Journeying back to the Holocaust - Day 3

If you've read my previous posts, you'll know that earlier this week I took part in a two-night, three-day journey to Lodz and Krakow, along with around 40 other people, including three rabbis. The trip was run by J-Roots, a Jewish organisation that creates a unique learning experience - and this was certainly traumatic, thought-provoking, humbling and unforgettable.

For Day One, click here.

For Day Two, click here.

When I read these two posts, I feel that my emotions don't necessarily come across as much as I would have liked them to. And I'm sure that in another week, I'll have plenty more to add.

I've always put off going to Poland. It was something I felt I 'should' do but the time was never right. So why now? That's an interesting question...

My eldest teen visited Poland two years ago with his school, the younger one is due to go at the end of January. These trips are part of their sixth form schooling, and it made me wonder why I had put it off for so long. And I realise the biggest reason was 'fear'.

I've grown up hearing Holocaust stories, speaking to survivors, seeing the tattooed numbers on their arms. The Holocaust is part of my Jewish heritage, though I wish it wasn't. I wish it never needed to be. I wish it had never occurred. This week, I've seen first-hand the sheer brutality of the Nazis, the scale of the pure evil that lurked the landscape, the loss of humanity and identity, the ripping apart of Jewish communities and families, the fact that this was all legalised.

At a time when antisemitism is rising yet again all over the world, this is when we all need to come together, to remember, to educate, to share and to never forget. And I felt that to do that properly, I needed to see it for myself.

This was the right time for me.

As many of you who read Off-the-Shelf Books will know, I am writing Jewish-themed crime fiction. In September, I was first runner up in the DHH Literary Agency New Voices Award for my first three chapters of The Redeemer. I'm now trying to find an agent - the right agent - for my book. The Redeemer isn't about the Holocaust, though it does feature within the plot, but it IS about modern antisemitism, beginning with an antisemitic incident in a park based on real experiences.

I'm now going to give you an account of Day Three, which was all about Auschwitz-Birkenau.

If any factual background is incorrect, I apologise in advance as I'm writing this quickly. I took notes and photos during my visit and I'm using those in order. I also apologise for any typos! Some of the descriptions will be graphic (even more so, in later posts), but I'm not apologising.

Auschwitz 1

We began with Auschwitz 1. I'm not going to go into details of the background - Mr Google can help you there. But Auschwitz 1 is a tourist site, with coffee shops and bookstores, DVDs and postcards on sale. This feels wrong (particularly the postcards). Yet this infrastructure enables people to come and visit for a day, to be educated about what went on here and leave with a book or a DVD that may help them to learn more, to educate not just themselves but others too, particularly the future generations.

If you do visit, read up on Auschwitz first. Read the Jewish accounts, read the survivor stories. Don't rely on your Polish guide to tell you everything that happened there - they may not even mention the word 'Jew' very much. Going with J-Roots was a unique experience. We not only heard individual stories of brutality and survival (each one filled with emotion) as we walked around, but we were WITH a survivor, Mala Tribich (see previous posts). Eventually there will be a time when there are no survivors remaining, so it is the duty of the next generation, and the next, and so on, to keep these stories among us, which is why I am sharing them here. These stories are horrific but I'm not going to apologise as they need to be heard.

It's free to visit Auschwitz  but not, ironically, to go to the loo there - that costs 2 zloties each time. We heard the story of a survivor who visited Auschwitz with J-Roots. When they reached the toilets, he pulled up his sleeve, showed his tattoo and spoke to the woman taking the money at the till. She laughed and let him through.

What did he say to her?

'I have lifetime membership.'

There are no words...

As we stood at Auschwitz, we could feel the chill through our layers of clothing (including thick coats, hats, scarves and gloves), even though it wasn't a particularly cold day. Imagine standing for roll call for up to 19 hours at a time, in just flimsy pyjamas (or even naked if that's what the guards ordered you to do), whatever the weather, unable to move. If 1000 prisoners were counted out to work in the morning, 1000 had to be counted back in - the dead were carried among them as they walked back through the gates, as there would be punishment at roll call if the numbers were inconsistent.

The hospital blocks were called 'waiting rooms for the crematoria', used as places for medical experimentation with very few treatments available.

Block 27 is all about names (I briefly mentioned this in my Day 2 post), set up by Yad Vashem (The World Holocaust Remembrance Centre). When we talk about the Holocaust, we talk about six million Jews. But these aren't six million Jews as a collective, these are six million individuals. Each one had a name, a face, a family, a life, before the horrors began.

