#john creasey

[misforgotten2]

A book you very likely don’t have on your shelf #743

1968

[everythingsecondhand]

Hang The Little Man, by John Creasay (Hodder, 1966).

From a charity shop in Nottingham.

[zippocreed501]

Facts about Author Extraordinaire John Creasey:

He wrote over 600 novels

He used 28 pseudonyms

He claimed to be able to write a novel in ten days

He wrote his first drafts in longhand

[lemonadeandlanguages]

Oh also, if anyone's ever curious about what I'm talking about (lol), most of the books in the Baron series are available on the Internet Archive! If you like stories about jewel thieves that eventually reform and become a sort of private detective that alternates between evading and helping the police, you should check them out :)

[basicallyanotherwitchesthing]

John Creasey (writing as Michael Halliday) - Murder in the Stars - Hodder - 1968

[famousdeaths]

John Creasey was an English author known mostly for detective and crime novels but who also wrote science fiction, romance and westerns. He wrote more than six...

Link: John Creasey

[themidcenturyscene]

Cândido Costa Pinto, John Creasey, A Knife for the Toff, 1940s

Cover by Portuguese artist Cândido Costa Pinto.

[sporcafaccenda]

Art: Karel Thole

pour une réédition de "A Doll for the Toff" par John Creasey. Une aventure du "Prince" restée inédite en français, à notre connaissance.

En ouvrant son courrier, "The Toff "/ Le Prince (l'honorable Richard Rollinson) découvre une poupée magnifiquement travaillée représentant une femme nue - avec un poignard plongé dans sa poitrine…Et Rollinson se trouve plongé dans le monde bizarre de l'Obeah et devra affronter un dangereux mystère occulte …

#KarelThole

[a-man-for-hire-and-his-archives]

Scrublands: Award-winning ‘ripping page-turner’ becomes the latest crime thriller shot in Victoria

The adaptation of the novel Scrublands into a crime series is the second Stan original after Bali 2002. Photo: Stan

Ever since award-winning Australian crime writer Chris Hammer published his 2018 thriller Scrublands, television networks and production studios worked furiously to get their hands on the rights to bring the story to life.

Canberra-based Hammer, a former political journalist with just two non-fiction books under his belt, couldn’t believe it when he landed a book deal with Allen & Unwin to publish his debut fiction novel.

Shortly after, he sold the international and TV rights.

“I was laughing and crying, it was just unbelievable,” he told The Guardian at the time.

Fast forward to 2023, and Scrublands – an Easy Tiger production co-commissioned by Australian streamer Stan and the Nine Network, in association with VicScreen – is now filming across Victoria.

Easy Tiger founder Ian Collie and its chief executive Rob Gibson issued a joint statement, saying: “From the moment we opened Chris Hammer’s ripping page-turner, we knew Scrublands was destined to be a must-watch crime series”.

“[It] will be an unmissable TV event for rusted-on Chris Hammer fans and everyone else alike.”

Hammer, too, can’t wait to see it, telling his 2000 Instagram followers he’s thrilled with the cast, the director and just about anyone involved in the series.

“Can’t wait,” he wrote on Tuesday.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Chris Hammer (@thehammernow)

What’s it about?

Scrublands was an instant bestseller in 2018, topping the Australian fiction charts and shortlisted for Best Debut Fiction at the Indie Book Awards.

It was also shortlisted for Best General Fiction at the Australian Book Industry Awards and won the UK Crime Writers’ Association John Creasey Debut Dagger Award.

The story is set against the backdrop of the New South Wales Riverina, in an isolated country town called Riversend, where a charismatic and dedicated young priest (Jay Ryan) calmly opens fire on his congregation, killing five parishioners.

One year later, Hammer’s main character, investigative journalist Martin Scarsden (Luke Arnold) arrives in town to write what should be a simple feature story on the anniversary of the tragedy.

“But when Martin’s instincts kick in and he digs beneath the surface, the previously accepted narrative begins to fall apart and he finds himself in a life-and-death race to uncover the truth,” according to the Stan synopsis.

Turns out there’s a love triangle, fraud, organised crime and cover-ups, all sub-plots worthy of a series.

Prepare to be ‘dazzled’

Although we’re yet to discover how the novel has been adapted to the television series by scriptwriters Felicity Packard (lead writer, and she’s penned Ep 1), Kelsey Munro and Jock Serong, one book reviewer said it was a first-rate crime mystery who was “dazzled” by Hammer throughout the book.

