MONTHLY NEWSLETTER
005 – September 2025
Quotes on Excellence:
· "Excellence prospers in the absence of excuses," Lorii Myers.
· "Believe you can and you're halfway there," Theodore Roosevelt.
Books of the month:
PRINCE OF SPIES
Alex Gerlis
AS THE CROW FLIES
Damien Boyd
See reviews below.
Movies / TV Series
MALICE (1993)
Alec Baldwin, Nicole Kidman, Bill Pullman
A complex thriller with twist after twist.
RANDOM HEARTS (1999)
Harrison Ford, Kristin Scott Thomas
Director: Sydney Pollack
Based on a book by Warren Adler this really appeals to me and just gets better with subsequent viewings. Harrison Ford plays a Police Sergeant and Kristin Scott Thomas a politician, who find their respective spouses were having an affair and have been killed in a plane crash. What a great plot idea by Adler.
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I admire writers who achieve their objectives with economy, and strive to do this myself. For any writer of fiction the objectives should be: engaging opening paragraphs, setting the scene, establishing and developing the characters, the locale, the dialogue, delineating the plot, advancing the story with prose and dialogue.
It seems to me that many writers over the last 30 years or so have abandoned some of these basics in favour of longer books that should have been tightened up and they should have focused more on keeping the reader’s interest.
In the 1950s and 1960s I would estimate that 80% of the books were within the following page length: 150, 160, 192 and 220. Adjustments could be made by changing font size, but that was the norm, and we, the readers, benefited. So many times Norma and I will say: “They needed a good editor, they should have cut out 25 – 30% and tightened it up.” Naturally there are always the longer books like GONE WITH THE WIND, RAINTREE COUNTY, THE GODFATHER, SHOGUN, FROM HERE TO ETERNITY and HAWAII, but they were the exceptions.
What do you think – are too many books failing, or not as good, because of dragging on and a mid-point sag?
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REVIEWS:
PRINCE OF SPIES – Richard Prince # 1
Alex Gerlis
Excellent depiction of the spies and the mission in WW 2 Denmark.
If you have not read Alex Gerlis’s spy thriller novels this is your opportunity to correct the oversight. Certainly one of the two or three best living espionage or spy writers, his books are set during World War 2 and depict the horrors thrust upon the Allies and the Free World by Hitler and Germany in exemplary fashion.
PRINCE OF SPIES introduces Richard Prince and with great economy Gerlis lays out the setting and the plot, and sketches in Prince’s character with carefully crafted brush strokes. A mid-thirties Detective Superintendent who tracks down a German spy, Prince is seen by MI6 as the ideal man for a mission to Germany to gather information on the building of the V1 and V2 rockets. He would much prefer to be at home in Lincolnshire apprehending burglars and caring for his three year old son. His anguish over the death of his wife and daughter in a car smash two years before and love for the boy, fleshes out the human side and deftly depicts a man torn between what he wants and his duty to King and Country.
In short order he is on his way to Denmark where he meets his contact, Hanne Jakobsen and an array of well-drawn, tri-dimensional characters; friend, foe and unknown and thrust into one dangerous situation after another. The reader is in the hands of a master as the Germans close in and the suspense is ratcheted up as Prince narrowly escapes, or does not. And all this against the background of a spy’s daily routines and the critical elements of remembering changing identities, nationalities and stories.
No discerning reader could not be impressed with Richard Prince’s first mission and the care taken by spy-master Alex Gerlis.
Rupert Bush does a fine job narrating the story and capturing the numerous characters.
Highly recommended. Happy reading, Eric.
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AS THE CROW FLIES – D I Nick Dixon # 1
Damien Boyd
A Most Satisfying Introduction
To quote from my September Monthly Newsletter: “I admire writers who achieve their objectives with economy, and strive to do this myself.” Damien Boyd does a first class job in achieving this in AS THE CROW FLIES, which is why it is one of my books of the month, and will probably be the best ‘Police Procedural” I read this year. The background of climbing and the locations have that authentic feel. Again and again I thought, “there is no way Damien has not done a lot of climbing - this does not come from Dr. Google”.
I was greatly impressed with how he humanized Nick Dixon, relating to the location, being a diabetic, playing ball with his dog Monty, just a paragraph here or there that carried weight in creating the man and the detective. His dialogue is excellent: we know who is speaking, what they are communicating and what results from the exchange.
The reader is engaged from the beginning. In the Prologue we follow a climber who falls to his death. Chapter 1 introduces us to D I Nick Dixon, recently from The Met, now with the Avon and Somerset Force. He receives a phone call, a Mr. Fayter has rung – his son Jake has been killed in a climbing accident. This sets the scene and shapes the investigation. In time questions arise if it was really an accident. Nick and Jake were climbing partners for 6 years, but haven’t seen each other for some time. Various items start to emerge which keep the attention of both the police and the readers, maybe he wasn’t just the good honest Joe who loved to climb.
The case is resolved in a credible and satisfying manner and I will certainly look for the next D I Nick Dixon case. Highly recommended. Happy reading, Eric.