Inside Block 27, there are pages and pages of printed names, currently around 4.5 million names, so nearly 2 million left to go. Each Holocaust victim has been given back their identity - and they are remembered.

As mentioned in my Day 1 post, I didn't have any immediate family in Europe at the time. They were all in England already. Some of my family names (such as Levy) are very common but two - Motzner and Sumeray - are more unusual (ironically, one of the people on this trip is a distant cousin of mine - her family used the name Motzney). I checked out the list of names and found both Motzners (Motzni) and Sumeray (Sumeraj/Sumraj in Polish) listed there. I will never know if they were relatives, but it's possible that some of them were.

One block contains the belongings of the Jewish prisoners. We weren't permitted to take photos of the hair that was taken from women murdered in the gas chambers and was used by the German textile industry - you can see the hair woven on a loom. The hair was mainly curly, now faded and greying. I can't even describe the quantity of hair behind the glass cabinet frontage. But I felt physically sick as we walked slowly through the room.

There was a cabinet of the Jewish prayer shawls (tallit), which are indicative of life as a Jew, symbolic at all stages of life and even at death.

Then there were the crutches and prosthetic limbs, the glasses (spectacles), the suitcases the families used to carry their possessions (labelled as if going on a family holiday) - all taken away when they arrived at the camp. The shoes, all shapes and sizes, even sandals, many still retaining their colours.

If you have read any of my tweets or Instagram posts, you'll have seen details of a kosher kitchen. People who keep strictly kosher will eat and prepare dairy meals and meat meals separately - so no cheese on bolognese or in a burger. You also don't eat milk after a meat meal (instead, waiting a few hours), so no Dairy Milk chocolate after your roast chicken. Meat includes poultry. We use separate cutlery, crockery, pots & pans, utensils, chopping boards etc for milk and meat. Then there are parev foods (neither milk or meat), such as all fruit and veg, egg and fish. To make kitchens easier to manage, we try to colour-code the items. Meat items are traditionally red, dairy items are blue and parev items are green, yellow or neutral.

So why am I telling you this?

When Jewish families are told to pack for deportation, what do they take? If they want to eat, they need to pack up their kitchen. See the pots and pans below and look at the colours...

THIS is how Jewish families pack.

We entered a gas chamber and saw the ovens used to dispose of the bodies. These ovens have been reconstructed with original parts. In the larger room - the gas chamber - there are holes in the ceiling where the gas pellets were thrown down.

On Tuesday 19th November 2019, we took this journey into this gas chamber and crematorium, the same journey that 1.2 million Jews were forced to take. They never came out alive. We walked in free ... and walked out free, physically untouched, still breathing ...

Birkenau

Birkenau has a very different feel to the other Auschwitz site. There are no coffee shops or bookshops, no cabinet displays and no renovation work. This was the largest death camp in the world - the largest cemetery in the world - and I can't even describe its size. You could spend several days wandering around this camp and still not see it all.

Inside, the men's barracks are on the right, women's barracks on the left, separated by the train track and barbed wire.

There was a stillness in the air.

I barely spoke during my time there.

I had no words.

This is the men's quarantine hut of the camp, with latrines at the end.

Thousands of men, sitting back to back to each other, being told they have just two minutes 'to go'. Each one propping up the man beside them and behind them, willing them not to die. This would be after several days spent in a cattle truck with no sanitation, diarrhoea and dysentry rife among the prisoners. Shut your eyes and just imagine ... compare this with our modern sterile lives.

A group of Jews were told to clean out the latrines with their hats. When they left the quarantine hut, they were told to put their hats back on their heads. Not one of those Jews survived Auschwitz.

If a woman was pregnant in Birkenau, this was a death sentence. Google the story of Gisella Perl, a Jewish gynaecologist deported to Auschwitz. She saved the lives of thousands of Jewish pregnant women, but in order to save the mothers she had to suffocate their newborns - 'a life for a life'. If she hadn't, both the mother and baby would have been murdered. After the war, she opened up a practice in New York. Many of her clients were women from Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen, women she had saved, women who wanted her to deliver their new baby, born into freedom - this time saving their baby's life, not taking it. Read the phrase 'a life for a life' - and try not to cry.

Here are the bunks where the men slept (top bunk, middle bunk, lower bunk), crowded together, no sanitation, covered in fleas and lice and with rats around their feet. As mentioned, diarrhoea and dysentery were rife within the camp. Which would you choose - top, middle or bottom?

