I was lucky enough to spend part of UK Noir month tracking
down books in the UK. That included a trip to the world's
first booktown, Hay-On-Wye in Wales. I also was at the
(British) Open the day the weather beat Tiger Woods, but
that's a story better left for a sports list. I was able to
catch up by reading the archives and then digests for several
days, but the computer I had access to didn't allow me to
send properly formatted messages to the list as I heard from
the list owner when I tried. Hopefully, you will bear with me
as I respond to some of the threads over the next few
days.
My initial reaction when I visited the chain bookstores in
Yorkshire was that they didn't carry much UK crime. You could
find Rankin, Robinson, McDermid, Hill, James, etc. along with
the popular American writers such as James Lee Burke,
Grafton, Connelly, Coben, Lehane, Cornwell, both Parkers, et
al. Also plenty of George Pelecanos. Mark Billingham's Sleepy
Head also received prominent shelf space. Later in the trip
Billingham's latest, Scaredy Cat, was being pushed with
Waterstone's discounting it from 10.99 to 7.99 (all prices in
pounds).
My first surprise came when I visited a Bookends store in the
Yorkshire Outlet Mall. Bookends handles remainders that are
not marked like North American remainders so you can find
first editions in almost new condition. After picking up a
TPBO of Graham Hurley's Turnstone for 1.99, I spotted a table
of books with a sign marked down 50% from the sale price. The
books were No Exit Press PBOs and reprints. I walked away
with the Charles Willeford Omnibus (Cockfighter, Pick-Up and
The Burnt Orange Heresy) for 1.99 along with The Machine in
Ward Eleven and a double of High Priest of California and
Wild Wives each for .99. Also bought Jason Starr's Nothing
Personal and Fake I.D., Fred Willard's PBO of Princess
Naughty and the Voodoo Cadillac and Dark by Kenji Jasper. I
had read good things about the Starrs and the Jasper in Crime
Time.
I couldn't resist Anthony Frewin's Scorpian Rising for .99
when it was billed as 'a seaside noir." More about it and my
other successful forays into finding UK Noir in future
messages.
Kent Morgan back home in Winnipeg
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