Colin Cotterill interviewed In The Times

Colin Cotterill the winner of the Dagger in the Library is interviewed by Barry Forshaw the Vice-Chairman of the CWA in The Times on Saturday 18 July 2009. The interview can be found here.

Was Macbeth Innocent?

Cartier Diamond Dagger Award winner Ian Rankin has written a short story in today's Times (18 July) on what if Macbeth was in fact innocent and had been set up. The short story was written to celebrate the CWA Daggers that were given out on Wednesday 15 July. The story Macbeth was Innocent can be found here.

CWA Dagger Awards 2009 And TV Tie Up With Cactus

A number of the Crime Writers Association Dagger Awards were given out on Wednesday 14 July 2009.

Colin Cotterill won the Dagger in the Library; For the third time, writer Fred Vargas and translator Sîan Reynolds won the International Dagger this time with her novel The Chalk Circle Man. This is her third win in four years; Sean Chercover won the Short Story Dagger Award with the story One Serving of Bad Luck, taken from from Killer Year, edited by Lee Child and published by Mira. Whilst Catherine O'Keefe won the Debut Dagger with The Pathologist.

At the award ceremony it was also announced that Crime Writers' Association and Cactus TV are to join forces to celebrate the Crime Thriller Dagger Awards, which will take place on Wednesday, 21st October, 2009.More information can be found on the CWA website.

Newsy Stuff

ITN launches YouTube Book Club.

Publishers Penguin, Faber & Faber and Random House teamed up with ITN to create an online book club which is aimed at younger readers. More information about it can be found here.

European Prize for Literature

Henning Mankell is amongst 12 European authors that have been awarded the first ever European Union Prize for Literature. Mankell has accepted the role of Ambassador of the European Union Prize for Literature for the coming year. See here for more information.

New sci-fi thriller Paradox for the BBC

BBC1’s sci-fi thriller Paradox will be directed by Simon Cellan Jones (Generation Kill) and will star Tamzin Outhwaite. Clerkenwell Films has started pre-production on the 5 x 60-minute series which will star Outhwaite as DI Rebecca Flint who heads a special police force that investigates crimes committed in the future.

Filming in Manchester is due to start in June, although no other main roles have been filled. The series was created and written by Lizzie Mickery, who previously worked on The State Within and Messiah. Murray Ferguson, chief executive of producer Clerkenwell Films, said: “We’d love to be known as the indie that broadcasters can come to for inventive, high-quality drama.”

The series, being made by BBC Northern Ireland, was commissioned by Ben Stephenson, controller, BBC drama commissioning and will be produced by Marcus Wilson, who previously worked on Whitechapel. BBC Worldwide will distribute the series internationally. Stephenson said: “Paradox is a fresh spin on the crime genre for BBC1. Stopping crimes before they happen is a fantastically bold idea that allows us to tell edge of your seat thriller stories, whilst also weaving compelling moral and emotional questions about what happens when you try to change the future”.

Fire and Ice by Michael Ridpath

Corvus Books are to publish two books in a new series by international best-selling author Michael Ridpath. The first book in the series is called Fire and Ice and introduces readers to Magnus Jonson, an Iceland-born Boston-raised homicide detective. More information can be found here.

International Thriller Writers

The International Thriller Awards were recently awarded in New York. The results can be seen on the International Thriller Writers Website

The One Show and Crime Fiction

If I have done this correctly then attached is the link to The One Show. The Crime Fiction segment is about 11 minutes in. Enjoy!!

BBC The One Show and the CWA

As part of the BBC TV One Show on Friday 10 July a very brief but interesting and special segment will be shown on the programme about crime fiction and why it is enjoyed by so many. The One Show is broadcast between 7 and 7:30pm on BBC 1. Leading the investigation on the popularity of crime fiction is Sandi Toksvig and she is being aided and abetted by 2009 Diamond Dagger Award winner Andrew Taylor, critic and editor of Crime Time Barry Forshaw along with a number of culprits (aka fans) Lizzie Hayes, Adrian Muller, myself and Shaz Wheeler. If you do not manage to catch it on Friday it can also be seen here or on BBC iplayer as well. Further information can be found on the website.

The segment is being shown in anticipation of a number of the Dagger Awards that are being given on the 15 July 2009 along with the announcement of the shortlists in the national media as well.

Not sure how much of all that was taped is going to be shown!

2009 Barry Award Nominations

The 2009 Barry Award nominations have been announced by Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine and Mystery News. The Barry Awards will be given out at Bouchercon in Indianapolis.

The nominations are as follows:-

BEST NOVEL
Trigger City by Sean Chercover
The Draining Lake by Arnaldur Indridason
Envy the Night by Michael Koryta
Red Knife by William Kent Krueger

The Cruelest Month by Louise Penny
Dawn Patrol by Don Winslow

BEST FIRST
The Kind One by Tom Epperson
Stalking Susan by Julie Kramer
City of the Sun by David Levien
Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith
A Carrion Death by Michael Stanley
Sweeping Up Glass by Carolyn D. Wall

BEST BRITISH
A Simple Act of Violence by R.J. Ellory
Ritual by Mo Hayder
The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo by Stieg Larsson
Shatter by Michael Robotham

Bleeding Heart Square by Andrew Taylor

Bruno, Chief of Police by Martin Walker

BEST PAPERBACK ORIGINAL
The First Quarry by Max Allan Collins
Money Shot by Christa Faust
State of the Onion by Julie Hyzy