Standing by the cattle truck, where it was decided who lived and who died, we heard the story of two parents arguing over who was going to hold the baby once they were separated to go left or right. The SS officer took the baby from the mother's arms, ripped the baby apart and then handed half back to the mother and half back to the father. Sorry to share this story - it makes me feel sick and tearful too - but these stories need to be shared.

We touched the barbed wire, thinking of what it means to be free.

Finally, as daylight faded, we reached the back of Auschwitz and stood by the ruins of the crematorium and said prayers and read poems.

And then we walked back out again - free.

This is the end of Day 3 and the end of the Poland trip. But this life experience won't stop there. It has changed me in a way I can't describe. This has been an emotional rollercoaster and has put life in perspective, especially as a Jew growing up in the UK.

When I arrived home from Stansted airport at 12.30 am, I peered into the bedroom of my youngest teenager. He was fast asleep. I stood there watching him for a while, thinking how fortunate my husband and I are - that our great grandparents were already here.

I've shared my words. I've shared my thoughts. Yet there's still so much more I can say. We have been 'warned' that our emotions will continue to play havoc with our minds over the coming days, weeks and even months.

We must remember.

We must pass on the stories - the horrific stories - to our children and grandchildren.

We must never forget.

Journeying back to the Holocaust - Day 2

If you've read my previous post, you'll know that earlier this week I took part in a two-night, three-day journey to Lodz and Krakow, along with around 40 other people, including three Rabbis. The trip was run by J-Roots, a Jewish organisation that creates a unique learning experience - and this was certainly traumatic, thought-provoking, humbling and unforgettable.

For Day One, click here.

I'm now going to give you an account of Day Two.

If any factual background is incorrect, I apologise in advance as I'm writing this quickly. I took notes and photos during my visit and I'm using those in order. I also apologise for any typos! Some of the descriptions will be graphic (even more so, in later posts), but I'm not apologising.

Mala's story

We were particularly honoured to travel with Mala Tribich MBE, a Holocaust survivor. Straight after breakfast (an early start), we heard Mala's story.

She was born in Piotrków Trybunalski in Poland in 1930. Piotrków was a thriving town with a significant Jewish population. It was the first town in Poland to have a ghetto - in 1939 - a prototype of what was to come. The ghetto was overcrowded with a lack of sanitation.

After 2.5 years, there were rumours of deportation, except of people of working age. Mala's parents and aunt and uncle were introduced to a man who said he would hide two Jewish children - Mala (11) and her cousin Idzia (10). In hiding, the girls missed their parents but it wasn't safe for them to return. Eventually though, Idzia told the family they were staying with that she could go and stay with good friends of her parents. She was taken away and never seen again.

Mala returned to the ghetto, where everyone lived in constant fear. Her mother and sister were rounded up one day and murdered in the local forest. Mala had the responsibility of looking after her 5-year-old cousin, Ann, whose mother was deported to a concentration camp. She was separated from her father and brother and was sent to Ravensbrück concentration camp with Ann.

When they arrived, everything was taken away from them. They had to queue up to give their details, undress, get their heads shaved, have cold showers and were given a striped jacket and skirt. They couldn't recognise each other - they had been stripped of their personality and identity.

At this point, Mala mentioned how important it is to give everyone who was murdered during the Holocaust a name - to give them their identity back (more on this on Day 3).

Their daily food rations were half a slice of bread, a bowl of liquid the guards called soup, another grey-brown liquid (the guards called it coffee) and occasionally a small knob of butter or margarine. Enough to keep someone on the cusp of life.

From there, Mala was transported in a cattle truck to Bergen-Belsen where conditions were appalling. She said the first thing that hit her was the smell and smog. People were skeletons, shuffling around aimlessly. Sometimes someone would be shuffling along then suddenly collapse and die in front of her eyes - there were dead bodies everywhere. At the age of 14, she and her cousin were taken into the children's barracks, along with children of diamond workers from Amsterdam. She contracted typhus and was very ill when the camp was liberated. When the British forces liberated the camp, Mala was drifting in and out of consciousness and saw people running - she couldn't understand how any of her fellow prisoners had the strength to run. The only other member of her close family to survive was her brother, Ben Helfgott - former Olympic weightlifter for Britain.

As I mentioned in my post about Day One, Mala is an amazing woman. She doesn't look her age and has the energy of a 30 year old, walking faster than most other people in our group. She was an inspiration to all of us on this trip.

