Home › Odds & Ends › News & Views ›

It's a Crime

Syndicate content
For crime & thriller fiction (mainly UK); new & emerging authors; authors who deserve more attention; crime on screen; literary festivals; author & other events; the odd amusing thing; the odd rant and some politics creeping through.
URL: http://itsacrime.typepad.com/its_a_crime_or_a_mystery/
Updated: 6 hours 13 min ago

It's a Crime

    Some shocking & sad news from the lit & publishing world today...Book Brunch (log in required for relevant page) reported that "Sam Leith, Literary Editor of the Daily Telegraph, has been made redundant" and that "...it is thought that literary editor Michael Prodger is likely also to lose his job". Said Nicholas Clee at Book Brunch, "Both editors will be missed in the industry, where they are widely liked and respected. Their departures are the first in the UK to mirror an alarming trend in the US, where numerous newspapers have cut back on their books coverage." You have to ask why... And from booktrade.info comes news that Becky Saletan will... Bookworm in AmsterdamI was in Amsterdam for a few days last week, fulfilling my need to be away from this country at a time when memories deserved to be cossetted in cotton wool. As there are no known de-worming treatments for the plight of bookworm, this particular bookworm managed to find herself admiring not just the beautiful and historic architecture of the city, but also its bookshops. The first one to be visited was The American Book Center, in which I discovered a curved bookcase display that traversed from the ground floor all the way up to floor three and on into... Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival @ Harrogate in 2009The recent newsletter brings details of a "book now" offer - before Jan 16, 2009 - to get 5% off a weekend ticket and accommodation package, along with a free copy of Peter Leaonard's novel "Quiver". Contact details can be found on the site. Also, John Banville as Benjamin Black, Mark Billingham, Lee Child, Reginald Hill, and George Pelecanos are the special guests confirmed so far. The list of authors confirmed is as follows: Megan Abbott, John Banville, Mark Billingham, Gyles Brandreth, Ken Bruen, Duncan Campbell, Lee Child, Ann Cleeves, Natasha Cooper, Neil Cross, Daniel Depp, Stella Duffy, Ruth Dudley... UpdateDue to some impending commitments involving no or severely limited internet access, this blog will not be updated until the end of November, or possibly 1 December. This will include any comments awaiting moderation. Books to come later include two from Mike Ripley's comic crime Angel series: Angel on the Inside and Angel in the House. Plus Melanie Whitehouse's The Tail of Angustus Moon (non-crime and classified as "romance" just in case you are wondering). Reality TV and celebs and budding-celebs in action and READINGI could have been watching Strictly Come Dancing earlier, but this has become my Saturday night and weekend mode: catch up on who is out of Strictly by way of Digital Spy's forums after 22:30 and then watch the main show later (in the week) on Virgin's available replay service with the luxury of fast-forwarding over Brucie's (sad) gags and (intrusive) ramblings, as well as Tess Daly's bland presence. (Not that I hate Tess, I don't. I read an interview with her in the Daily Mail last week and I love her; she has to be the most grounded person... Jane Hill - writer of psychological suspense and up & coming stand-up comicPeter at Detectives Beyond Borders recently asked if we knew of any other crime authors out there who used to do stand-up comedy. (He cited Mark Billingham in his post.) I mentioned Jane Hill in the comments there, as someone who is actually doing it now. Indeed, she has just reached the final of thelondoncomic, a contest "to find the best budding stand-up star". The live final will take place on Sunday 30 November at the Soho Theatre in London. The winner's prize will be a 10 minute supporting slot for a top comedian and another slot at the same... The Literary Review's Bad Sex in Fiction Awards 2008 - the shortlistYep, it's that time of year again and thanks to The Bookseller we get to know the shortlisted tomes considered worthy of the award in 2008. The winner will be announced next Tuesday, November 25th at the Naval and Military Club on Piccadilly in London - commonly known as the "In and Out" Club. The purpose of the award is to "draw attention to the crude, tasteless, often perfunctory use of redundant passages of sexual