It has been more than a year since I posted one of these. (I did one on non fiction books in June this year.) I still think that’s pretty good going. How many authors do you think you’ve seen mentioned 8 times or more in all the books you’ve read in the past year?

You might have a slight sense of deja vu when you see one of these book titles – yes I’ve already covered it a previous post but recently found another photo on my badly organised laptop.

A Winter’s Tale – Trisha Ashley

This wasn’t my find but someone (I have forgotten who now, sorry!) directed me to it.

It actually sounds like something I would enjoy, though! It’s about a young woman who inherits a crumbling mansion along with its staff and possibly even a ghostly relative…

Creeping about searching the place like something out of a Secret Seven novel.

…

And I saw all the Enid Blyton adventure books in the nursery, so I think she has a lot to do with this mania of yours too.

…

Oh I do so want to come back, and search, Mum. It’s all so Famous Five!

A Place of Execution – Val McDermid

This is just the first of a few references from Val McDermid’s books which I have been steadily working my way through this year. Val (I feel as if I can call her Val as I have been in the same room as her now, at a talk) has never hidden the fact that she read everything by Blyton that she could get her hands on (except the Secret Seven who irritated her).

In this book a teenage girl has gone missing and Detective Inspector George Bennett is looking through her room for clues.

With a sigh, he began the distasteful search of Alison’s personal possessions. Half an hour later, he had found nothing unexpected. He’d even flicked through every book on the small bookcase that stood by the bed. Nancy Drew, the Famous Five, the Chalet School, Georgette Heyer, Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre held neither secret nor surprise. A well-thumbed edition of Palgrave’s Golden Treasury contained only poetry.

The Wire in the Blood – Val Mcdermid

This is the second book in the series about Detective Inspector Carol Jordan and criminal profiler Tony Hill, and the book which gives the TV series based on the series its name.

Unfortunately I didn’t record who said this or why.

It’s not, “Five Go Hunting a Psychopath.”

The Torment of Others – Val McDermid

This one, from number four about Carol Jordan and Tony Hill, is rather a stretch. I’ve also seen references to Noddy suits, though, at crime scenes. I’d love it if someone could explain why the lights/suits are called that.

Carol, Kevin and Stacey pounded pell-mell down the corridor. ‘We’ll take my car,’ Kevin shouted. ‘I’ve got a noddy light.’

The Telephone Box Library – Rachel Lucas

I actually read this a while ago but only found the photo of the reference recently.

Mel pulled a face behind her back. “God, sorry. It’s just, she’s so “head girl at St Clare’s” that I can’t help it. She makes me want to misbehave.

The Bookshop of the Broken-Hearted – Richard Hillman

For more Blyton-related quotes from this book see my previous post.

[Maggie] steered him to the titles he might enjoy reading, urging on him her favourites. He took a chair to the back of the shop and read himself into a Famous Five stupor.

A Cornish Christmas Murder – Fiona Leitch

I half-picked these as they are narrated by Zara Ramm (narrator of the Chronicles of St Mary’s series by Jodi Taylor. It felt serendipitous that the St Mary’s author is Jodi and the Cornish books are about a woman called Jodi(e).

Anyway- Jodie with an E is a retired Met officer who returns to Cornwall and sets up a catering business. And then she keeps tripping over dead bodies and can’t stop sticking her nose in to solve them.

In this book she, her mother, her daughter, her best friend and a host of other folk including a group of Japanese tourists are trapped by a snowstorm in a rural former abbey which is being turned into a hotel. Then the guy who played Father Christmas at the party is found murdered and they realise the murderer could only be someone who was in already inside…

They are all supposed to be sticking together downstairs but Jodie (known as Nosey Parker for a reason) and her band of catering assistants/investigators sneak upstairs to see what they can work out.

“Bloomin’ eck, this is like a poor man’s Famous Five, innit?”

….

“Be quiet, Timmy.” (aka Germaine, Jodie’s dog)

….

“Bingo! Now that is proper Famous Five stuff.” (When the secret passage in the stone wall opens.)

A Reluctant Christmas Novel – JC Williams

Adam is a writer of sci-fi/space opera books which aren’t selling so well anymore. His publisher tells him that romantic Christmas book are always good sellers, so he has a go at that. In need of more immediate income he also takes a job driving a minibus for a charity which combats loneliness in the elderly by getting them out and about to different activities.

Once these older people find out that Adam’s an author they start calling him by author’s names. First it’s stuff like Hey Stephen King – watch out for that parked car! Then it’s Agatha Christie.

Then it’s

Ey, Enid Blyton!

Then a slightly more oblique reference that you might be able to argue is a coincidence, but seeing as he mentioned Blyton’s name shortly before I’d like to think it was deliberate.

For many both children and adults alike books were portals to lose yourself for a while. Enabling you to escape  to far off lands and dip your toes into a sea of adventure that wouldn’t be possible in the real world.

The Village Demon Hunting Society – CM Waggoner

This is another stretch as the author is American but the main character in this book is a librarian called Sherry Pinkwhistle.