Author David keeps our town on the map H

THOUGHTS on death by famous people had readers smiling and offering their favourites.

“I’m not afraid to die. I just don’t want to be there when it happens,” said Woody Allen.

Spike Milligan had a two-year battle after his death to get the inscription he wanted on his East Sussex grave approved by the Chichester Diocese.

Eventually it was allowed, but only in Gaelic, which would have suited Spike: he was an Irish passport holder. It says: “I told you I was ill.”

Milligan was a man of a thousand quotable quotes.

“I thought I’d begin by reading a poem by Shakespeare,” he said. “But then I thought, why should I? He never reads any of mine.”

“I have the body of an 18-year-old,” he boasted. “I keep it in the fridge.”

And: “A sure cure for sea sickness is to sit under a tree.”

He was also an accomplished poet: “Said Hamlet to Ophelia, I’ll draw a sketch of thee. What kind of pencil shall I use? 2B or not 2B?”

They don’t write them like that anymore. UDDERSFIELD, I declared, was an unlikely setting for a case involving detective Sexton Blake. But that’s what happened in a 1926 issue of the Union Jack comic.

I wondered if the town had ever been specifically featured since in film, TV or fiction – and was delighted to be reminded that it has: in the Detective Inspector Paul Snow novels set in and around the town by Huddersfield author David Stuart Davies. Blood Rites, the third in the series, is published on November 9.

David taught at Mirfield High School/Free Grammar for 20 years before becoming a full-time writer, and lives with his wife Kathryn near Greenhead Park.

As well as a successful author, he is also, by coincidence, an authority on that other Great Detective, Sherlock Holmes.

He is a member of the national committee of the Crime Writers’ Association and has edited their magazine, Red Herrings, since 1999, is a past editor of Sherlock magazine, a member of The Detection Club and an invested member of the Baker Street Irregulars.

He has written nonfiction books, short stories and two oneman plays about Holmes.

As if that isn’t enough, he has written acclaimed Sherlock Holmes novels and is the creator of a crime series featuring private detective Johnny Hawke, set in 1940s wartime London, as well as the DI Snow novels Huddersfield.

“The first of the Snow series, Brothers in Blood, begins in the 1960s but moves to the mid 80s.

The second is called Innocent Blood and the third, Blood Rites, which is published on November 9, has its climax in Greenhead Park.

“I chose the 1980s because this was a time before DNA and other forensic developments, which reduced the interpersonal aspect of policing. The novels are filled with references to Huddersfield locations.

“The other interesting aspect is that the police inspector is gay at a time when he has to hide his sexual feelings in order to maintain his high flying career.”

Blood Rites, published by Urbane Publications, is available from Amazon and book shops priced £7.99 and as an e-book.