The Black Path by Asa Larsson

Severance Package by Duane Swierczynski
Echoes from the Dead by Johan Theorin

BEST THRILLER

Collision by Jeff Abbott
The Deceived by Brett Battles
Finder by Colin Harrison
The Survivor by Tom Cain
Night of Thunder by Stephen Hunter
Good People by Marcus Sakey

BEST SHORT STORY
"The Drought" by James O. Born (The Blue Religion)
"The Fallen" by Jan Burke (August EQMM) "A Trace of a Trace" by Brendan DuBois (At the Scene of the Crime)
"A Killing in Midtown" by G. Miki Hayden (January/February AHMM)
"Proof of Love" by Mick Herron (September/October EQMM)
"The Problem of the Secret Patient" by Edward D. Hoch (May EQMM)

Congratulations to all the nominees!

James Ellroy and Colin Harrison interviewed by Sarah Weinman

Sarah Weinman has an excellent interview that took place between herself, Colin Harrison and James Ellroy on her website. The interview was done during Book Expo American on May 29. It can be found here. I am not sure how long it is going to be up for but I would certainly urge fans of both James Ellroy and Colin Harrison to have a look at it. Sarah does a wonderful job in the interview.

George Pelecanos and David Simon

Best-selling crime writer George Pelecanos and David Simon writer of The Wire will be in conversation on Wednesday 22 July 2009 at the Prince Charles Cinema in London. The event is being organised by Waterstones Gower Street and more information about how to get your hands on tickets can be found here.

For those of you that won't be going to Harrogate this year, this event may be your only opportunity to see these two brilliant writers together.

2009 Nero Award Finalists announced

The Nero Wolf Organisation have announced the finalists of the 2009 Nero Award.

The "Nero" is an annual award presented to an author for literary excellence in the mystery genre. The award is presented at the Black Orchid Banquet, which is traditionally held on the first Saturday in December in New York City.

This year, the finalists are:

THE DARK TIDE Andrew Gross, Harper Collins
THE TENTH CASE Joseph Teller, MIRA
THE FAULT TREE Louise Ure, Minotaur Books

Rex Stout (1886-1975) was the author of over seventy novels and stories featuring the brilliant, irascible, and corpulent private detective Nero Wolfe, a lover of food, beer, and orchids. Stout was named a Grand Master by the Mystery Writers of America in 1959 and his Nero Wolfe stories continue to be popular throughout the world.

The Wolfe Pack has been around since 1978, and celebrates all things Nero Wolfe. For example, the society publishes a semi-annual Gazette and sponsors a variety of activities with Wolfean themes including a regular book discussion group and tours of locations mentioned in the corpus. The group has been holding its annual Black Orchid Banquet for more than thirty years. Congratulations to all the nominees.

Publish Post

Newsy Stuff

Allan Guthrie is interviewed by The Scotsman on everything relating to Edinburgh and other personal stuff. It is interesting to note that Allan and I share the same birthday!

Laura Wilson via the Guardian does a round-up crime novels - The Way Home by George Pelecanos, Ice Cold by Andrea Maria Schenkel, The Information Officer by Mark Mills and Rage by Sergio Bizzio.

The Time Magazine has an interview with best-selling author Janet Evanovich who assures her legion of fans that she hs not got any plans to stop writing the Stephanie Plum series as she is having too much fun.

Publishers Harper Collins are to sponsor a season of crime programmes on Virgin Media Channel, Living. They will use the sponsorship to promote a series of crime and thriller releases across the summer and raise awareness of its bestselling authors.

Orion are due to publish six more books by thriller writer James Rollins.

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!

The Times To Run Shortlists For Dagger Awards

On Saturday, 6 June, The Times will run an exclusive listing of several shortlists for this year's Annual CWA Dagger Awards, the most prestigious crime fiction prize in the world.

The Daggers acknowledge the best in crime writing (including fiction, non-fiction, thrillers, psychological and historical mysteries, first novels, short stories and authors whose work has won the approval of libraries and readers' groups). Not all of the shortlists are yet available, but short commentaries about the nominated books and authors will accompany the listings.

The Times will also run an essay by Barry Forshaw on the history and continuing importance of the Dagger awards.

Martina Cole Article

There is an interesting article on Martina Cole in the Observer. The article was done as a prelude to the showing of the dramatisation of Martina Cole's The Take which starts on 17 June on Sky 1.

Shortlist Announced For 5th Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Novel Of The Year Award

The shortlist has been announced for the 5th Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award. The award is the only one of its kind to be voted for by the general public it represents the very best in crime writing. and once again represents crime writing from right across the board. The shortlist covers the who's who in the crime fiction world.

The nominees are Death Message by Mark Billingham, The Accident Man by Tom Cain, Bad Luck and Trouble by Lee Child, Gone to Ground by John Harvey, Ritual by Mo Hayder, Garden of Evil by David Hewson, A Cure for all Diseases by Reginald Hill,The Colour of Blood by Declan Hughes, Dead Man's Footsteps by Peter James, Broken Skin by Stuart MacBride, Beneath the Bleeding by Val McDermid, Exit Music by Ian Rankin, Friend of the Devil by Peter Robinson and Savage Moon by Chris Simms.

More information can be found here. Please go and vote!