Lodz cemetery

After Mala's talk, we checked out of the hotel and went by coach to Lodz cemetery. This showed the financial and spiritual wealth of the Lodz Jewish community before the war.

We were shown the cemetery hall where bodies are prepared for burial. Preparation before burial is a very important aspect of Judaism but during the Holocaust this was denied - a basic Jewish and human right.

We saw the Ghetto Field, where people risked their lives to bury the dead from Lodz Ghetto. The plaque says it all: 'The Ghetto Field' - holds the graves of 43,527 Ghetto victims during the years 1940 to 1944. Many victims were executed or brutally slain; others died from disease or starvation.

Yes, you read that right - over 43 thousand people were murdered in just four years, in just one place.

We heard the story of two brothers (10 and 8) who dragged their father's dead body all the way from the ghetto to the cemetery. They buried him with their own hands, digging the soil - two young boys who should have been playing and having fun, burying their own father. And then between them, they dragged over a large boulder to mark the grave so that they could identify the burial site after the war.

Near the entrance of the cemetery, there are six large holes. After the liquidation of the ghetto, Jews were left there to clear up. They were ordered to dig six large pits and then they were locked in a building, but the Nazis fled as the Russian army was approaching and left them there. These Jews all survived and the pits remained empty.

Piotrków

We visited key sites in Mala's life. Her first home and then her home in the ghetto.

The Nazis didn't only want to destroy the Jews, they wanted to destroy Judaism. And the first way to do that is to destroy the synagogues, then the books, then art ... then everything else.

We visited the Great Synagogue in Piotrków, which was devastated by the Nazis during the war. After the war, it was rebuilt and used as a library and it is now being renovated to become a museum. We said prayers there, again bringing Judaism back into the building.

Again, look at the bullet holes:

At this point, I want to mention my thoughts about Poland. These small towns were empty. We stood in the main square in the middle of day and it was fairly deserted, like a ghost town. Many buildings were derelict too. There were hardly any cars on the roads. Every time we passed, or drove through, a forest, we wondered how many Jews had been shot in there, how many mass graves are still waiting to be discovered.

Wolbrom

We tried to visit three mass graves here, but couldn't get to them as trees had fallen down and it was blocked off. But here's the experience I had that evening - in the dark. Click here for a link to the actual memorial.

We walked by candlelight, our feet squelching into the wet leaves and mud underfoot, barely able to see in front of us. We walked in silence in either single file or in pairs. It was pouring with rain, so many candles didn't last the journey. I imagined how it must have felt all those years go, making that same journey, knowing you were walking to your death.

We stopped in a small clearing, among thin tree trunks, glowing silver in the candlelight, dark silhouettes of trees in the background rising about us. All was silent. I shut my eyes and imagined it as it would have been as we said prayers for the dead.

Jews were given a number. They were made to strip naked and lie down in a particular area in a giant pit, on or among bodies of men, women, children and babies, some still hanging on to life. And then the shots rang out. One soldier is pictured sitting on the side, dangling his legs, holding his gun, smoking a cigarette, laughing at the dead (or nearly dead) beneath his feet.

Krakow - The Jewish Heroes Square

Nearly every town square will have a history involving the rounding up of Jews, often the murdering of Jews as well.

In this square, there are 33 memorial chairs of iron and bronze in memory of the Jews murdered in the Krakow ghetto.

One of the buildings on this square used to be a children's hospital. When the Nazis came, they went in shooting.

But that still wasn't enough...

They threw the babies from the nursery on the top floor out of the windows down to the streets below.

And still that wasn't enough...

They played a game - how many babies could they catch on their gun. There are photographs of soldiers holding their guns with two or three babies stuck on top.

Schindler's Factory

Lastly, we visited Schindler's Factory. It was late in the evening so the museum was closed, but we stood outside the gates and we remembered...

We watched Schindler's List during our journeys on Day 2. If you haven't watched it, please do - as it gives a fairly accurate representation of the Holocaust. It's chilling and shocking.

Oskar Schindler was a member of the Nazi party with a factory in Krakow. He is believed to have saved 1200 Jews (some pictured above). Though it's not just 1200 Jews. When we talk about the 6 million Jews who died, we don't just mean 6 million. Each of those 6 million should have lived to have children and grandchildren and so on ...

And that's the end of Day Two.

For Day three, click here.

