Books overflow throughout the house. The challenge of finding space for them all intensified as I tracked down old novels while researching The Golden Age of Murder. A loft conversion was my first solution, and six months ago I had a fresh set of shelves put up in the cellar. Not quite sure where to go next…This particular bookcase is in the dining room, in case I feel hungry for some reading matter. The Folio Society set of Raymond Chandler novels arrived when I wrote about Chandler’s literary style for Folio magazine.
What kind of books will definitely not be found in your bookcase?
Anything to do with DIY, although it would be useful to have the ability to build my own bookshelves.
Can books change lives? If so, which one changed yours?
Yes. Shortly before my ninth birthday, I read The Murder at the Vicarage, and thought to myself that one day I’d like to write a mystery that entertained others as much as Christie entertained me.
What’s the book you’d choose as your Desert Island read?
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller. It’s still a marvellous, and relevant, book.
What author have you discovered and loved recently?
I’d been meaning to read Mick Herron for ages, and finally got round to reading his latest, Nobody Walks. A gripping thriller.
What are you reading now?
Dark Entries by Robert Aickman. He was a wonderful writer of strange stories.
What are your top ten books?
A tough question to answer; how can I limit myself to just ten favourites? But for today, at least, in alphabetical order by author, these come to mind:
- Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
- And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie
- The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle
- Bleak House by Charles Dickens
- The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
- Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
- Malice Aforethought by Francis Iles
- A Judgment in Stone by Ruth Rendell
- Bloody Murder by Julian Symons
- Ukridge by P.G. Wodehouse
What’s your most treasured book on your bookcase?
Again, how to choose? In terms of scarcity, perhaps a book from the Thirties, the Detection Club’s Six against the Yard, signed by all the contributors, including one of my favourite writers, Anthony Berkeley, aka Francis Iles.
Martin Edwards is the author of six Lake District Mysteries, most recently The Frozen Shroud, and a new history of classic crime fiction, The Golden Age of Murder.