Sunday, 02 October 2011
British Blue Murder Series on Dvd

alt

Many British crime drama series that have successful runs on television in the U.K. never make it to the United States. Not even as PBS series or on BBC America.

Take Blue Murder, which ran in Britain from 2003 to 2009. A complete collection is available from Acorn Media, as season one, two, three and four.

Blue Murder revolves around DCI Janine Lewis, played to perfection by Caroline Quentin, a single mother of four trying to balance her demanding career as head of a high-profile squad in Manchester, England, with raising four children. Her ex-husband left her when her youngest was a toddler.

Showing the struggles that detectives -- especially women detectives -- have in balancing career and home isn't a new theme. But Blue Murder makes this seem like a fresh idea. Janine is an insightful, conscientious cop, but an ordinary cop, not some super detective who can juggle it all. She is good at her job and has the respect of her squad with its diverse personalities.

Home is another matter -- one of her children is acting up, blaming her for their father walking out; others are going through teenage hormones. The contrast between the efficiency of the detectives' work and the chaos of Janine's home is well explored.

altQuentin (Jonathan Creek) delivers terrific performances as Janine, showing the inspector's strength, but also her frustration with her children and her own parenting skills and her overall tiredness. Janine's close-knit squad include D.I. Richard Mayne (Ian Kelsey) and Detective Tony Schap (Nicholas Murchie).

Many of Blue Murder's plots come down to the vagaries of family, paralleling Janine's home life with that of the victims and criminals. A cheerleader finds her the body of her mother, who was the squad's adviser; a rock star about to break into the big time; an illegal immigrant with unusual ties.

Blue Murder also shows a modern Manchester, which is known as the world's first industrialized city. Manchester is still known for its commerce as it was ranked in 2010 as the second-best place to do business in the UK and the 12th best in Europe. Scenes in Manchester are intriguing; those episodes that take place in the countryside show are breathtakingly filmed.

Author Cath Staincliffe created Blue Murder and wrote several episodes. Staincliffe is the author of the Sal Kilkenny mysteries. Her latest novel is the standalone Witness.

Blue Murder illustrates how the constant struggle between work and home is fodder for excellent drama.

Photo: The Blue Murder team: Caroline Quentin, front, flanked from left to right, Belinda Everett, Nicholas Murchie, Paul Loughran and Ian Kelsey.
Photo courtesey Acorn Media

British Blue Murder Series on Dvd
Oline Cogdill
british-blue-murder-series-on-dvd

alt

Many British crime drama series that have successful runs on television in the U.K. never make it to the United States. Not even as PBS series or on BBC America.

Take Blue Murder, which ran in Britain from 2003 to 2009. A complete collection is available from Acorn Media, as season one, two, three and four.

Blue Murder revolves around DCI Janine Lewis, played to perfection by Caroline Quentin, a single mother of four trying to balance her demanding career as head of a high-profile squad in Manchester, England, with raising four children. Her ex-husband left her when her youngest was a toddler.

Showing the struggles that detectives -- especially women detectives -- have in balancing career and home isn't a new theme. But Blue Murder makes this seem like a fresh idea. Janine is an insightful, conscientious cop, but an ordinary cop, not some super detective who can juggle it all. She is good at her job and has the respect of her squad with its diverse personalities.

Home is another matter -- one of her children is acting up, blaming her for their father walking out; others are going through teenage hormones. The contrast between the efficiency of the detectives' work and the chaos of Janine's home is well explored.

altQuentin (Jonathan Creek) delivers terrific performances as Janine, showing the inspector's strength, but also her frustration with her children and her own parenting skills and her overall tiredness. Janine's close-knit squad include D.I. Richard Mayne (Ian Kelsey) and Detective Tony Schap (Nicholas Murchie).

Many of Blue Murder's plots come down to the vagaries of family, paralleling Janine's home life with that of the victims and criminals. A cheerleader finds her the body of her mother, who was the squad's adviser; a rock star about to break into the big time; an illegal immigrant with unusual ties.

