SlaughterFest

 

SlaughterFest is returning for a second year in September, celebrating crime writing with a weekend of events curated by author Karin Slaughter with HarperFiction.

Covering the broad spectrum of crime fiction, from historical to courtroom thrillers, organised crime gangs to the return of serial killers, SlaughterFest will offer a diverse programme for readers in the genre. The festival will feature a mix of live and pre-recorded content, hosted on Zoom and the Killer Reads Facebook page, and will take place on 3rd and 4th September.

Slaughter said: “I am so pleased to announce the second year of SlaughterFest, and we’re hoping for an equally fantastic line-up of authors, with a wide range of perspectives and storytelling. We strive to host authors that will appeal to readers from all genres within the thriller spectrum. We hope fans will enjoy hearing from some of their favourite writers, while also discovering new and emerging voices in crime fiction. I look forward to seeing all of my partners in crime in September!”

Slaughter is calling for UK publishers to submit their authors for panels on historical crime fiction, true crime, organised crime gangs in fiction, authors who have changed genres to write crime, serial killers in fiction, political thrillers and courtroom fiction.

The festival will also feature a live masterclass in crime fiction, and a special opening event, "Karin Slaughter Introduces…", a panel showcasing writers at the start of their career, hand-picked by the author. Submissions, including an author's biography, blurb for their most recent books, press release and supporting information (such as event experience and a passion pitch) should be sent to slaughterfest@harpercollins.co.uk.

The submission deadline is 9th July and authors will be notified by 16th July. Panel recordings will take place the week commencing 2nd August and the programme will be announced to the public on 9th August. For more information, terms and conditions, visit the event website or see below.

TERMS AND CONDITIONS

1. This festival is promoted by HarperCollins Publishers Limited (“HarperCollins”), 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9FG.

2. This festival is open to UK Publishers only and we invite them to submit authors of all nationalities.

3. How to submit your author: Submissions should be sent to slaughterfest@harpercollins.co.uk and include: Author biography, Blurb for their most recent book/s, Press release, Supporting information e.g. event experience, a passion pitch.

4. Authors should be submitted to take part in or chair a specific panel. The panels are:

• Crimes of the Past: taking a criminally good stroll through out past with the finest historical crime fiction

• True Crime: what is it about real life crime that we find so compelling? This panel will explore documentaries, podcasts and books in the genre

• The OCG: we’re interested in one thing and one thing only – catching bent coppers! A deep dive into the murky world of organised crime gangs in crime fiction

• Embracing the Dark Side: meet the authors who have recently switched genres and taken the plunge into the criminal world

• Serial Killer Thrillers: serial killers in fiction are here to stay, and this event will introduce some of our favourite psychopaths

• The Politics of Crime: meet the authors of contemporary political thrillers getting right to the heart of governance

• All Rise! Crime in the Courtroom: a look at crime fiction set in the legal world, and why the courtrooms remain a place of endless fascination

5. The opening date for submissions is Thursday 24^th June 2021. The closing date for entries is 5pm BST Friday 9th July. No entries received after this date will be accepted.

6. HarperCollins will pay a fee of £100 to panellists and £200 to panel chairs, following participation in the agreed panel and after the festival has taken place

7. HarperCollins will not accept: (1)responsibility for submissions that are lost, mislaid, damaged or delayed in transit, regardless of cause, including, for example, as a result of any equipment failure, technical malfunction, systems, satellite, network, server, computer hardware or software failure of any kind; or (2)proof of transmission as proof of receipt of entry to the competition.

8. Any submission containing incorrect, false or unreadable information will be rejected.

9. HarperCollins reserves the right to invite authors to take part in the festival in addition to the submission process.

10. Publishers will be contacted regarding the programme from 16^th July and the programme will be announced on 9^th August

11. The festival SlaughterFest will take place on 3^rd and 4^th September 2021. Authors must be available to record their panel event in the week of 2nd

12. HarperCollins reserves the right to hold void, suspend, cancel, or amend the festival where it becomes necessary to do so.

13. The entry instructions are part of the Terms and Conditions for this competition.

14. By submitting authors to the festival you are agreeing to accept these Terms and Conditions. Any breach of these Terms and Conditions by you will (in the sole discretion of HarperCollins) mean that your entry will not be valid, and you will not be allowed to enter this competition.

15. By submitting authors to the festival you are agreeing that, the author’s name may be a) used for the purpose of announcing the festival and/or b) in any related publicity by HarperCollins, without additional permission.

16. Any personal information you give us will be used solely for this competition and will not be passed on to any other parties without your agreement. HarperCollins’ privacy policy can be found at: http://www.harpercollins.co.uk/legal/Pages/privacy-policy.aspx

17. Under no circumstances will HarperCollins be responsible for any loss, damages, costs or expenses arising from or in any way connected with any errors, defects, interruptions, malfunctions or delays in the promotion of the festival

18. HarperCollins reserves all rights to disqualify any entrant whose conduct is contrary to the spirit or intention of the competition.

