And tCT CRIME: LIVERPOOL'S FIRST EVER CRIME FICTION DAY

Perfect Crime is Liverpool's first ever crime fiction festival. Based at the Radisson Blu hotel on the stunning Mersey waterfront, it will host some of the biggest names in the world of crime writing. Ann Cleeves, creator of Vera, Shetland, and now the Two Rivers books & TV series, will be appearing at the all-day event for crime fiction fans in Liverpool on Saturday 13th November. Ann, a one-time Merseyside resident herself, says: ‘I can't wait to catch up with readers and writers is one of my favourite cities.' Ann Cleeves and Elly Griffiths will talk about the marginal communities and settings of their books in conversation with Rhiannon Ward, and Ann will and later compare forensic notes with eminent pathologist Professor James Grieve. 

The star-studded line-up also features Sophie Hannah, Mel Sherratt and M W Craven. Author panels will discuss all things crime, from Agatha Christie through gritty psychological thrillers, to murder on the Mersey, and for budding writers, David Jackson will run a workshop on writing the killer pitch.

The day will open, appropriately, with Liverpool. A city steeped in culture and history but often marred by stark contrasts, over the years it has provided a rich seam of stories for writers from literary giants to saga writers. In ‘Murder on the Mersey’, four Merseyside authors will discuss the impact of their beautiful and often troubled hometown on their writing. For ‘Gritty and Gripping’, a panel which includes both serving and former probation officers will discuss just how they put the grit and grip into their thrillers. 

Why are we so obsessed with damaged psychologies and the criminal mind – and what is it like to get into the mind of a killer? Crime fiction and film expert Barry Forshaw will quiz three skilled, award-winning writers of psychological crime on these questions and much more in ‘Mind Games’. And if you like your murder framed in a more elegant era, Martin Edwards, winner of the Edgar, Agatha, and Macavity for his non-fiction book The Golden Age of Murder, will focus on this rich and ever-popular subgenre with Sophie Hannah, who broke the Christie family’s forty-year ban on ‘continuation’ novels, and has now penned four new Poirots, with the Christies’ full blessing.

There will plenty of opportunities for readers to question their favourite authors, who will be available to sign copies of their latest releases and the book room will be open all day for purchases and signings.

Perfect Crime is organised by local publisher Ian Skillicorn and Liverpool crime writers Margaret Murphy and Caz Finlay, who are also appearing at the festival. For Margaret, Perfect Crime fulfils a long-held ambition. She says: ‘In 2008, when Liverpool hosted the British Science Association festival, a discussion panel pitching crime writers against scientists sold out so fast that a second session had to be organised. It occurred to me then that Liverpool is a superb setting for a crime festival. It’s taken almost thirteen years, and is long overdue, but having put together a varied and exciting line-up of authors and experts we’re confident that crime fans will find it worth the wait. We look forward to welcoming writers and - most importantly - readers from far and near to a rewarding day of discussion and entertaining chat with some of the top names in British crime fiction and non-fiction.’

Full author guest list:

Ann Cleeves, Elly Griffiths, Sophie Hannah, Mel Sherratt, Martin Edwards, Susanna Beard, Amanda Brooke, Heather Burnside, MW Craven, Caz Finlay, Barry Forshaw, Prof James Grieve (Senior Forensic Pathologist), Noelle Holten, David Jackson, Margaret Murphy, Rhiannon Ward 

Find the full programme and ticket links at www.perfectcrime.uk

Perfect Crime Writing Festival 2021

 

9 – 9.45am: 

Registration

10 – 11am: 

Murder on the Mersey: Margaret Murphy (moderator), Caz Finlay, David Jackson, Amanda Brooke. Liverpool is a city steeped in culture and history – but it is also a city of stark contrasts, and its dark side has inspired many authors, from literary giants to saga writers. Join us for Murder on the Mersey, where four local (and international!) crime writers, Amanda Brooke, David Jackson, Margaret Murphy (aka Ashley Dyer) and Caz Finlay will discuss the impact of this beautiful and often troubled city on their writing.