Blue Murder also shows a modern Manchester, which is known as the world's first industrialized city. Manchester is still known for its commerce as it was ranked in 2010 as the second-best place to do business in the UK and the 12th best in Europe. Scenes in Manchester are intriguing; those episodes that take place in the countryside show are breathtakingly filmed.

Author Cath Staincliffe created Blue Murder and wrote several episodes. Staincliffe is the author of the Sal Kilkenny mysteries. Her latest novel is the standalone Witness.

Blue Murder illustrates how the constant struggle between work and home is fodder for excellent drama.

Photo: The Blue Murder team: Caroline Quentin, front, flanked from left to right, Belinda Everett, Nicholas Murchie, Paul Loughran and Ian Kelsey.
Photo courtesey Acorn Media

Sunday, 25 September 2011
Agatha Christie: Little Surfer Girl

altToo often a photograph of a famous person forever seals in our minds the image of that person at the age when that photo was taken.

It's hard to imagine Winston Churchill or Ernest Hemingway at any age other than the ones depicted in their most iconic photos.

Think about most of the photographs you've seen of Agatha Christie. These photos show a regal, gracious middle-aged lady. We never see the Queen of Crime Fiction as a young woman.

But the updated reissue of An Autobiography may change that.

Imagine Agatha Christie as a surfer. And not just a regular rider of the waves. According to An Autobiography, Christie was one of Britain's first stand-up surfers. She was an avid bodyboarder, taking up the sport during a 1922 holiday in South Africa with her husband, Archie. That's the stuff of songs by the Beach Boys.

altThe new edition of An Autobiography, originally published in 1977, is due out in December from Harper, capping off the 120th anniversary of Christie's birthday.

The new hardcover edition will feature 24 pages of photographs in black and white and in color, and a CD of newly discovered recordings of Christie dictating parts of this autobiography. An introduction by Mathew Prichard, Christie’s grandson, explains how he found the tapes used to make the recordings.

Just paging through the advanced readers copy of An Autobiography that arrived the other day intrigued me. I am especially looking forward to seeing photos of the young Agatha Christie, who 35 years after her death, is still entertaining.

Agatha Christie: Little Surfer Girl
Oline Cogdill
agatha-christie-little-surfer-girl

altToo often a photograph of a famous person forever seals in our minds the image of that person at the age when that photo was taken.

It's hard to imagine Winston Churchill or Ernest Hemingway at any age other than the ones depicted in their most iconic photos.

Think about most of the photographs you've seen of Agatha Christie. These photos show a regal, gracious middle-aged lady. We never see the Queen of Crime Fiction as a young woman.

But the updated reissue of An Autobiography may change that.

Imagine Agatha Christie as a surfer. And not just a regular rider of the waves. According to An Autobiography, Christie was one of Britain's first stand-up surfers. She was an avid bodyboarder, taking up the sport during a 1922 holiday in South Africa with her husband, Archie. That's the stuff of songs by the Beach Boys.

altThe new edition of An Autobiography, originally published in 1977, is due out in December from Harper, capping off the 120th anniversary of Christie's birthday.

The new hardcover edition will feature 24 pages of photographs in black and white and in color, and a CD of newly discovered recordings of Christie dictating parts of this autobiography. An introduction by Mathew Prichard, Christie’s grandson, explains how he found the tapes used to make the recordings.

Just paging through the advanced readers copy of An Autobiography that arrived the other day intrigued me. I am especially looking forward to seeing photos of the young Agatha Christie, who 35 years after her death, is still entertaining.

Wednesday, 21 September 2011
We Are Readers, So Read!

altWe are constantly being told we are not a country of readers. And while, admittedly, some countries, such as Iceland, read more than the U.S., we do read.

