AFTERNOON WITH CHANDLER

Timeless classic The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler doesn't just grab you by the throat as you read - it's pins you up against the wall, holds you in a vice like grip, and refuses to let go until your eyes blur and can't stay on the page a minute longer.

Using harsh and tension filled prose that shows the seedy side of life in LA, Chandler colours a city black and white, pure and evil, with varying shades of grey. Rain lashes down endlessly as the plot gathers pace and we meet characters as dodgy as a bad fairground ride with a screw loose and as vulnerable as a toddler not strapped in.

I've never read the book before but Ive seen both 1946 and 1976 screen versions, my favourite being the Bogart/Bacall film noir that oozes sexual chemistry, life on the edge, and the seedy side of life for both rich and poor. It's a world of murder, porn, exploitation, blackmail, gambling, innuendo, drinking whiskey and rye and smoking. It's a world now gone - replaced with one far more dirty, less honourable among thieves, and much more shocking.

The Big Sleep keeps you on the edge but it's not frightening and in places is somewhat amusing for a thriller not written as a comedy. However, back in 1939 readers were less desensitised then they are today. Times change and the book stands witness to the underground of that era which contemporaries would have found shocking. Swearing is forbidden in line with the then then sensibilities and moralities. The most profane word used is "nuts," but homophobia is reeled off as an acceptable reaction to gay men, maybe because it was a crime back then, or maybe just because our parents' and grandparents' generation generally were less enlightened. Sexism is also rampant in the book - if somewhat charming and quaint at times.

The Big Sleep is one three crime novels that I've been studying in preparation as tutor of an eight week adult comparative literature course. The other two books we'll be looking at are Trick of the Dark by Val McDermid which will be a lovely counterbalance to Chandler's homophobia and a very different PI, and Bad Boy by Peter Robinson to compare the screen adaptations. Will the DCI Banks series become regarded as the same kind of classic - or are they as incomparable as a grey Plymouth and a Porsce 911?

THE FEAR

Wow. Just Wow. That sums up my response to the new channel Four series The Fear a stomping new crime thriller with a difference.

Richie is a gangster who's been the unchallenged top dog of his town for 15 years and his violent days are behind him. He's got all of the local politicians, police, and officials in his pocket and the cover of respectability to gloss over his gangster past.

He's also got two soft and stupid sons who use his name in vain when dealing with organised sex traffickers from Albania who don't like being used. Promises are made in Richie's name and the Albanians want what they are promised.

When the sons fail to deliver, they take what they feel they are owed and Richie's peaceful new world is blown into oblivion. He's the sort of man that would usually have nipped such a threat in the bud with swift, untraceable violence. But he has a problem. Dementia is eating his brain, he's slipping back into the dark days of his past, he forgets where he is, who he's with, what he's done, and he's unaware of the danger his empire is in and how far his mind is lost.

At the point where he can deal with them and hope to salvage something, his mind goes off on a tangent and any plan for peace goes horribly wrong. Once his condition becomes apparent to the family, his sons are out for themselves. They have always used Daddy's name as a shield but now they have to stand on their own two feet.

The cool and business headed son has been beaten and raped by the gang into submission and compliance and the other is so far off his head on coke he just reacts like an idiot, doesn't think, and has now put the whole family in future danger with nothing to protect them.

Peter Mullan is excellent in the role. Despite his criminal past, you feel for him and his situation. He is like a monster one minute when he beats up one of his sons, and like a frightened child the next in his wife's arms as he begs for help in understanding what is happening to him.

The last episode is on this evening at 10pm. I'm expecting a great climax to the story but I hope like the last Channel Four series that I enjoyed so much Secret State it doesn't have the same disappointing ending.

I expected a better finale following the authentic feel of that political thriller but the fourth episode trailed off into fantasy land as it came hurriedly to an end which could have been handled much better.

I am not expecting to be disappointed by The Fear's ending. It certainly has far less to resolve than Secret State's convoluted plot and in some ways we already know that Richie's life is hanging by a thread. The slow moving bullet heading his way in the very first opening scene gives an indication of how he is going to end up. I suppose it just depends on who is behind the gun that fired it.

WATCHING THE DETECTIVES

I'm really enjoying the new political thriller Secret State which I wrote about over at Robin Jarossi's Crimetime Preview blog.

There is just one episode left in the four part series and so much to resolve in the finale of this fast paced drama that is one of the best on TV in recent years.

Well, it does have a top rate cast, including the brilliant Gabriel Byrne, great production values, intricate and twisting plots, plenty of action and a premise too plausible to be comfortable so it's no wonder viewers are hooked from start to finish and left waiting impatiently for the next instalment.