11:15 – 12:15pm: 

Writing in the Margins: Ann Cleeves, Elly Griffiths, Rhiannon Ward (Chair) Ann Cleeves, Diamond Dagger winner and author of the Vera and Shetland novels, in conversation with Elly Griffiths. Chaired by Rhiannon Ward, these two fabulous writers will discuss the marginal/coastal locations in their crime novels, touching on the importance of nature, isolation and forgotten communities in their writing.

12:15 – 1:00pm: 

Lunch

1:00 – 2:00pm: 

Gritty and Gripping: Mel Sherratt, Heather Burnside, Noelle Holten, Caz Finlay(moderator) What makes a book unputdownable? What makes a reader keep turning the pages? Gritty and gripping are just some of the words used to describe the novels of these three fantastic authors. Chaired by Caz Finlay, these bestselling authors will discuss just how they put the grit and grip into their thrillers, and what they think keeps their readers coming back for more.

2:15 – 3:15pm: 

Golden Age Fiction: Sophie Hannah and Martin Edwards. CWA Diamond Dagger winner Martin Edwards is an authority on British crime fiction, awarded the Edgar, Agatha, Macavity, and HRF Keating Awards for his non-fiction book The Golden Age of Murder. He is also follows in the footsteps of Agatha Christie, as current Chair of the Detection Club. Sophie Hannah is a multi-award-winning, international bestselling author of psychological chillers, and a dedicated Agatha Christie fan. For almost forty years after her death, Christie’s family famously rebuffed any suggestion that they might pass the authorial baton to another author yet, to date, Sophie has written four Poirot ‘continuation’ novels, with the Christies’ full blessing. These two clearly have a lot to talk about. And if you like your murder framed in a more elegant era, this is a must-see!

3:15 – 4:00pm: 

Signings and Social: Your chance to mix with fellow attendees and some of our special author guests, buy the latest crime fiction releases from our authors, and have your books signed.

also

3:15 – 4:00pm

:Crime Writing workshop with David Jackson. Crafting the Killer Pitch: As novelists of commercial fiction, we are in the business of selling ideas – to agents, to publishers and, ultimately, to readers. Our chances of success increase dramatically if we can express those ideas in ways that are brief and snappy and carry a punch that sends our intended audience reeling. In this short workshop David Jackson describes techniques that will help you in devising story pitches that have exactly that tight, powerful focus. (REQUIRES SEPARATE TICKET WHICH CAN BE BOOKED AS AN ADD-ON WHEN YOU BUY YOUR PERFECT CRIME TICKET)

4:00 – 5:00pm: 

Truth and Lies: Ann Cleeves and Prof James Grieve. What is the truth behind the fiction? Professor James Grieves’s long career in forensic pathology has taken him around the globe and involved a number of high-profile cases. Prof Grieves has also brought the weight of his extensive real-life knowledge and experience to bear on panel discussions between authors and scientists across the UK. So, what does he make of writers’ attempts to bring realism to their fictional crimes? Find out in a fascinating and revealing chat between these two friends.

5:15 -6:15pm: 

Mind Games: M W Craven, Margaret Murphy, Susanna Beard, Barry Forshaw (moderator) The psychology of the murderous mind has fascinated readers since Poe’s The Tell-Tale Heart, and crime readers demand psychological depth in contemporary mysteries. But why are we so obsessed with damaged psychologies and the criminal mind? And what is it like to get into the mind of a killer? Barry Forshaw talks to three bestselling authors who really put the psycho into their psychological fiction.

Tickets can be bought here.

Murder on the Mid list and Before He Kills Again by Margaret Murphy

Flashback to 1999. A conversation with an editor: ‘You get such lovely reviews, Margaret,’ (sigh) ‘It’s a pity they don’t translate into sales.’ I was taken aback; sales weren’t my province – that surely was the publisher’s job? She frowned: ‘Oh, but it doesn’t work like that.’ Clearly, she was right – on that point, at least. Good reviews don’t sell books; marketing and publicity sell books. Yet only a tiny, favoured minority of authors have marketing budgets. 

