Criminal Snippets

Qiu Xialong’s Inspector Chen Series, published by Mulholland Books, an imprint of Hodder & Stoughton, has been turned into a "major" BBC Radio 4 drama.
The adaptations of the first three novels in the Inspector Chen mysteries, Death of a Red Heroine, A Loyal Character Dancer and When Red is Black will be broadcast weekly from 5th December at 2.30pm in episodes lasting 90 minutes, 60 minutes and 60 minutes respectively.
The drama is already live on R4’s ‘online first’ service, meaning that the programmes are exclusively available via iPlayer Radio for the 7 days preceding each broadcast.
The character of Inspector Chen was described as the ‘Morse of the Far East’ by the Independent and the series is said to offer “a true insight into today’s China, from corruption to pollution to the traditional food that Chen delights in”.
There are now seven books in the Inspector Chen series. The first three were reissued in March this year and are available as part of an e-book bundle.

         

Shots' friend, David Morrell, apart from being Bouchercon 2016's recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award, will see his character Rambo on the small screen.  Rambo: New Blood, a TV series based on the hit feature franchise, with Sylvester Stallone executive producing.  Some sources indicate that the actor would reprise his role as the famous renegade soldier, which he has played in all four Rambo movies to date, while others say that he won’t appear in the series.
Written by feature writer Jeb Stuart (Die Hard, The Fugitive), the Rambo TV series, from Entertainment One and Avi Lerner’s Millennium Films, pays homage to the films, exploring the complex relationship between Rambo and his son, J.R., an ex-Navy SEAL. J.R. is a new character not been featured in the movies that has been added as a way into the series. As the logline suggests, Rambo would be a key character on the show unlike other TV series followups, like the proposed Beverly Hills Cop series for CBS, which centered on the son of Eddie Murphy’s Axel Foley, with Murphy only slated to make occasional appearances.
Signed collector’s edition of FIRST BLOOD (see cover three above) with extras. 500 copies are now available. Click here to purchase through the publisher, Gauntlet Press, or here to purchase from Borderlands Press.

Writing team Joe Shrapnel and Anna Waterhouse have closed a deal to rewrite The Gray Man (Sphere Books), based on the novel by Mark Greaney. Christopher McQuarrie is attached to direct with Charlize Theron attached to star. The project is believed to be a priority for the studio, which is looking at a start of production in the first half of 2016. The script was previously written by Joe and Anthony Russo, who were at one time attached as directors before they got busy with Captain America: Civil War and the next two installments of The Avengers. The project, which at one point had Brad Pitt attached to star, has undergone a gender swap to allow for Theron to be involved. The thriller focuses on an expert CIA op-turned-assassin who is forced to evade adversaries as she saves the lives of daughters she didn’t know were still alive.
Mark Greaney has a degree in International Relations and Political Science. In researching The Gray Man series he travelled to ten countries and trained extensively in the use of firearms, battlefield medicine, and close range combative tactics.

Did you ever think this was possible?  Future Proofing Your Thriller by Kevin Wignall. Well, it is according to Kevin.  And he talks about that and his new book A DEATH IN SWEDEN (Thomas & Mercer Jan 01, 2016) over on the website.
About the book:

Jacques Fillon is killed in a bus crash in northern Sweden. His last act is one of selfless heroism, to reach out and save the life of the passenger sitting nearest him. For over ten years, Jacques lived in this quiet rural community, keeping to himself, and only death reveals his secret: Jacques Fillon never existed. Dan Hendricks is a man with a murky past and a shaky future. He's a freelancer, employed to track down fugitives for foreign powers, but a lot of his colleagues have died in the last few months, and it's becoming clear that he could be next. So he jumps at the chance of one more job with his former employer, to find out who Jacques Fillon was and why he disappeared, and perhaps in the process to lift the contract from his own head.

 

Bloody Scotland

My attendance at Bloody Scotland depended on whether or not I managed to catch my overnight train (The Caledonia Sleeper) from Euston to Stirling.  I am please to say that I did and I was she only one who got off at Stirling Station at 5:00am in the morning much to the dismay of the train guard who looked at me rather anxiously and asked if I was going to be okay.  What can I say?  Not much.  It was equally nice that the hotel where I was staying was not very far from the train station and took me less than five minutes to get there.  Though I think that the porter must have been rather surprised when I pressed the doorbell and asked to be let in.

