Tue 11 Apr 2017
Reviewed by Barry Gardner: ROSEMARY HERBERT – The Fatal Art of Entertainment.
Posted by Steve under Reference works / Biographies , Reviews[3] Comments
ROSEMARY HERBERT – The Fatal Art of Entertainment: Interviews with Mystery Writers. G. K Hall, hardcover, 1994.
These are some of the better interviews with authors I’ve seen. Herbert has obviously read the books of each of them and thought about what she read. While she has certain themes she tries to explore with each author, she does quite well when discussing their individual oeuvres. She fawns a bit at times, but that’s probably hard to avoid. Hey, I can fawn with the best of ’em myself.
The authors included are a mixed bag, and it would be interesting to know how they were selected. They are: Catherine Aird, Robert Barnard, Patricia Cornwell, Jonathan Gash, Sue Grafton, Jeremiah Healy, Reginald Hill, Tony Hillerman, P. D. James, Jane Langton, John Mortimer, Barbara Neely, and Julian Symons.
They all had interesting things to say, some of course more so than others. It’s a bit pricey ($35) for anyone not really into this sort of thing, but it’s meaty, too. I was impressed with the book, and I’m usually not with interviews.
April 11th, 2017 at 9:00 pm
Interesting group of writers, some I know to be informed and not afraid to discuss it.
April 11th, 2017 at 9:15 pm
As Barry said, it was a mixed bag of authors, but all were well enough established in 1994 to be worth listening to, both now and then.
Unfortunately, now, nearly a quarter of century later, many of them are no longer with us, and of those still living, I believe only Grafton and Cornwell are actively writing. An I right?
April 12th, 2017 at 6:05 am
I was just going to mention that (at a quick glance) 7 of the 13 are dead.
Catherine Aird, who will turn 87 in June, is still writing. Her latest book was published last year.