As a way to ensure I read some older crime books in addition to the contemporary ones I generally prefer, I set myself a personal challenge this year to participate in the Crimes of the Century meme at least 6 times. The premise is simple: a year is selected and over the month people post reviews of books they have read (and movies they have watched) published during the nominated year. I outdid myself on this one, participating in all 12 months and even reading an extra qualifying book during September.
Even though I didn’t enjoy all the books equally I did enjoy participating in the challenge overall. For me this one achieves just the right balance: it prompts me to read outside my comfort zone but doesn’t bog me down for too long in things I really have no interest in spending my leisure time doing. I particularly like it when I can track down older Australian crime novels though this is difficult and expensive.
Some random things I gleaned from this year’s reading:
- Not all old books are classics. Mickey Spillane’s I THE JURY is just a bloody awful piece of crap; burying every copy in existence under nuclear waste in a distant desert is the only sensible way to deal with it
- I think I might have liked Dorothy L. Sayers as a person but I’m never going to be a fan of her most famous creation, Lord Peter Wimsey. Turns out my working class, Irish/Australian roots have a stronger hold on me than I’d have imagined prior to encountering this upper-class, English pratt. He made me want to join a revolution.
- If you can park the not-so-casual bigotry (or stop yourself from cringing at the thoughts your own ancestors most likely expressed) Arthur Upfield’s series featuring half Aboriginal, half white police inspector Napoleon Bonaparte is actually quite insightful for its time. Upfield’s settings are wonderfully evocative too and these have a timeless quality.
- With a few exceptions (Holmes and Poirot spring to mind) I am not really a fan of the master detective who has mignons fawning all over him (a la THE RED THUMB MARK and the aforementioned Wimsey)
One of the reasons I tend to prefer more recently published novels is that it’s easier to find ones in which women are more than dead bodies, sex objects or mother figures. It has been my experience that a lot of older crime fiction wouldn’t pass the literary equivalent of the Bechdel Test let alone have truly well-rounded female characters responsible for their own destinies. I do try to look out for books in which women have some agency of their own for this challenge though and this year’s favourite find was Ethel Mary Channon’s THE CHIMNEY MURDER (thanks again to my blogging pal at Clothes in Books for alerting me to the existence of Greyladies Press, the niche publisher breathing new life into forgotten books by women writers). It is an utterly delightful tale about a woman who is not the little mouse she might first appear to be and will surely make my list of favourite reads for 2016.
The only downside of this challenge for me is that there are often books from the nominated year that I would like to read but they are just not available to me at a reasonable cost. The first book I looked for to read in December for example was going to cost me $63AUD for a used copy from overseas (shipping to Australia is prohibitively expensive). That’s too much pressure for any book to have to live up to. I don’t have a collection of my own older books and where I live there are not a plethora of decent second hand book stores. So I tend to rely on my library system (which has a fairly eclectic selection of older books) and those titles which have been re-issued in eBook or audio format which restricts me somewhat. But not enough to avoid participating in the challenge if it continues in 2017.
This year’s full list of ‘classics’ read for this challenge is
- 1907 – R. Austin Freeman’s THE RED THUMB MARK
- 1929 – E.M. Channon’s THE CHIMNEY MURDER
- 1930 – Dorothy L Sayers’ STRONG POISON & Georges Simenon’s PIETR THE LATVIAN
- 1933 – Dorothy L Sayers’ MURDER MUST ADVERTISE
- 1947 – Mickey Spillane’s I THE JURY
- 1944 – A.E. Martin’s COMMON PEOPLE: MURDER IN SIDESHOW ALLEY (Australian)
- 1945 – Arthur Upfield’s DEATH OF A SWAGMAN (Australian)
- 1950 – Michael Gilbert’s SMALLBONE DECEASED
- 1954 – Arthur Upfield’s DEATH OF A LAKE (Australian)
- 1957 – Margaret Millar’s AN AIR THAT KILLS
- 1960 – Margaret Millar’s A STRANGER IN MY GRAVE
- 1975 – Pat Flower’s VANISHING POINT (Australian)
Oh yes, Greyladies is wonderful – I haven’t read the Channon yet, but fully intend to. Love the idea of Bechdel-ing crime fiction, will bear it in mind for next year’s reading (I hope, only necessary for older books…?)
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Alas Moira I think Bechdel-ing needs to be done in all eras.I have only read one Jack Reacher novel but it would never have passed
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Thanks for sharing your thoughts on the classics, Bernadette. I didn’t participate in the Crimes of the Century challenge this time, but I did follow along with, and read, others’ entries. It is interesting to see how those books and authors hold up under the scrutiny of modern readers in modern times. And, as you say, it invites us to move a bit out of the comfort zone.
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Hi Bernadette,
I laughed out loud at your comment about Mickey Spillane. What tripe. All his books should be buried.
I look forward to your take on books in 2017.
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I’ll take your word that the rest of his stuff is as awful as the one I read…I have no intention of reading another one 🙂
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Your comments about women with agency reminds me of THE BLANK WALL by Elisabeth Zanxay Holding in which a wartime mother turns out to have a lot more ingenuity than her children credit her with. A good book indeed. So too her others.
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Thanks for the recommendation Patti. I will definitely seek that one out…looks to have had a re-release by Persephone so I might actually be able to get hold of it here.
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I enjoyed The Blank Wall as well. Look forward to your thoughts on it Bernadette if/when you read it.
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Glad you’re enjoying it (largely), although I for one hope you encounter more tripe in 2017 as I really like your reviews of those ones… Thanks for participating Bernadette, and would you like to choose the year for January?
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I quite enjoy writing those reviews too Rich 🙂
I will choose 1959 as I see that’s not on your list AND I actually own a book from that year already.
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While I disagree with you on the merits of I, THE JURY, I heartily second your comments about Arthur Upfield (who, BTW, was one of Anthony Boucher’s favorite writers).
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I totally agree about Mickey Spillane’s books. While a teenager and already a mystery reader, I found a few paperbacks at home written by Spillane and just remember seeing horrid covers of murdered women. That turned me off. Never read one of those books and wouldn’t
I think I agree about Lord Peter Wimsey. The English aristocracy puts me off, so not a favorite genre among my mystery reading.
I don’t think I could tolerate Upfield’s bigotry, even if the case at the time he wrote.
I can’t locate The Chimney Murder over here for a decent price, so is there another classic you’d recommend which I could find? Also, Amazon doesn’t have it and nor do other major booksellers.
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No, not all books are classics. Some hold up well and others should just stay buried. Forever.
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I sympathize with your problems getting affordable copies of older mysteries. When I find a mystery of any vintage that is only available from Australia (which happens much less of course), they are very expensive and largely because of shipping. I am curious to read something by Mickey Spillane someday to see how I react.
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Just remember you were warned when it comes to Spillane 🙂
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