Cast a Long Shadow

Disgrifiad Cymraeg / Welsh Description

Straeon trosedd byrion gan lenorion Cymreig benywaidd - newydd a phrofiadol - o ddociau Abertawe yn yr 19eg ganrif i Dwrci yn yr 21ain ganrif. Dyma gyfrol gydag apêl eang.

Disgrifiad Saesneg / English Description

Original crime shorts from Welsh women writers - debutantes and established - from 19th century Swansea docks to 21st century Turkey, master criminals to amateur detectives. There is something for every taste here.

Dosbarthu

Byddwn yn dosbarthu eitemau sydd mewn stoc o fewn 3 diwrnod gwaith, fel arfer drwy Royal Mail Tracked 48. Ar gyfer archebion o flaen llaw, byddwn yn dosbarthu’r eitem o fewn 3 diwrnod gwaith ar ôl ei derbyn gan ein cyflenwr.

Dispatch

In-stock items will be dispatched within 3 business days, usually by Royal Mail Tracked 48. For pre-orders, we’ll dispatch within 3 business days of receiving the item from our supplier.

Adolygiad y Cyhoeddwr / Publisher Review

I have two women to thank for my lifelong obsession with crime fiction. One was my mother, who ensured that our large family could enjoy an extensive library. And with us being 13 siblings, how we needed a substantial literary provision! The other was Agatha Christie, whose classics were an integral part of that library. I became an avid fan of Ms Christie after reading Mrs McGinty’s Dead when I was in my mid teens. Since then I have read – and watched – everything she wrote. It was Agatha who opened the door to the dark pathway that led to ensuing women crime writers, from Patricia Highsmith to Kathy Reichs. Cast a Long Shadow is the follow-up to Honno’s 2009 short-fiction anthology, Written in Blood . It comprises 20 original crime stories, and at the ridiculously low price of 50 pence a story. Any Cardi’s dream! Indeed, this offering is worth every penny if only for the concise but revealing introduction that examines the role of women as writers, readers and also as victims. It rightly notes that in this era of increasing violence against women, appreciating their role within this genre – as in real life – is more urgent than ever. Many of the authors of these stories were hitherto unknown to me. But one and all, they have earned their place in this rich pantheon of crime writers. They run the whole gamut of the genre. Women are portrayed as both victims and culprits. The crimes themselves are varied and include not only murders but also fraud, theft and environmental crimes. Indeed, not reading this book should itself be considered a crime. The locations also vary. We are enticed to a seemingly ordinary council house and to a mysterious stone circle; from a quiet valley, its silence ‘loud enough to be heard’, to teeming docklands. We are also transported beyond Wales to Iceland and Turkey, Australia and the Middle East. The range and variety of the tales, as Chris Lloyd notes on the back cover, make for powerful and compelling stories. Indeed, the word ‘unputdownable’ could well have been created for this book. My favourite writer of suspense, Stephen King once said that a short story is like a quick kiss in the dark from a stranger. I have therefore, thanks to this offering, been kissed by twenty strangers who are strangers no more. And I love them all.