Christopher Fowler was the multiple award-winning author of almost fifty novels and short story collections, including the celebrated Bryant & May mysteries. His other novels include Roofworld, Spanky, The Sand Men and Hot Water. He has also written two acclaimed memoirs, Paperboy (winner of the Green Carnation Prize) and Film Freak, plus The Book of Forgotten Authors and Peculiar London, Bryant and May's singular and eccentric guide to the city. In 2015 Chris was awarded the Crime Writers Association's coveted 'Dagger in the Library' for his body of work. He lived in London and Barcelona. Diagnosed with cancer just as the UK went into lockdown in 2020, Chris died on 2nd March 2023.
Clever, wise, heartbreaking and yet also life-affirmingly funny:
his literary comic lightness of touch is on a par with
Wodehouse.
*JOANNE HARRIS, bestselling author of Broken Light and
Chocolat*
A delight to read - a glorious, witty and life-affirming ragbag of
autobiography, cultural commentary and hard-won wisdom about the
strange and miraculous craft of writing. It's the sort of book that
makes you want to underline every other sentence. Beautifully
written, of course - one would expect no less from Chris - and
characterised by its complete lack of self-pity. I hope it sells by
the truckload.
*ANDREW TAYLOR, bestselling author of The Shadows of London*
A delight: perceptive, wise and illuminating on the act of reading
(no genre held terrors for him) and, equally, the act of writing.
All of this in a book full of disarmingly sardonic gallows humour
about his own impending death. An unmissable farewell from the much
missed author.
*FINANCIAL TIMES*
A remarkable book by a remarkable writer: amazingly entertaining
and informative and also, for obvious reasons, one of the most
moving.
*SIMON MASON, author of the DI Wilkins Mysteries*
Not a hint of Pollyanna here, just the most hilarious,
life-affirming book you’ll read this year.
*SAGA magazine*
Wonderful . . . there is no bitterness here, but a hearty
celebration of how art defines a life, with dark humour on the
right occasions and the deliberate aim to leave a positive message,
from the adoration of Dickens to the guilty pleasures of terrible
horror movies . . . he was a man with a deeply-felt love (and I
don’t use the word lightly) for the arts, both minor and major, and
his enthusiasm is infectious and sobering when you are aware that
he was dying as he wrote these pages.
*CRIME TIME*
Peppered throughout with a wit and wisdom that makes every page
turn . . . seek him out and discover what a fine talent the world
has lost.
*STARBURST*
Funny and poignant, Word Monkey is full of fascinating insights and
is more than just a first-rate memoir . . . a fitting memorial to a
terrific writer.
*MARTIN EDWARDS*
Funny and moving.
*GUARDIAN, Best Crime and Thrillers of 2023*
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