Hi and welcome to our first newsletter!
Thanks for signing up for the newsletter - I hope to drop semi-regularly into your inbox with news and views from across the crime fiction landscape.
My decision to recently retire from Heffers after nearly forty-one years has, admittedly, been a shock to the system, having worked with hugely supportive colleagues – some of them over many years. For the majority of that time, I’ve had the privilege of pursuing a paid hobby specialising in crime fiction, working to promote writers and their works, sharing my love of their books with customers from all over the world and equally being ‘fed’ by what they’ve liked, thus informing my reading - and what a reward that’s been!
A supportive working environment enabled a confidence to (perhaps overly) enthuse to anyone with an ear on my suggestions for Golden Age and favourite authors to be re-issued! My recent response to the British Library’s request for an addition to their Crime Classics list resulted in the reissue of Bernard J Farmer’s Death of a Bookseller, the 100th in the series.
There’s been success matching some authors to publishers too - such as with Peter Morfoot for his excellent Nice-based, Captain Darac series to Galileo Publishing. Owner Robert Hyde has also accepted my suggestions for reissuing books from Golden Age authors Clifford Witting, Joan Coggin and Joan Cockin.
For several years a collaboration with Andrew Cocks at Ostara Publishing (recently sold to Joffe Books) achieved several Cambridge-based GA titles being reissued, as well as those under the headings of College Crime, Medieval Mysteries and Clerical Crime. A few years ago Len Tyler’s & Ayo Onatade’s kind offer to edit The Bodies in the Bookshop anthology resulted in stories celebrating bookshops, Cambridge, books and libraries. Twenty seasoned writers provided killer plots collectively featuring every crime in the book!
Apart from having more time to relax and for reading, especially for the CWA Gold Dagger award, my ‘retirement’ has now provided time to collaborate with Jon Gifford, owner of the Oleander Press (home to Whipplesnaith’s Night Climbers of Cambridge), in his setting up of Oreon, a new imprint for Golden Age Detective fiction - with the reissue of twelve favourite titles (so far), which I’ve long wanted to see available in paperback (with some in hardback too) – most re-published this year. The good news is that there’s many more to come!
There’s also been the kind offer from him to help list some of my collection of crime fiction for sale; doubtless over the years he’s seen such evidence as the high stacks in my loft study (with floor reinforced), and possibly wondered how our small house is still standing!
Most importantly though, we’ll be supplying recommendations highlighting authors,
publishers and books we love, as well as offering many & varied crime fiction sub-genre lists, a blog, reviews, podcasts, competitions and more. I can't wait to get started on this new journey - especially as you'll be joining me; it's going to be great fun.
Many thanks for reading this. Until next time!
Richard
Checklist for authors mentioned:
(Please note we'll be using bookshop.org or amazon affiliate links to help with the new website's costs - at no extra cost to you, of course!)
Joan Cockin: Villainy at Vespers (11/22) (Galileo. 9781912916900. £10.99)
Joan Coggin: Dancing with Death (Galileo. 9781912916603.£9.99)
Bernard J Farmer: Death of a Bookseller (British Library. 9780712353281.£9.99)
Peter Morfoot: Box of Bones (3) (9781912916672.£9.99)
Essence of Murder (5) (9781912916511. £9.99)
Fatal Music (2) (9781912916696. £9.99)
Impure Blood (1) (Galileo. 9781912916689. £9.99)
Knock ‘em Dead (4) (Galileo. 9781912916184.£9.99)
Len Tyler & Ayo Onatade (Eds): Bodies in the Bookshop Anthology (Ostara. 9781909619173. £10.99)
Whipplesnaith: The Night Climbers of Cambridge (Oleander. 9798497467529. £19.95; pbk. 9781909349551. £11.99)
OREON's new series can be viewed here.
Clifford Witting: Catt out of the Bag (Galileo: 9781912916375.£8.99)
Dead on Time (Galileo: 9781912916634. £9.99)
Measure for Murder (Galileo: 9781912916528. £8.99)
Midsummer Murder (Galileo. 9781912916733. £9.99)
Murder in Blue (Galileo. 9781912916504. £8.99)