description in the modern novel, and to discourage it". (Click that link to see last year's beauties.) The 2008 shortlist: All in the Mind by... Breaking news - John Sergeant pulls out of Strictly Come DancingWithin the last hour The Press Assocation has reported that John Sergeant is pulling out of the BBC's Strictly Come Dancing competition show. In a statement he said "The trouble is that there is now a real danger that I might win the competition. Even for me that would be a joke too far." So, John does the honourable thing; that's good old-fashioned BBC standards for you. (Let's see more of them.) John has charmed and he has entertained, but it really is time to let the competition proper take over. Judge Arlene Phillips has claimed that John does not... Costa Book Awards 2008 - the shortlistsThe shortlists were announced yesterday. The award winners in all five categories will be announced on 6 Jan 2009, with the announcement of the overall 2008 Costa Book of the Year announced later on 27 Jan 2009. First NovelPoppy Adams, The Behaviour of MothsSadie Jones, The OutcastJennie Rooney, Inside the WhaleTom Rob Smith, Child 44 Children’sKeith Gray, Ostrich BoysSaci Lloyd, The Carbon Diaries 2015Michelle Magorian, Just HenryJenny Valentine, Broken Soup BiographyDiana Athill, Somewhere Towards the End)Judith Mackrell, Bloomsbury BallerinaSathnam Sanghera, If You Don’t Know Me By Now Jackie Wullschlager, ChagallNovelSebastian Barry, The Secret ScriptureChris Cleave, The Other HandLouis de Bernieres,... National Year of Reading in the UK - 2008Believe it or not, it's almost over with only a few weeks to go. (Where did that year go?) Did you notice any major steps forward? Any big thrusts from those who carried the torch to get people (and, more importantly, children, especially boys) reading? Any significant changes leading to improvement in your area? If so, The National Year of Reading wants to hear of your "Reading Heroes". There will be 25 of them. Criteria to be met are: The impact and contribution a nominated Reading Hero has made to the reading lives of others and/or themselves. How a Reading... GUEST BLOG: Jeri Westerson, author of Veil of Lies, medieval noirHere, Jeri tells the tale of how she came to write her medieval mystery series and how she came to be published. A big welcome to Jeri as a guest blogger: Writing Medieval Mysteries The pleasures of reading were introduced to me early in life. My mother always spoke of getting "lost in adventure." And she was right. When our eyes track words on a page, our brains transport us somewhere else, into the minds of these characters and on to rich Manhattan apartments or lowly alleyways, slick with the darkness of wretched souls. When I sat down and decided... Spivs - a movie from 2004I recently watched Spivs, the cast of which included Ken Stott, Linda Bassett, Kate Ashfield, Jack Dee, Paul Kaye, Dominic Monaghan, Roshan Seth, Nick Moran. Little known Rita Ora and Christos Zenonos played Rosanna and Anton, two illegal immigrant children, and I think they may have excellent acting careers ahead of them. Spivs may appear to concentrate on the wheeling and dealing of London east-enders Jack, Steve and Goat, but it quickly turns into the story of a life change for Jack. As they find themselves inadvertently embroiled with a bunch of gangsters when a lorry container unexpectedly contains illegal... Fancy an early read?Tom Bale's Skin and Bones is due to be published by Preface on Jan 1st, 2009. If you can't wait, you can have a proof copy. See the bottom of this post for how to get your mitts on it. (Because I think a little work should be involved.) The synopsis runs: On a cold January morning, a nightmare awaits in a small Sussex village. A deranged young man goes on the rampage, shooting everyone in his path before taking his own life. It is a senseless, tragic event, but sadly not an unfamiliar one. At least, that's what everyone... The Dylan Thomas Prize 2008...... has been won by Nam Le for his first collection of short stories called The Boat. You can read more about the award here. What is your crime/thriller fiction world?Harry Bingham reports on a rejected manuscript here. If you prefer originality over the formulaic, I suggest you go there and leave a comment in support. I just did. Phantom Prey - John SandfordThere are times when I simply want to engage in a well-written, easy-read fast-paced thriller, (call it "comfort-blanket-with-pin-ends-in-every-thread" kind of reading), and John Sandford's