Just think of all the mystery writers you know and how many books you read a year, as well as that ever-growing TBR pile next to your bed. (Or in my case, next to the desk in my office.)

By the way, the photograph is courtesy of my friend and avid mystery fan, Jordan Foster.

And, for a change, there is some good news about the publishing industry.

Total book publishing revenue rose 3.1% in 2010 to $27.9 billion and posted two-year growth of 5.6%, according to figures released recently by BookStats, which is part of a joint program developed to create a comprehensive analysis of industrywide sales. As expected, the gain was due almost entirely to increases in digital products which offset declines in all print formats.
Among the major formats, e-book sales across all categories rose 38.9% in 2010, to $1.62 billion, according to BookStats.

So where are all those readers? Here's Amazon's list of the Top 20 Most Well-Read Cities in America. The list was based on the number of sales on a per capita basis in cities with more than 100,000 residents.

The most well-read city? Cambridge, Mass., which is home to Harvard University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Cambridge also was at the top of the cities that ordered the most nonfiction books.

Boulder, Colo., was most well-read in the cooking and food and wine category.

Alexandria, Va., orders the most children's books.

I'm pleased to note that Florida, where I live, is the state with the most cities in the Top 20. Miami, Gainesville and Orlando made list.

Here's the list. Where does your city fall?

1. Cambridge, Mass.

2. Alexandria, Va.

3. Berkeley, Calif.

4. Ann Arbor, Mich.

5. Boulder, Colo.

6. Miami

7. Salt Lake City

8. Gainesville, Fla.

9. Seattle

10. Arlington, Va.

11. Knoxville, Tenn.

12. Orlando, Fla.

13. Pittsburgh

14. Washington, D.C.

15. Bellevue, Wash.

16. Columbia, S.C.

17. St. Louis, Mo.

18. Cincinnati

19. Portland, Ore.

20. Atlanta

We Are Readers, So Read!
Oline Cogdill
we-are-readers-so-read

altWe are constantly being told we are not a country of readers. And while, admittedly, some countries, such as Iceland, read more than the U.S., we do read.

Just think of all the mystery writers you know and how many books you read a year, as well as that ever-growing TBR pile next to your bed. (Or in my case, next to the desk in my office.)

By the way, the photograph is courtesy of my friend and avid mystery fan, Jordan Foster.

And, for a change, there is some good news about the publishing industry.

Total book publishing revenue rose 3.1% in 2010 to $27.9 billion and posted two-year growth of 5.6%, according to figures released recently by BookStats, which is part of a joint program developed to create a comprehensive analysis of industrywide sales. As expected, the gain was due almost entirely to increases in digital products which offset declines in all print formats.
Among the major formats, e-book sales across all categories rose 38.9% in 2010, to $1.62 billion, according to BookStats.

So where are all those readers? Here's Amazon's list of the Top 20 Most Well-Read Cities in America. The list was based on the number of sales on a per capita basis in cities with more than 100,000 residents.

The most well-read city? Cambridge, Mass., which is home to Harvard University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Cambridge also was at the top of the cities that ordered the most nonfiction books.

Boulder, Colo., was most well-read in the cooking and food and wine category.

Alexandria, Va., orders the most children's books.

I'm pleased to note that Florida, where I live, is the state with the most cities in the Top 20. Miami, Gainesville and Orlando made list.

Here's the list. Where does your city fall?

1. Cambridge, Mass.

2. Alexandria, Va.

3. Berkeley, Calif.

4. Ann Arbor, Mich.

5. Boulder, Colo.

6. Miami

7. Salt Lake City

8. Gainesville, Fla.

9. Seattle

10. Arlington, Va.

11. Knoxville, Tenn.

12. Orlando, Fla.

13. Pittsburgh

14. Washington, D.C.

15. Bellevue, Wash.

16. Columbia, S.C.

17. St. Louis, Mo.

18. Cincinnati

19. Portland, Ore.

20. Atlanta