How do we begin our life as a writer? For Michael Connelly, it was the work of Raymond Chandler; it fired the forge from which Harry Bosch was drawn. For Sara Peretsky, it was about proving that women writers’ plots and prose could be as muscular as the likes of Hammett and Spillane.
For Christopher Fowler, it was trying his hand at a genre that he adored. He loved the writing as much as the reading. From his trial shot of a single book to a lifetime of creation, Fowler secured his place in the body of crime fiction works.
Christopher Fowler, author of Britain’s Bryant & May series of detective novels, has died at the age of 69. He fought the good fight after having been diagnosed with cancer three years ago.
Christopher was best known for his Bryant & May thrillers, featuring veteran detectives solving unusual crimes in London from the second world war to the present day. The series kicked off with Full Dark House in 2003, and 17 more novels followed, most recently London Bridge Is Falling Down, published in 2021.
Christopher was the winner of the Edge Hill Prize, (for excellence in a published single authored short story collection), the Last Laugh prize (for best humorous crime novel first published in the United Kingdom), the inaugural Green Carnation Award (award for best fiction and memoirs by gay men), the E-Dunnit Award (best crime fiction ebook first published in both hardcopy and in electronic format in the British Isles) and the CWA 2015 Dagger In The Library (for a body of work by an established writer of crime fiction or non-fiction who has long been popular with borrowers from libraries). His crime fiction was superior and quality intensified as he aged.
Christopher Fowler wrote until he could not, sharing: “It’s very hard to write now without falling asleep or forgetting what I was going to say. All fun things have to come to an end. I love you all. Except for that horrible old troll – are there any other kind? There, now you have a smidgen of extra time on your hands, go have fun … and read a book.”
And now is a good time for you to discover Fowler’s works, if you aren’t familiar (I get no remuneration when you click a link and purchase). What you will get though is a thrilling chase through unusual crimes in unusual times. The usual buddy cops motif is turned upside down with gay detective partners who work in – wait for it – the Peculiar Crimes Unit. Fowler’s series is fun. Go to Amazon and find yourself in London, in the 40’s, in the life. You will sit up all night. You will not be able to put his books down.
Let me know what you think – good or bad! valeriewebster@valeriewebster.com