19. Insofar as is permitted by law, HarperCollins, its agents or distributors will not in any circumstances be responsible or liable to compensate anyone in connection with this competition or accept any liability to anyone for any loss, damage, personal injury or death occurring in connection with this competition or as a result of taking up the prize except where it is caused by the negligence of HarperCollins, its agents or distributors or that of their employees. Your statutory rights are not affected.

20. The competition and its terms & conditions are governed exclusively by the laws of England and Wales. Any dispute relating to the competition shall be governed by the laws of England and Wales and will be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the English courts.

Crime Fiction Bookish Events.

Bookish events are always welcome and there are a number of events already arranged from the New Year onwards.  This is by no means a complete list. 

9 January 2020.

Helen Sedgwick book launch - 'When the Dead Come Calling' and in conversation with Margaret Kirk, S.G. MacLean, Barbara Henderson & Jennifer Morag Henderson at Waterstones Inverness.  More information there.

Mark Billingham and Alex Marwood will be at Gillingham Library from 7:30pm.   For tickets call 01634337799.

13 January 2020

Peter May at Aye Write: A Silent Death. As the new program is launched for this year bestselling author Peter May returns to the Mitchell Library, Granville Street, GLASGOW, G37DN in January to discuss his latest novel.  More information can be found here.

14 January 2020

Crime writers Lucie Whitehouse, Louise Candlish and Harriet Tyce as they discuss their latest novels at Waterstones Piccadilly. More information can be found here.

Helen Sedgwick and Mary Paulson-Ellis in conversation at Waterstones Glasgow (Sauchiehall Street) where they will be discussing Helen Sedgwick’s new novel When the Dead Come Calling.  More information can be found here.

20 January 2020

Sophie Hannah will be at Waterstones in Cambridge to launch her new psychological suspense novel “Haven’t They Grown.  More information can be found here.  The following day, (21 January 2020) she will also be at Chorleywood Library.  Information can be found here.

23 January 2020

Luca Veste will be in conversation with David Jackson as he launches his new novel The Six at Waterstones, Liverpool.  More information here.

C J Tudor will be talking about her new book The Other People and will be answering an audience Q &A as well at Waterstones, Nottingham.  More information can be found here.

28 January 2020

Crime writers William Shaw and Jo Spain will be in conversation at Lindum Books, Lincoln.  More information here.

29 January 2020

Jo Spain and William Shaw will be at Waterstones in Liverpool to discuss Jo Spain’s new book Six Wicked Reason’s.  More information about the event and tickets can be found here.  

Authors Rosamund Lupton and Liz Moore in conversation about their new books at Waterstones Piccadilly. More information can be found here.

30 January 2020

Heffers will be hosting 2017 CWA Historical Dagger winner Abir Mukherjee  who will be talking about the lastest Sam Wyndham book , ‘Death in the East’.  Abir Mukherjee also won the 2018 Wilber Smith Award.  More information about the event and tickets can be found here.

5 February 2020

Authors C J Tudor and Alex North will be in conversation together talking about their books at Waterstones Harrogate.  More information can be found here.

Elly Griffiths will be at the Duke’s Head Hotel, King’s Lynn talking about her new book to feature Ruth Galloway - The Lantern Men.  More information can be found here.

12 February 2020

Watching from the Dark: An Evening with Gytha Lodge at Waterstones Cambridge.  More information here.

13 February 2020

Crime writers C J Tudor, Fiona Cummins, Caz Frear and Laura Shepherd-Robinson will be in conversation at Waterstones Swansea.  More information about the event and tickets can be found here.  

Authors JP Delaney and Harriet Tyce will be in conversation at Waterstone’s, King’s Road, London as they discuss their novels The Perfect Wife and Blood Orange which are out in paperback.  More information here.

Elly Griffiths will be at Waterstones Leeds talking about her new book to feature Ruth Galloway – The Lantern Men.  More information here.

17 February 2020

James Oswald will be discussing and signing his new novel Bury them Deep at Primavera Bistro, Newton Mearns.  More information can be found here.

14 March 2020

Vaseem Khan will be signing his new book at Waterstones Durham.  More information here.

17 March 2020

Debut crime writer Trevor Wood will be launching his debut novel The Man on The Street at Waterstones Newcastle.  More information and can be found here.

27 March 2020

As part of Huddersfield Literary Festival Val McDermid will be talking about her work.  More information can be found here.

28 March 2020

As part of the York Literature Festival 2020 a number of crime fiction related talks have been arranged.

Rebecca Tope will be talking about Crime Fiction as Fairy Tales.  More information about the event and booking can be found here.

Humour in crime fiction is discussed in You’ll Die Laughing with Olga Wojtas.  More information can be found here.

Martin Edwards will also be talking about “The Art of the Whodunnit” also at the York Literature Festival.  More information can be found here.

Allan Guthrie will be talking about Making Crime Pay and Getting Published.  More information can be found here.