Prey series has always managed to fit that bill for me. The last one I read - Broken Prey - left me with the feeling that the series protagonist, Lucas Davenport would benefit from retirement, especially now that he'd had so much of a lifestyle change. In the intervening years, I've managed to miss Invisible Prey; so for once, with Phantom Prey, I was reading out of sequence. Not that it made much difference when it... Arthur Miller's A View from the Bridge on the London stageCalling all fans of that wonderful actor Ken Stott... From 22 January 2009, Arthur Miller's A View from the Bridge will be at the Duke of York's Theatre in London, running through to 16 May. Starring alongside Ken Stott will be American actress Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio. If you manage an early booking you might achieve the preview price of £36 for a band B stall seat. Later, seat prices appear to start at £46 and go up to £66. (When did ticket prices become so expensive?) I am looking forward to this. It's been a long time since I last... Historical Crime Fiction Evening at Borders, CardiffHistorical Crime Fiction EveningBorders, The David Morgan Building, 14 The Hayes, Cardiff6.30 pm Thursday, 4 December, 2008 Highly acclaimed authors Bernard Knight, Andrew Taylor and R.N.Morris (Roger) will be talking about their novels and signing copies in the store for the festive season. (This post will remain at the top of the homepage until the event.) John Lawton and the Troy seriesJohn Lawton's US publisher - Grove/Atlantic - has recently been setting up author mini-sites on its own site. You can find John Lawton's here. The site includes an author bio, excerpts from the novels, information on tours, an essay from the author on Second Violin and a question & answer page. Enjoy! More positive views on Bad Traffic from Simon Lewis...I was more than happy to see these reviews come up on Eurocrime today for Simon Lewis's Bad Traffic: here and here. I loved it and you can get your copy now at this link... It's Simon's launch into crime fiction and what a launch! Don't miss it, whatever you do! Is crime fiction more than just a crime story? Is it also a social commentary for our times? Is it entertaining? Does it have depth and make you think? Yes. In answer to all questions. Simon Lewis further enhances the genre here. He also has a lovely twist in... Frantic by Katherine HowellFrantic kicks off with a scene that invites you into understanding the frenetic pace of the lives of the couple, Chris (a police-officer) and Sophie (a parademic) and how much they put their own lives at risk when "on the job". To add to their pressures, Chris is working in a police force tainted with corruption; their marriage has had the cleaver of distance sliced through it; Sophie has been tempted by Chris's partner and friend Angus; and Sophie's mother-in-law is difficult and controlling. Want to catch your breath as a reader? Fat chance. Sophie arrives home to find that... Guest Blog: Katherine Howell (fresh from winning The Davitt Award)Frantic recently won the Sisters In Crime Davitt award for best crime novel by an Australian woman in 2007. Katherine says "It was a great thrill to win and to attend the awards dinner in Melbourne". On the night, however, the expression 'you can take the medic out of the job but never out of the medic' proved itself true when a dinner guest staggered from the bathroom calling for help and Katherine had to provide some emergency care in the stairwell. A retired nurse came to help in time for Katherine to make it back to the stage to... Cheltenham Literature Festival: The Body in the LibraryWell I had to get there for this event as Minette Walters does not seem to make so many appearances these days and she's always good fun. On stage to discuss how important it is for leading crime writers to keep up with the latest developments in forensic pathology were, with Walters, Ian Rankin and Anthony Busuttil. Busuttil is a Professor of Forensic Medicine in Edinburgh. The event was chaired by Peter Guttridge. Kicking off, Busuttil described pathology, noting that it's not just about the dead but also the checking of organs, tissues etc. when the living undergo surgery, for... Oscar...... to all you out there who care and are interested (and MANY thanks). He is now at the vet's and his prognosis is not good. Indeed, I have to decide on his future life and there seems to be little hope. I imagine that tomorrow, I will hold him in my arms while I let him go. And