Work for Idle Hands: Books in June

Sunday June 30, 2013

The Sacred Stone by the Medieval Murderers [read by James Saxon]
Another collection of short stories by the Medieval Murderers who are authors (and performers); you can read more about them here.
I do like the idea of a themed collection of stories - this theme concerns the fate of a fragment of an asteroid ( or some such..) with holy powers attributed to it by its owners through the ages - and I enjoyed this set more than House of Shadows; I did like some of the stories more than others but I'm not prepared to say which ones! They might be used as a guide to the quality of an author's solo works - but I am not sure because short story writing is an art in itself and not necessarily a good indicator of all writing in different forms.
- Prologue: Greenland, 1067: by Susanna Gregory
  In which the stone is discovered by a band of hunters
- Act 1: Welsh Border, 1103: by Simon Beaufort
  In which the stone causes a rift between Church and State
- Act 2: North Devon, 1236: by Bernard Knight
  In which the stone is invoked to heal a manor lord's sick wife
- Act 3: Norwich, 1241: by Karen Maitland
  In which the stone is acquired by a Jewish merchant
- Act 4: Oxford, 1272: by Ian Morson
  In which the stone finds its way to King Henry's bedchamber
- Act 5: London & Jersey, 1606: by Philip Gooden
  In which the stone plays a part in the kidnap of Nick Revill
- Epilogue: Present Day
  In which the stone resurfaces

The Voice of the Violin and Rounding the Mark by Andrea Camilleri
[translated by Stephen Sartarelli and read by Daniel Philpott]
I've been listening to these in the car - and how wonderful they are. Daniel Philpott is a great reader - and somehow manages to get plausible accents and jokes even spoken in English (with credit also due to the translator of course).
I have seen the TV adaptations and can't really find that they left much out (from memory). However, when I watched the TV version of the Terracotta Dog I found a lot seemed to be missing - and I found a web review where the reader said a later novel was not a patch on the previous one (Terracotta Dog) - and I am thinking that these later novels are perhaps getting a little slimmer - and thus are more suited - or perfect - for adaptations. Add to that, throughout his career Camilleri has studied and worked as a director and screenwriter, so clearly has an excellent eye for visual and dramatic interpretations.

The Teahouse Detective - The de Genneville Peerage by Baroness Orczy [Radio Play]
A BBC Radio 4 series adapted from a series of short stories written by Baroness Orczy between 1901 and 1925.
The original book called The Old Man In the Corner is about an unnamed armchair detective who examines and solves crimes while sitting in the corner of a genteel London tea-room in conversation with a female journalist ("Polly").
8 stories were adapted and broadcast in 1998 and 2000 featuring Bernard Hepton as the eponymous hero - I managed to catch only one of them (recently rebroadcast on BBC Radio 4 Extra) thanks to the vagueries of BBC iPlayer.

The Serpent's Back by Ian Rankin [Radio Play]
This appears as a short story in Beggars Banquet but this version is a radio play written by Rankin and broadcast first in 1995. It's a black comedy set in 18th-century Edinburgh.
"Mr Cullender, a resourceful caddie and manservant, searches for a double murderer in the seething Old Town of Edinburgh."
Directed in Edinburgh by Patrick Rayner with Alexander Morton, Richard Greenwood, Norman Maclean, Paul Young, Kern Falconer, Wendy Seager, Tom Smith, Liam Brennan, Michael Elder, Simon Scott, Sheila Donald and Steven McNicoll.
Sadly I missed the second play with the same character: The Third Gentleman.

Thorndyke, Forensic Investigator by R Austin Freeman
[adapted for Radio 4 Extra and read by Jim Norton] ]
Dr John Evelyn Thorndyke (pretty clearly) bears direct comparison with Sherlock Holmes - given the dates, 1907-1942, and his methods - and though he is focussing on physical evidence, in truth, Holmes is much the same ("give me data"). In addition, Thorndyke is described as tall, athletic, handsome, and clever, yet unmarried, and his friend and foil, Christopher Jervis, acts as narrator.
The 9 adaptations are 15 minutes each and seemed a little stark or lacking in warmth when compared with Doyle's stories. It is possible that the style of the full novels may lend themselves better to a more rounded and less brusque manner of dealing with a plot.

Posted by Christina at 1:23 PM. Category: Books of the Month