Not being one of this happy band – and not one to give up easily, either – I decided to try to find a way of building my profile – which meant publicising my own work. But one small voice is easily drowned by the roar of the collective publicity and marketing machines of the mighty publishing houses, who can spend six figure sums promoting their big names. At that point, my advances were under £10 000, so paying for PR wasn’t an option, and shouting about my own books was definitely not going to happen – but talking about other writers I admired – that might be fun. 

The next step was to find a few like-minded colleagues, which proved remarkably easy. At the next meeting of the Northern Chapter of the Crime Writers Association I approached John Baker, Chaz Brenchley, Ann Cleeves, Martin Edwards, Stuart Pawson and Cath Staincliffe, who all readily agreed, and so Murder Squad was conceived.

We shared ideas and contacts, set up a website, designed and had brochures printed, and emailed or wrote to every library reader development officer and festival we could find across the UK. The response was hugely encouraging, with offers flooding in from festivals, libraries, and bookshops, as well as from journalists interested to hear more about this band of northern crime writers, and we launched in March, year 2000. But the squad met with opposition – even hostility – from a quite unexpected quarter: within the CWA itself. While for many members it was a lightbulb moment, a few criticised Murder Squad as ‘divisive’, and in 2003, one Dagger judge even cited the absence of Squad members from the CWA annual conference as evidence of ‘an unwelcome schism in the membership of the CWA’. The reality was that we promoted the CWA at every event we did, and Martin Edwards had edited the association’s anthologies of short fiction since 1996 — in fact, he was editing a special collection to celebrate the CWA's Golden Jubilee in the ‘year of the schism’! By then, there were five other collectives of crime writers, most of whom were CWA members. A lively and frank exchange of opinion followed, the consensus being that, as the CWA had survived three whole years since the inception of Murder Squad, it was probably over the worst. Indeed, the CWA has thrived, despite the fifth columnists in its midst, and is stronger today than it has ever been. As is Murder Squad.

We could not have imagined that it would run and run. But it did, and here we are celebrating Murder Squad’s 20th anniversary. To date we’ve given hundreds of talks and workshops, published three Murder Squad anthologies (one of which won two awards), gained 20+ prizes – including CWA Daggers, Edgars, Macavitys, Writers’ Guild of Great Britain, RTS and Agatha Awards – as well as honorary degrees. Not bad for a bunch of mid-listers who refused to accept the status quo. Sadly, Stuart Pawson died a few years ago and Chaz and John stepped down from the squad, but Kate Ellis and Chris Simms have joined us, and the mutually supportive ethos continues. 

Ann has famously gone on to write two phenomenally successful book series, Vera and Shetland, which are equally successful on TV, while Cath created the highly popular Blue Murder TV series. I went on to Chair the CWA, as did Martin Edwards, and both Martin and Ann Cleeves have been awarded the association’s highest honour: the CWA Diamond Dagger. 

The COVID-19 lockdown has meant we had to cancel parties, discussion panels and workshops across the UK, but we’ve increased our online activity to compensate, with more frequent newsletters and occasional ‘Personal Perspectives’ on writing – do join us at www.murdersquad.co.uk. The squad approaches the next twenty years with the same enthusiasm to reach a wider audience that we began with. In addition to our website and regular newsletters, we’re now on Twitter and Facebook – and we have a new anthology of short stories in the works. Called 21, it will celebrate our 21st anniversary with twenty-one stories – three by each of the current members, and one each from Stuart, Chaz, and John. The anthology will be published in 2021 in both the UK and the US by Severn House. 