“There is a sense of imminence to Scrublands, particularly in its recognition of drought and the plight of small towns,” Amanda Barrett wrote.

“This one sure bowled me over right from the hooking premise and opening sequence.

“Scrublands will floor you.

Although it’s a work of fiction, she said “there is so much truth to Hammer’s writing and his depiction of the events that take place in Riversend”.

“This is a fastidious novel that works to build a complete picture of what is happening across many country towns, across all states and territories in Australia.

“Riversend is simply a euphemism for so many rural locales in Australia that are grappling with the impact of drought, a decline in services and a rise in crime.”

As a result, she said, the book came across as an authentic tale, tapping into issues that strike at the heart of rural townships.

Hard work starts for the cast at the table readings. Photo: Stan

Table readings of the adaptation with the lead cast of Arnold (Black Sails, Never Tear Us Apart: The Untold Story of INXS), Bella Heathcote (C*A*U*G*H*T, Relic, Pieces of Her) and Jay Ryan (It: Chapter Two, Top of the Lake) have been completed as cast hit the road to various locations across the state.

Nine’s director of television Michael Healy says “joining forces with the teams at Stan and Easy Tiger on Scrublands has realised an ambition we have had since Chris Hammer’s novel was published in 2018″.

He says they’re confident it will turn into must-watch television, suitable for a global audience.

VicScreen boss Caroline Pitcher reveals more than 500 Victorians will be employed throughout the series, “adding to the state’s pipeline of local productions”.

Scrublands is the second co-commissioned production between Nine and Stan following Bali 2002.

Source: The New Daily

[misforgotten2]

A book you very likely don’t have on your shelf #747

1968

[markhodderauthor]

I have completed for #SPYtember (a month spent reading espionage fiction): DR. PALFREY 1 - TRAITOR'S DOOM by John Creasey (1942). Once one of the UK's most prolific authors, John Creasey (1908-1973) was responsible for many police and adventure series, including THE TOFF, THE BARON and GIDEON OF SCOTLAND YARD. Dr. Palfrey was a slightly lesser known of his many creations, an unassuming spy who, over the course of 34 novels, rises through the ranks of a multinational espionage organisation until, ultimately, he becomes its director. As the series progresses, the stories become more outlandish, often featuring huge ecological disasters with an SF flavour. This first novel, however, is a much more low key affair, and recounts how Palfrey joins with a team of agents to prevent a revolution in a tiny independent country north of Portugal (surely unconvincing even in 1942). It is dated, as you might expect, and the writing is at best pedestrian. While the characters are reasonably interesting, the story is not, and I found the second half of the book hard going. The plot is all over the place, slapdash and disappointing, plainly hammered out in a hurry. However, knowing how the series develops, I'll may persevere with it or perhaps leap ahead to one of the later volumes.

[zippocreed501]

AUTHOR EXTRAORDINAIRE

'Sometimes I fail in what I'm trying to do--perhaps it's more than I can cope with. I've no idea ahead of time of what will develop; the plot and any other ideas all happen simultaneously in the . . . if you'll forgive the pompous phrase . . . in the "act of creation", as it were . . . None of it is easy.'

'How many words a day do I write? Between six and seven thousand. And how many hours does that take? Three on a good day, as high as thirteen on a bad one.'

'Occasionally I find that a new plot is becoming a little vague because I am concentrating on too many at once.'

Author Extraordinaire John Creasey

[lemonadeandlanguages]

AAAAAAAA after months of fruitless searching I finally found a physical copy of a book from the Baron series!!!!!

[basicallyanotherwitchesthing]

John Creasey - The Mists of Fear - Four Square - 1967

[mariocki]

Gideon's Way: The 'V' Men (1.2, ITC, 1965)

"Any theories?"

"Oh, Vane has a lot of enemies."

"Social and political. Is he blaming the police for this?"

"He considers his protection... inadequate."

"It was, as things turned out."

[ontariocoldcasesthepodcast]

Shadows Over Toronto

https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-f4naj-17527d5 Shadows Over Toronto Hello, I’m Jay Nicoll of Nicoll Investigations and this is an Ontario Cold Cases – Canada’s True Crime Podcast fictional episode of Whodunnit Wednesday’s. Go back to the Golden Era of detective fiction and enjoy stories in the tradition of the greats of writing. From Agatha Christie to Raymond Chandler to John Creasey,…