Journeying back to the Holocaust - Day 1

If you could go on the trip of a lifetime, where would you go? Probably not to the forests of Poland, searching for mass graves, or to Auschwitz, to see tiny shoes of children who were murdered by the Nazis. But that's exactly what I was doing earlier this week.

I took part in a two-night, three-day journey to Lodz and Krakow, along with around 40 other people, including three Rabbis. The trip was run by J-Roots, a Jewish organisation that creates a unique learning experience - and this was certainly traumatic, thought-provoking, humbling and unforgettable.

All of my great grandparents came to England in the early 20th century and, in fact, one of them was even born here. So I had no close relatives in Europe when the Nazis invaded. Yet being Jewish, and growing up with stories of Holocaust survivors, listening to their first-hand accounts, meant that the Holocaust always felt personal. In another dimension, it could have been MY great grandparents and grandparents there, which meant my parents and I would never have been born.

We were particularly honoured to travel with a Holocaust survivor. Mala Tribich MBE is 89 years old. She was born in Piotrków Trybunalski in Poland. When the Nazis invaded Poland in 1939, Mala and her family fled eastwards. When they returned, they had to move into the ghetto that was established in her hometown, the first in Poland. Her mother and eight-year-old sister were murdered in the local forest. When the ghetto was liquidated, Mala became a slave labourer at the age of 12. She was separated from her father and brother and was sent to Ravensbrück concentration camp with her 5-year-old cousin, Ann. From there, she was transported in a cattle truck to Bergen-Belsen where conditions were appalling. She contracted typhus and was very ill when the camp was liberated. The only other member of her close family to survive was her brother, Ben Helfgott.

Mala is an amazing woman. She doesn't look her age and has the energy of a 30 year old, walking faster than most other people in our group. She was an inspiration to all of us on this trip.

I'm now going to give you an account of Day One.

If any factual background is incorrect, I apologise in advance as I'm writing this quickly. I took notes and photos during my visit and I'm using those in order. I also apologise for any typos! Some of the descriptions will be graphic (even more so, in later posts), but I'm not apologising.

Dabie

We left Stansted airport early on Sunday morning and arrived at Lodz airport.

The first place we visited was a village called Dabie near Chelmno. Dabie used to be a hive of Jewish life with around 1000 Jews living there. We searched for hidden clues to the Jews who once called Dabie their home, before they were rounded up and sent to their deaths.

We were shown an apartment block. Its windows have an archway at the top - usually a sign of a synagogue (Polish buildings usually have rectangular windows).

We were led inside and up narrow stairs into the dark attic, with the torch apps on our phones lighting our way as we stumbled over badly-boarded flooring (with holes and dips in the middle) sprinkled with sawdust. In this tiny attic space, at the far end, we found this Hebrew writing on the wall. These words feature in our own synagogue in England. But these are faded, part of the wording missing, destroyed by bullets - you can see the damage clearly, including bullet holes close up. Something terrible happened here... We sang Jewish songs and clapped along, to bring back some Judaism into this former synagogue.

Chelmno

Our next visit was to Chelmno. I found this to be one of the most difficult parts of the whole trip.

Chelmno was the first death camp of the Nazi's Final Solution, which was operational in December 1941 before the Wannsee Conference. Gassings took place in experimental gas vans, claiming the lives of over 200,000 Jews.

The Nazis would pump the exhaust back in the van as the Jews travelled towards the forest - the same journey we took on the coach. Once they arrived, the dead (or nearly dead) were dumped into open pits. The first victims of the massacre came from Dabie. Other Jews were transported to the forest and then shot there. 'One bullet, One Jew' - though occasionally 'One bullet, Two Jews' where a baby was held against its mother's chest. Locals helped to dig graves, serve vodka to the SS soldiers, find the Jews to round up... Local boys would take gold off the corpses - if they couldn't remove the rings, they would cut off the fingers instead. Then the bodies were burnt - cremated - and the bones smashed.

We were there to find these bone fragments. It was daylight when we arrived and we walked around in a daze, searching in the grassy areas, shifting the mud and grass with our shoes or our fingers.

These are bone fragments of the Jews who were murdered here. People have found teeth and even jawbones still remaining in the soil after all these decades. They look like bits of stone, but you realise they're not. We wandered mainly in silence, concentrating on the task, respecting those who were murdered in this place - just because they were born Jewish.

We gathered all of the bones together and gave them the Jewish burial they deserved.

We walked back to the main road in the darkness, highly emotional, again with just torches to light up our way. We - a group of 40+ Jews - were free to walk away when 200,000 Jews could not.