Margaret Murphy on her new novel, Before He Kills Again

I started working on this novel over a decade ago. I’d always been fascinated by human psychology, and in 2001-2002, I’d even completed the first year of a degree in the subject at the University of Liverpool. During that time, I was volunteering at a refugee charity as part of my research for a novel and had befriended an asylum seeker. ‘Faith’ (not her real name) often became mute during consultations and interviews, and sometimes even collapsed. But slowly, her story emerged: she had been abducted in her home country, taken across the border into another country, and illegally imprisoned. Over many months she had been repeatedly raped, starved, and tortured. She had been forced to watch as her partner was murdered and had seen her friends mutilated by her captors. The UK government was adamant: there was no such regime in her home country – it was safe for her to return. My own research demonstrated that the British Government’s intelligence was out of date, but it was not accepted as sufficient proof, and it was only the delay in her asylum hearing which allowed time for their intel to catch up. After eighteen months, Faith was granted asylum and was finally able to begin building a new life.

With her permission, I included some of her experiences in See Her Burn, and a year or two later, I was invited to speak to professionals and service users at the Tavistock and Portman NHS Trust – a mental health trust in London which specialises in talking therapies. The trust wanted to hear about my practical experience of working with a refugee with PTSD. The session was introduced by the Portman Trust’s Clinical Director, psychoanalytic psychotherapist Stanley Ruszczynski. I told him that I wanted to write a novel centred around a psychotherapist, and Stan generously agreed to read and comment on my outline. His insights shaped the novel in such positive ways, and I am deeply grateful for his insights which gave depth and enriched the narrative.

The original version of Before He Kills Again went out (under a different title) to half a dozen editors, who praised it warmly – and rejected unanimously. But the late, great Reginald Hill read an early version of it, and he really liked it; he urged me not to give up on it, even when I found it impossible to place. This year, I rewrote the novel and submitted it to Joffe Books – and they loved it. An object lesson in never giving up on the stories you believe in.

Before He Kills Again is available in Kindle, and will be released in paperback at the end of July and is published by Joffe Books.

To find out more about Margaret’s books, visit www.margaret-murphy.co.uk

Criminal Splatterings!!!!

The Broadcast Press Guild Awards have been announced and according to the BBC crime dramas The Fall, Broadchurch and Top of the Lake have all been nominated.  They are all up for four prizes including best drama.  The winners will be announced at a ceremony in London on 28 March.

According to the BBC crime writer Lynda La Plante is writing a prequel to her incredibly successful series Prime Suspect.  The book will be published in 2015 and the TV adaptation will air in 2016, the 25th anniversary year of Prime Suspect and will start when Tennison joins the force in the late 1970s or early 1980s.  More information can be found on the Guardian website.

The BBC Two have also announced that they have commissioned London Spy a new 5 part spy thriller by author Tom Robb Smith.  Shooting will start this year with transmission taking place on BBC Two in 2015.  More information can be found here.  The is also a really interesting interview by Jake Kerridge in the Telegraph with Tom Rob Smith and he explains about writing his latest novel The Farm  off the back of his mother’s serious illness which resulted in her being admitted to an asylum for a period of time.

For those that enjoy watching the legal drama Silk the BBC have announced a third series. More information can be read here.

Shetland the drama series based on the novels of Ann Cleeves is set to return to the BBC for a second series.  The three two part series will be based on the novels Raven Black, Dead Water and Blue Lightning.

The 2014 Northern Crime Writing Competition is open for submissions.  Entry fees for the competition are: £25 for the novels and £10 for short stories. To find out more about the competition go to the Moth Publishing website.  The winning novels will be published in print and as e-books in 2015. The winning writers will receive a standard publishing contract, a £1,000 advance, and support to editorially develop their work. They will also enjoy a marketing and PR campaign to support the publication of their books. Short story winners will get £100 and their story published in the very first Northern Crime Short Story Anthology.

