Howdunit by Martin Edwards

The following is courtesy of the CRA (The Crime Readers’ Association) newsletter:

Howdunit, just published by Collins Crime Club, is much more than a book about the craft of mystery writing by many of the world’s best crime novelists. It gives a unique variety of insights into the nature of the crime-writing life. Those insights will, I hope, fascinate everyone who loves a good mystery. For readers, the book gives a deeper understanding of the range and subtleties of the genre – and the way your favourite authors go about writing the stories you love. For people interested in writing, there are innumerable practical tips on everything from pleasing an editor to the pros and cons of self-publishing a novel.

Whatever type of crime fiction you enjoy, you’ll find plenty in Howdunit to entertain and surprise you. The contributors range from John Le Carré and Alexander McCall Smith to Val McDermid and Sophie Hannah – authors who have achieved so much, now joining together to share their expertise and experience. Their words of wisdom will be a source of positive encouragement and inspiration for people who want to write on days (and we all have them) when things aren’t going well. There’s plenty of technical know-how here, and the subjects discussed also include writer’s block (and techniques for surmounting it), improvisation, and motivation.

So – whodunit? Well, the book is edited by me and contains linked essays written by no fewer than ninety (yes, it’s a very big book!) members of the Detection Club, past and present. Howdunit celebrates the club’s ninety years of existence and is dedicated to Len Deighton, a hugely distinguished writer, who has been a member for fifty years. The club has a wonderful history but remains a small social body, not a professional and well-resourced representative body like the much larger CWA. There are, however, many connections between the two organisations. Among the ninety contributors to Howdunit are twenty former Chairs of the CWA and countless winners of Diamond, Gold, and other Daggers.

So, for instance, Ian Rankin explains ‘Why Crime Fiction is Good For You’, while Andrew Taylor discusses plotting in ‘How to Change Your Murderer’. Ann Cleeves talks fascinatingly about ‘Human Geography’, Robert Goddard about ‘Suspense’, Antonia Hodgson investigates ‘What Editors Want’, and Elly Griffiths explores ‘Social Media and the Death of Nancy’.

Most contributions were written specially for this volume, but we can also learn from writers of the past. So there are pieces by such legendary writers as Agatha Christie, G.K. Chesterton, Dorothy L. Sayers, and P.D. James. Len Deighton sums it up perfectly: ‘As well as being a professional tutorial and an insight into the secret world of creative writing, Howdunit is a social document: a book that gives others a chance to see what our world is like.’

Read more about Martin and his work here.