Radegast station

Then we visited Radegast station - for yet another experience that I will never forget.

Tens of thousands of Jews were transported from this station to death camps, including Auschwitz. It is now a memorial and museum. We were there after dark, so the museum was closed.

Around fifty of us stood in a cattle cart in the dark.

We nearly filled it, with its low ceiling, wooden walls with cattle rings and barbed wire on the windows. We kept the door open to give us a little light, but could just imagine being shut inside - not just with another 50 people, but with 200 people, maybe more. If there was space above the heads of the prisoners, babies would have been shoved inside on top of them. We were in there for maybe 15 minutes, but they would have been in there for days. Men, women, children, babies ... with no sanitation (maybe a bucket), no food or water. People dying around them, so hard to breathe, the stink...

The photos below used flash so that you could see the details. But there was nothing to see in the darkness, just the faces of those around you. When I tried to take a photo of the room without flash, nothing showed up.

Then finally we visited the memorial.

And that ends Day One.

For Day Two, click here.

For Day Three, click here.

BEST OF CRIME with R.C. Bridgestock

Welcome to my latest BEST OF CRIME feature, looking at crime writers' top picks, from their favourite author and fictional detective to their best writing tip. 

Today I'm delighted to welcome 

R.C. BRIDGESTOCK

to share their BEST OF CRIME ...

... AUTHORS

Agatha Christie is THE Queen of Crime Writers. I love her simplistic style that hides complex plotting. Her ability to build suspense throughout the neat little chapters, each one more exciting than the previous one is pure genius. Maybe she used the likes of an Anacapa chart to help track the impossible-seeming, totally un-guessable plots? It does make one wonder how her mind worked, because we know that all her storylines were pure fiction. Agatha Christie books are the kind that I like to read, by lamplight, before falling asleep.

... FILMS/MOVIES

Oceans Eleven. George Clooney and Brad Pitt come up with a Las Vegas heist with a reward so grand that the risk may be an excruciating demise, and that’s for starters. It’s fast-paced, and there’s never a dull moment thanks to the cunningness Don Cheadle, Matt Damon, Julia Roberts, Carl Reiner, Andy Garcia, Casey Affleck and Elliott Gould. A movie for the thinker, this is one of the most fun, and funniest movies I’ve ever seen. Don't get lost in 'things highly improbable'. If you do, you've missed the point. Enjoy!

... TV DRAMAS

Happy Valley. We were the consultants on the BAFTA winning series. Sally Wainwright’s brief from the BBC was 'Juliet Bravo, modern day'. The drama was based in Sowerby Bridge Police Station where I (Carol), spent 17 years as a civilian employee, and where Bob was stationed when he was head of CID in the Calder Valley. We suggested Happy Valley to Sally. It was the name given by the officers to the Calder Valley - it was a lovely place to work. It is well known for the place where creatives live, and you can feel the influence of the writers and artists who flocked to the valley around the 70s and 80s. From artisan shops and inspiring galleries to organic pavement cafés and charming picture houses, the valley is justifiably proud of its artistic identity. A short distance from its towns you will find pretty wooded valleys and picturesque heather moorland.

... FICTIONAL KILLERS

Nurse Jackie Peyton (Edie Falco). In the American medical comedy-drama series, Nurse Jackie finds every day to be a high-wire act of juggling patents, doctors, fellow nurses and her own indiscretions. She’s a serial killer but she’s such a great character that I couldn’t help liking her, even though I obviously disapprove of her murderous ways...

... FICTIONAL DETECTIVES 

Jack Frost. The character of Jack Frost (played by David Jason) was based on a real detective at West Yorkshire Police - unbeknown to him, until he saw his likeness on screen. Jack Frost’s resemblance to Gerry Dickinson, a good friend and former colleague, is uncanny. 

... MURDER WEAPONS

From a senior investigator's point of view, any weapon that is easily identified! For instance, in our experience, a manmade medieval 'cosh' - once the weapon was found, it was easy to put the weapon in the hand, so to speak, of the killer. 

    

... DEATH SCENES

Bob suggested the death scene of Kirsten to Sally Wainwright for the BAFTA awarding winning BBC drama Happy Valley. 

An extract from episode 3: TOMMY puts his foot down and reverses over KIRSTEN. We don’t need to see it; we can see it off LEWIS’s face. We may hear the noise as well, which will be like so many watermelons getting crushed. LEWIS has to look away. He may even get squirted in blood.