Housekeeping aside, so far Bloody Scotland has been amazing. It is always nice to come to these events and not only hear interesting talks but also catch up with various people.  It is extremely well run and huge thanks must go to the Festival Director Dom Hastings and the Press Officer Kirstin Innes (along with all the volunteers) for the way in which the event is being managed.

My first event was not one that I had intended on going to but I was persuaded by the lovely Karen Sullivan to go with her to the panel on current crime market trends which she had been asked to do at very short notice.  Also on the panel were Al Guthrie who has his fingers in a number of different pies at the moment to very good effect and Jo Dickerson from Simon and Schuster.  The audience was made up of over 50 people who had been on the Bloody Scotland Crime Writing Masterclass earlier in the day.  It was a very informative panel with all three panel members covering various topics such as what they are looking for in the books that are submitted to them, what they are working on, public relations and marketing along with the fact that writers should write what they are interested in and not write on trends. They also touched on short stories; the fact that as a writer you have to accept the fact that sometimes self-publishing might be the way to go for you.  The pros and cons of self publishing and being proactive. As they said, they are looking for passionate writing, writing that will stand out and books that will resonate.  Claire Squires who is the Director of the Stirling Centre for International Publishing & Communication moderated the panel. 

The opening ceremony took place at the Cowane’s Hospital with Ragnar Jonasson giving a brief opening speech along Provost Mike Robins of Stirling and along with Jenny Brown the Chair of Bloody Scotland.

©Eoin Carey

The first event of the evening was a talk between Val McDermid and Peter May which was moderated by Douglas Skelton. With over 600 people it was a fascinating to listen to them both talk about their careers and the way in which they write. It was pointed out that with crime fiction you can accomplish anything and also that the themes that were being written about today were very interesting.  Both Val McDermid and Peter May agreed that the process is always working away in their heads and that it is not a stop and start way of writing as something will always be bubbling a way at the back of your mind even if you are doing something else.  Saying that, most writers always have a love hate relationship with the process and it never gets any easier no matter how long you have been a writer.

One of the issues that came up was research and as Val McDermid pointed out you can get

© Eoin Carey

funny looks when you are doing research.  The example she gave was when she was doing research for The Mermaid Singing and having to do research on torture.  She also praised Professor Sue Black for all the help that she has given her. Peter May likewise indicated that the research help that he has been given has been invaluable.  They both agreed that it had taught them to be fearless about research and that being former journalists it helped.  As Val McDermid commented, “sometimes research buggers you up!”. 

After the event both Val McDermid and Peter May signed books for the huge queue of people that waited patiently inline.

If you didn’t get to see Whose Crime is it Anyway then you missed a treat.  Hosted by comic Hardeep Singh Kohli it saw authors Caro Ramsay, Christopher Brookmyre and Kevin Wignall improvise a new novel on the spot with some help from some props which included a spinning wheel and Katie Price’s biography.  

For my first night at Bloody Scotland I had a wonderful time.  As can be expected after the first two events most people wandered off back to the hotel bar, went and had some supper or just hung around.

I ended up going out to dinner with Craig Robertson and James Oswald which was wonderful.  So what about Saturday? Lots of things to do and the anticipation of seeing The Slice Girls in action for what may turn out to be their one and only performance.

Criminal Line Up Announced for Bloody Scotland 2015

As the literary world celebrates Agatha Christie's 125th anniversary, this year's Bloody Scotland festival pays homage to crime writing past, present and future. Martina Cole, Linwood Barclay, Ian Rankin, Arne Dahl, Val McDermid, Lindsey Davis and Ann Cleeves are amongst the major names confirmed to attend the most star-studded edition of the Stirling-based crime writing festival to date.

The festival, which showcases the best of Scottish and international crime writing in the historic and ancient town centre of Stirling, will run from 11 – 13 September this year. Some of the most famous crime authors in the world are coming to Stirling to talk about their books, events celebrate Scotland as the perfect location for crime writing and the scientific aspects of crime fiction, and the festival joins in the Agatha Christie celebrations with an extra special event.