There will also be a crime panel and a Q & A.  Information can be found here.

6 April 2020

An evening with C L Taylor and Alice Feeney at Waterstones Leeds.  More information here.

20 May 2020

Crime writers in conversation: William Shaw & Olivia Kiernan at Waterstones Canterbury (Rose Lane). More information and tickets here.

"We Are Here" next week in Foyles

There is a tremendous literary event next week in London that you should mark your diaries accordingly for: Bestselling Thriller Writers  Michael Marshall and Peter James in conversation with Novelist, Critic and Broadcaster Peter Guttridge

Foyles Bookstore London "We Are Here"

Peter James and Michael Marshall interviewed by Peter Guttridge

19th March 2013

6:30pm - 7:30pm Charing Cross Road, London, England

Foyles are pleased to play host to Peter James and Michael Marshall, who between them have published bestselling novels across the spectrum of crime, horror, SF and fantasy. In conversation with novelist and critic Peter Guttridge, Peter James will be discussing Not Dead Yet, the most recent in his hugely popular DetectiveSuperintendent Roy Grace series, while Michael Marshall will discuss his new literary thriller We Are Here.

Venue: the Gallery at Foyles

113 - 119 Charing Cross Road, London WC2H 0EB

Tickets: £3.00. Please note, no physical tickets will be issued, the email confirmation you will receive is proof of your reservation.

More Information available here > http://tinyurl.com/abavd2e 

Incidentally, this is a fascinating article on Mike Marshall’s WE ARE HERE from The Big Issue, pasted.

Criminal Events at the British Library

An exhibition, Murder in the Library: An A-Z of Crime Fiction is due to start on 18 January 2013. More information on the exhibition can be found here. As part of the exhibition a number of other events have been lined up to run in tandem with the exhibition.

Real Crime, Real Fiction 21 January 2013.

Does the consumption of crime novels influence the way we read about real crime? Where does ‘true crime’, which takes its inspiration from actual events rather than mere imagination, fit in?  In this panel discussion, writers, curators and journalists explore the impact of real-life crimes on the writing and production of crime fiction, both on television and in print.

The Story of Crime Fiction – 8 February 2013

Mark Lawson, who recently wrote and presented BBC Radio 4 series Foreign Bodies: A History of Modern Europe Through Literary Detectives, is joined by a panel of leading crime fiction writers, including P D James, to discuss the history of the genre, their favourite classics and their own work. From mysteries and murder and from The Moonstone to Henning Mankell... 

The Female Detective – 8 March 2013

Britain's first-ever lady detective Miss Gladden appeared in The Female Detective published in 1864, where she exposed killers while concealing her own identity. Since then the female sleuth, from Agatha Christie's Miss Marple to Alexander McCall Smith's Mma Ramotswe, has captivated readers of crime fiction. But what is it about the female detective that makes her an icon of the genre? Join an esteemed panel of writers for an entertaining debate.

All the events start at 18:30 until 20:00 and are being held at the British Library. Further information (including how to buy tickets) can be found here.

CWA Dagger Shortlists announced

The Crime Writers Association of Great Britain have announced the short-lists for the CWA International Dagger, The CWA Short Story Dagger, The CWA Dagger in the Library and the CWA Debut Dagger.


Last year the winner of the International Dagger was Dominique Manotti with the Lorraine Connection. Martin Edwards won the Short Story Dagger with his story The Bookbinder's Apprentice. The Dagger in the Library went to Craig Russell while the Debut Dagger was won by Amer Anwar with Western Fringes.

This year The International Dagger certainly has a Scandinavian flair to it with 5 out of the 6 short-listed novels having been written by a Scandinavian author. The only exception is Fred Vargas who has once again been short-listed and who has already won the International Dagger twice. Once in 2007 with Wash this Blood Clean From My Hand and in 2006 with The Three Evangelists.

The Short Story Dagger shortlist has been equally split between UK and US authors and includes a number of well-known names and a relative newcomer to some in the UK scene in the presence of Sean Chercover.

The Dagger in the Library short list covers a wide spectrum which includes the historical, police procedural and thriller sub-genres of crime fiction.

The awards will be given out on July 15 at the Tiger, Tiger Bar, in London. The same evening the short-lists for the Gold Dagger, John Creasey (New Blood) and Ian Fleming Steel Dagger will be announced.

Congratulations to all the nominees!

Bouchercon 2009 Anthony Award nominations!

