Articles by Melanie Gay

About Melanie Gay

A former literary agent with three published novels of her own, Melanie retains her life-long love of the written word and recently mastered the Kindle. She is currently writing a historical novel set in 17th Century Britain and Holland. More Posts

Foreign detective writing

We tend to assume that only English-speaking writers can write detective novels. In Britain the genre is dominated by women – Agatha Christie, Dorothy Sayers, Marjoriec Allingham and recently Val McDiamid. In fact some interesting detective novels have been written by French writers and [...]

January 9, 2025 // 0 Comments

RECENT MODERN FICTION

The Proof of My Innocence (Jonathan Coe) I am a big Jonathan Coe fan and a new book of his is a great event. This differs from previous novels as it is a detective thriller about the murder of a left wing blogger Christopher Swann at a right wing conference hosted by Lord Wetherby. Coe is a [...]

November 20, 2024 // 0 Comments

Taste/Stanley Tucci: My Life Through Food (2021)

Stanley Tucci is a successful film actor who has made a second career of out his great interest in – and love of – food. I first became aware of this through his TV programmes travelling to different cities and reporting on their cuisine. He develops this in his book starting with [...]

October 17, 2024 // 0 Comments

Gabriel’s Moon/William Boyd

A newly published William Boyd novel is a big literary event especially for his legion of followers. The general critical view is his recent novels fall short of his earliest West African ones and Any Human Heart. He is a master story teller and Gabriel’s Moon conforms to that. There are [...]

October 9, 2024 // 0 Comments

Jamaica Inn/Daphne du Maurier

oAfter reading non-fiction it was a pleasure to return to a Daphne du Maurier novel I had not read. Jamaica Inn showcases Daphne du Maurer’s ability as a writer: she can tell a good story and conveys a fine sense of location and atmosphere. The story’s heroine is 23 year old Mary Yellan [...]

September 9, 2024 // 0 Comments

Yellowface/Rebecca Kuang

This is an impressive novel recommended by Harriet Gilbert on A Good Read and presently Radio 4’s Book at Bedtime. The story is of an unsuccessful writer Juniper Hayward who is friendly at Yale with a far more successful one – Athena Liu. She meets up with her buddy in Washington DC who, [...]

July 19, 2024 // 0 Comments

Adult Book/Malcolm Knox

If i were to describe this novel in one word it would be scabrous. Malcolm Knox is a Sydney journalist and the novel is set in its North Shore. It features the Brand family. John is a doctor who died age 62 after becoming a porn addict. He has 3 sons by his ambitious wife Margaret: Davis, also [...]

July 17, 2024 // 0 Comments

The Rumor Game/Thomas Mullen

The Rumor Game is set in Boston in 1943 and features as central characters a Jewish activist journalist (Anne) and an Irishman (Devon Mulroy) who works for the FBI. Both are conflicted. Anne wants to be more involved in exposing rising anti-semitism, chiefly inflicted by the Irish community, and [...]

March 27, 2024 // 0 Comments

All The Light We Cannot See/Anthony Doerr

For those who do not enjoy reading, or may be intimidated by a 500 page book, you can start – as I did – with the Netflix film starring Mark Ruffalo and Hugh Laurie. I was sufficiently engaged – and thought the film may not have done justice to the novel – to read the book. [...]

March 5, 2024 // 0 Comments

Don’t Look Now/Radio 3

Many a well-known film or play has started life as a radio play – Bill Naughton’s Alfie being an example. Don’t Look Now, the 1973 film directed by Nicholas Roeg starring Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie, is so well-known that many may not be aware that its source was a short [...]

March 4, 2024 // 0 Comments

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Smith or Smith

January 20, 2025 // 0 Comments

I followed the Radio London commentary of the Harlequins 24 Glasgow Warriors 7 match, being unwilling to lay out £25 monthly for broadcaster Premium Sports. So I cannot give [...]
The Tanner Report: Leicester City 0 Fulham 2

January 19, 2025 // 0 Comments

Though this was not the most exciting of games it was a vital one. Fulham had drawn 6 of their last 9 games and doubts existed why we fared so well against team above us [...]
Match of the Day new presenters

January 18, 2025 // 0 Comments

Alex Jay-Kerski’s (BBC Director of Sport) garlanding of the three new Match Of The Day presenters (Kelly Cates, Gabby Logan and Mark Chapman) reminded me of the line in the [...]
Ipswich 0 Brighton 2

January 17, 2025 // 0 Comments

Brighton ended their 8 match Premier run without a win with a hard-fought but unattractive victory at Portman Road. Brighton have been bedevilled by injuries: Igor, Danny [...]
The Tanner Report: West Ham 3 Fulham 2

January 15, 2025 // 0 Comments

You can lose a game because the opposition is superior or through bad luck (a deflection, an injury or a poor refereeing decision) or through sloppiness. This match was lost [...]