To see the full episode: http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/writersroom/scripts/happy-valley-ep3.pdf

If this didn’t make your stomach ‘flip’ nothing will... 

  

... BLOGS/WEBSITES

I tend to use Google (or Mr. Google as my mum calls it), as my go-to. I’ll enter the subject I need to research and go with the flow, and see where that journey takes me.... Mr. Google has never let me down yet! We use Rightmove for house-hunting.

... WRITING TIPS

Plan- the backstory is equally as exciting to create as writing the book. 

Finish- we know so many great writers who get so hung up on the first few chapters being perfect, that they have actually never finished a book! The first draft is called a first draft for a reason. 

Write a book you’d want to read.

... WRITING SNACKS

I (Carol) try not to snack - but if I do, it’s chocolate.

Bob is a monster midget gem/wine gum/Haribo addict - anything chewy! 

About R.C. BRIDGESTOCK

R.C. Bridgestock is the name that husband and wife co-authors Robert (Bob) and Carol Bridgestock write under. Between them they have nearly 50 years of police experience, offering an authentic edge to their stories. The writing duo created the character DI Jack Dylan, a down-to-earth detective, written with warmth and humour. The ninth book in the series will be published by The Dome Press in 2019, along with their backlist. A further crime series is presently being scripted by the pair, which has a strong Yorkshire female character - Charley Mann - at the helm.

Find R.C. Bridgestock on their website and on Twitter - @RCBridgestock

About SNOW KILLS

Publisher's description

When a young hairdresser is reported missing by her mother in a blizzard, D.I. Jack Dylan and his team are called in. Kayleigh’s car is found with her mobile phone inside but there is no sign of her. On the desolate Yorkshire moors, items of clothing are found and identified as belonging to the hairdresser, and an intense police search of the area begins. The investigation turns to a loner living close to where Kayleigh’s car was discovered. Meanwhile Dylan’s wife, Jen, is distracted and distant. Unbeknown to him her ex fiancé is in their midst, and stalking her.

Snow Kills was published by The Dome Press on 3 October 2019

About PAYBACK

Publisher's description

Charley Mann left Yorkshire for the Met and a fast-track career - but now she’s back and she’s in charge and the area’s first young, female DI. Her hometown, the Yorkshire countryside, and her old friends all seem unchanged, but appearances can be deceptive. When a brutal murder is discovered, Charley is forced to question everything, and the interest of her ex - reporter Danny Ray - doesn’t make it easier.

Payback is being published by The Dome Press on 9 January 2020.

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Nothing Important Happened Today by Will Carver - resharing my review

Today I'm resharing my review of Nothing Important Happened Today by Will Carver. The book is being published in paperback by Orenda Books on Thursday 14th November - it's original, twisted, clever and shocking. And here’s my full review, in case you missed it the first time.

Nothing Important Happened Today
By Will Carver
Published by Orenda Books (E-book - 14 September 2019; Paperback - 14 November 2019)
I received an Advance Reader Copy from the publisher

Publisher's description

Nine suicides

One Cult

No leader

Nine people arrive one night on Chelsea Bridge. They’ve never met. But at the same time, they run, and leap to their deaths. Each of them received a letter in the post that morning, a pre-written suicide note, and a page containing only four words: Nothing important happened today.

That is how they knew they had been chosen to become a part of The People Of Choice: A mysterious suicide cult whose members have no knowledge of one another.

Thirty-two people on that train witness the event. Two of them will be next. By the morning, People Of Choice are appearing around the globe: a decapitation in Germany, a public shooting at a university in Bordeaux; in Illinois, a sports team stands around the centre circle of the football pitch and pulls the trigger of the gun pressed to the temple of the person on their right. It becomes a movement.

My verdict
Nothing Important Happened Today... So hard to describe this book and discuss it with someone who hasn't read it, other than to say it's brilliant (apologies as I'm going to use this word a few times in this review).

It's beautifully written. The writing is staccato - quick, fast-paced and compelling - drawing the reader in. As a few things slotted into place, I realised that the book was so clever too - like nothing I've ever read before. The underlying premise is unique and ... yep ... brilliant.

The book is so well plotted, bringing everything together, weaving in historical references to cults and serial killers with the events in the present day. It provides a melancholy monologue on modern living, social media culture and the pace of society. The book focuses on a highly emotional topic, yet doesn't read that way - I can't give anything away, so it's really hard to explain! The descriptions are shocking and graphic in places and maybe slightly disturbing.

