The Arvon Book of Crime and Thriller Writing by Michelle Spring & Laurie R King

This cover nabbed from Blackwell's website as I couldn't find another

This is the second book in the Arvon series of books on writing. Written by two distinguished writers in the field, Michelle Spring and Laurie R. King, the book reveals, with riveting honesty, why and how authors are drawn to write about crime. The book also features fascinating insights from twenty-six top crime-writing guests. The Arvon Book of Crime and Thriller Writing is a detailed, practical guide to writing every kind of crime story, from classic whodunits to fast-paced thrillers. The book's objective is to bring together some of the lessons and insights that the authors and contributors have learned over their careers, to help the readers to free their creative minds, while also studying the solid technique behind writing in this genre. The Arvon Book of Crime Writing captures the essence of Arvon teaching into a practical handbook for writers, packed with tips and advice from leading novelists as well reflections on the genre itself and practical instruction on great storytelling.

The Arvon Foundation runs professional writing courses by published writers and provides expert tuition and creative support.  The Arvon Book of Crime Writing is divided into three sections: 

Part 1 - Essays on critical issues in the genre
Part 2: Guest Writers - 25 contributors offering advice and tips 
Part 3: How To Write Crime

I picked up a copy of TABoCaTW last week from my "local" Waterstones on Oxford Street as it just looked so interesting.  Also - I realise this is a silly thing - it is the perfect size.  Unlike a lot of non-fiction how to books, this is only slightly bigger than a standard sized paperback novel, so it fits easily in my bag to cart about on commute.  I took it back to the office, read some of it in my lunch time, read it on my commute home, read it before bed...read it some more, emailed and fan-girled at Laurie R King (who responded to my fan-girl email *swoons* with good and charming grace) and so I thought I'd review it on MFB as I know a lot of you guys are aspiring writers too.

I love crime and thrillers.  I admire people like SJ Bolton and Val McDermid, George Pelecanos, Tess Gerritsen - the list is long - who continuously write great books with engaging characters and great storylines.  Getting the chance to sit in on one to one snippets of advice from them via this book is one of the bonus features for me.

Here is a breakdown of the contents (I apologise for the not-so-great photos) that will give you an idea of what's contained in this neat package:

Each section feels personalised and the authors speak to their readers in a relaxed way, explaining concepts and offers suggestions on how to best approach certain things when writing scenes / characters.

I knew immediately after finishing Part 1 that I needed to share this with you guys - the book might be about Crime and Thriller Writing but it's foremost about writing and connecting to your audience, about engaging them and making them want to keep on paging through to the end of the book they've spent money on.

Two sections resonated in Part 1 especially - Reflections as well as Ways of Writing.  Ways of Writing dealt with how both Michelle and Laure write - the more organic development writer (otherwise known as the pantser) and the one who plans meticulously and follows the outline.  I think most writers fall in between both of these but it's so interesting seeing the two of them lay out how they write.

The sections on early decisions (POV, series, standalone etc) can easily be transferred to writers who write fantasy, literary fiction, science fiction, children's and YA titles.  Ways of Writing is once again touched on in the Plotting section, taking us deeper into the Organic writers' mind then into the Orderly writer's mind.

Part II - is what it is.  Interesting essays from a variety of well known successful writers about plotting, setting, sub-genres, voice...a great resource which neatly leads on to Part III about getting your story across to the audience.

I say again, this great pocket rocket book may be aimed at Crime and Thriller writers and readers, but it will behoove (check me out, Sarwat and Steve Feasey, I am using the word behoove!) any aspiring writer to get a copy of this as the advice is solid and universal and presented in a far better way than a lot of "how to write" books out there.  It also helps that the book is modern, relying on current authors and advice and publishers for their information and essays - it was published just last week! - and the examples that are referred to are all easily accessed and attainable.

I'm super pleased with my purchase and think a lot of aspiring writers and fans of crime and thriller writers will be too.

Priceless: How I Went Undercover to Rescue the World's Stolen Treasures by Robert K Wittman and John Shiffman

The Wall Street Journal called him “a living legend.” The London Times dubbed him “the most famous art detective in the world.”

In Priceless, Robert K. Wittman, the founder of the FBI’s Art Crime Team, pulls back the curtain on his remarkable career for the first time, offering a real-life international thriller to rival The Thomas Crown Affair.

Rising from humble roots as the son of an antique dealer, Wittman built a twenty-year career that was nothing short of extraordinary. He went undercover, usually unarmed, to catch art thieves, scammers, and black market traders in Paris and Philadelphia, Rio and Santa Fe, Miami and Madrid.

In this page-turning memoir, Wittman fascinates with the stories behind his recoveries of priceless art and antiquities: The golden armor of an ancient Peruvian warrior king. The Rodin sculpture that inspired the Impressionist movement. The headdress Geronimo wore at his final Pow-Wow. The rare Civil War battle flag carried into battle by one of the nation’s first African-American regiments.

