War Time Photographs of Birkenhead School

 

I didn’t attend Birkenhead School, but I have spent more than half of my life on the Wirral and I did live close by the school for sometime, and I did knock about with some of the boys from there – play footie, drink cider in the woods and the graveyard, chase the girls, that kind of thing.

 

Why do I mention this? Well, I have a couple of pre-war and during-the-war Birkenhead School photographs that are fascinating things and I have put them up for sale in my ebay store.

 

What has this got to do with murder mystery novels? In truth, not a lot, but it is fascinating to wonder what happened to those hundreds of boys and girls who grew up just before and during World War II.

 

Did they witness bombing? There was plenty of that in Birkenhead. Were any killed or wounded? Did they get enough to eat – and what kind of quality was the food? Food rationing was everywhere and very strict too. Can you imagine the kids of today having their food rationed? It’s hard to picture, isn’t it. And how did it affect them mentally? Seeing their fathers and older brothers going off to fight, and maybe not coming back, or returning with hideous wounds. And were any of their houses bombed? There was plenty of that in Birkenhead too, bombing.

 

Somewhere in the house I have some pics of Birkenhead Park railway station after taking a pasting, and with large docks just down the road, they must have attracted the Luftwaffe like bees to honey. And were any of those kids evacuated to the countryside? My mother lived a couple of miles away at Greasby and she was evacuated to Anglesey and deepest North Wales.   

 

Many of those kids would soon have gone into the armed forces and the odds are that some of them would have been killed, and some of them would have been wounded. It would be interesting to know their life stories – one thing is for sure, some of them would have some pretty horrific stories to tell.

 

And if you are a budding writer and are casting around for something to write about, you could do a lot worse than put yourself into the shoes of one or more of those young people and tell their story as it might have panned out. One thing is for sure, your story wouldn’t be short of incident, and with a dash of imagination you could write a memorable tale that could live long in the memory.

 

After being evacuated, my mother proudly went into the WRENS and here’s her picture and medals to prove it.

 

 

 

And here’s a link to my ebay store where you will find those fab framed photographs of Birkenhead School pupils in 1938 and 1943, but don’t delay, for I hope they won’t be there for long. 

 

 

Have a great day,

 

David. 

 

 

Sycamore Row by John Grisham – Book Review.

  

Seth Hubbard is in his seventies and is suffering from terminal cancer. He’s lived a varied life through two marriages and two expensive divorces, separations that might have finished many a man, but not old stubborn Seth. After losing much of his wealth through the divorce courts he sets his mind on re-building his businesses and financial worth through sheer hard work, long hours, and risk taking, and in the end it pays off handsomely for Seth, for he is now, once again, a wealthy man.

   He goes to a big bunch of city lawyers and makes an official will leaving his substantial assets to his children who he rarely sees, and then things start to get interesting.

   Some time later he drafts another will, handwritten, not witnessed, no lawyers involved, removing all his family as beneficiaries, and instead leaves almost everything, and it is considerable indeed, to his black housekeeper, Lettie Lang.

   Then he posts the new will to a struggling local lawyer he has never met, named Jake Brigance.

   Once done, he ambles into the orchard, and, with no one else about, hangs himself from a tree.

   Lettie Lang is in her forties and she’s still a slim pert looking woman. She’s led a hard life, having to fight for every single penny that comes her way, a situation that isn’t helped by a wastrel of a husband who’s away more often than not, and when he does deign to return home he’s usually drunk, broke, and on the lookout for cash, not that Lettie ever has any spare funds.

   When news breaks in the community of Seth’s death, and the will, and the beneficiary, it’s the talk of the town, the county, and even the State. Speculation is rife, precisely what services was Lettie providing for old mister Hubbard up there in the big old house, for him to amend his will like that? Gossip is king. Human beings are gossiping creatures. They can’t help themselves. Put yourself in their shoes. Chances are, you’d gossip too, and because we are so fascinated by gossip, it usually makes for a good story. It certainly has here.

   Of course the family don’t take all that lying down and recruit an army of highly paid lawyers to set things right, and recover what they believe is truly and rightfully theirs. Battle lines drawn, let the campaign begin.   

   So begins John Grisham’s 27^th novel, “Sycamore Row”, (Thirty if you count the Theodore Boones.) a book that is a long awaited sequel to his very first story, “A Time to Kill”, a novel that mister Grisham self published because he couldn’t find a publisher to take it on!

   How there must be publishers out there kicking themselves over that wee mistake, but a great lesson for anyone who is writing and publishing their own work today. Sometimes good things can and do happen!!

   But back to “Sycamore Row”.

   The book is set in the same time as “A Time to Kill”, - late eighties, when attitudes to race and relationships were a bit different back then. Have things moved on since? Maybe a tad. My knowledge of the deep south isn’t great, but I certainly hope so.

   This is a cracking good read that I can highly recommend. It’s easy to get into, fast paced, and a real page-turner, and it contains the trademark Grisham touches of humour, always welcome, and most of all, it’s a great story. As you'd expect there are subplots aplenty, lots of twists and turns that keep the story moving and the reader interested. 

