COVER NOTE

Publishers at present seem to be so busy trying to find blockbusters that they are neglecting the sort of writer whose every offering solidly sells a useful few thousand copies. Similarly, they are neglecting a large portion of the reading public, namely the retired.

We are the generation who grew up with books, still read and now have time to read and the money to buy books. Young people like novels of violence and sex because modern life is very sheltered. Older people have been there, seen that, didn’t like that. We have lived through wars, been in danger, lost friends or members of our family, know all about “mean streets”. We don’t want to read about them.

What we want and are not getting is gentle, intelligent escapism. In the area of fiction this means light comedy, romance (if not too sickly), historical novels (if accurate – our generation learnt history) and traditional whodunnits – not “crime”, with masses of blood, guts, psychology and car chases, but a good entertaining puzzle elegantly and entertainingly presented.

The drive behind my writing is that I am tired of re-reading books written 50 and sometimes 70 years ago because very few carefully crafted whodunnits are now being published. Even those which do still appear are coming from authors who already have a decent backlist. Some of what is being published by new authors is, frankly, stodgy. Anything else is now coming from abroad. It is entertaining to read (in translation) about detectives in Sicily, Russia, Spain, Sweden etc but England used to be the master producer in this genre.

I am trying to sell a well-written historical detective series based on a known eighteenth century situation. The response I am getting from publishers is good but “they are not doing mid-list”. Two books of the series are ready for publishing. The third is plotted but not yet written.

My background in that I am primarily a mathematician but strangely have spent my whole life writing. A senior central government civil servant (now retired), I have penned more guidance manuals, “Advice on Good Practice”, publicity leaflets and Ministerial speeches than I care to think about. Many of my offerings were (deliberately) not copyrighted and are now standard manuals produced by mainstream publishers. My professional knowledge covers, among other things, elections, the police force, mental illness and international negotiation. My private knowledge includes the far more stressful business of raising two children!

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