any time I get to add a new Terry Pratchett book to my Decades Library it’s a great day, factor in the very welcome addition of Jane Marple too and Alice has absoultely smashed this out of the park. Huge thanks to Alice for making such great selections. All five books will be added to the Library shelves immediately.

DECADES WILL RETURN

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