Howdunit

A Masterclass in Crime Writing by Members of the Detection Club

By: Martin Edwards

Narrated by: Malk Williams, Joan Walker

Length: 15 hrs and 55 mins

Publisher's summary

Winner of the H.R.F. Keating Award for best biographical/critical book related to crime fiction and nominated for the Edgar Allen Poe and Macavity Awards for Best Critical/Biographical book.

Ninety crime writers from the world’s oldest and most famous crime writing network give tips and insights into successful crime and thriller fiction.

Howdunit! offers a fresh perspective on the craft of crime writing from leading exponents of the genre, past and present. The book offers invaluable advice to people interested in writing crime fiction, but it also provides a fascinating picture of the way that the best crime writers have honed their skills over the years. Its unique construction and content mean that it will appeal not only to would-be writers but also to crime fans.

The principal contributors are current members of the legendary Detection Club, including Ian Rankin, Val McDermid, Peter James, Peter Robinson, Ann Cleeves, Andrew Taylor, Elly Griffiths, Sophie Hannah, Stella Duffy, Alexander McCall Smith, John Le Carré and many more.

Interwoven with their contributions are shorter pieces by past Detection Club members ranging from G. K. Chesterton, Dorothy L. Sayers, Agatha Christie and John Dickson Carr to Desmond Bagley and H. R. F. Keating.

The book is dedicated to Len Deighton, who is celebrating 50 years as a Detection Club member and has also penned an essay for the book.

The contributions are linked by short sections written by Martin Edwards, the current president of the Club and author of the award-winning The Golden Age of Murder.

©2020 Martin Edwards (P)2020 HarperCollins Publishers Limited

Critic reviews

"There can be few people in the country who know more about crime fiction than Martin Edwards." (On Magazine)

Loved it. Learned a lot

I enjoyed this book immensely. I learned a lot and will definitely listen to it many more times. The only down side was a strange passive undercurrent of anger towards America 🇺🇸 (USA for anyone wants to point that out. You know who you are 😀) it wasn’t a big deal, it was simply unfortunate and disappointing. That took up a few minutes total out of many hours of fantastic writing or dictation, whichever. 5 stars.

Enjoyable

Enjoyed this one. Lots of gems abound. Excellent narration as well. You don't even need to binge it in one go. It's easy to revisit and listen in pieces.

Helpful and thought provoking

I found this book to be most helpful in my thinking of how to approach my novel at more than just the writing stage. The advice for writing, plotting and character development was fantastic, but so was the advice on editing, publishing and how to tackle writer's block.

Basic info that any beginning writer already knows

Nothing new. Not much is about actual crime fiction, either. It's a book a bunch of crime writers wrote (for free) to get money for a snobby club they wish to continue which the author readily admits has no actual value. I would love to see this book contain actual information that could be helpful to writers but - unless you are completely new to writing (e.g you've never written a story in your life) - then this book is not going to do you any good.

As a quick example - there's chapters on "research" which basically says do research. Ask around. Duh. Then oneon point of view. The author who wrote that chapter touted pov as being some big new idea. That's when I knew I made a mistake in my purchase. Maybe some can get good info out of this work, but most wont.