And the nominations are out!!! They are as follows:-

Best Novel
Trigger City by Sean Chercover [William Morrow]
The Brass Verdict by Michael Connelly [Little, Brown and Company]
Red Knife by William Kent Krueger [Atria]
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson [Knopf]
The Cruelest Month by Louise Penny [Minotaur]

Best First Novel
Pushing Up Daisies by Rosemary Harris [Minotaur]
Stalking Susan by Julie Kramer [Doubleday]
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson [Knopf]
Death of a Cozy Writer by G. M. Malliet [Midnight Ink]
Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith [Grand Central]

Best Paperback Original
The First Quarry by Max Allan Collins [Hard Case Crime]
Money Shot by Christa Faust [Hard Case Crime]
State of the Onion by Julie Hyzy [Berkley]
In a Dark Season by Vicki Lane [Dell]
South of Hell by P. J. Parrish [Pocket Star]

Best Short Story
“The Night Things Changed” by Dana Cameron from Wolfsbane and Mistletoe [Ace]
“A Sleep Not Unlike Death” by Sean Chercover from Hardcore Hardboiled [Kensington]
“Killing Time” by Jane K. Cleland from Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine (November)
“Skull and Cross Examination” by Toni L. P. Kelner from Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine (February)
“Scratch a Woman” by Laura Lippman from Hardly Knew Her [William Morrow]
“The Secret Lives of Cats” by Kristine Kathryn Rusch from Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine (July)

Best Critical Nonfiction Work
African American Mystery Writers: A Historical and Thematic Study by Frankie Y. Bailey [McFarland]
How to Write Killer Historical Mysteries by Kathy Lynn Emerson [Perseverance Press]
Anthony Boucher: A Biobibliography by Jeffrey Marks [McFarland]
The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher: A Shocking Murder and the Undoing of a Great Victorian Detective by Kate Summerscale [Walker & Company]

Best Children’s/Young Adult Novel
The Crossroads by Chris Grabenstein [Random House]
Paper Towns by John Green [Dutton Juvenile]
Kiss Me, Kill Me by Lauren Henderson [Delacorte]
The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Perilous Journey by Trenton Lee Stewart [Little, Brown]
Sammy Keyes and the Cold Hard Cash by Wendelin Van Draanen [Knopf]

Best Cover Art
Death Was the Other Woman designed by David Rotstein and written by Linda L. Richards [Minotaur]
Death Will Get You Sober designed by David Rotstein and written by Elizabeth Zelvin [Minotaur]
The Fault Tree designed by David Rotstein and written by Louise Ure [Minotaur]
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo designed by Peter Mendelsund and written by Stieg Larsson [Knopf]
Money Shot designed by Steve Cooley and written by Christa Faust [Hard Case Crime]

Special Service Award
Jon and Ruth Jordan
Ali Karim
David Montgomery
Gary Warren Niebuhr
Sarah Weinman

Registered attendees will vote during Indianapolis Bouchercon where the winners will be announced during a gala awards ceremony on Saturday, October 17, 2009. Huge congratulations to all the nominees.

Crimefest 2009 - Part 6

Sadly, this is my last post about Crimefest! I did manage to go to my room just after 3:00am this morning (Sunday 17 May) and finally got to bed at 4:00am. Even Ali left before me and he was then followed by Mike sometime afterwards.

My day of course started once again with me joining Zoe Sharp and Andy for breakfast. Breakfast with the two of them is always such good fun and I hope that I get the opportunity to do so again.

I wasn't surprised that I didn't manage to get to some of the panels on Sunday morning, it wasn't that I was suffering for a hangover it was more that I was too lethargic to do anything quickly. I did however help out very briefly on the registration desk again. Being at the desk is a strategic post and enables one to see and speak to a vast number of people as they are bustling around the corridors as they leave one panel and then go to another or as they stop at the "mini" bookshop.

There was one panel that I was determined to see and from the amount of attendees who were still there it was one that held vast anticipation. For the first time at Crimefest there was a Crimefest Mastermind. Crossfire: Criminal Mastermind was the very last panel of the Convention. The participants were Simon Brett, David Stuart Davis, Martin Edwards and Meg Gardiner. Their chosen subjects were Dorothy L Sayers, Agatha Christie, The Detection Club and American Crime Fiction post 1945. For anyone that is used to watching Mastermind on television then I am sure that you can imagine the scenario. The organisers went to great lengths to re-create the Mastermind set that one normally sees on television down to even having a spotlight that was focused on each of the Mastermind contestants. Even the lights were turned off to give the room that atmospheric feel to it. All the attendees were given the opportunity to suggest who would win and by how many points. The quiz master was Maxim Jakubowski and they could not have chosen a better person to put the contestants through their paces. Simon Brett was the first of the contestants to go under the spotlight and his chosen subject was Dorothy L Sayers. Simon was followed by David Stuart Davis who is acknowledge as an expert on Sherlock Holmes. However he was not allowed to chose Sherlock Holmes and instead chose Agatha Christie. Martin Edwards the third contestant chose The Detection Club whilst Meg Gardiner the Toastmistress for the convention chose American Crime Fiction post 1945. After the first round the results were as follows:-

Simon Brett - 6 points
David Stuart Davis - 7 points
Martin Edwards - 6 points and
Meg Gardiner - 6 points.

