Where Did They Hide the Bodies?

A new party game emerged this week after a futile search of my local bookshop. Susie (Fat is a Feminist Issue) Orbach’s ‘Bodies’ came out on Monday; which section had they put it in? The assistant had no idea, and so began a bizarre guessing game.

Was it Psychology, perhaps, or Popular Psychology? Nope. Mind Body and Spirit? Wrong again! Women's studies? Sociology? Health? Popular Culture? The assistant finally found a copy in the window, so we’re still none the wiser.

Since then the regulars at Peachum’s Tavern have been considering a category name for books of this kind, designed to be read with a certain smugness by those who are aware of the issues and ready to enjoy a bit of righteous indignation while feeling reassuringly intellectual.

After much deliberation, it was the Artful Dodger who came up with the best solution; here in Newgate, Ms Orbach’s opus will join those of Eric Schlosser, Naomi Klein and Mark Lynas on a shelf clearly labelled ‘Mummy’s Moral High Ground’.

Uderzo sells out

Why let a little thing like death stand in the way of your career? Albert Uderzo (81) – the surviving half of the duo who created Asterix and Obelix – has authorised publisher Hachette Livre to continue the series of 33 books after his death.

When story-writer Rene Goscinny died, Uderzo took on the task of producing text as well as pictures. Although an undeniably talented illustrator, responsible for some of the most memorable comic creations ever, Uderzo lacked Goscinny’s literary touch and the subsequent stories were lacklustre imitations of their predecessors.

Now we see the prospect of an ersatz Asterix; the Gauls reduced to little more than creations in an ongoing soap opera bereft of the wit and style that endeared them to millions. It remains to be seen whether these, like the ones written by Uderzo alone, will continue to bear the names of Uderzo and Goscinny.

Southern gothic novelist Virginia Andrews, for example, has been particularly busy since shuffling off this mortal coil in 1986. Her eight novels, featuring such salubrious plot devices as child abuse and incest, were standard teenage fare in the 80s for those who avidly consume misery memoirs today. So successful were they that, after her death, her family employed a ghost writer to continue the sagas under her name and the canon now stands at 50 books and counting.