Stephen Wade's Blog

Sometimes, as a true crime writer, a case takes hold of you and won't let go. This is the situation with one of the chapters in my book, Murder in Mind. In that, I deal with the Leeds case of Louie Calvert, hanged at Strangeways in 1926 for the murder of her friend and landlady. I still believe that she was not guilty of murder.
This week, the BBC series Murder Mystery and My Family deals with the case. I cannot say anything about the new verdict reached on the programme, but what I can say is that the Calvert case opens up the very heart of crime stories and why they will not leave us alone once we have them in our imaginations.
I suggested the case to the BBC and unfortunately I did not actually appear on screen, but for anyone living or working in central Leeds, have a think next time you walk on the Leeds-Liverpool canal, think about a five-feet tall woman, weighing little more than a box of cornflakes, supposedly carrying a man to the canal after braining him to death. For one thing, the current flows the wrong way in relation to the place where the body was found.
I'll be writing my own book on the case - then maybe I'll open up some new thinking.
Meanwhile, I've just completed a novel based on Louie's life and I'll be asking my agent to find me a publisher.

Right, so I blogged with a certain indulgence yesterday, advertising my activities, to prove I was still alive after a long absence from the Goodreads community.
Well, I've always loved short essays and reflections, and what I've been writing on in magazines lately is material on why we read true crime. My book, Murder in Mind (Scratching Shed) is partly about that, and the book contains a chapter on Louie Calvert, the alleged Leeds murderer, from back in 1926. Her story is to figure on TV soon and I'd like as many writers as possible to watch that and give some kind of response.
Why? Because for three years now I've delved into her story and all that research answers the question about why we love true crime. Simple really - we become a detective. This is unlike crime fiction, where the writer has to invent a detective. Tackling a real-life crime puzzle is, for me, the best writing pleasure - perhaps next to writing a good western (I'll write about that next time)

After far too long a silence, I'm writing a blog! The main reason for this is that I have some teaching coming up, and also -at last - my web site is to be updated.
I'm teaching two courses at the National Association of Writers' Groups conference at the University of Warwick (August 30 - Sept. 1st) and possibly at Swanwick (Oct 4-6) where I have boldly called myself 'The Book Doctor' This shameless piece of spin refers to the fact that I have now taught and spoken about the craft of writing books so often, that it seemed like a neat way to attract any writer whatsoever, and make a course for everyone!
I've also realised that, as my life is so immersed in the world of crime history, that I might as well offer my services as a consultant to crime writers. This will be announced and explained when my web site is in its new and relevant form!
So if anyone does read this, then do spread the word because I'm a writer without a 'brand' in any clear identity! I was meant to be an all-rounder.

My progress in writing true crime has been boosted by my writing partnership with ex-detective, Stuart Gibbon, and this month I'm celebrating the publication of our follow-up book, Being a Detective, which pairs with The Crime Writer's Casebook (both from Straightforward Books).
I also have my new book from Scratching Shed out, Murder in MInd, and I'll be talking about both new books at the Huddersfield Literature Festival on 30 March, when I'm speaking with famous forensic expert, Prof. Angela Gallop.
So it's a perfect time to ask the question: why does our fascination with the genre continue to grow? It's not only the influence of gory television dramas; no, in a secular age, an age of confusion regarding our beliefs, death is the inescapable symbol of our fear of the unknown, and murder lives next door to the Man in Black, who is the unseen anti-hero of every crime drama.

Eventually, after some solid word-spinning, with no idea whether or not what goes on the screen is worth more than a bent sou, I'm taking a moment to plug the Relax and Write course on crime writing I'm teaching at Cirencester April 6 -8. This is at the Royal Agricultural College.
I don't know if other writers think like this, but I find that leading discussions on the craft usually forces me to think again, and I learn more every time I meet other writers.
The Relax and Write courses have a special quality: they are low-key, full of discussion but with time to write as well, and most of all, they tend to be in very welcoming - often rural- locations. I'm sharing the weekend with Kate Walker, who is giving support in a writers' retreat for romance writing.
So it's not too late to book, at the Relax and Write site.
I just know that I'm going to come home with a new writing idea in my head, and it may never work out, but I take comfort from the fact that R L Stevenson had over 300 false starts or rough drafts, discovered after his death.

