Volume 10 of Maxim Jakubowski’s Mammoth Book of Best British Crime has recently arrived from publishers Contsable & Robinson. Weighing in at close to 550 pages, it features more than 40 stories from the likes of Lee Child, Stella Duffy, Cath Staincliffe and – yes – me.
My story in the collection, “Handy Man”, was first published in Ambit magazine and was written after I became quietly obsessed with a clever and wonderful song – both comic and sinister – called “Keep It To Yourself”, which had been recorded by Amy Rigby and written by her and Bill Demain.
I’ve tried to capture – all right, borrow – the central idea of the song, in which a woman suggests, somewhat slyly, that her new boy friend might do her a favour by disposing of the old one, while changing the characters and casting it in a different setting.
It’s told from the perspective of a woman no longer quite as young, quite as fresh as she once was, but looking for a new start, a clearing of the decks. It’s also – a first for me, as far as I can remember – told in the first person.
Before publishing, I was careful, of course, to send Amy a copy of the story and get her permission, which I’m delighted to say she was happy to give.
This is how it begins:
It was his hands I noticed first. Really took in. Broad, dependable hands. A ring on the wedding finger, dull gold. And the nails, surprisingly even, rounded, no snags, not bitten down; no callouses on the fingers, such as you might expect from a man who worked with his hands. Only the suggestion of hard skin around the base of the thumb, hard yet smooth.
Harry.
A simple name. Straightforward, simple.
Things I knew about him later: time he’d spent in the army, Northern Ireland, Iraq. Things he would never really talk about, just hints, nightmares, dreams. His anger. Not so simple really. Harry.
May have to try the “mammoth” book! However, your blog gives me the excuse to comment on your short story collection A DARKER SHADE OF BLUE which I recently read. Mr. H, I am NOT a fan of short fiction, stories or novelettes, but must say your collection really hit my interest button. I could hardly wait to get to the next story. Could be that the well-loved characters like Charlie, Kiley and Frank filled my appetite for their exploits and/or the writer’s artistry overcame my bias against short fiction. Have to admit that I have enjoyed Annie Proulx’s collections but yours and hers are the only ones I’d seek out., Thanks again for the offerings.
Annie Prouox’s first book of western short stories is one of the best I’ve ever read – I can even remember where I first read it, in a garden in Italy, surrounded by vineyards and hillsides and the sounds of church bells all around.
Somewhat in the same vein, I was led to her collection “Close Range” bythe movie of Brokeback Mountain “-just testing to see if the movie followed the short story. Then I was hooked and got “Bad Dirt” to continue the entertainment. Living in Arizona, I’m always fascinated by Western fiction plus we took our kids on many guest-ranching vacations in Wyoming just South of Jackson. Ability to capture a place and a culture so tantalyzingly as she does is almost genius (maybe it is!). Hr books broadened my taste and you’ve re-inforced the experience.