Blog Tour stop for this fantastic classic murder mystery jaunt set in the late 60's
#Code17 #FrancisBooth #RandomThingsTours @annecater
The last words he says to me before he dies are...'Code 17'.
Synopsis
BANG
BANG BANG
Jonty crumples to the ground, I jump out of the Bentley and run over to him as fast as I can manage in my wedding dress. Jonty is bleeding from the head, the cheat and the tummy.
The last words he says to me before he dies are:
'Code 17'.
Code 17 was originally a musical idea.
Ten years ago I made an album that paid homage to the theme music of 1960s British TV spy series like The Man from UNCLE, The Baron and Department S, and to films like Modesty Blaise and The Ipcress File.
The music on the album was from an imaginary TV series called Code 17, featuring the glamorous art dealer/spy Lady Laura Summers.
She was imagined as a cross between Sharron Macready of The Champions, Emma Peel of The Avengers and Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward of Thunderbirds, though none of these women was the lead character in their own show.
Ten years later I thought I could make a novel out of Code 17 and Lady Laura – a fast-paced, female-led thriller set in the art world of Swinging 1967 London.
I kept to the format of a twelve-episode TV series and tried to imagine each chapter as a self-contained thirty minute episode, split into short, cinematic scenes; I imagined our heroine getting into deep water in every episode but always getting out of it before the credits rolled.
I hope you can imagine it that way too.
You can hear the music at https://www.mixcloud.com/planckmusic/code-17/
And watch the promotional video here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfZsXqxch5I
My Review
I am honoured today to be closing out what has been a fantastic Blog Tour for this wonderful book!
I love love LOVED everything about this tale from the story of its conception from music to its Fun and cool style as a jaunt through the late 60's.
We meet Lady Laurencia Artemisia Claudia Summer (what a name!) Lady Laura is an upperclass art dealer, with one foot firmly in some dodgy art dealings and goings on!
Even though we learn early on that Lady Laura is gay, he is marrying Jonty to keep up apprentices, unfortunately and mysteriously Jonty is gunned down on their wedding day the last thing he says is Code 17...
I try to be a spoiler free blog so I will say no more on what/who code 17 is, but Jontys last words take Lady Laura and us on a fantastic trip through the late 60's, full of fun, freedom, pop art, music and that such great characters that really added to this classic feel of a 60's murder/crime mystery like the old Avenger series, The Saint or The Man from U.N.C.L.E .
Even given the crime and murder element this read was nothing sort of engaging and really really fun! a fabolus mix of classy, classic and style! I am thrilled to already know that a second book is n the works and I cannot wait!
Author Bio
Francis Booth’s novels are all available as eBooks and paperbacks on Amazon.
They include:
· The Watchers series of Young Adult fantasy novels: The Charlotte Strain and The January Legacy;
· The Nevermore novel sequence Nevermore, Evermore, Gone Before and Nothing More, a series of dark revenge tragedies;
· Code 17, a fast-paced, female-led thriller set in the art world of Swinging Sixties London.
Francis is also the author of several academic books on modern literature and culture,
also available on Amazon:
· Amongst Those Left: the British Experimental Novel 1940-1960 (to be published by Dalkey Archive Press);
· Everybody I Can Think of Ever: Meetings That Made the Avant-Garde;
· Girls in Bloom: Coming of Age in the Mid Twentieth Century Woman’s Novel;
· Text Acts: Twentieth Century Literary Eroticism;
· Comrades in Art: Revolutionary Art in America 1926-1938.
As a translator, Francis Booth has published English versions of the Marionette Plays of Maurice Maeterlinck and produced libretti adapted from Akutagawa, Strindberg and early Sanskrit and Buddhist texts, several of which have been set to music and recorded.
Francis also produces music under the name Tektonix, all of which is on YouTube and at mixcloud.com/planckmusic.
He is currently at work on Code 17.1, the sequel to Code 17.
Purchase Links
Blog Tour
Thank you to the Publisher and Author for sending me an Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) of this novel and for the opportunity to review these works.
All reviews are my own unbiased opinion.