Rather sadly neither Mike Stotter nor I could stay until the end as we had to make tracks back to London. I do however know what the results were courtesy of course of Ali Karim. The winner was Martin Edwards, (whilst I had predicted Martin Edwards to win, I believe that I was way out on how many points that he scored) followed by David Stuart Davis, Simon Brett and then Meg Gardiner. The person who managed to accurately predict the winner and points were being given as a prize a full pass to next year's conference. Mike Stotter came second. He predicted that Martin Edwards would win but was two points out when it came to the correct score. I hope that Martin Edwards is going to be back to defend his title.

Sunday had for me a slight tinge of sadness. It was the last day of the conference and it was clear from listening to conversations and talking to people that this was a brilliantly run conference. Like many others I am intending to be back in Bristol next year. The dates for next year are 20-23 May 2010 and Authors already confirmed include - M C Beaton, Natasha Cooper, Colin Dexter, Ariana Franklin and Gyles Brandreth as toastmaster. Also present will be John Curran, author of Agatha Christe and the Mystery of the Secret Notebooks which will be published in September and which will include two previously unpublished Poirot short stories.

Thanks to Adrian and Myles for organising such a wonderful conference. Crimefest may be over for this year but next year's convention can't come soon enough!

Crimefest 2009 - Part 5

My last post was rather brief and as promised I said I would post again! Seriously though this has been an excellent conference and those of us that get to go to them know that one of the best things about conventions is the camaraderie that is part and parcel of it. Think late nights, sometimes getting up late in the morning and generally hanging out in the bar. This time around I have been rather good, so I think anyway. On Thursday I managed to get to bed at 11:30pm, on Friday I got to bed at 2:00pm and Saturday evening/ Sunday morning is still ongoing. I am not sure whether or not I will get to bed before 4:00am. I am going to be shattered tomorrow if I don't go to bed soon.

At the Gala Dinner the Toastmistress Meg Gardiner had the lovely job of introducing the featured guests of honour all of whom spoke briefly and all of whom received a small gift. Amongst those on my table were Lizzie Hayes who runs the group Mystery Women, Maureen Carter, Mary Ann Clarke and Linda Regan all who have books published by Creme de La Crime, Sarah Rayne and Michael Walters who rights police procedurals set in Mongolia. The dinner did not in fact last too long and as can be expected we all converged on the bar immediately. I even managed to find the time to persuade Ali that he should post on twitter the fact that the blog has been updated. I spent most of the evening talking to Zoe Sharp and then later to Kevin Wignall and then Zoe Sharp's ever charming husband Andy. I also got the opportunity to have a quick talk to quite a number of crime writers before they all started wander in off to bed. I finally left the bar at 3:15am in the morning. Tomorrow's panel's look quite interesting! I am not sure at this stage that I am going to make the first panel in the morning I will try but I am not holding out to much hope. I do know however that I will be putting a post on line pretty soon. There is only half a day left.

Crimefest 2009 - Part 4

Let me start by saying that this is going to be a very brief post and I will post a lot more later. The interview between Michael Connelly and Peter Gutteridge was excellent. It was wide ranging and Michael covered topics ranging from why he decided to bring back Jack McEvoy, what he is working on at the moment, Harry Bosch to the fact that when Blood Work was made into a film it brought him a whole new readership and the various attempts that have been made to film his books. I have to admit that I enjoy hearing Michael talk and despite the fact that I had just been interviewing him with my fellow Shots colleagues Mike Stotter and Ali Karim, I made sure that I was in the room to listen to him talk to Peter Gutteridge.

This evening at the Gala Dinner I ended up wearing the purple dress which went down very well indeed. I haven't received so many compliments in ages. It does wonders !

Three awards were given out this evening. The first award was The Last Laugh Award and the winner was Christoher Fowler for The Victoria Vanishes. The other nominees were Gilbert Adair for And Then There Was None, Christopher Brookmyre for A Snowball in Hell, Colin Cotteril for Anarchy and Old Dogs, Mike Ripley for Angels Unaware and Donald Westlake for Don't Ask.

The second award that was given out was the Audible Sounds of Crime Awards. The winner for the Best Abridged Crime Audio was tied. It was split between Stieg Larsson for The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and Ian Rankin's Doors Open. The winner of the Best Unabridged Crime Audiobook was Kate Atkinson's When Will There Be Good News.

I will post more later but have to dash as I am due down in the bar!

Crimefest 2009 - Part 3

The fact that I am already posting about day 3 of Crimefest is in itself a feat. Normally I end up posting the following day. This time around I have some free time before I hot foot it to the Michael Connelly interview so I thought that I would use the opportunity to post.

Today (i.e. Saturday 16 May) due to the fact that I had a late breakfast and also because I somehow found myself helping out on the Registration table, I managed to miss the first two panels. The first one was Criss Cross: Conan Doyle & Poe Anniversary Panel Past & Present and the second was Hakan Nesser being interviewed by Ann Cleeves. It was a shame that I missed the first two panels but I am certain that I would have been in a worst state of mind if I hadn't had any breakfast. Luckily for me my breakfast companions were the delightful Zoe Sharp and her husband Andy.