For anyone interested in crime writing- fact or fiction- I'm crawling out of the office on several occasions this year, encouraged by the promotional efforts of my co-author, Stuart Gibbon, to talk on our book, The Crime Writer's Casebook. (Straightforward Publishing)
We are appearing at Waterstones, Harrogate, on 16 February at 6.30. The format is that Stuart, ex-detective, will speak on such topics as murder investigations and police procedure, and I will be the historian, selecting some intriguing cases from the past. I have to admit that I find the humorous side of crime tales more appealing that the grim and gruesome. The stories of incompetence are wonderful, and one of the most entertaining books every written, Stephen Pile's The Book of Heroic Failures, has always inspired my researches.
So if you can make it, come along and ask questions. We always allow plenty of time for that. Our book is aimed at readers as well as writers, and I think that family historians will also find it useful.

I'm blogging again after a long spell away from Goodreads, sweating over a biography of a great detective. Crime stories never seem to leave my imagination, and now my book written with Stuart Gibbon, ex detective, The Crime Writer's Casebook, is about to have its third printing. We're in demand for talks so I'm dusting off my best schmutter and loosening the voice-box.
We are speaking at Waterstones, York, on February 2 and in their store in Harrogate on the 16 of February.
We seem to have a workable combination: Stuart answers questions on murder investigations, and I sift through my historical casebook to find examples of how crimes were investigated centuries back.
The York event starts at 7 and we're hoping for a full house. Any aspiring crime writers reading this will be able to ask about real sleuthing, forensics, and of course, about horrible murders back in the days of hanging when the reading public hungered for tales of notorious villains. Actually, they still do. Plus ca change...

Now that my book written with Stuart Gibbon -The Crime Writer's Casebook - is almost out, I'm asking myself again, why crime and investigation fiction is so dominant. I was reminded of this line of thought when I came across a writer I have always admired, John B. Keane's books. Years ago I saw his play Big Maggie at the Abbey in Dublin and I saw then just how much we need writing to amuse us. I followed this by reading The Chastitute and laughed aloud. For all my enjoyment of true crime, I have to say that we need humorous writing more than ever. So how about a combination of the two? Surely Leslie Thomas and his 'Dangerous Davies' is the signpost to a solution here? What about Dalziel as well?
Our new handbook will help all kinds of crime writers, but please, please. you aspiring rivals to Dexter and Rankin, put the humour in as well! I guess it relates to our obsession with murder. There are hundreds of other offences, by the way, most suitable for fictional treatment.

I'm writing today to celebrate the publication of my second book on Leeds, my home town, in the world wars. This is Leeds at War 1939-1945, and it includes material on my own family's participation in the war. It's a strange feeling, after writing so much about a more distant past, that I was very nearly a child of that awful war, being born in 1948. British people had endured so much, and in 1947 they had the high and the low side by side, with the royal wedding followed by that horrendous winter.
When I see images on film or photos of my parents' generation in the midst of that Blitz and theatres of war in distant lands, I marvel at their true grit. I suppose there was no choice but to grin and bear it all.
I'd like to use this space to validate and take joy in that growing library of books that, like mine, remind us now of that 'old school' toughness. There are more smiles and songs than moans and whines from them. It was all so close, that I feel its sound and smell even now, from family stories.

In the enjoyable chaos of trying to have my mainline non-fiction books up for discussion, I have forgotten the one book that hit print this year which was actually sheer delight to write, from the first line. This is Rejected- published by the Fortnightly Review after being serialized on their site. This is, I hope, a read to make you smile. Every writer knows the agony of rejection, but incredibly, there is a funny side to this- humour to be found in the necessary stoicism involved.
My book recounts true and imagined scenes of failure from social and literary history, and I include my own weeping and beating of my chest in the throes of being unwanted by publishers.
Rejected covers most periods of literary history, but encompasses my own literary identities, which have ranged from performance poet to hack reviewer and from true crime merchant to genealogist.
I'd love to hear from readers if it does make them smile...