Nick Rennison is a writer, editor, and bookseller whose work delves into the enduring myths and legends that shape our cultural landscape. He examines how iconic characters are reinterpreted across history, exploring the persistent resonance of their stories in contemporary society. Rennison's insightful analyses offer readers a deeper appreciation for the enduring power of these archetypal figures.
Fifth Edition
The Blue Plaque scheme in London serves as a fascinating connection between people and places, marking the locations where notable historical figures have resided or contributed to culture. This initiative celebrates the legacy of remarkable individuals, offering insights into their lives and the significance of the buildings they inhabited.
The Rivals of Philip Marlowe - Stories from the Golden Age of the American Pulp Magazines
Set in the 1930s, this anthology showcases a collection of thrilling stories featuring the rivals of the iconic private detective Philip Marlowe, who first emerged in the magazine Black Mask. It highlights the hard-boiled American detective genre, presenting a variety of characters and narratives that capture the essence of this gritty literary tradition. Nick Rennison curates these tales, offering readers a glimpse into the world of crime and investigation that shaped Marlowe's legacy.
1974 was a year of major changes around the world. The roots of many aspects of today's societies which we take for granted lie in the 1970s and particularly in this, the pivotal year of the decade....
Sherlock Holmes is the most famous of all fictional detectives but, across the Atlantic, he had plenty of rivals. Between 1890 and 1920, American writers created dozens and dozens of crime-solvers. This thrilling, unusual anthology features stories about 15 of them, including Professor Augustus SFX Van Dusen, 'The Thinking Machine', even more cerebral than Holmes; Craig Kennedy, the so-called 'scientific detective'; Uncle Abner, a shrewd backwoodsman in pre-Civil War Virginia; Violet Strange, New York debutante turned criminologist; and Nick Carter, the original pulp private eye. Editor Nick Rennison gathers together often neglected tales which highlight American crime fiction's early years.
1922 was a year of great turbulence and upheaval. Its events reverberated throughout the rest of the twentieth century and still affect us today, 100 years later. In a sequence of vividly written sketches, Nick Rennison conjures up all the drama and diversity of an extraordinary year....
"Sherlock Holmes was the most famous detective to stride through the pages of late Victorian and Edwardian fiction, but he was not the only one. He had plenty of rivals. Some of the most memorable of these were women: they were "Sherlock's Sisters." This exciting, unusual anthology gathers together 15 stories written by women or featuring female detectives. They include Dorcas Dene, Lady Molly of Scotland Yard, Hagar the Gypsy, Judith Lee and Madelyn Mack. Editor Nick Rennison has already compiled several highly entertaining collections of stories from what he considers a golden age of crime fiction, including The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes, More Rivals of Sherlock Holmes and Supernatural Sherlocks. His latest anthology turns the spotlight on the women detectives who could more than match their male counterparts" --Amazon.ca
Sherlock Holmes is the most famous fictional detective ever created. The supremely rational sleuth and his dependable companion, Dr Watson, will forever be associated with the gaslit and smog-filled streets of late nineteenth and early twentieth century London. Yet Holmes and Watson were not the only ones solving mysterious crimes and foiling the plans of villainous masterminds in Victorian and Edwardian England. There were countless imitators in the genre, and this volume highlights some of those 'Rivals of Sherlock Holmes'.
It is 1870. When amateur archaeologist Adam Carver and his loyal but obdurate retainer Quint are visited in their lodgings in London's Doughty Street by an attractive young woman, their landlady is not pleased. The visitor's arrival pitches Carver and Quint headlong into an elaborate mystery which comes to centre on the existence (or not) of a lost text in Ancient Greek, one that may reveal the whereabouts of the treasure hoard of Philip II of Macedonia. Two deaths soon ensue as master and manservant follow what clues they can grasp in the roughest and most genteel parts of the teeming metropolis, with the whiff of cordite and blackmail never far from their nostrils. The scene shifts to Athens and the wilder fastness of a Greece gripped by political unrest as Carver and Quint join forces with Adam's former Cambridge tutor in an attempt to track down the elusive text. But nothing is quite what it seems, and no one involved is prepared for the final, shocking denouement amidst the extraordinary hilltop monasteries of Meteora...
A large number of people every year make their reading decisions on the basis of shortlists for major prizes like the Booker and Orange Prize for Fiction. This new title in the successful Must-Read Series provides an overview of fiction which has won prizes over the decades.
If you do not want to live among wicked people, do not live in London. Richard of Devizes, 1192 (Benedictine monk and chronicler)