I did manage to get to the third panel of the day which was Simon Brett who is one of the featured guest's being interviewed by Gyles Brandreth. It was in my opinion one of the best interviews that I have sat through. As serious as the interview was there was a lot of humour and a lot of laughter. Part of the reason for this was because Simon Brett and Gyles Brandreth are old friends and it certainly came through with the quips flowing back and forth from the two of them.

I also managed to attend part of the interview between the CWA 2009 Cartier Diamond Dagger recipient Andrew Taylor and Peter Gutteridge. I say part, because I found myself agreeing to do a Shots joint interview along with Ali Karim and Mike Stotter with Michael Connelly. I slipped out of the interview when I realised that I had left my books that I needed to get signed in my room and as luck would have it as I was just going to go back to sit in on the rest of the interview I bumped into the delightful Gaby Young from Orion Publishers along with Michael Connelly. It was really nice to meet Michael again and for me what was even more welcoming was the fact since I have met Michael a number of times now he knows who I am. I was going to wait until Michael had done his event before asking him to sign my books but he immediately asked me if I wanted them signed and proceeded to sign them there and then. He is such a lovely person! After I managed to extract Ali from the interview with Andrew Taylor we met Michael Connelly and Gaby Young downstairs in the Club Lounge where we were subsequently joined by Mike Stotter.

The interview was a leisurely one and mainly done by Ali Karim. So watch out on the Shots website for when the interview is posted. Of course , those of you that twitter along with Ali will have seen his twitter about Michael's arrival at Bristol.

This evening I have the Constable and Robinson Author Party to attend followed by the Gala Dinner where the winners of the Last Laugh Award and the Audible Sounds of Crime Awards are going to be announced. As to the decision about which dress I am going to wear, I still haven't made up my mind. What I do know is that this may be another late night!

Crimefest 2009 - Part 2

I fully intended to post last night, but the spirit was willing but the mind was certainly not. This is what will happen to you when you decide to roll into bed around 2:00am in the morning. Anyway, day 2 of Crimefest was certainly very enjoyable from my point of view. One of the things that I have learnt over the years is that always make sure that you have a good breakfast because you never know here your next meal is going to come from.

My day started when I went down for breakfast and joined Ali Karim and Mike Stotter. It is always nice to spend time with both of them and those of you that know Ali know how enthusiastic he is. My first chore of the day was trying to work out which panel to attend. This is always fraught with danger as there will no doubt be at some stage two panels that you would like to go to at the same time. At least this year it was only two track and not three.

The first panel that I managed to attend was Foreign Correspondent: Books in Translation. The panel members were Don Bartlett who is best known for translating the Jo Nesbo novels and those of KO Dahl, Reg Keeland (aka Steven T Murray) who has translated such authors as Henning Mankell, Karen Alvtegen and Camilla Lackberg. He is however best known for translating the bestselling novels of Stieg Larsson's Millennium Trilogy. Tiina Nunnally whom one can say started the ball rolling with books in translation when she translated Peter Hoeg's best selling novel Similla's Sense of Snow under the name Felicity David. One of the things that Tiina Nunnally revealed was that as much as she enjoyed the book she herself was puzzled by the ending. Ros Schwartz who co-translated the 2008 CWA International Dagger Award winning novel Lorraine Connection by Dominique Manotti. Given the state of publishing today it was not surprising to learn that some European translators especially in Scandinavian work in much better conditions than those in some other countries. There was a lively discussion on various topics which included how they decided what books to take on, who had the final say when it came to the translations and how they went about doing the translations i.e. did they read the books the whole way through first of all or did they just jump in and start translating.

The second panel that I attended was Crack-up: Lighter than Noir and with Simon Brett as the participating moderator is was always bound to be an interesting panel. The panel members were Ruth Dudley Edwards, Kaye C Hill and Hakan Nesser. Unfortunately Bill James has had to withdraw from the conference due to a family problem. However, his place was ably taken by L C Tyler whose debut novel The Herring Seller's Apprentice was one of my favourite books last year.

One of the panels that I was very much looking forward to was the one where John Harvey and Bill James were due to be interviewed by Paul Johnston. Since Bill James was unable to be at the conference this week end Paul Johnston ended up interviewing John Harvey by himself. It was a good interview and John started off the interview by talking about how much he enjoyed Bill James's books. John Harvey has been writing for such a long time and he is best known for his excellent Resnick and Frank Elder series. His latest novel is Far Cry and it marks the publication of his 100th book.

The final panel that I attended on Friday was another interview. This time the Toastmistress Meg Gardiner was interviewed by Zoe Sharp who is the author of the excellent Charlie Fox series. Meg Gardiner novel China Lake recently won the 2008 Edgar Award for Best Paperback novel and her first novel in her new series featuring Jo Beckett a San Francisco forensic psychiatrist won the Romantic Times Reviewers Choice Award for Best Procedural Novel of 2008. It was a laid back and funny interview with Zoe Sharp covering a wide range of topics including my favourite the time when Meg as a young girl went along for a Citizen on Patrol trip with her local police and found herself in the middle of a possible hold-up!