I hate the thought, but it has to be. I will not let my darling boy suffer more than he has to. I will tell his wonderful story later. The above pic is Oscar in his prime; the way I want... Persimmon Homes/M&S Email Offering VouchersIf you are unlucky enough to receive an email suggesting M&S will pay you in vouchers for forwarding the email (£100 for 8 forwards and £500 for 20) DO NOT FORWARD as this is a SCAM. The email claims that Persimmon Homes is in a deal with M&S for word of mouth marketing. You are required to cc your forwarding email to someone at Persimmon Homes, but the email address is not a valid one for Persimmon Homes. I received one yesterday and oh you lucky friends out there, I looked into it first. It didn't make any commercial sense... Therapy by Sebastian Fitzek (translated fom the original German by Sally-Ann Spencer)Therapy by Sebastian Fitzek opens in the waiting room of a doctor's surgery. Acclaimed celebrity psychiatrist and father of Josy, Viktor Larenz is there with his daughter to see allergy specialist Dr Grohlke. He is the twenty-second doctor on Larenz's list as twelve year old Josy has been ill for some time and no doctor has been able to come up with a diagnosis or effective treatment yet. But soon we are embroiled in the maelstrom of Larenz's panic as Josy goes missing. Fact, reality, perception and the spurious are thrown into the pot, as we wonder what is the... Coming soon, now the autumn leaves are falling...Two from Pan Macmillan here in the UK: Aussie Katherine Howell's Frantic plus a guest blog from the author. Here in the UK, it's not a cover to invite you in perhaps, but the protag is an ambulance officer and Katherine knows all about that. She also knows how to create suspense where her protag's hubby is shot and their baby is taken ... Sebastian Fitzek's Therapy knocked Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code off the top of the best sellers list in Germany. An intense and claustrophobic psychological thriller, Therapy throws out many curve balls. Just when you thought... Child 44 - Tom Rob SmithBefore I even start, let me warn you: I am not about to debate the merits (or otherwise) of the inclusion on the 2008 Man Booker longlist for this novel - that might come later, should I feel the desire, and I suspect it might as I feel the author has been unfairly criticised on a personal level. As a regular crime and thriller fiction reader - my thoughts are entirely on this novel for its own standalone merits, as a novel in the thriller genre. I am also someone who abhors hype. Thrust something in my face and I... The CWA Ellis Peters Historical Award 2008The shortlist for the above award has been announced: Ariana Franklin, The Death Maze, Bantam PressPhilip Kerr, A Quiet Flame, QuercusAndrew Martin, Death on a Branch Line, faber and faberC J Sansom, Revelation, MacmillanAndrew Taylor, Bleeding Heart Square, Michael JosephLaura Wilson, Stratton’s War, Orion Because this year "brought an unprecedented number of excellent historical crime novels", the judging panel asked that the following books from their long list should be published "in recognition of their merit": Marjorie Eccles, Last Nocturne, Allison & BusbyAnn Granger, A Mortal Curiosity, HeadlineH R F Keating, Inspector Ghote’s First Case, Allison & BusbyR N Morris,... If I Were Prime Minister: Ian RankinOver at Total Politics, Ian Rankin answers the questions on "If I Were Prime Minister". For example: "Whom would you have knighted?Knighthoods would only be for my closest friends. And people with deep pockets. (No change there then.) " And, "What would your ministerial car be?A Mini Cooper." Crime on Screen: new TV channel "alibi"Launching on 7 October, uktv brings "alibi" to the digital network (sky 132, virgin 130). It promises dawn till dusk repeats of old TV crime series favourites such as Shoestring; Miss Marple; Bergerac; Silent Witness; Maisie Raine; Dalziel and Pascoe; New Tricks; Murder She Wrote; Hetty Wainthropp Investigates; Judge John Deed; The Inspector Lynley Mysteries; Taggart; Spooks; Waking the Dead; Dangerfield; The Father Dowling Mysteries. Faber & Faber CrimeFaber held an event to promote their growing crime list last week. Here's a schedule of what's coming over the next few months, followed by some information on new authors and new novels (mainly based on Faber's PR material): Jan 09: And Then There Was No One by Gilbert Adair; A Vengeful Longing (pb) by R. N. Morris. Feb 09: An Expert in Murder (pb) by Nicola