November 292004


There's an old favourite back on the scene this week. Many of us remember fondly John Mortimer's infamous barrister creation Rumpole. Well, the master is back -- and finally throwing light on his most famous case in RUMPOLE AND THE PENGE BUNGALOW MURDERS.

Barbara Franchi recommends it highly -- and also speculates on who could play the younger Rumpole on screen. The late Leo McKern, who made the role his own, is much missed.

Sharon Katz drew the short straw this week -- trying to make head or tail of an abridged audiobook version of Patricia Cornwell's TRACE. Some of us have given up on Cornwell as the plots got madder and madder. Sharon says, diplomatically, that maybe the full version would make more sense!

I had great fun this week with a brace of racing thrillers -- one of my guilty pleasures. It always seems harsh to compare these young pretenders to Dick Francis but hey, the master worked hard for his success, so we don't want to make it too easy for these up-and-coming blighters! Actually, both John Francome's INSIDE TRACK and Richard Pitman and Joe McNally's BET YOUR LIFE are good value reads.

Let's welcome a new reviewer from the UK. Playwright Rebecca Nesvet makes her RTE debut with a review of Italian writer Carlo Lucarelli's much-praised ALMOST BLUE. Rebecca teaches Creative Writing and a little Renaissance drama at the University of Gloucestershire. She has academic journal articles published and forthcoming in the fields of early modern literature, modern theatre, and women's writing. A multiple-award-winning playwright, her plays have been produced and stage-read in London, Cardiff, New York, Washington DC, Dallas, and Chicago, among other places. Her playwriting might have a wannabe-crime-writing agenda as characters tend to find themselves accused of treason (sometimes even accurately) at a frequency that almost rivals Renaissance history plays. Before moving to Gloucestershire, Rebecca was a regular staff reviewer for the UK daily broadsheet The Western Mail and for Theatre in Wales.

There's time, if you're quick, to enter the free draw for signed copies of Elaine Flinn's wonderful TAGGED FOR MURDER. Next up in the giveaway stakes later this week are copies of Carol Smith's twisty and turny HIDDEN AGENDA.

Oh, and if you'd like to keep in touch with RTE in between our weekly uploads, sign up at http://www.journalscape.com/rte/ to receive occasional notes, the weekly update list, and, in the future, random musings from both me and Barbara Franchi, our publisher.

Happy reading!

Sharon



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Recent Reviews:
* RUMPOLE AND THE PENGE BUNGALOW MURDERS
by John Mortimer
* TRACE
by Patricia Cornwell
* TRIBECA BLUES
by Jim Fusilli
* WINTER HOUSE
by Carol O'Connell
* BET YOUR LIFE
by Richard Pitman with Joe McNally
* ALMOST BLUE
by Carlo Lucarelli
* TILL THE END OF TOM
by Gillian Roberts
* JOSEPHINE AND HARRIET
by Betty Burton
* LAST SEEN IN ABERDEEN
by M. G. Kincaid
* DRAGON PRECINCT
by Keith R. A. DeCandido


* THROUGH VIOLET EYES
by Stephen Wentworth
* RED TIDE
by G. M. Ford
* INSIDE TRACK
by John Francome
* LAST RITES
by Joyce and Jim Lavene
* UNACCEPTABLE RISK
by David Dun
* THE RESORT
by Bentley Little
* ALONE AT NIGHT
by K. J. Erickson
* HEART OF THE HUNTER
by Deon Meyer
* MISSING JUSTICE
by Alafair Burke
* THE BAR WATCHER
by Dorien Grey