Welcome author Charlie Cochrane

Do you have a favourite book? I have many, in all sorts of genres. “The Charioteer”, “Death at the President’s Lodging”,  “Three Men in a Boat”; the list goes on and on. Some of these books are a bit of a guilty pleasure, not least because I can see their flaws.

I’m a huge fan of classic age mystery writers; Dorothy, Agatha, Michael, Ngaio and the rest, but they have their feet of clay. Sayers could sometimes overcomplicate plots to the point of obscurity (which reader could really have worked out the sequence of events in Five Red Herrings?) and seems increasingly in love with her detective, Lord Peter Wimsey.  All of these authors shared a falling of their powers in later life – the last few Appleby mysteries are a pale shadow of the early ones – and, of course, all were products of their time, so modern readers might fund things which jar, such as anti-semitic references or the treatment of gay characters as simply humorous.

Some of these authors reused plot ideas and devices. The classic story of the murderer assuming someone else’s identity, sometimes to benefit from inheritance, occurs again and again with Christie (as do other tried and tested story arcs). Marsh also showed an economy of plot, using the same method of murder in a short story and again in a full novel. Her “Death and the Dancing Footman” falls into the category of “familiar plot” – the twist is the sort that  an avid reader of the genre would soon spot  -  but that doesn’t make it any less of a delightful comfort read. A sort of literary equivalent of mulled wine in front of a roaring fire.

The book has several of the staple elements of the archetypal classic age mystery: a country house, a house party cut off by snow, family rivalries, a sealed room death, an outsider who acts as ‘chorus’ and a witty, urbane and aristocratic sleuth, Roderick Alleyn. How I love “Handsome Alleyn” – I wonder if Ngaio loved him, too, like Sayers loved Wimsey. He seems just a bit too perfect at times. The characterisation is good, most of the characters are neither too goody-two-shoes or too unsavoury, and the eponymous footman is both sweet and key to the plot. When you read this book, take particular notice of him and his testimony (if you haven’t already worked out the killer).

Biog: Because Charlie Cochrane couldn't be trusted to do any of her jobs of choice—like managing a rugby team—she writes. Her mystery novels include the Edwardian era Cambridge Fellows series, series, and the contemporary Best Corpse for the Job. Multi-published, she has titles with Carina, Samhain, Riptide and Bold Strokes, among others.

A member of the Romantic Novelists’ Association, Mystery People and International Thriller Writers Inc, Charlie regularly appears at literary festivals and at reader and author conferences with The Deadly Dames.

Links:

Website: http://www.charliecochrane.co.uk

 Blog http://charliecochrane.livejournal.com/ and https://charliecochrane.wordpress.com/

FB: https://www.facebook.com/charlie.cochrane.18

Twitter: https://twitter.com/charliecochrane

GR: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/2727135.Charlie_Cochrane

Latest release:

Lessons in Love audio version

Lessons in Love, the first in the Cambridge Fellows series of Edwardian m/m romantic mysteries (think Oscar Wilde meets Agatha Christie!)

http://www.amazon.com/Lessons-Love-Cambridge-Fellows-Mysteries/dp/B01AO7LT76/

http://www.audible.co.uk/pd/ Fiction/Lessons-in-Love-Audiobook/B01AO79SE2/