FFB: Death Watch

Author Cynthia Harrod-Eagles is a British writer born in 1948 in the Shepherd's Bush area of London. While studying English, history and philosophy at the University College of London in 1972, she wrote her first novel which won the UK's Young Writers Award. She toiled away in the business world as her day job, but continued writing on the side which finally paid off in 1979 with what has become her best-selling series about the Morland Dynasty. She's written over 60 novels in three different genres since then.

She turned to crime fiction in 1991 with Orchestrated Death, the first in her series featuring Detective Inspector Bill Slider, which has grown into 17 novels thus far, with the most recent published in 2014. Slider is middle-class, middle-aged and, according to his partner Jim Atherton, menopausal, or as reviewer Bill Ott said, "Slider is a beleaguered Everyman, immersed in the dailiness of life." Atherton, on the other hand, is out of place in the Met because he's a gourmand, fancy dresser and womanizer. The give-and-take between the two men is one of the elements that anchors the series.

On the subject of how she came up with the idea for Slider, the author says

"When I originally embarked on ORCHESTRATED DEATH, the first of the Bill Slider books...I had no thought then of having it published. With no preconceived notions of how to write a detective novel, I started with a corpse; and, in order not to make it too easy, I made it a totally naked corpse in a completely empty flat – a clue-free zone! I didn’t have to invent a detective - Bill Slider walked into my head the first day, complete in every respect. Don’t ask me where he came from: he’s not like anyone I know, at least not consciously; but from the first moment I knew everything about him – how he looked, where he lived, where he’d been to school, what he liked and disliked. So Bill and I started investigating our first case. I had no more idea than he did who the corpse was, let alone who had murdered her or why, so we had to work it out as we went along –  not the recommended method for writing a mystery ..."

But Harrod-Eagles was apparently a quick-study, thanks to a lot of research spending time with police detectives, reading police in-house magazines, doing legal and forensic studies, as well as reading newspaper reports of real crimes. The result has been a series worthy enough that she's been likened to John Harvey and Ian Rankin.

The second book in the series, Death Watch from 1992, follows Slider and Atherton when they respond to an arson at the Master Baker Motor Lodge and that led to the death of a loudmouthed lothario salesman, Dick Neal, who leaves behind a bitter wife and a bevy of mistresses. Despite the fact that the victim had ligature marks around his neck and trusses on his genitals, Slider's superiors are hoping it's just a suicide, due to budget constraints—but then Slider uncovers a possible link between the death and what is happening to the members of the "Red Watch" who manned the Shaftesbury Street Fire Station in the 1970's.

As Slider digs deeper into the case, he at first loathes then envies the dead man his adulterous life, finding parallels between the victim and Slider's own extramarital affair with a concert violinist. When Slider notes the victim "Seems to me to have been a a sad, pathetic creature," it's as much an indictment of his own situation as it is Neal's. But lest one get the impression that Harrod-Eagles' books are more in the noir vein, she also peppers her writing with wit, a bevy of puns and intelligent dialogue, as well as effective pacing and clever plot twists.

For the author's take on her characters and another book in the series, Game Over, check out this Meet the Author video.

Comments

[Richard R.]

Bev, congratulations are in order, so CONGRATULATIONS.

Now then, I think I spotted a typing slip up there: "her series featuring Detective Inspector Bill Slider, which has grown into 12 novels thus far, with the 17th published in 2014" So... 12 so far, but 17 coming?

I love this series, or at least the three I've read. Must get back to it as soon as...

[tracybham]

I have loved this series since I read the first one, B.V. I especially loved the first book. I have read all but about 4 of the books. Thanks for featuring it and all the background information.

Congratulations on the Shamus nomination.

[BV Lawson]

Ha, Richard! Yes, makes it sound like we've gone back in time. Thanks for the catch, which I have fixed, I hope.

[BV Lawson]

Tracy, you're ahead of me in the series' book count! I actually wasn't aware about the latest one until I posted this - glad to hear she's still publishing installments.

[Deb]

I love these books (coincidently, I have the latest--STAR FALL--from the library right now). The mysteries are really rather incidental (I've guessed the solution to a number of them), but Harrod-Eagles's wit, imaginative word play, and excellent character devopment keep me coming back. Over the course of the books, you really do get to know Bill Slider and his team. They grow on you, so you feel for them when their relationships collapse or they move on to other jobs. A great series--and one readers should try to read in chronological order.

[Todd Mason]

Cool...have you checked out her contemporary mimetic novels? I take it the Morland books weigh heavily into historical fiction, her third field?

[BV Lawson]

Thanks for chiming in, Deb, and for noting that reading the books in chronological order is a good idea. It's easier to drop in the middle of some series than others, but some are definitely best when read in sequential order.

[BV Lawson]

I haven't read any of the author's contemporary fiction, Todd - it appears to be mostly in the romance or romantic-suspense genres (which I don't mind) and would be interested in exploring someday.