The breadth of Wittman’s exploits is unmatched: He traveled the world to rescue paintings by Rockwell and Rembrandt, Pissarro, Monet and Picasso, often working undercover overseas at the whim of foreign governments. Closer to home, he recovered an original copy of the Bill of Rights and cracked the scam that rocked the PBS series Antiques Roadshow.

By the FBI’s accounting, Wittman saved hundreds of millions of dollars worth of art and antiquities. He says the statistic isn’t important. After all, who’s to say what is worth more --a Rembrandt self-portrait or an American flag carried into battle? They're both priceless.

The art thieves and scammers Wittman caught run the gamut from rich to poor, smart to foolish, organized criminals to desperate loners. The smuggler who brought him a looted 6th-century treasure turned out to be a high-ranking diplomat. The appraiser who stole countless heirlooms from war heroes’ descendants was a slick, aristocratic con man. The museum janitor who made off with locks of George Washington's hair just wanted to make a few extra bucks, figuring no one would miss what he’d filched.

In his final case, Wittman called on every bit of knowledge and experience in his arsenal to take on his greatest challenge: working undercover to track the vicious criminals behind what might be the most audacious art theft of all.

After reading The Infiltrators which I loved, I thought I'd give another of my languishing non-fiction book titles a read.  I chose Priceless as I genuinely enjoy heist movies and heist books.  I wanted to see what a real life/live detective did to capture these "gentleman" thieves as they are often portrayed in the movies like The Thomas Crown Affair / After the Sunset etc.

I was not disappointed.  Working together as a team, Wittman and Shiffman's narrative flows easily - it never gets bogged down with too much extraneous information and we very quickly come to realise that there is no flash, no show, about Wittman.  We meet Wittman as he's on his way to meet some villains.  He's in the back of the car, an FBI agent, deep under cover and there is this sense of malice and you wonder: is this guy gonna make it out of this alive? 

Witmann tells us where he grew up, some information about his parents, other things he did before joining up with the FBI and how he came to be part of the "Art Crime Squad".   Not everything goes smoothly and Witmann has some awful things happen to him and his family in this time.  But reading Priceless you get a real sense of Witmann's character and that of his wife.  They form a strong team and I think a lot of that really helped me connect to Witmann and so I wanted him to succeed.

We are taken along for several cases, both standard FBI jobs and the more "glamorous" art theft cases.  Whitmann makes this really interesting statement at one stage - and I know I was guilty of this thought too - that because of Hollywood we always assume that thieves steal items on demand for fabulously rich collectors or for themselves.  This is of course not the case.  Most thieves are dirty nasty scoundrels and their customers are no better.  I felt my "world view" slightly dented but I read on because the sheer determination, nose to the grindstone hard work that went in to each case as it unfolds is just remarkable.  But then, so was blind luck. 

Some way into the book there are photos of various items Wittman managed to save.  There are also photos of him and his family and some villains whom he has met.  They vary widely from nasty pieces of work to slightly clueless people who suspected they were passing on something stolen but weren't quite sure. The photos look impressive, until you read the book and discover the amount of hard work and various shenanigans it took to get these items back to their rightful owners and you realise what an amazing job had been done.

I found it fascinating how he described some procedures and how low priority art theft cases are in the bigger scheme of things when there are terrorists threatening violence.  Also, what struck me is how the majority of the book deals with art theft in the USA and how it had a very low profile, it was practically non-existent, until Wittman proved to his superiors that it should be looked at on an equal footing as other more severe criminal cases.  It is an interesting book, full of great information but also, stories well told from the "other side" of the heist spectrum. 

Like The Infiltrators, I would highly recommend this non-fiction book as something to dip into to reassert reality because things really aren't like they are in the movies or in fictional books.  It is a great informative read and one that is definitely a keeper and a recommender-onner to others for the sheer differentness of the subject.

The Lost City of Z: A Legendary British Explorer's Deadly Quest to Uncover the Secrets of the Amazon' by David Grann

Synopsis

Colonel Percy Harrison Fawcett was the last of a breed of great British explorers who ventured into 'blank spots' on the map with little more than a machete, a compass and unwavering sense of purpose. In 1925, one of the few remaining blank spots in the world was in the Amazon. Fawcett believed the impenetrable jungle held a secret to a large, complex civilization like El Dorado, which he christened the 'City of Z'. When he and his son set out to find it, hoping to make one of the most important archeological discoveries in history, they warned that none should follow them in the event that they did not return. They vanished without a trace. For the next eighty years, hordes of explorers -- shocked that a man many deemed invincible could disappear in a land he knew better than anyone, and drawn by the centuries-old myth of El Dorado -- searched for the expedition and the city. Many died from starvation, disease, attacks by wild animals, and poisonous arrows. Others simply vanished.

