Harbingers of Fear

[DAEDLUS]

I am a Fan of The Luke Thanet Books and would like to know what Harbingers of Fear is about. It is a Book written before the Thanet books but by the sme Author, I have no luck when putting the Title in Google

[oddboddy]

Thanks I will check him out he'll be in my dictionary of detective fiction i'm sure. Much appreciated.
I am busy setting up our next show at the minute as I run a theatre group that raises money for good causes and charity. Not getting very far as I ended up at the hospital last night which they think is a couple of twisted ribs but im not sure how you can do that and not know it. lol
I keep seeing a new mystery book advertised then when I think about looking for it I cant remember what its called next time the advert appears I shall have to click on it to be sure of finding it again.
We are thinking of doing murder mystery evenings have you heard of those where people come along in character of a set piece and try and solve whodunnit. Could be fun.

[DAEDLUS]

Do you write the Plays yourself or do you do what Am Dram Companies do and do well known plays and if you do other peoples plays do you do a mixture of Plays from different Decades, 1 season Ayckbournes Relatively Speaking and the next season Oscar Wildce's The Importance of Being Earnest? and maybe one season Outside Edge? They are 3 of my favourite plays by the way. Years ago I went to a Drama Workshop for 34 years which was fun, I was thee on ly disabled person. I went to a Murder Mystery Evening once with 2 Carers from the Home I lived at, I had always wanted to go on a Murder Mystery Weekend but as circumstances prevent me from going on a whole weekend going on an Evening was lovely although it was a bit beyond me, a Quartet of Actors acted out a play in between the courses of a Meal, sadly the sound was too good and the evening was slightly spoiled by people at a table nearer the stage who seemed more interested in chatting than solveing the Murders but I enjoyed the evening and the ambience, they advertized Cocktails to start with but they werre just Bucks Fizz nothing exciting and we had name badges which if my memory serves me right were fictitious. I hope you get better soon.

[oddboddy]

My theatre group is a bit different as we only take non theatrical people ordinary people that just want a turn on stage and our shows are structured so everyone gets a main part for that reason we cant do proper plays we usually do musical theatre pop shows old tyme etc. I add my own twist to songs to make them fit what I need. We have been going for 6 years so something must be right. We take disabled people we had a chap who was blind in our last 3 shows and his girlfriend was in a couple she is wheelchair bound with spina bifida, I just adapted things to suit them. They joined in most routines in fact Mark was one of our lead dancers in very complex routines. He loved it as normally in theatre groups he was stuck in the chorus at the back. Ive never been on a murder mystery night so you are one up on me. I'd like to, the ones we are hoping to do is where the people who come along are the characters
and arrive in character being given a script a few days earlier so everyone there is the cast.,

[DAEDLUS]

Your Theatre Group sounds wonderful, I have the sme disability as the girl in your Group afew years ago for my birthday we had a meal and we had to dress up and acted a Murder Mystery it was great fun. I meant to ask what is the name of the Crime Fiction Dictionary you mentioned it sounds like something I would like to buy.

[oddboddy]

i'll look it out and let you have title and publisher. Thats some burden you have to bear. I know Shery has alot of problems related to her illness although she does live on her own her parents live opposite and she does manage quite a social life as she is forever meeting new fellows lol Her little girl lives with her parents but thats easier for them all I think. She did 2-3 shows with us but alot of old theatres dont cater for wheelchairs unfortunately. I think your murder mystery night sounded great fun. Its a bit like a live version of Cluedo isnt it I love Cluedo but its always Rev Green who did it when I play. I have to go out to chair a meeting but soon as I get in i'll look that book out and send details.

[DAEDLUS]

I used to work un-paid for a Charity called Artshape and me and 3 others went round Gloucestershire Arts venues looking at their access and advising them and aswell as that I was on Artshapes Management Comittee for a while, it was quite enjoyable at first and then it wasn't so I stopped, I think a job I would just love is as a Theatre Critic, I probably wouldn't be very good but I would love to get paid for going tom the Theatre. I love Cluedo, there was a Game show afew years ago called Cluedo but the programme didn't do the name Justice, I remember in the 70s or 80s a programme called WHODUNNIT presented by John Pertwee, I loved it, at the beginning there was alittle play and then 4 Contestants had to ask the Contestants questions to disvcover who the Murderer was, I remember once it was suicide and once all 5 suspects claimed they werre guilty, It was a great programme. Thanks about the book.

[oddboddy]

I remember that programme with Jon Pertwee I dont remember the Cluedo one though. I dont think the theatre critics on local papers get paid they just get to see shows leastways they get expenses thats about all.
The book is Twentieth Century Crime and Mystery Writers its by John M Reilly and published by Macdonald. Its a really thick heavy book so postage costs would be astronomical. I got mine from a library sale.

[DAEDLUS]

Thankyou, I have made a note of that book and look it up on the Net. It wouldn't bother me if I wasn't Paid for being a Theatre Critic , (It might make things difficult with Benefits), as long as my expenses were paid, I just love going to the Theatre, I used to go rtegularly like I think I told you until sercumstances meant I couldn't anymore, I had a go once but left my book in the Theatre, I would also not mind being a book Critic.