   I have said it before and I will say it again: John Grisham is a great writer, and in my opinion, underrated, and perhaps because practically all his books become instant bestsellers, I think he is definitely taken for granted. We should celebrate him while we have him. We are very lucky.

   This is the best book I have read in the past twelve months and one that I would love to have written myself, and I am once again looking forward to his next work. Hopefully, I won’t have long to wait.  Five stars! No brainer.

And here's a real treat, the man himself talking about "Sycamore Row". Enjoy....

        

Murder/Mysteries to Keep You Guessing and Wanting More.

 

If your guilty pleasure is murder mysteries and crime novels, and especially English crime novels, then Inspector Walter Darriteau is the man for you.

 

All his cases are set in and around Chester, Cheshire, Merseyside, the Wirral, North Wales and surrounding districts.

 

At the time of writing “The Murder Diaries – Seven Times Over” and “The Sound of Sirens” are released and available from your usual stockist in paperback and on Kindle.

 

“The Legal & the Illicit” is now undergoing final proofreading and will be available this year. This one features Walter in a kind of cameo appearance, appearing as he does, in the final third of the book.

 

While the all new “The Twelfth Apostle,’ a 500 page novel featuring Walter and his friends all the way through, is also now complete and undergoing final revision.

 

Why not mark this website as a favourite so that you can come back and check for the latest info on release dates and availability?

 

If you like crime fiction and whodunits then do check out the cases of Inspector Walter Darriteau, and remember you can buy all his cases as a download to your PC, Kindle, or Tablet, for less than £2 each, and in this day and age that seems like a bargain to us, and remember these are not novellas or short novels but full size books ranging in page count from 325 up to 500 so you get plenty of reading to keep you occupied.

 

Great for the holiday reads too. Ideal for sharing a few hours on the beach with Walter. He’d like that, and hopefully you will too! 

 

Happy reading…    

 

 

 

Superb Wallander Coming to An End.

 

The superb Swedish series Wallander, based on the Henning Mankell novels and latterly featuring the excellent Krister Henriksson in the starring role, is coming to an end.

Last night BBC4 broadcast the penultimate episode where the main character is falling ill. If you live in Britain you may be able to catch that on the BBC Iplayer.

The BBC's own adaption featuring Kenneth Branagh in the starring role, is also filming a final series featuring the same late books in the series and though they are decent programmes, nothing quite compares to the Swedish originals.

If you haven't yet come across this Swedish based detective, he comes highly recommended. 

 

 

 

The Legal and the Illicit - New Cover

 

My forthcoming book "The Legal & the Illicit" has a new cover and here it is.

 

"The Legal & the Illicit" features Walter Darriteau in something of a cameo role, as he appears only in the final third of the book.

The new cover brings the release date that much closer, and I am hoping it will be available in August or September.

Watch this space, as they say...

In the meantime you can read an extract by going here

 

 

Walter Darriteau Murder Mysteries New Trailer

 

Here's the new Walter Darriteau murder/mysteries trailer that is up on youtube today.

Hope you like it...

 

 

 

The Magic of Hay-on-Wye and the Hay-on-Wye Literary Festival.

 

If you like books and you haven’t visited Hay-on-Wye on the Welsh-English borders and you get the chance to do so, then don’t pass it up.

Let me give you a couple of stats:

The permanent population of Hay-on-Wye is around 1,500.

The number of bookshops in Hay-on-Wye is around 23!!

That’s a bookshop for around 65 of its residents, now that is something a little unusual to say the least, and contributes to it being the bookshop capital of Britain.

And that longstanding interest in books helped to spawn the Hay-on-Wye Literary festival which has grown exponentially and is now one of the leading bookfests in the entire world, gaining Hay the tag of the Glastonbury festival for books.

And as if to reiterate the town’s worldwide fame, here follows a video from Chinese TV all about Hay and its booksellers.

 

 

 

 

The Festival usually takes place at the end of May and if you are interested in visiting, that is maybe a good time to go, but make sure you pack a raincoat, and book your accommodation early.

 

Have fun,

 

David.

 

 

and how about this for a secondhand bookshop - this one's in Hay too of course, and how much time could you spend in here?

 

 

 

 

ttfn,

 

David

 

Walter Darriteau in Heswall on the Wirral

 

Yes, you can now buy the two Walter Darriteau murder/mysteries (The Sound of Sirens, and The Murder Diaries - Seven Times Over) in Lingham's excellent bookshop in Heswall on the Wirral.

They also have a lovely coffee shop so it's a great pace to wile away some time and glance through the huge selection of books and stuff they have on offer.

Linghams won the prestigious UK Bookseller of the year 2013 award, and you'll find them at 248 Telegraph Road, Heswall, Wirral, or you can check out their website at www.linghamsbookshop.co.uk

 

 

 

 

"Never Go Back" by Lee Child - the Lastest Jack Reacher Thriller

 

 

Is the Knight-Errant Losing his Lance?

 

Like many devoted Reacherians I have read all the Jack Reacher thrillers and without exception they have been fast paced page-turning stories that have almost read themselves, indeed more than one of them I have made my book of the year.

