#6Degrees of Separation – A book chain from All Day at the Movies to The Name of the Rose

It’s the first Saturday of the month which means it’s time for 6 Degrees of Separation.

Here’s how it works: a book is chosen as a starting point by Kate at Books Are My Favourite and Best and linked to six other books to form a chain. Readers and bloggers are invited to join in by creating their own ‘chain’ leading from the selected book.

Kate says: Books can be linked in obvious ways – for example, books by the same authors, from the same era or genre, or books with similar themes or settings. Or, you may choose to link them in more personal or esoteric ways: books you read on the same holiday, books given to you by a particular friend, books that remind you of a particular time in your life, or books you read for an online challenge. Join in by posting your own six degrees chain on your blog and adding the link in the comments section of each month’s post.   You can also check out links to posts on Twitter using the hashtag #6Degrees.

For this month’s starting book we’re given the choice of either the book we finished on in January or the last book we read. I’ve chosen to start with the last book I read – All Day at the Movies by Fiona Kidman. I haven’t got around to writing my review yet so the link from the title is to the book description on Goodreads.

This Mortal Boy was the first book I read by Fiona Kidman. An account of a real life case, it depicts the events leading up to one of the last executions in New Zealand. In a possible miscarriage of justice, twenty-year-old Albert Black was convicted of murdering another young man in Auckland in 1955.

The Fortune Men by Nadifa Mohamed depicts another real life miscarriage of justice, this time in the Tiger Bay area of Cardiff in 1952. Mahmood Mattan, a recent immigrant from Somalia, was hanged for the brutal murder of a shopkeeper despite the eyewitness evidence being shaky at best. To quote from my review, ‘the final chapter of The Fortune Men made me cry; the epilogue made me angry’.

From one brutal murder to three brutal murders, this time in the Scottish Highlands in 1869. His Bloody Project by Graeme Macrae Burnet comprises a collection of documents including witness statements, medical reports and a trial transcript. But the key document is a detailed memoir written from his jail cell by Roderick Macrae, the young man who admits to committing the murder. But should we believe all the evidence presented to us?

So far, we’ve focused on the victim but in Those Who Know by Alis Hawkins it’s the investigator who takes centre stage. The third book in the Teifi Valley Coroner series sees Harry Probert-Lloyd and his assistant, John, investigate the death of a pioneering schoolteacher whose death may not be the accident it first appeared.

The death of a former schoolmaster also features in The Teacher by Tim Sullivan, the latest book in his crime series featuring DS George Cross.

The previous book in the series was titled The Monk which leads me to book which features a monk turned detective, namely Brother William of Baskerville in Umberto Eco’s The Name of the Rose, memorably portrayed in the film version by Sean Connery.

My chain has taken me from a book referencing the movies to a book made into a movie. Where did your chain take you this month?