I have taken to watching selective TV programmes on channel internet players such as BBC iPlayer or ITV Player or Channel 4 and 5 On Demand facilities and find it makes viewing much more rewarding. Checking through the TV schedule for Freeview listings often leaves me deflated as there are many days when there isn't a single thing on TV that I want to watch.

Tuesday was one such day and then yesterday there were three things on at about the same time that I would have missed had it not been for the watch again options on the web.

So I managed to catch up on Secret State, The latest Exposure update on the Jimmy Savile investigation, Crimewatch, and The Hour

I don't know how I missed the first series of this alluring drama which is about an early 1960s state funded TV channel news programme "The Hour" in a time when glamour ruled and journalists were prepared to take risks to get the stories that they actually had to leave the office to find.

It was also an era when women knew their place - the kitchen, the home and the bedroom - but also when women began to demand more and were beginning to be seen, by the enlightened anyway, as having much more to offer. I wonder though, in reality, if a woman would ever have made it into top positions such as the producer played by Romola Garai.

Crimewatch was it's usual real life mix of fear, violence, tragedy and sorrow. In all of the years that I've watched it - I still recall the first episode watched at my former mother in law's house in North Wales back in the 1980s - I've never been able to help having never witnessed any crime it's featured nor recognised any of the faces in the rogue's gallery. Perhaps I mix in the wrong company for that.

But if I could help then I'd love to be able to do something in helping to find Katrice Lee the two year old who disappeared from an Army base in West Germany on her 2nd birthday 31 years ago.

I hope that she was abducted and is still alive and well and happy because the alternative is too awful to think about.

However, that said, I can also imagine the trauma she must have suffered if taken. My grandson is stuck like glue to his mum and should she even leave his side for a second, then he has floods of tears. Should someone take him (God forbid) then I think he would die of a broken heart. I hope Katrice was not the same and even if she is still alive, her mum will never forget how her child was stolen by someone with no right to take her. I am sure every year and every birthday since has brought nothing but sadness, tears, hopes and fears.

This is Katrice when she went missing from the Naafi in Paderborn, West Germany in 1981.

And this is Katrice as she probably looks today as an adult.

As I said, sadly, I can't help but if you can, you know what to do and bring some peace to a family that has suffered three decades of hell.

PAT ELSEWHERE

I've been busy elsewhere on the internet and the magazine world of journalism this week starting with my thoughts on the Inspector Montalbano series which was featured over at Robin Jarossi's Crime Time Preview blog.

Millions of people love the show so there wasn't much controversial in the article but the same couldn't be said for my view on Stephen Tompkinson in the role of DCI Banks.

After more than a week of chasing my tail on features, better luck arrived this week but things have notably changed in my absence since taking time out on other projects including my MA course.

Fees have dropped since The Leveson Inquiry and the News of the World hacking scandal. Getting a deal that clients have been happy with has been a struggle but worth it in the end. Great stories are there to be told whether in real life or in the land of fiction and as a writer it's my job to tell them.

MONTALBANO NIGHT

Image from here.

Tonight is Inspector Montalbano night and it doesn't bother me one bit that it will be the second time this week I've watched the same episode.

Lush Sicilian scenery with hot sun beating down on the landscape of rich colours glaring out from my TV and I'm there. It's a simple and entertaining escape from the cold, miserable British winter and the long dark nights ahead.

It won't last long so I'll enjoy it while I can. There are only two more episodes left in this series. Dishy actor Luca Zingeretti draws me in as much as the gorgeous setting. I've taken the other characters to heart too - Fazio, Augello, and Galluzzo.

The intellectually challenged, loyal and hardworking Caterella still amuses me but he has got to stop the repetitive slapstick fall through il Commissario's door every time he enters his office. It's getting a bit annoying. I'd like to see him developed a bit more.

I also find the melodrama a bit of a giggle when I'm supposed to empathise with the character's loss - such as when Beba and Mimi's young son, mini Salvo, went missing in an earlier episode and Beba overplayed the grief with lots of dramatic poses, hand gestures, facial expressions and faints - but then my mother was Italian and Melodrama was her middle name. Perhaps it's a cultural thing or maybe I've just lost the comedy intention in translation.

I guess I won't be alone curling up in bed with my glass of vino rosso and the Inspector on my iPlayer tonight. There's probably millions of other women like me looking forward to the weekly dose of hunk, sun and mystery and the opportunity to pick up a few simple Italian phrases such as "non lo so" (I don't know) "certo" (of course) "partire" (to leave) and if I'm correct "anche" which means also.

Most visitors to this blog have come via a search for "Inspector Montalbano" which I wrote about here at the time the last series ended in the UK.

It's obviously a very popular show in Europe and I hope another series will be planned in future. It's a shame it's not advertised better. I stumbled across the first series and the start of the second purely by chance.