  Alas “Never Go Back” didn’t quite live up to the high standard that Lee Child has set. Indeed three quarters of the way through I almost dumped it in the bin, for I found it surprisingly “samey” and just not very interesting, and worse than that, damned difficult to complete.

   The plot revolves around Jack Reacher going back to an army base to see a serving officer, but while he is there he’s kidnapped, for want of a better word, and told that he is back in the army now – something apparently that can happen to just about anyone in the US forces at any time. And it isn’t long before he is arrested on some trumped up charges, and the major he was calling to see, a stunningly attractive woman, what else? and someone he has never met before, and she’s been arrested too, but on totally different and unconnected charges.

   From then on it stumbles along without ever truly gripping the reader, in this case me, and I began to think that perhaps it was just me, maybe the knight-errant’s magic had finally worn off, so I glanced at some reviews and was pleased, or displeased, to see that I certainly wasn’t alone. Fact is, this is the least interesting Jack Reacher book to date.

   I have even seen it said that Lee Child maybe didn’t write this one at all, and I have no idea if that is correct, but you know the kind of thing, employees writing in the style of Wilbur Smith and James Patterson and Dick Francis, and heaven knows who else, which may be fine and dandy just so long as that is made clear to the reader. If this Jack Reacher was written by someone else, then frankly, I think I could have done a better job!

   This is the eighteenth in the series and mister Child shows no sign of stopping turning them out, but the next one, hopefully, will be better than this or some of those devoted Reacherians may start looking elsewhere for their night time reads and thriller fixes.

   It’s hard to say what is wrong with it precisely, though I have to say I did find some of the gratuitous violence in public places, in this case, on a packed airliner, where the “baddies” suffered many a snapped bone, but were too proud or too scared or too stupid, to cry out or tell anyone about it, or even attempt to get the perpetrator detained, a little ridiculous. Can you imagine having your elbows or shoulders or whatever it is, snapped, and not saying anything? Unlikely wouldn’t you say?

   Airlines are quite good at detaining annoying passengers these days, even ones like the Colossus, Reacher.

   I can’t imagine Robin Hood, a previous knight-errant from nine centuries before, and one Reacher is occasionally likened to, snapping his adversaries limbs and getting such a kick out of it, and even if weaponry and the world has moved on a touch since the times of the wicked King John, evil hasn’t changed one little bit. Just made me feel uncomfortable, that’s all, and I have never felt that way about any Lee Child book before.

   And after that, he and his girl went on a spending spree using credit cards he had taken from the broken boned baddies without ever once having the trifle inconvenience of having to put in a PIN number that Reacher didn’t have. Is mister Child really so detached from modern day reality that he doesn’t know that strangers cannot simply use someone else’s credit cards? It just can’t be done. T’would seem unlikely.

   And then there was the odd thing of calling the characters by famous names, David Baldacci, Duncan Edwards, and I think there was another one too, though I forget it. Weird anyway.

   The patience of devoted Reacherians has been tested somewhat in recent times, what with the ridiculous decision to sell the film franchise to Tom Cruise and his chums. Can you imagine anyone less suitable to play the part, six foot seven he aint, even in high heels, laughable really, and this book doesn’t help either. 

   I am giving "Never Go Back" three stars and I’m being reasonably generous at that, because it is still more interesting than a lot of the dross that’s out there, but hey, three stars for a Lee Child book simply isn’t good enough, and something that you would never have seen a few years back. I won’t make any cheap cracks about the readers never going back, but there is a danger that some of them might well not.

   In my humble opinion the big bold knight-errant needs a pick-me-up, either that, or he should consider buying a retirement home in Florida where he could sort out all the problems of the wealthy widows. He’s be good at that, that’s for damn sure.

   My gut feeling tells me that Jack is not ready for the easy life just yet, and I hope that’s the case too, and yes, I will be buying number nineteen, n.n.nineteen, as well, because that is what devoted Reacherians do. Support the man! Over to you, Jack, or Lee....

 

Best wishes.

 

DC.

 

 

PS: Here's Lee Child talking about his work - far more interesting than my scrambled thoughts.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   

 

        

 

Walter Darriteau Spotted in Nantwich!

Well, not literally perhaps, as you may know Walter is my fictional detective, but you will now find the Walter Darriteau murder mysteries, “The Sound of Sirens” and “The Murder Diaries – Seven Times Over” on sale in the Nantwich Bookshop at 46 High Street, Nantwich, Cheshire.

And if you haven’t yet visited Chester and Nantwich then I am sure you would like to, for both are ancient places with so much interesting architecture and history.

Check out the Crown Hotel in Nantwich for example, an old pub/hotel that has been there since the year 1583, where they do a mean pint of bitter and a comfortable bed, and do call in at the independent bookshop too, while you are in the town where you will find lots of interesting things to read.

Happy reading,
David Carter.

 

 

This pic is a scene in Chester taken from the city wall and features the typical Cheshire black and white architecture -

I do have lots of pics of Nantwich too, including the very fine church - I will have to dig some of them out and put them up on the site.