For Those In The Know... Again

For Those In The Know...

All Hail Matilda

I have to say there is a big difference between Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk when it comes to dealing with piracy. Amazon.com was very helpful in a previous case of piracy; in comparison Amazon.co.uk took the view of not wanting to get involved – and I quote “it would not be appropriate for Amazon to assist.”  I submitted the details to them more than once and each time I received the same automated reply. I suspect that it is a rare event for a human being at Amazon.co.uk to actually read any complaints on such matters. The day was saved however by my friend Matilda Lore. She lives in the next State to where Paragon OS is based and she contacted them directly on the matter and they removed their listing from all Amazon sites. Matilda is my hero. All hail Matilda.

PIRATED AGAIN?

Well, it seems my Thomas Hill book may have been subjected to product piracy again. A seller on Amazon.co.uk called Paragon OS is selling supposedly ‘new’ copies for over £60 each – even though the retail price of genuine copies is only £10.

There are two possibilities.

One is that Paragon OS is simply being dishonest in its description and they have second hand copies, not new ones - which makes the price region of £60 extremely unfair. My book is still in print, still available, and second hand copies sell for less than £10. Whoever pays more than that is being right royally screwed by the seller.

The other possibility, if the books are in 'new' condition, considering that Paragon OS have never been supplied by me or mine with any ‘new’ copies of the book, is that they have a pirate edition.

I have reported the matter to Amazon and wait to see what will happen to the listing. They have been very helpful in the past when this has happened before. I hope they are again.

The 'How' in Two Episodes of Father Brown

I enjoyed the recent series of Father Brown. I did notice something about two of the episodes.

Father Brown, series 4, episode 5, The Daughters of Autolycus.

See the short story The Duchess of Wiltshire’s Diamonds by Guy Boothby in his book A Prince of Swindlers or in The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes edited by Hugh Greene. It was adapted in the television series The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes and sometimes can be found on YouTube.

Father Brown, series 4, episode 6, The Rod of Asclepius.

See the novel Green For Danger (1944) by Christianna Brand and the film adaptation of that novel starring Alistair Sim (1946).

I won't give any further details because that will spoil seeing the episodes and reading the stories mentioned above.