Upson. March 09: The Last Train to Scarborough by Andrew Martin; Quiver (pb) by Peter Leonard (the hb is published this month). April 09: The Black Monastery by Stav Sherez; Death on a... More on Identity Theft plus Data Harvesting (data on all of us...)A programme on BBC3 caught my eye last night and I'm glad it did. I've not been aware of this BBC3 series called Mischief before, but it's now on series 3 apparently. Having had my card details stolen more than once and possibly my ID (earlier this year), I was keen to watch the episode entitled "Your Identity for Sale". I wanted to know what information was in the general public domain about risks. If you missed it, you can watch it here on BBC iplayer. And I really do recommend that you watch it for some tips on your... This Septic Isle by Mike Barfield: one to watch?My humour was percolated earlier today when reading an extract in the Daily Mail from Mike Barfield's This Septic Isle. Barfield, a cartoonist for Private Eye magazine in the UK has sought to re-define some words in the English dictionary for our modern British world and our language in This Septic Isle. (See it at Amazon, at that link.) I say "some words" because at 288 pages he's not re-defining the whole of the English language, just the pertinent words. And boy, is it fun! I want to read this as I had so much of a laugh reading the... Guest Blog: BLEEDING HEART SQUARE. Where the novel came from, by Andrew TaylorLike a river, a book must start somewhere. Like a river, it sometimes has more than one source. Bleeding Heart Square had three. The sources didn’t appear at the same time but slowly and coyly. But I couldn’t start writing until they flowed together, mingling so quickly and thoroughly that I find it hard to know when and where one idea ends and the others begin. One was the Moat Farm Murder of 1899, a real-life case with which my grandmother had a remote connection - I’ve blogged about this elsewhere. The other two sources came later, but were just... Bleeding Heart Square - Andrew TaylorAndrew Taylor's latest novel Bleeding Heart Square is another standalone and another of his historical novels that, on this occasion is mainly set around the time of the rise of fascism, with another linked story taking place four years before in 1930. The cover carries words from a previous review in The Times: "One of Britain's best writers of psychological suspense". And in Bleeding Heart Square, psychological suspense it is, at its best, with the very clever writing you come to expect, anticipate and impatiently await from Andrew Taylor. Why clever? This is a story that is effectively a series... You can now pick up at Penguin...I thought I'd seen it all. When I read this article on The Bookseller's site yesterday, I wondered if I had the date wrong. April 1st? Nope. Yes, it was 21/08/08 and the link actually worked. UK publisher Penguin has teamed up with Match.com to launch PenguinDating Where Book Lovers Meet. Reported The Bookseller: 'Penguin said the site would offer readers “a place to meet and indulge in the age-old art of writing love letters”. Members will be asked to write in their profile about the last book they read and will also be able to search through the site’s... BBC Sport MastermindThe first BBC Sport Mastermind was crowned in the final earlier this week. Well, he received a rather nice glass bowl, truth be told. You can see the final on BBC iPlayer here (only a few days left). In his heat, civil servant Mr Chris Bell shot to the top of the leader board with a very assured performance. In the final, he won with a convincing margin. Many congratulations to Chris! As pointed out by Des Lynam, Chris was in the studio for the final on the day of his first wedding anniversary. Asked Lynam, "What are doing here?"... Novels Listed for the ITV3 Crime AwardsFrom The Bookseller, in addition to the ITV3 Writer’s Award for Classic TV Drama (shortlist of P.D.James, Ruth Rendell, Colin Dexter, Lynda La Plante, Ian Rankin, Val McDermid), the following awards and their shortlists are now announced: Breakthrough Author Award Chelsea Cain Heartsick (Pan) Stuart MacBride Broken Skin (Harper) Michael Robotham Shatter (Sphere) Anne Zouroudi The Messenger of Athens (Bloomsbury) International Author of the Year Jeffery Deaver The Sleeping Doll (Hodder & Stoughton) Stieg Larsson The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (Quercus) Karin Slaughter Skin Privilege (Arrow) PJ Tracy Snow Blind (Penguin) Author of the Year Lee Child Bad Luck...