This month we look at the genre of detective fiction…

North Books’ alternative book club edges away from the usual convention of only inviting readers to discuss a single book (though this can happen from time to time) to opening up our evenings to a more general celebration of our shared love of storytelling and the people behind the words on the page.

Thoughts in the pot so far include asking readers to choose any work from a given writer to encourage a wider discussion of the author’s creativity and output. We are also interested in dedicated genre events as well as putting poets, journalists, songwriters and historians in the mix. Fiction, non-fiction and everything in between.

It’s a book club but it’s an evolving one. It will be one thing one month and something else the next time we meet – always, though, it will belong to the group and it will be shaped by you. The only common denominator will be words – and a conversation about them.

JOIN US

Participation is free if the book is purchased in advance from North Books at a 10% discount. Otherwise it is £5 on the night. To join the group, please email Jules on jules@northbooks.co.uk.

THE WORK

Next session’s reading suggestion is the genre of detective fiction.

On our eleventh evening, Wednesday 4 December, let's talk about the detective fiction books that we find most gripping.

Any detectives, any era. Could be Richard Osman’s retirement village sleuths, Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock, Poe’s Auguste Dupin (reputedly literature’s first detective) or a Dame Agatha Christie from the Golden Ear - Poirot perhaps or Miss Marple. Choices are endless; it’s a phenomenally rich and constantly evolving genre.

Whatever your relationship with detective fiction, there’s bound to be something here to digest.

Recommended reads available from North Books should you have ditched your love of the detective novel in your teens...

All available to order via Bookshop.org or in the bookshop on request.