tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6656468.post109164667494719029..comments2024-03-28T13:18:28.238+00:00Comments on Grumpy Old Bookman: Colin Watson -- crime writer extraordinaireMichael Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11338398159818400930noreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6656468.post-63535469598468522802024-01-01T11:24:53.735+00:002024-01-01T11:24:53.735+00:00The other town in Lincolnshire was Folkingham wher...The other town in Lincolnshire was Folkingham where he resided happily with his second wife Anne. I am his second daughter, Jennifer. I live in London. He also has a grandson, David, born in 1970, my son and three grandchildren as well as a great grandchild, Elllie-mae born 2014 all born after his death in 1983. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6656468.post-37999461697078283432022-03-27T13:39:22.876+01:002022-03-27T13:39:22.876+01:00I first came across the Flaxborough Chronicles in ...I first came across the Flaxborough Chronicles in reissued paperback when the TV series was broadcast in the 1970s, and I've been a huge Colin Watson fan ever since. Although the novels' unspecifically Lincolnshire setting is clear, they present a wickedly perceptive analysis of any English provincial town, especially a Northern one, written with elegance, glorious humour, cool detachment and zest for life's curious variety. They also take a mature, tolerant, knowing but understanding moral view, in the persons of the two most memorable series characters, Inspector Purbright and Miss Teatime. I return to these books (and the four TV dramatisations) with unfailing delight every time, and have finally cured myself of the fatal habit of 'lending' my copies to friends, then trawling the internet to source replacement copies. Colin Watson's similarly amusing and acute analysis of the 20s-30s thriller genre and its readership, 'Snobbery With Violence' is a classic no whodunit, thriller or 007 fan should miss.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6656468.post-50663457383856006962019-02-06T12:16:44.984+00:002019-02-06T12:16:44.984+00:00Have been a huge fan for the last 45 years. Always...Have been a huge fan for the last 45 years. Always assumed Flaxborough in Lincolnshire as described several times as only an hour from Nottingham. Also with docks etc. close to North Sea. Few (or no) hills and extensive farmland suggests Lincolnshire to me!Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05695669880430504872noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6656468.post-49013260862422532472018-05-10T11:03:22.375+01:002018-05-10T11:03:22.375+01:00I'm enjoying reading them all again on
my Kin...I'm enjoying reading them all again on <br />my Kindle as they are being released each month during 2018. I've just finished A Flaxborough Crab and loved it.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6656468.post-25516901218510471522017-11-21T08:43:58.852+00:002017-11-21T08:43:58.852+00:00I really liked Robert Barnard too, but I think Wat...I really liked Robert Barnard too, but I think Watson was better. Both should be better known. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6656468.post-85060743180188902142017-11-09T16:26:30.466+00:002017-11-09T16:26:30.466+00:00Agree with every word you say. It is amazing how s...Agree with every word you say. It is amazing how such a talented writer has 'slipped under the radar' among modern readers.<br /><br />However it is interesting to compare his work with the ITV Midsummer Murders stories. I wonder if Anthony Horowitz is a fan too. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6656468.post-51593521278137063792017-07-25T22:23:18.968+01:002017-07-25T22:23:18.968+01:00I don't care where the novels are set (I am Sc...I don't care where the novels are set (I am Scottish), but they are all to me quintessentially English and the style and wit of the writing renders them a joy. I have recently had a clear- out of books necessitated by moving but I cannot part with Colin Watson's novels as they are a periodic joy to revisit and have been a mainstay over the years since I first came across a large print edition in my local library in the 1980's (which introduced Lucilla EC Teatime). I also remember as a child seeing one of the tv adaptations but have scant memories of that. The combination of elegant prose full of humour, the slow pace compared with what passes as action packed today, and the wry observations of human foibles continue to make me laugh and appreciate a gifted and entertaining author. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6656468.post-51722037967119298292017-06-14T21:18:22.754+01:002017-06-14T21:18:22.754+01:00
Another year, another comment
Anonymous: what ma...<br />Another year, another comment<br /><br />Anonymous: what makes you sure that Mumblesby is based on Mumby, apart from the similarity in nmaes?<br /><br />Is there something in the text, or are you basing your certainty on private information?<br /><br />S RadmoreAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6656468.post-69399036506791818382016-03-02T07:59:37.129+00:002016-03-02T07:59:37.129+00:00Oh so nice to hear about this excellent author. I ...Oh so nice to hear about this excellent author. I know that his last novel Whatever's been going on in Mumblesby is based on the Lincolnshire village of Mumby. Clearly from others comments it was typical for him to use a disguised Lincolnshire village as the setting for his books and I have reason to believe that his characters may likewise have been based on individuals he knew in and around Lincolnshire. I was saddened to read elsewhere that the people of Folkingham were in the main unaware of their local great talent deceased 1983. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6656468.post-67949351546140550742009-06-10T15:36:59.272+01:002009-06-10T15:36:59.272+01:00It looks to me like you need about one comment a y...It looks to me like you need about one comment a year on this post. I just read my first Colin Watson, Cofin Scarcely Used, found in a used bookstore. I loved it. I agree he is well worth reading.Joe Baronehttp://joebaronesblog.blogspot.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6656468.post-32964628567077653102008-07-04T03:48:00.000+01:002008-07-04T03:48:00.000+01:00Colin Watson lived in Lincolnshire.For a time befo...Colin Watson lived in Lincolnshire.For a time before he died he lived in Horncastle with his wife Peggy,which is where I knew him best. This would have been in the early 1970s when I was born. Later towards the end of the 70s he moved to another town in Lincolnshire but I cant remember the name. It was there that he re-married and we lost contact with him. His daughter Micky lives in Oxfordshire and his son Jeremy lives with his wife in France. I live in Manila with my family. I am his granddaughter Disa.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6656468.post-1168890394115442032007-01-15T19:46:00.000+00:002007-01-15T19:46:00.000+00:00I know this is way too late, but I just hit your C...I know this is way too late, but I just hit your Colin Watson thoughts by chance, and wanted to say how much I agree. Watson was one of the best light crime writers we've seen - erudite, funny, a neat (and resolving) plotter, and a creator of some great characters - Lucy Teatime and Messrs Love and Chubb amongst them.<BR/><BR/>I always understood that Flax was vaguely based on Boston, but there are a few references which cast doubt on this. The map on the endpapers of the Chronicle is simply misleading and (from internal evidence within the stories) very inaccurate.<BR/><BR/>Thanks<BR/><BR/>RichardAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6656468.post-1119529734024347342005-06-23T13:28:00.000+01:002005-06-23T13:28:00.000+01:00I totally agree. I found one of the Flaxborough n...I totally agree. I found one of the Flaxborough novels on the shelves at my local library many years ago and was hooked. <BR/><BR/>I think I'm going to have to see if I can get hold of them again - a revisit of Flaxborough is long overdue!Kathrynhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14686853670509555086noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6656468.post-1092311735898446932004-08-12T12:55:00.000+01:002004-08-12T12:55:00.000+01:00Well you sold me, thank you. I just jumped on to E...Well you sold me, thank you. I just jumped on to Ebay and bought one of the Flaxborough series.<br />NatalieNatalie Bennetthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14532656474135299433noreply@blogger.com