Creme De La Crime which is an independent publisher of crime fiction also hosted a drinks party to celebrate the launch of their anthology Criminal Tendencies. It is a great collection of Short stories for a great cause - National Hereditary Breast Cancer Helpline with a portion of the price gong towards it.

Dinner again was a lively affair as I ended up going for dinner with the Special Guest Maxim Jakubowski and his lovely wife, Peter Gutteridge and of course Ali Karim and Mike Stotter. It was very relaxed, very funny and I can only say that Ali never ceases to amaze me. After a leisurely dinner along the Bristol Harbour we all wandered back to the hotel where we proceeded to spend the evening at the bar chatting and meeting up with old friends.

Since I did not manage to post this yesterday, I am now running late and have to go off, have some breakfast and make my way down to the panel's. I am not sure which one I am going to go to first of all but I do know that I am going to enjoy myself again today. This evening Constable and Robinson are hosting their author's party prior to the Gala Dinner. I am still not sure what I am going to wear. Is it going to be the black dress or the purple one? I'll let you know tomorrow!

Crimefest 2009 - Part 1

Crimefest 2009 has started (well it started yesterday) and it is shaping up to be an excellent festival. Unfortunately due to the vagaries of my travel arrangements I could not attend the first two panels. However, for information about what happened Peter Rozovsky's site Detectives Beyond Borders has a good rundown on the first two panels.

I did manage to get to the third panel which was The Lost Weekend: Eric Ambler and Who? -- Forgotten Authors. It was infact a very good panel and it was interesting to hear what authors the panelists would bring back if they had the opportunity. The panelists were Barry Forshaw the editor of British Crime Writing: An Encyclopedia whose choices were Francis Clifford, Eric Ambler, Alan Williams and to my joy Modesty Blaise creator Peter O'Donnell. Mary Clarke whose chose Ethel Lina White, Declan Hughes who chose husband and wife team Ross MacDonald and Margaret Millar, Sarah Rayne who chose Francis Iles and Christianna Brand. Martin Edwards the participating moderator chose Michael Gilbert and Julian Symons who wrote amongst other things the excellent reference book Bloody Murder. All the panel members mentioned the fact that humour and very good prose were essential. The questions that were asked afterwards were also very insightful and one question in particular sparked off a lively debate on nostalgia. This panel was one that all of us in attendance could have talked about for a very long time. However, the next thing that was the order of the day was the pub quiz. I initially did not have any intention of participating in the quiz but got persuaded by Thalia Proctor to do so. Whilst the questions were at times rather esoteric it was a fun quiz. The team that I was on included recent Edgar Award winner Meg Gardiner, Simon Brett, Zoe Sharp and her husband Andy along with Thalia. We managed to come a credible joint fourth.

Of course attend such events as Crimefest means that I can catch up with various people that I hadn't seen in ages. Aside from Ali Karim and my erstwhile editor Mike Stotter, it was also nice to see Lizzie Hayes of Mystery Women, Adrian Magson, Paul Johnston, Ruth Dudley Edwards, Donna Moore, Steve Mosby and L C Tyler amongst ever.

Since Friday was the first night I did not stay up late and was tucked in bed by 11:30pm. However today is Saturday and there is still lots to do!

The return of DI Jack Caffery

The last book to feature DI Jack Caffery and also introduced Police Diver Flea Marley was Ritual and was the first of what Mo Hayder is calling The Walking Man series. The latest book to feature these two characters is Skin and is due to be published on 26 March 2009.

When the decomposed body of a young woman is found by near railway tracks just outside Bristol one hot May morning, all indications are that she's committed suicide. That's how the police want it too; all neatly squared and tidied away. But DI Jack Caffery is not so sure. He is on the trail of someone predatory, someone who hides in the shadows and can slip into houses unseen. And for the first time in a very long time, he feels scared. Police Diver Flea Marley is working alongside Caffery. Having come to terms with the loss of her parents, and with the traumas of her past safely behind her, she's beginning to wonder whether their relationship could go beyond the professional. And then she finds something that changes everything. Not only is it far too close to home for comfort - but it's so horrifying that she knows that nothing will ever be the same again. And that this time, no one - not even Caffery - can help her.Mo Hayder is due to go on a publicity schedule to promote Skin. The schedule is as follows:-