The finalists for the 34th annual L.A. Times Book Prizes were announced on Wednesday 19 February.  The full list can be found here but the Mystery /Thriller nominations are as follows –

Hour of the Red God by Richard Crompton (Sarah Crichton Books/Farrar, Straus & Giroux)
The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith (Mulholland Books/Little, Brown & Co.)
Sycamore Row by John Grisham (Doubleday Books)
The Rage by Gene Kerrigan (Europa Editions)
The Collini Case by Ferdinand von Schirach, (Viking)

Huge congratulations to (one of my favourite author’s) Italian Crime Writer Andrea Camilleri who was recently awarded the Pepe Carvalho Prize for lifetime work at the BCNegra noir literary festival in Barcelona.  The Pepe Carvalho prize is named after the protagonist of the Spanish writer Manuel Vázquez Montalbán’s detective novels. Camilleri named his protagonist after Montalbán. See here for more information from the L.A. Times.

The winner of the £5,000 Telegraph Harvill Secker crime writing competition for an unpublished manuscript is Abir Mukherjee. His novel, A Rising Man, is set in Calcutta in the dying days of the Raj and opens with the brutal murder of a British burra sahib. Mukherjee's submission was picked from a pool of 400 submissions.

Crime Story a new festival for crime fiction lovers, is coming to Newcastle at the University of Northumbria on May 31st. The organizers have added a fun twist: they've commissioned author Ann Cleeves to invent a fictional crime which will then be investigated by various experts including forensic scientists, police detectives and legal eagles.  Authors Louise Welsh, Margaret Murphy (A D Garrett) and Peter Guttridge will also be in attendance.  More information can also be found here.

According to Deadline.Com Dennis Lehane is adapting the Douglas Perry's new biography, Eliot Ness: The Rise And Fall Of An American Hero, for WGN America. The project chronicles the two decades of the famed prohibition agent following his take-down of Al Capone.

Jada Pinkett Smith has also signed up to be the villain in the Batman prequel Gotham.  According to Deadline.com Gotham which has a series commitment is based on DC characters from the Batman universe and explores the origin stories of Commissioner James Gordon (McKenzie) as an idealistic rookie detective in Gotham City, along with Bruce Wayne and the villains who made Gotham City famous. Smith will play Fish Mooney, an imposing, hotheaded and notoriously sadistic gangster boss and nightclub owner with street smarts and almost extra-sensory abilities to read people like an open book who is not one to be crossed.

According to Deadline.Com Debra Messing who is best known in the UK for the comedy Will and Grace is set to star in the NBC pilot The Mysteries of Laura which is  based on the popular Spanish series Los Misterios De Laura, The Mysteries Of Laura follows the life and relationships of Laura Diamond (Messing), a female homicide detective who can handle murderous criminals — but not her hell-raising twin children.

Deadline is also reporting that Rose Rollins is set as one of the leads in TNT's legal drama pilot Guilt By Association, based on the novels by former prosecutor Marcia Clark, while Jamey Sheridan, (Homeland) has been cast in TNT's action-drama pilot Agent X, starring Sharon Stone.

ITV has commissioned an eighth series of Inspector Lewis with Kevin Whately and Laurence Fox reprising their roles as Oxford detectives. This series will find Hathaway (Laurence Fox) has been promoted to Inspector after an extended break from the force, with the retired Lewis (Kevin Whately) drafted back to renew their partnership.

In the Independent Boyd Tonkin interviews Eva Gabrielsson about Stieg Larsson’s legacy and the announcement that there is to be a fourth book written by David Lagercrantz.

CWA Dagger Awards

On Thursday 5 July 2012 Crime Writers’ Association (CWA) announced the winners of half a dozen of its annual Dagger Awards at a dinner held at The Library, One Birdcage Walk, London.  There were over 160 people in attendance at the dinner. The winners were -

CWA International Dagger: The Potter’s Field, by Andrea Camilleri, translated by Stephen Sartarelli (Mantle)

CWA Non-fiction Dagger: The Eleventh Day, by Anthony Summers and Robbyn Swan (Transworld/Doubleday) (Sponsored by the ALCS)

CWA Short Story Dagger: Tie — “The Message,” by Margaret Murphy (from Murder Squad: Best Eaten Cold and Other Stories, edited by Martin Edwards; The Mystery Press) and “Laptop,” by Cath Staincliffe (from Murder Squad: Best Eaten Cold and Other Stories)

CWA Ellis Peters Historical Dagger: Icelight, by Aly Monroe 
(John Murray)

CWA Dagger in the Library: Steve Mosby (Sponsored by Random House)

CWA Debut Dagger: Beached, by Sandy Gingras (Sponsored by Orion)

A full list of the short listed titles for the above awards can be found here.  The short lists were announced at Crimefest in Bristol earlier this year.

