Last year a family holiday took an unexpected turn. A couple of days before it was due to start, the holiday company rang to say that we couldn’t have the house that we had booked because the owners had notified them that there was a rat infestation. However they could offer us a more expensive […] The post Crime Fiction Inspired by the Songs of the Beatles appeared first on CHRISTINE POULSON ..read more

It is always nice to get back from holiday and find that a book has arrived in the post and it’s even nicer when the book contains one of your own short stories. I’ve written elsewhere on my website about how much I enjoy the short story form. It is possible be playful and experimental […] The post Ink and Daggers appeared first on CHRISTINE POULSON ..read more

I have been a member of the London Library for almost forty years, and have often mentioned it on my blog as one of my favourite places in the world. And Cambridge University Library has a special place in my heart too. All in all, I love libraries. It was Borges who wrote, ‘I have […] The post A Weekend to Remember appeared first on CHRISTINE POULSON ..read more

‘I want you to solve my murder,’ said the woman in white. Rachel Savernake gave a sardonic smile. ‘Quite a challenge. ‘Rumour has it you seldom refuse a dare.’ Sepulchre Street is the fourth in the Rachel Savernake series and I think it is the best so far. It grips from the start. It is […] The post A Splendid Read: Martin Edwards Sepulchre Street appeared first on CHRISTINE POULSON ..read more

I always feel at home in a library or an archive. When I made an appointment last week to visit Sheffield University library, it took me back to the many days I’ve spent doing research in the British Library, the V & A library, the Courtauld Institute, and elsewhere. I arrived at the library, and […] The post A poignant experience appeared first on CHRISTINE POULSON ..read more

Recently I had to have surgery and so the question arose: what should I take to read while waiting to go the operating theatre? It had to be something that I could easily pick and up and put down in the intervals of having my blood pressure taken, being briefed by the anaesthetist, and so […] The post What to read in hospital appeared first on CHRISTINE POULSON ..read more

Writing is a solitary occupation and like many writers I welcome a reason to get out of the house, whether it is to a CWA conference, Crimefest, or a book launch. I am especially thrilled to be heading to Newcastle at the end of October to the wonderful Lit and Phil, to listen to one […] The post Be afraid … appeared first on CHRISTINE POULSON ..read more

This Deadly Ilse: A Golden Age Mystery Map is a perfect gift for the GA fan in your life – or for yourself. It is attractively designed and the captions are written by Martin Edwards – need I say more? Some of the locations and the books associated with them were familiar to me – […] The post Golden Age Treats appeared first on CHRISTINE POULSON ..read more

This book is the result of a lifetime of reading a vast range of crime fiction. Martin Edwards claims that despite its length – running as it does (with exhaustive indexes) to 724 pages – The Life of Crime is a miracle of concision and that is hardly an exaggeration. Chronologically it spans the late […] The post The Life of Crime by Martin Edwards: a splendid read appeared first on CHRISTINE POULSON ..read more

The recent death of Elspeth Barker got me thinking. I knew her briefly and remember her fondly. In October 1998 she taught me on an Arvon Foundation course and I can see her now, commenting with lively sympathy on the first few pages of what became my first novel. Her novel, O Caledonia – not […] The post That’s all she wrote appeared first on CHRISTINE POULSON ..read more