CHASING MY TAIL

Image from here

I recently had help to launch a marketing purge in a bid to bring in some new real life stories to market to my clients in national women's magazines.

The response was amazing with many new leads created but it wasn't until I started to respond to the calls that I found myself in a whirl of making calls that just led to me chasing my tail for a good couple of months.

The stories were all great. There was the young couple who had been ostracised by their families because he dumped her friend for her and her parents thought he was a user and a waster but now they are happily settled down with a new baby on the way, all is forgiven.

Two things I always make clear is that the story must be original - it must not have appeared elsewhere before - and people must be prepared to be photographed. The couple agreed but at the point where there was real interest in their story, they suddenly decided they didn't want any photos used but they were happy to give me their words.

I explained again that the story would not work without pictures and so, without an apology, they just backed out leaving me with a week's wasted work in their wake. It's not such a big deal as it has happened before but disappointing none the less.

Then there was the uplifting story of forgiveness from a child, now grown up, whose dad - jailed for neglect because of the tragedy of falling into drug use - never got the chance to make things right because he was murdered in prison. There is so much more to say about this story but the lady concerned, who needs the consent of another family member, shied away because others were not as keen to share the story as she was. I hope she will change her mind and come back to me at some point as this is the most moving story I have heard in a long time. Either way. I wish her family well.

I can't even begin to list the respondents to the ad who gave numbers that didn't connect, those who never picked up at all despite several calls, and those who claimed "it wasn't me, you've got the wrong number" when I eventually made contact.

Then there was one lady who spoke to me about a poignant story of child abuse. All very relevant stuff as old traumatic and buried memories surface due to the scandal that is Jimmy Savile.

The horror stories being told about this alleged perverse DJ has reawakened nightmares of lost childhood innocence at the hands of others for too many of the 60s, 70s, and 80s generation although this respondent's case was not related to Savile or any other celebrity of the day.

I worked a couple of days doing some research and thinking of the best angle to approach this from and when I phoned the lady back to check details, ask about photos, I only got as far as saying that it was me when she hung up immediately. I did try again, giving her the benefit of the doubt that we got inadvertently cut off, but she didn't pick up. I guess some stories take courage to tell but those who do often find it a cathartic experience.

One touching story of triumph over extreme adversity did come to fruition. A sample photo was supplied, information provided, teaser written and approved, and then a moment of cold feet as the lady concerned suddenly questioned who she was dealing with.

She does trust me now, and trust is very important. I managed to assure her that I was genuine with many years experience of dealing with the national press and writing for magazines but after one rejection from a magazine which held her story for almost two weeks to consider, we now have to start the process again.

Magazine features can only work with consent of the person featured so there is never going to be case where I take details of a story and run with it. At every stage of the process it is important to keep the subject informed so that it goes as smoothly as possible to publication - and nothing comes back to bite us afterwards.

I now have a new batch of stories to chase and I can only hope they don't lead to yet another two months of chasing my tail and getting nowhere.

Meanwhile if you think you have a story that might work for a magazine feature then please do get in touch

And if you don't have one yourself, perhaps friends or family might so please feel free to share this post with all your contacts.

Although many people do not tell their stories just to make cash, magazines will pay regardless and with Christmas up and coming, any story commissioned now could lead to a nice nest egg to help with the festive expense.

WRITING FOR RADIO

I've never written a radio script before because I think in screen visuals but I might have a go and enter this competition run by the BBC Writer's Room.

I attended a couple of their workshops at De Montford University while I was studying for my MA at Nottingham Trent and I found them inspiring, educational and enlightening.

I handed over my 10 minute script for consideration. I received a very nice reply but it wasn't one that impressed so maybe I'll have better luck with a radio piece.

The thing to watch out for when writing a radio script as opposed to writing for screen is the obvious. People listening to a radio show have to be shown what the actors are doing because they can't see them.

For example, you can hand over a cup of tea on screen and the viewer will see it along with the look on the face of the actor who delivers it and the one who receives it. Words are not necessarily needed.

On radio it's different so if that cup of tea is an important part of the action then it has to be mentioned in a way that conveys that action.

You could say : "Here's your cup of tea" and if you want to show character interaction and the relationship between characters then you can even add feeling : "Here's your cup of tea. I hope it flipping chokes you" or even : "Here's your cup of tea darling. I made it special just as you like it, milk first, nice and strong and as sweet as you are to me."

One thing you have to admire about all writers is their compulsion to write even if they think their writing will go nowhere but the bottom drawer of their desk.

Being a writer is a lifelong learning experience and a craft where experience brings expertise so it's time that I ventured into radio writing to see how far my skills will stretch.

To anyone else entering the Writer's Room Writer's Prize then good luck. We writers surely need it.