Reading slumps come and go, or at least they normally have done with me. Tiredness, distraction, busy times, lots of things can get in the road of a consistent and lifelong tendency to read anything and everything at any given opportunity, but in the last few months something really strange has happened in AustCrimeFiction central.
Totally lost interest.
Picked up a few books and discarded them. Went and sat in front of the sewing machine instead, or played an online game, or, something I NEVER EVER do, watched movies.
It's been a bit startling just how long this sense of disengagement has been going on and I'm aware part of it has been because of crazy competing priorities, some personal challenges that have arisen in the last few years, and just the sheer mind boggling difficulties of living in constant drought - it's hard to be entertained when you're flat out bloody knackered.
Thanks to Andrea T and Gordon, the reviews here have been ticking along, and anybody who is currently waiting to hear from us, I'm sorry. Since 2006 we've been churning out the reviews and mentions on a reasonably regular basis. Hopefully this is my first holiday in 14 years.
Listening to the Discworld series on audiobook from the very start has been a privilege though - and I'm loving every minute of that, and because sometimes you just have to go back to your happy place, I'm about to launch back into the Flaxborough Chronicles. If they don't engage my interest then it might be time to plan the funeral celebrations!
Tuesday nights have suddenly turned quite ridiculously noisy in the country town of Chalmsbury, where the good folk are outraged at having their rest disturbed.
It begins with a drinking fountain being blown to smithereens – next the statue of a local worthy loses his head, and the following week a giant glass eye is exploded. Despite the soft-soled sleuthing of cub reporter Len Leaper, the crime spate grows alarming.
Sheer vandalism is bad enough, but when a life is lost the amiable Inspector Purbright, called in from nearby Flaxborough to assist in enquiries, finds he must delve deep into the seamier side of this quiet town’s goings on.
Witty and a little wicked, Colin Watson’s tales offer a mordantly entertaining cast of characters and laugh-out-loud wordplay.