Tag: Oldcastle Books

Blog Tour: ‘After Agatha: Women Write Crime’ by Sally Cline

I’m delighted to welcome you to my stop on the blog tour for ‘After Agatha: Women Write Crime’ by Sally Cline.

Thanks to Oldcastle Books for inviting me on the tour and for my copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

From the Publisher:

Spanning the 1930s to present day, ‘After Agatha’ charts the explosion in women’s crime writing and examines key developments on both sides of the Atlantic: from the women writers at the helm of the UK Golden Age and their American and Canadian
counterparts fighting to be heard, to the 1980s experimental trio, Marcia Muller, Sara
Paretsky and Sue Grafton, who created the first female PIs, and the more recent
emergence of forensic crime writing and domestic noir thrillers such as ‘Gone Girl’ and ‘Apple Tree Yard’.

After Agatha examines the diversification of crime writing and highlights landmark
women’s novels which featured the marginalised in society as centralised characters.
Cline also explores why women readers are drawn to the genre and seek out justice in crime fiction, in a world where violent crimes against women rarely have such resolution.

The book includes interviews with dozens of contemporary authors such as Ann Cleeves, Sophie Hannah, Tess Gerritsen and Kathy Reichs and features the work of hundreds of women crime and mystery writers.

My Review:

I’m a keen reader of crime fiction – and have been since I first discovered the genius of Agatha Christie as a teenager (many moons ago…)

It was with this enthusiasm that I approached ‘After Agatha’, keen to understand the legacy of the great writer herself and the work of those that have followed her.

The book begins with a discussion about why women read crime and the work of Agatha Christie (and other Golden Age writers). It then moves, partially chronologically, partially thematically, through different aspects of women’s crime writing. Each aspect is given a chapter – for example, there are chapters on Private Eyes, Women in Forensic Science and Domestic Noir (among many others).

I think it would be fair to say that Cline has researched her material thoroughly. Each chapter explores a range of writers and books and makes interesting connections between crime authors and the content of their work. There are a few spoilers along the way, so just be aware – especially in regard to early books in older series which Cline assumes everyone has read.

For those who have already explored the genre in some detail, there is lots to like here. It serves as a reminder on old favourites, plus a catalogue of what is out there in each genre sub-section. I really appreciated some pointers in areas that I like – for me, that’s forensic sciences and police procedurals – and skimmed some of the ones where I have less interest.

As a catalogue of what is available, it is useful. It also features interviews with a range of writers which I found really interesting – in hindsight, I think I’d have liked more insight and analysis, less of the listing of different writers in places.

My only real query was why crime fiction by Black and disabled writers (or featuring Black/disabled protagonists) were grouped in one chapter. Although both groups are marginalised, it felt like the issues were different and that there was plenty more to say in some cases – for example, I’ve read some contemporary crime fiction by Black authors which didn’t make the book. I realise this isn’t intended to be exhaustive, but I thought there was more to say.

That said, this is an interesting read. I liked the fact that I ‘met’ new writers and heard from old favourites. I also appreciated the pointers towards writers I haven’t read before – even if my bank balance might not be so keen! I’d especially recommend this to those who enjoy crime fiction and who want to read more widely in the genre.

About the Author:

Sally Cline, author of 14 books, is an award-winning biographer and fiction writer. She is Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, Research Fellow at Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge, and former Advisory Fellow of the Royal Literary Fund. Her biography on Radclyffe Hall, now a classic, was shortlisted for the LAMBDA prize; ‘Lifting the Taboo: Women, Death and Dying’ won the Arts Council Prize for non-fiction; and her landmark biographies on Zelda Fitzgerald and Dashiell Hammett were bestsellers in the UK and US. She is co- Series Editor for Bloomsbury’s 9
volume Writers and Artists Companions. Formerly lecturing at Cambridge University, she has degrees and masters from Durham and Lancaster Universities and was awarded a D.Litt in International Writing.

Blog Tour: ‘Nick’ by Michael Farris Smith

Welcome to my stop on the blog tour for ‘Nick’ by Michael Farris Smith, a book that imagines the life of the character of Nick Carraway before he ends up as narrator of ‘The Great Gatsby’.

This blog tour is organised by Oldcastle Books/No Exit Press and I am thrilled to have been asked to join the tour!

From the Publisher:

This rich and imaginative novel from critically acclaimed author Michael Farris Smith breathes new life into a character that many know only from the periphery. Before Nick Carraway moved to West Egg and into Gatsby’s world, he was at the centre of a very different story – one taking place along the trenches and deep within the tunnels of World War I. Floundering in the wake of the destruction he witnessed first-hand, Nick embarks on a redemptive journey that takes him from a whirlwind Paris romance – doomed from the very beginning – to the dizzying frenzy of New
Orleans, rife with its own flavour of debauchery and violence.