Thursday 19 March - Q & A session Topping & Company Booksellers Bath at 7:00pm
Monday 23 March - Evening event – Waterstone’s Basingstoke.
Tuesday 24 March – Lunchtime event and talk – Watford Library - 12:00pm – 13:30pm
Tuesday 24 March – Evening event talk and signing - Waterstone’s Milton Keynes 6:30pm
Wednesday 25 March – Lunchtime event and talk (to be confirmed) – Peteborough Library
Wednesday 25 March – Evening event talk and signing - Waterstone’s Manchester 7:00pm
Thursday 26 March – Lunchtime event and talk (to be confirmed) St Helen’s Library
Thursday 26 March - Evening event talk and signing Waterstone’s Liverpool One – 6:00pm
Thursday 2 April - Lunchtime event and talk (to be confirmed) The Mitchell Library, Glasgow
Thursday 2 April - Evening event talk and signing Blackwells Edinburgh – 6:30pm

Dennis Lehane and Tess Gerristen at Borders

What do you get when you have two well-knowAmerican crime writers in the same room together? The answer is a well-attended event at Borders along Charing Cross Road.
Borders hosted an evening with Dennis Lehane and Tess Gerristen on Thursday 12 February 2009, where they were interviewed by Selina Walker, Publicity Director at Transworld. In the presence of an extremely large and appreciative audience Dennis and Tess answered a variety of questions on their books, their writing, (including how and why they became writers) research and on Dennis writing involvement with The Wire. Dennis spoke at some length about writing. The Given Day and how far he decided to go back. He also talked about having the opportunity to include real life characters in his book such as Babe Ruth and Calvin Coolidge (the 30th President of the United States) to name a few. The Given Day is written from the perspective of two different men and centres on the Boston Police Strike of 1919 at a time when fiercely held convictions about work and freedom underwent enormous change at great cost to human life and relationships. It is also a story about fathers and their sons, love and disloyalty, optimism and unfairness. It's also a dream of salvation and victory of the human spirit. The Given Day contains considerable moral gravity. Dennis confirmed when asked whether or not he would be writing again about the period in The Given Day explained that he would but that he wasn’t certain where he would start from. Nevertheless, he commented that it might be set in the 1920s and he explained – “who wouldn’t want to write about Tommy Guns? “

Tess also spoke about her latest novel Keeping the Dead (US: The Keepsake) and her interest in archaeology which drew her to writing the story. In Keeping the Dead, when medical examiner Isles studies an X-ray scan of Madame X, which everyone assumes is a newly discovered Egyptian mummy, at Boston's Crispin Museum, she realizes the mummy isn't a priceless artefact but a recent murder victim, gruesomely preserved. Rizzoli focuses the police investigation on Dr. Josephine Pulcillo, a young archaeologist recently hired by the museum who may have something to hide. More victims soon turn up, including a tsantsa (shrunken head) in a hidden museum chamber and a corpse resembling a well-preserved bog body in Pulcillo's car. After Pulcillo disappears, Rizzoli and Isles must scramble to find her before she becomes another trophy in the killer's growing collection. She also spoke about mummies and shrunken heads and produced to the amazement of everyone “Fred” her shrunken head.

Tess spoke about her book The Bone Garden a standalone historical novel and what prompted her to write the book. The Bone Garden, is a tale of gruesome murders takes place primarily in 1830’s Boston and includes a character based upon Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes.

Like Dennis she is also character driven in her writing. As Dennis explained, if the characters don’t speak to him then he can’t write about them. Tess Gerristen also explained when asked about the character Jane Rizzoli (who is not really a nice person) in the first book The Surgeon that at the start she did not intend to write a series but grew to love the character Jane Rizzoli. Initially Tess intended to kill her off in her first book.

Both authors also found time to give advice to would be writers. One comment that Dennis made which I felt was particularly relevant to prospective writers is when he said, “if you don’t read then don’t write”

Both Tess and Dennis also answered questions from the audience. One question that Dennis was when asked was about Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro. Fans of the series will be pleased to learn that Dennis confirmed that he was writing a new book featuring the two of them. He was asked why he stopped writing about them and he explained that they (i.e. the characters) stopped talking to him just about the same time President Clinton left the White House and only recently whilst he was driving and when it seemed that Barack Obama was just about to become President that they started to talk to him again. Dennis Lehane also spoke about the luck he had had with his books (Mystic River and Gone Baby Gone) which had been made into extremely well received films. He explained that he had a lot of involvement with Mystic River but in contrast when it came to Gone Baby Gone he had had very little involvement with it. He had been amazed by what director Clint Eastwood had done as well as what Ben Affleck had done with Gone Baby Gone despite the fact that it had been Ben’s first directed film.
Both authors also when asked acknowledged the influence of Stephen King. As they explained he was very very supportive towards writers and used to before he got to be very busy read and write blurbs for many of them.

At the end of all the questions both authors spent time signing books for the audience. It was an incredibly well attended event which was thoroughly enjoyed by all of those in attendance.

Crimefest 2009

The latest newsletter about Crimefest 2009 is now available here. With the announcement that Andrew Taylor is to be awarded the Cartier Diamond Dagger this year instead of doing the "two authors in conversation panel" they have now decided to interview him instead. More information will be given about this once the programme is published. It looks as if Crimefest is shaping up to be an excellent festival this year.