The awesome MythRider has nominated CTG for the One Lovely Blog Award. As a recipient of the award themselves, read their wonderful acceptance blog here …
I’ve been nominated for the One Lovely Blog Award, first by Rhys Ethan then by Dana Zalesky. Thank you.
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Today I’ve been moonlighting over on the Nomad Novelist Writers Group blog. Instead of my usual crime fiction, I’ve been finding out all about the awesome Space Captain Smith series and author Toby Frost …
To our blog this week, I’m delighted to welcome Toby Frost, the comic mastermind behind the fabulous Space Captain Smith series.
So Toby, how did you first get the idea for the Space Captain Smith series?
It came from an email conversation with a friend of mine who was reading H.G. Wells at the time. I remember thinking that it would be entertaining to have Victorians landing on other planets and demanding gin and tea from the bemused inhabitants, and it all came from there. I already had a vague idea for Suruk the Slayer, and Polly Carveth was a good foil for both him and Smith. The other creatures of the Smith world seem to write themselves. Shortly afterwards, during a holiday in Cornwall, I awoke from a cider-fuelled dream muttering about constructing “the moon-ship”. After that, I just had to write the thing.
What does an average writing…
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A real page-turner of a mystery
In July 1953 Violet Sullivan, a local good-time girl living in Serena Station, California, drives off in her brand new Chevy, leaving behind her husband and young daughter, Daisy. Violet is never seen again.
Thirty-five years later, Daisy wants closure.
Reluctant to open such an old, cold case, Kinsey Millhone agrees to spend five days investigating, believing at first that Violet simply moved on to pastures new. But a lot of people shared a past with Violet, one that some are still desperate to keep hidden. And in a town as close-knit as Serena there aren’t many places to hide when things turn vicious …
S is for Silence is the nineteenth novel in Sue Grafton’s “alphabet” series, featuring her female PI, Kinsey Millhone. The story is told from two points in time: 1953, when Violet goes missing, and 1987 when Kinsey picks up the investigation.
Grafton uses the two time points to great effect – showing the reader what life was like for Violet before her disappearance, the community she lived in, and the things that where troubling her. She shows Violet through the eyes of different characters, and we see not only the ‘good-time’ aspects of Violet’s life, but also how the web of relationships she’d become entangled in could provide a motive for several people to wish her gone.
With the interconnected 1987 story, the reader is able to see how the years have changed (or not) the characters from 1953, and as the story progresses it becomes clear that several characters aren’t as honest and truthful as they’d like Kinsey to believe. For me, this ‘insider knowledge’ added to the feeling of suspense.
The story moves at a quick pace and I found myself compelled to keep on reading. The element of mystery, of not knowing if Violet (and her little dog) had run away, or if something more sinister had occurred, was key to this. As a reader, I wanted to figure out the puzzle along with Kinsey. And if something bad had happened to Violet, I wanted to work out who had done it and how.
I found Kinsey Millhone is a sassy, dynamic character. Riding shotgun as she worked the case, and watching her dealing with the situations and people she encounters with her practical, non-nonsense approach, was fun.
This book is not as noir as I would usually read. But that said, it’s an interesting and cleverly told story that kept me interested and turning the pages right to the end.
Recommended.
Steph Broadribb 