THE JUMPER, worn by somebody or another.
Black and white. Or navy and cream? Chunky, practical, ratty, bobbly. Definitely Faroese. Stabbed in the shoulder, but since recovered.
The new star of high brow detective TV fiction has arrived. It’s the jumper worn by Danish detective Sarah Lund (played by Sofie Grabol) in the series The Killing.
I haven’t seen it yet – missed the start and waiting for the repeat (oh, isn’t happening, the box set then, or iPlayer) – but I hear it’s great. But I’m mildly concerned that I should know so much about the jumper. More about that than any character.
It’s probably some kind of cultural phenomenon – the fame of the jumper that is. Tim at Cultural Snow will know.
Staying on the topic of crime fiction – Sue Perkins has a quick guide to writing the perfect thriller in the Radio Times. I can’t link to the piece, so here are her condensed top tips.
1. Set the scene: Don’t go for a big city or tiny village, as those extremes have been thoroughly plundered. Why not leafy Bromsgrove? Or Kettering?
2. The hero/heroine: A lady cop who doesn’t swear or smoke (possibly an Evangelist?), has no psychological hang-ups and is in a long and happy relationship. Flaw: she has unnaturally luxuriant facial hair. [I think Donna Leon has already done this with her Guido Brunetti series set in Venice. Except he’s a bloke. And clean shaven.]
3. The perfect crime: Combine the fashions for serial killers and Nordic noir and plot a ritualised slaughter in the self-service aisles of Ikea.
Sage advice. You can hear and see her on Saturday 5 March on BBC2 at 8pm presenting The Books We Really Read. And stop press! Here’s a link to the entertaining programme – it works for seven days I think.
Meanwhile, I avoided alcohol at a leaving lunch this afternoon. I know. Crazy, huh? But perhaps more understandable when you realise that the competing non-alcoholic beverages included this beauty.
It’s a parsnip cocktail – well, parsnip, apple and lemon to be precise. But still – parsnip! I like to eat them, so why not drink them. I can report it was tasty and refreshing, with a slightly soapy lingering aftertaste of parsnip. (My Dangerous Dining chums – I drank it to you.)
Drunk anything odd lately?
Blackwatertown 
I really enjoyed the Vendetta Defense by Linda Scottoine. It is sooo Italian immigrantish and naturally I related very well. Have I drank anything odd lately? If you include having to swallow the nonsense coming out of Washington DC all the time, yes I have.
A female cop with luxuriant facial hair … very suspicious.
I’m with Carl, tired of drinking the Cool Ade coming out of D.C.
Nice jumper 😉 Got to admit tho…much prefer the hard-core tough talking male cop my wolfie self! Or maybe “The Men in Black!”… As to your drink 🙂 Sounded refreshingly pleasent until you mentioned parsnips! And worse “the slightly soapy lingering aftertaste!” 🙂
So, a jumper is a sweater? Over here a jumper is a horse trained for high fences; a jumper is a sweater. How and where did we go wrong? I have always been told we brought the accent of the most correct British speech of the day with us. Too bad we left the meanings at home on the old sod.
Drinks? Pfffffffffffffffft. They’re all alike these days – equally unusual, defy memory to ask for twice and they all leave you with a lingering taste that calls for chocolate. Isn’t that why it was invented?
Er… maybe I meant to say a pullover.
Or even a gansy?
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