In a huge coup for the festival, Martina Cole, one of the biggest names in international crime fiction, whose books have sold over ten million copies in the UK alone, will offer Bloody Scotland audiences an exclusive sneak preview of her soon-to-be-published novel Get Even, in conversation with Guardian columnist Erwin James. Speaking about the festival, Ms Cole said: "I'm a big fan of Scotland: I've always had a great reception there and I love the rugged beauty of the country as the views are so different from the flat rolling countryside of England. I'm very excited about coming to Bloody Scotland with a sneak peak of my new book and looking forward to discussing it with Erwin James: he's a good friend."

 Linwood Barclay, author of thirteen novels including the international best-sellers Trust Your Eyes, A Tap on the Window and No Time for Goodbye, comes over from Canada for a UK exclusive event, to close the festival in style. Lindsey Davis, the phenomenally popular creator of Roman detective Falco, is guaranteed to fill Stirling's Albert Halls as she introduces her new novel Deadly Election. Arne Dahl, possibly Sweden's most famous crime fiction export, returns to Bloody Scotland following the huge success of his series about the Intercrime Unit on BBC4. Ian Rankin teams up with Philip Kerr, author of the Bernie Gunther novels, to discuss what happens when your lead detective becomes even more popular than you are. Ann Cleeves will not only be appearing at the festival, but will be taking a group of readers on a trip to Shetland immediately after the festival proper finishes for a tour of the landscapes that inspired her Jimmy Perez novels and the hugely-acclaimed BBC TV series. Denise Mina teams up with award-winning South African-based novelist Belinda Bauer to discuss the creations of intelligent, character-driven fiction.

The science of crime comes under the microscope this year. The festival celebrates Agatha Christie's anniversary with an exciting event looking at the grande dame of crime fiction's obsession with poisons. Dr Kathryn Harkup, author of the book A is for Arsenic, and Christie expert Ragnar Jonasson, who has been Christie's Icelandic translator since he was seventeen, will discuss the art of chemistry Christie used to kill the vast majority of her 'victims'. Leading authors Val McDermid and Lin Anderson discuss the science of forensic evidence: Anderson's Rhona MacLeod novels show her years of research into forensic and scientific detection, while McDermid has recently published a fascinating non-fiction work, Forensics: An Anatomy of Crime.

As ever, Bloody Scotland includes lots of events that don't quite conform to the standard book festival template. After its huge popularity in 2014, the festival restages its Scotland vs. England all-crime-writers football match, with team captain Ian Rankin and star strikers Chris Brookmyre and Doug Johnstone already confirmed for the Scotland squad. Whose Crime Is It Anyway? sees comedian Hardeep Singh Kohli and a live audience force authors Caro Ramsay, Kevin Wignall and Brookmyre to improvise the plot of a novel live onstage. The festival will also be taking over Stirling's famous Curly Coo pub for a night of song and comedy hosted by a number of authors.

Scottish crime writers including William McIlvanney, Doug Johnstone, Craig Robertson and Neil Broadfoot look at what make Glasgow and Edinburgh such distinctive settings for noir fiction, while a special true crime event looks sees Tom Wood, one of the leading officers in Edinburgh's notorious World's End Murders case, in conversation with journalist Bob Smyth, who covered the case extensively.

There are also a number of events celebrating crime fiction's next generation. Bestselling author Alex Gray presents her choice of the best new crime books around (and their authors); highly acclaimed debut novelists Lucy Ribchester (The Hourglass Factory) and Not The Booker Prize-winner Simon Sylvester (The Visitors) make first-time appearances with their alternative takes on the genre, and the Pitch Perfect event offers new writers the chance to pitch their novels and get advice from a panel of publishing experts. The festival also teams up with other established crime writing organisations, including Nordic Noir, Brighton's Dark & Stormy Festival and the authors' collective Killer Women.

Finally, the festival will also include the fourth annual Bloody Scotland Crime Book of the Year Award – a gala dinner in the company of major crime writers. Last year's winner, Peter May, will be opening the festival in conversation with Val McDermid.