[oddboddy]

Well you'd certainly need to remember your notes lol Why not look online see if theres an online book site you can review for I know Amazon have people post reviews of books on there, its not quite the same but sometimes when you do something like that you get to know other sites
that are more what you want. The Tupenny Hat Detective that was that new book I kept forgetting the title of its actually one of the ads on here so I neednt have looked far to find it. I might get it out the library and see what its like.

[DAEDLUS]

Thankyou, I have sent reviews to cashback sites after reading some books, 2 P. D. Jasmes Books and a Jeffrey Archer Book, I am always wanting to collect book titles to read so I will look up The Tuppeny Hat Detective too.

[oddboddy]

Well if you get it before me you can tell me what its like and vice versa. Why dont you try devising a whodunnit ever thought about that ?

[DAEDLUS]

Yes I will, Have you got these books? GREAT TV FILM DETECTIVES, ARMCHAIR DETECTIVES and MS MURDER? It is a long time since I read the first but it has information about Detectives, and their Creators and other Information and it is in Alphabetical order if my memory serves me right, so Hastings is near Holmes. ARMCHAIR DETECTIVE is a book of short stories each featuring a different Detective so there is stories featuring, Miss Marple, Poirot, Morse, Hazell Adam Dalglish, Ellery Queen, Sherlock Holmes, Paul Temple, Van Der Valk and others and bore each story is a brief History of the Deterective, who has played him or her on Television, Radio and Film, and Lastly Ms Murder is a book which only features Female Detectives like Cordelia Grey, Mrs Bradley and Miss Marple. Yes I have tried writing Murder Mysteries with out success and with different sleuths, Male, female, Couples, singles and all different ages. Have you ever tried writing Detective Fiction?

[oddboddy]

no I havent seen any of those i'll look out for them. I havent written anything at all i'm hopless at writing. If you didnt manage a novel maybe start smaller with a murder mystery night they are always looking for new themes on those. I did think about that once but never actually put pen to paper. I can work them out in my head but thats all.

[DAEDLUS]

You can get further than me then, I can think of the Characters, the Situation and the ways the Victims die but can't think of clues, red herrings etc. My Weekend Carewr and I started to write a Murder Mystery but got way lasid by doing other things ebay, etc. so it lies unfinished.

[oddboddy]

Well there you are then make that your quest to finish it. You never know you could have a best seller on your hands. Cluedo only started from someone having the idea in the first place and developing it and look at that now.

[DAEDLUS]

You learn something new every day, I love that word Quest, I will indeed try to finish it, In my mind each of my Sleuths lasts for a few books, I had a quick look at Ms Murder today, It doesn't give a History of the sleuths career like Great TV and Film Detectives does.

[oddboddy]

Well you dont have to do a full novel a short story is often as popular or theres games, theres books where you follow clues from scenes they were really popularmind you I could never solve them I think they were Cluedo solve it yourself or something like that I still have one kicking around I half started.Theres plenty of scope to get you going. You've got part way with it already you just have to decide who it would appeal to then you can choose what format to do it in, book, pictures, puzzle etc Keep me posted on how its going if you do it.

[DAEDLUS]

Yes I will and thankyou for your encouragement, I think one of the problems I might have would be the ability to do any research and also the type I like and would want to write might be considered old-fashioned and who knows too middle -class as you know I like Thanet, Mel Craig and Hazel Holt's Mrs Mallory which isn't a problem fopr me but might be for other people so the main problem would be the research and clues and inevitable Red Herrings, May I say it is so nice tralking to someone about books and Crime Fiction etc. Long may it continue.

[oddboddy]

Well its nice to know someone who likes the same books as me. I think you might help your research by reading up on murder mystery plays and various games like cluedo
on the internet see what people say about them and of course book reviews see where readers felt the plot fell short. one thing that works for me is when an author knows his subject. Have you read Dick Francis his books were superb when he stuck to the racing field which he knew then he dellved into subjects he didnt know OK he researched them but his books lost a lot in the bargain as they seemed more research less real. Find a ground you know as your setting so you know its credible. Why not use your situation with your carer as a base you have the resentment and mistrust of him to make a good basis first hand for a suspect or even the victim. You can sit and think of ways to bump him off that might help you put up with him as you can see him as material for your plot lol

[DAEDLUS]

My mother bought me a Dick Francis book last year and I haven't read it yet so I have that to look forward to. He writes in the 1st person doesn't he and as Hazel Holt does and I have just read her 1st Mrs Mallory book I will be used to that. I thought your idea of using my situaltion as basis for a plot was brilliant, As I have heard you should write what you know I have always been down-hearted as my experiences are quite limited even though my Mother tries to let me have experiences I don't have for instance she shows me what certain flowers look like and ingredience and while I could get in her car we used to go hither and yon but now you have made me think of skullduggery that went on at the Home and the many staff who could be pottential Victims and Murderers, he he so thankyou, I glimpsed a programme once and the person was talking about writing and he suggested thinking of afew words and writing a story using them, I would choose Plinth, Skuttle or skuttling and skullklduggery, I might also use the words bagonia and Chrisanthemum.