‘NICK is so pitch-perfect, so rich in character and
action, so remarkable a combination of elegance
and passion, so striking in felt originality that I am
almost tempted to say – book gods forgive me – that
The Great Gatsby will forever feel like NICK’s splendid
but somewhat paler sequel. Almost tempted to say. But
I have no intention of taking back the sincere passing
thought of it. Michael Farris Smith’s book is that good’

Robert Olen Butler


2021 WILL MARK 125TH ANNIVERSARY OF F. SCOTT FITZGERALD’S BIRTH

‘Anybody who believes that the war is
over when the enemy surrenders and
the troops come home needs to read
Michael Farris Smith’s masterful new
novel NICK. Its stark, unvarnished
truth will haunt you’

Richard Russo


‘Stylish, evocative, haunting and
wholly original, Michael Farris Smith
has paid tribute to a classic and made
it his own. A remarkable achievement
that should sit at the very top of
everyone’s must-read list’

Chris Whitaker

My Review:

I’m a huge fan of ‘The Great Gatsby’, so I absolutely jumped at the opportunity to read this book, a kind of ‘prequel’ to the 1925 novel. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for granting me an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

This book focused on the story of Nick Carraway, the narrator of F Scott Fitzgerald’s ‘The Great Gatsby’. In the original novel, a few things are revealed about the character – the fact he is a Midwesterner, the fact he served in World War I and the fact he finds himself in West Egg (where ‘Gatsby’ is set) aged 29. This gives Michael Farris Smith considerable scope to imagine Nick’s life up to that point and it is a challenge he seems to embrace wholeheartedly.

The story opens in Paris where Nick is on leave from fighting in the trenches of World War I. He meets a young woman and the initial part of the book is their (short) relationship before Nick is called back to combat. A period in the trenches follows – brutal, grim and shocking – before Nick goes to New Orleans and starts to search for his life back in America.

The varied settings of the novel are fascinating as Nick explores a corner of wartime Paris, the trenches and tunnels of the front line in France, the seedy quarter of New Orleans where the speakeasies and brothels are, before finally moving on to West Egg and his future. These places – a theatre attic, a bar, an apartment – are vividly evoked and make Nick’s story jump from the page.

I don’t want to give any spoilers, but it is clear that Nick is suffering from PTSD and a lot of his subsequent experiences are tinged with tragedy. This is a novel that doesn’t shy away from some big themes, from war to grief, revenge to violence, love to loss. Some of the novel, especially the scenes in the trenches and the post-war life of war veteran Judah, is hard to read but extremely powerful.

The writing is vivid and Michael Farris Smith presents a range of characters who engage the reader in their lives and hopes and dreams. Personally, I was most interested in the lives of the women of the novel – the survival instincts of both Colette and Ella in their different ways was interesting. I’d have loved to read more of Ella’s story as she was a mysterious figure in the novel in a lot of ways.

There were a couple of things I found a little jarring that took me out of the richly-imagined world of ‘Nick’ but I think these may be personal things. I found reported speech to be written oddly – totally a stylistic choice by the writer, but one I found tricky to follow sometimes. I also was thrown by a reference to possums – I won’t elaborate but it felt unusual in the context.

So, the big question. Has Michael Farris Smith successfully recreated a Nick Carraway that fits with the character written by F Scott Fitzgerald? My honest answer is that I don’t know. I suspect I would read ‘The Great Gatsby’ with a different view of Nick now, but I’d say the main ingredients are there in Smith’s portrayal. His Nick is honest, introspective and often an observer even in his own life – all features of Fitzgerald’s narrator too. The decision to narrate ‘Nick’ in the third person (as opposed to first person in ‘Gatsby’) escapes the need to recreate Nick’s exact voice, but I’d say these two Nicks could credibly be the same person.

Overall, I would say that I was caught up in Nick’s story and enjoyed the narrative decisions made by Smith to explain how Nick comes to be in West Egg at the start of ‘Gatsby’, plus his emotional baggage. It isn’t always a comfortable read, but I did find it immersive and interesting. If you love ‘The Great Gatsby’, this is definitely worth reading and may give you a different understanding of Nick. If you haven’t read ‘The Great Gatsby’, this is absolutely worth picking up on its own merits. Either way, I’d recommend it.

About the Author:

No Exit Press also publish Michael Farris Smith’s novels Desperation Road, The Fighter and most recently Blackwood. Farris Smith has been a finalist for the Gold Dagger Award in the UK, and the Grand Prix des Lectrices in France, and his essays have appeared in publications including The New York Times. He lives in Oxford, Mississippi, with his wife and daughters.