Weekly Geeks – Andrew Taylor

The theme for Weekly Geeks this week is to:

A. Write a letter of appreciation to a new to you author whose work you have read and was really impressed with.

Or

B. Write a letter to a firm favourite author of yours, preferably someone alive – letting them know how much you either admire or even love their work.

I’m choosing option B. and am going to write a letter to Andrew Taylor, my favourite crime writer. I must admit… I’m rather too shy to actually send him one. Oh… I know I should. Maybe it’s a bit rude to write him one here, share it with everyone else and then not actually let him read it!

Anyway, for those of you who don’t know him, which may be many as he though highly respected, doesn’t seem to be popular. Andrew Taylor is a British mystery author who writes mostly books set in the past. He has won several awards from the Crime Writer’s Association (CWA) including the Diamond Cartier Dagger in 2009 for sustained excellence in crime writing.

I recommend:

- The American Boy/An Unpardonable Crime (US title)

- The Four Last Things (first in the Roth trilogy)

- An Air that Kills (first in the magnificent Lydmouth series)

Anyway, now you’re all a little acquainted with each other let me begin…

Dear Andrew Taylor,

I would like to say thank you for writing so many excellent books that I have really, really enjoyed reading. You were one of my first crime writers and I’m really starting to enjoy this genre too. My first book was The Four Last Things – after watching Fallen Angel on the telly and since then I’ve gone on to read loads more. I loved The American Boy and An Air that Kills. I’ve since passed them onto my crime-loving-mother and she has become a big fan of yours too.

I really love the way you write – you always make me feel as if I’m there in those pages, the characters feel real and the settings are so vivid and atmospheric. I just love being lost in a book and you’ve never failed me in this. I haven’t read all of your books yet because I like having the sense that I still have some yet to read so I’m holding out on a few.

I can’t wait until The Anatomy of Ghosts comes out in September, good luck for when it comes out I’m sure you’ll be really busy.

Thanks so much for writing my favourite books in the world.

Best Wishes

Fiona

Kind regards? Yours Sincerely? Love? what do you put when writing to a random stranger you happen to really admire? This is why I can’t actually send the letter, I’d feel too much like a complete and utter berk. There’s so much more I want to say but I don’t want to come across as a fanatical lunatic blubbering about how I would read everything he writes, even his shopping list. I don’t want him to read my letter and think “what a complete idiot, I can’t believe she reads my books!” I know, I know I’m being paranoid (probably?)

I’m getting butterflies even thinking about sending him a letter like this. I know, I’m a coward most likely he’d appreciate it but sometimes I’m just happier feeling like an anonymous fan.