Again,
we find ourselves at the Michael Joseph / Penguin Crime Party, an important
imprint within the PenguinRandomHouse publishing conglomerate, to see what lay
in store for the British Crime and Thriller Fiction reader.
The
venue was the Crypt
in the basement of St Martins-in-the-Field, adjacent to Trafalgar Square,
as it had been last year; a far cry from when Publisher Rowland
White would perch on a rickety chair in the Union Club in Soho, a venue
that Penguin outgrew several years ago, due to the strength of their Crime and
Thriller list.
Previous
years have been equally eclectic, and we have archived reports from 2018
Here, 2017
Here and 2016
Here
Many
writer / critics / journalists assembled, so it was good to compare notes with Chris
Simmons, Maxim Jakubowski, Mike Carlson, Ayo Onatade, John Williams, Jon Coates,
Richard Reynolds, Marcel Berlins, David Stuart Davies and Mike Ripley among the
gathering. There were booksellers also present mingling with Penguin Editorial
and Publicity staff, who steered the assembled to what was new and what was hot
from their 2019 publishing schedule.
Penguin
were in celebratory mode, as Gregg Hurwitz
was in town, and with publisher Rowland White they organised some Gin to Toast
Greg’s latest in his Orphan
X thriller series, Out
of the Dark which just hit the UK top ten hardcovers on the first week of
release – a highly prescient political thriller, and one gaining significant traction.
Out
of the Dark, is a truly engaging thriller, one that Mike Stotter and I read
last year, when we joined Gregg for high tea at Betty’s Tea Rooms during Theakstons
Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival, in Harrogate.
So,
after mingling with the Penguin team and their authors it was time to listen to
Joel Richardson take the microphone
and formally welcome the guests to the party, which we have recorded below, and
is available from THIS LINK
So as
Joel finished his welcome, it was time to return to mingling, wine in hand as
the food was brought in.
We present
a selection of photographs from the evening.
More
information about upcoming books from the Michael Joseph imprint at
PenguinRandomHouse is available from this link HERE
All
Photos © 2019 Ali Karim
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