The event also included the presentation of the CWA’s 2012 Diamond Dagger Award to Frederick Forsyth author of The Day of the Jackal (1971), The Odessa File (1972) The Dogs of War (1974), The Fourth Protocol (1984) to name a few.  Frederick Forsyth was introduced by last year’s recipient of the Diamond Dagger Lindsey Davis.

A number of the Dagger long lists were also announced that evening and they are as follows-

The John Creasey (New Blood) Dagger

The Doll Princess by Tom Benn (Jonathan Cape)
Heart-Shaped Bruise by Tanya Byrne, (Headline)
A Land More Kind than Home by Wiley Cash, (Transworld/Bantam)
So Much Pretty by Cara Hoffman, (Century)
Good People by Ewart Hutton, (HarperCollins)
Turn of Mind by Alice LaPlante, (Harvill Secker)
The Expats by Chris Pavone, (Faber & Faber)
What Dies in Summer by Tom Wright, (Canongate)

The Ian Fleming Steel Dagger

Dare Me by Megan Abbott (Picador)
The Shadow Patrol by Alex Berenson (Headline)
A Foreign Country by Charles Cumming (HarperCollins)
The Fear Index by Robert Harris (Hutchinson)
The Dispatcher by Ryan David Jahn (Macmillan)
Uncommon Enemy by Alan Judd (Simon & Schuster)
The Child Who by Simon Lelic (Mantle)
Reamde by Neal Stephenson (Atlantic Books)

The Gold Dagger

A Land More Kind than Home by Wiley Cash (Transworld/Bantam)
Vengeance in Mind by N. J. Cooper (Simon & Schuster)
Grandad, There’s a Head on the Beach by Colin Cotterill (Quercus)
The Flight by M. R. Hall (Mantle)
The Rage - Gene Kerrigan (Vintage)
Turn of Mind by Alice LaPlante (Harvill Secker)
The Child Who by Simon Lelic (Mantle)
Bereft by Chris Womersley (Quercus)

The Press Release can be found here.

The CWA also announced an ongoing partnership with Cactus TV over the Specsavers ITV3 Crime Thriller Awards.

News from Constable & Robinson and Headline

Constable & Robinson sign A D Garrett novel -
Constable & Robinson has signed a five-figure deal to acquire a new detective novel written under the pen name A D Garrett.

The book, jointly authored by thriller writer Margaret Murphy and forensic expert Professor Dave Barclay, was signed by C&R’s James Garbutt through agent Felicity Blunt at Curtis Brown, with Katie McGowan at Curtis Brown handling the translation rights.

The publisher has British Commonwealth rights to the book excluding Canada. Blunt said: "The combined talents of Professor Barclay and Margaret Murphy merge to create a truly twisted crime novel, with brilliant but flawed forensic scientist Nick Fenimore at its centre." The publication date is to be confirmed.


Headline to publish Mark Mills -
Headline has acquired two novels by Mark Mills, previously published by HarperCollins, and author of bestselling title The Savage Garden.

Publishing director for fiction Imogen Taylor bought world rights excluding North America in the two novels, as yet untitled, through Stephanie Cabot at The Gernert Company.

The first book, which will be a contemporary novel set around an Oxfordshire estate, will be published in 2013. The second will have "more of a period setting", with both containing elements of "surprise [and] intrigue".

Taylor said: "I'm truly delighted that we're to be Mark's publishers; I've admired his work for years, ever since he wrote The Whaleboat House, his very first book. He's brilliant on place, the psychological make-up of a character, and how the past infringes on the present. I couldn't be more thrilled."