Nothing Important Happened Today will intrigue you from the start and after a while you won't want to put it down. The ending is so good and so right and ... so brilliant. You won't forget this book after you've read it! And you'll just have to read it to find out why!

OK. I think I've waffled on enough now. Just buy the book!

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BEST OF CRIME WITH C.M. (Chris) Ewan

Welcome to my latest BEST OF CRIME feature, looking at crime writers' top picks, from their favourite author and fictional detective to their best writing tip. 

Today I'm delighted to welcome 

C.M. (CHRIS) EWAN

to share his BEST OF CRIME ...

... AUTHORS

I think it’s hard to beat Michael Connelly. His books deliver brilliantly, year after year. How many writers create truly iconic series characters like Harry Bosch, Mickey Haller and Renee Ballard? How many deliver brilliant standalone thrillers, too? Not many, obviously, but Connelly does. The Poet and The Lincoln Lawyer are two of my all-time favourite reads.

... FILMS/MOVIES

I’m going to go with Panic Room starring Jodie Foster. It’s tight, lean and brilliantly structured. And hey, if you like Panic Room, I hope you’ll enjoy A Window Breaks.

... TV DRAMAS

It’s super-glossy and totally implausible, but I got totally swept up in season one of How to Get Away With Murder. I loved the flash forwards and flashback sequences, the clever dovetailing of the plot, the sneaky reveals. Total escapist fun. 

... FICTIONAL KILLERS

How do you look past Tom Ripley? He’s such a devilishly appealing character – showing us where the hint of darkness in us all might lead. Plus, he travels to some seriously appealing locations in Patricia Highsmith’s novels. The sequences set in Venice in The Talented Mr Ripley get me every time.

... FICTIONAL DETECTIVES 

I am a sucker for Sara Gran’s Claire DeWitt – the self-styled “Best detective in the world.” She’s a true one of a kind. Unconventional, unpredictable and wholly fresh. Everything she does is a surprise. 

... MURDER WEAPONS

It’s impossible to give details without giving away a major spoiler, but I’ve long admired the murder weapon Lee Child came up with in The Visitor. How is a killer murdering ex army high-fliers? The answer is wildly ingenious, deeply satisfying and like no murder weapon I’ve read of before. 

    

... DEATH SCENES

When I worked as a film lawyer with the Isle of Man Film Fund, we helped finance a little-known comic crime movie called Big Nothing starring David Schwimmer, Simon Pegg and Alice Eve. It’s about a blackmail gone wrong and during the course of the movie, the corpse of a nasty vicar is dragged by one bad guy into a septic tank to be hidden. When the other bad guy comes back, he wants to know where the vicar has gone. Turns out he wasn’t actually dead …  

  

... BLOGS/WEBSITES

Most days I like to Google random webcams around the world. No real reason, other than I’m curious and I like to see what’s going on at a given time in, say, Times Square, New York, or at the top of a random Swiss mountain. You can probably chalk this up to procrastinating.

... WRITING TIPS

Stephen King’s ON WRITING contains the best writing tip I’ve ever come across. It’s a simple formula. The second draft of your work in progress should = the first draft, minus 10%. It works!

... WRITING SNACKS

On a good day, some kind of trail mix. On a realistic day, too many chocolate digestives.

About C.M. EWAN

C. M. Ewan is a pseudonym for Chris Ewan, the critically acclaimed and bestselling author of many mystery and thriller novels. Chris’s first standalone thriller, Safe House, was a number one bestseller in the UK and was shortlisted for the Theakston’s Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award. 

Born in Taunton in 1976, Chris graduated from the University of Nottingham and llater trained as a lawyer. After eleven years living on the Isle of Man, herecently returned home to Somerset with his wife and their two children, where he writes full-time.

Find Chris Ewan on his website and on Twitter - @chrisewan

About A WINDOW BREAKS

Publisher's description

You are asleep. A noise wakes you. 

You stir, unsure why, and turn to your wife.

Then you hear it. 

Glass. Crunching underfoot. 

Your worst fears are about to be realized. 

Someone is inside your home. 

Your choices are limited. 

You can run. Or stay and fight. 

What would you do?

A Window Breaks was published by Pan Macmillan on e-book on 31 October 2019. Paperback will be published on 20 February 2020.

Here's a snippet from my review: "I read this book so quickly - I barely took a breath and could feel my heart pounding throughout."

To read my full review click here.

Look out for more BEST OF CRIME features coming soon.

Click here to read more BEST OF CRIME features.

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