In The Lost City of Z, David Grann ventures into the hazardous wild world of the Amazon to retrace the footsteps of the great Colonel Fawcett and his followers, in a bracing attempt to solve one of the greatest mysteries. It is an irresistibly readable adventure story, a subtle examination of the strange and often violent encounters between Europeans and Amazonian tribes and a tale of lethal obsession.

I grew up with Indiana Jones – I wanted nothing more than to be an explorer and an archaeologist or an anthropologist, discovering ancient lost things and mysteries, finding lost tribes and learning about them. In fact, I dug up our backyard for years keen to find a lost treasure. I went so far as to bury some of my toys and then a week later I would dig around to “rediscover” them. My parents despaired. I lost a lot of toys. In fact, I still mourn my box of smurfs I hid on a beach in Durban all those years ago! Upon our return a year later the entire beach had been landscaped and my smurfs were gone!

When I received Lost City of Z from S&S I was initially not that keen to read it – I thought, bah humbug, search for El Dorado, done, done, done – it cannot be anything new. But then I read the blurbs, did some googling on the main character of Fawcett and fell under the sway.

Lost City of Z is the story of writer David Grann (who presents himself in a very humourous, non-heroic fashion to the readers) in pursuit of the legend that is Percy Fawcett who in turn was a British explorer at the turn of the 19th century.

Fawcett’s obsession was the Lost City of Z (a term he coined) – we know it as El Dorado - was all consuming. He became paranoid, keeping his diaries and the place he thought it would be, hidden from everyone, even his family. In the early 1900’s Fawcett walked into the jungles of America and off any known map. He disappeared without a trace. There were clues though – several in fact, about the route he took. Initially the world waited with bated breath – here was a true adventurer – stoic, heroic, stubborn and almost superhuman when it came to endurance.

Before setting off on his last journey, Fawcett mapped several remote areas on South America and came home victorious – if a lot thinner with a reputation. As much as he appeared in public as an amazing explorer and wayfinder and mapmaker, he was also an intensely personal man, which I think, helped keep his legend alive.

David Grann’s description of his journey and who he is, is an honest one – he states: “Let me be clear, I am not an explorer or an adventurer. I don’t climb mountains or hunt. I don’t even like to camp. I stand less than five feet nine inches tall and am nearly 40 years old, with a blossoming waistline and thinning hair.” More honest than that, you do not get.

We follow David on his hunt, as he tracks down the real Fawcett. What I thoroughly enjoyed in this book, is how he got into Fawcett’s mind. Yes, there is conjecture, but it is all based on common sense and supported by factual letters and other papers held by various people (including papers held by Fawcett’s remaining family members).

The resulting and incredible research, the dedication to detail, the conversational tone of the book and the author’s own adventures make for gripping reading. The author touches on what can only be called mythic anthropology during his journey – conjecturing on the fates of forgotten explorers who in turn went searching for Fawcett and El Dorado / City of Z and hoping to find those elusive the lost shadowy tribes of this dense jungle.

As important as Fawcett and his expedition is to Mr. Grann’s story, what looms and overshadows and takes centre stage is the amazing jungle which seems to swallow everything before it. We read about other badly managed expeditions into the jungle where one or two survivors managed to make it out – close to death, with horror stories of being eaten alive by insects as they were traversing this dark and dangerous place. So much happened back in the early 1900’s – it was the time of the amateur adventurer, the gentleman soldier – and Grann serves to cut through the gloss down to the bone of the matter, stripping the veneer of Victoriana away, revealing the hardships and horrors these men had to endure, during the race to map and explore the furtherest reaches of our known world.

The book is a hugely entertaining read – shocking, illuminating and beautifully written. No wonder it’s being turned into a movie (starring Brad Pitt). I kid you not. Read it now, before everyone else does – read it because this is what adventure writing is really about.

David Grann’s journey into the jungle and his search to find Fawcett is plainly said one of the best reads I’ve had this year when it comes to non-fiction or rather non-fictional writing. Non-fiction has the bad rap for being dry and boring and dull and only good to buy for parents or friends you don’t like. I think David Grann manages to pluck that image out of our heads and trample it in this instance.

It is the perfect summer read and one that will make you look at books written during this time by Rudyard Kipling, Arthur Conan Doyle, Robert Louis Stevenson, Jules Verne, Lord Dunsany and a host of others with fresh eyes. They lived in a time when people like Fawcett became legends to content with – real men of discovery who made fictional stories appear pale by comparison.

Find David Grann’s site here. The Lost City of Z can be found here at Simon and Schuster, his UK publisher’s site or in any good bookstores. David's also written a very interesting and in depth article for the Telegraph which can be found here. And I am happy to report that Lost City of Z has been nominated for the long list and chosen for the shortlist for the Samuel Johnson Prize with the winner being announced on 30th June 2009. Hold thumbs - Lost City of Z must win!