Sounds LIke Trouble Q & A with Pamela Samuels Young and Dwayne Alexander Smith

 Introduction:

Dwayne Alexander Smith is the author of Forty Acres, which is in development at Netflix, with Jay-Z attached to produce. Pamela Samuels Young has been widely published across genres, and Netflix is also developing her work, having optioned the first two books in her Vernette Henderson series. Both authors received NAACP Image Awards, for Forty Acres and Anybody’s Daughter respectively.

AO:     What brought the two of you together?  

PSY & DAS:   We’d known each other for a few years after becoming familiar with each other’s work. We’d see each other at book events from time to time and eventually became friends. Our writing styles are pretty similar, and we had discussed the idea of collaborating on a novel. Dwayne came up with the idea for the first book in the series, Sounds Lika a Plan. He shared it with Pamela and suggested they write it together, and she was all in.

AO:     Not only are you both novelists but you also have other jobs. How do you balance this with your writing.

PSY & DAS:   Pamela retired from the practice of law a few years ago and has been writing full time since then. Dwyane is still a full-time writer, focusing primarily on screenwriting. We both love writing and are luckily enough to be able to do it full time.

AO:     A lot of trust is needed for authors who collaborate, how do the two of you work together not only on the plot but the characters?

PSY & DAS:   We work from a pretty detailed outline. So once the writing process begins, we know exactly where the story is headed. Dwayne wrote the first chapter from Jackson’s POV and sent it to Pamela, who wrote the next chapter from Mackenzie’s POV. We went back and forth with that process until the book was completed. We pretty much stuck to the outline. It was a relatively smooth process, with very few hiccups. Because our writing style is pretty similar and because we both like each other’s solo work, it was a relatively smooth process.

AO:     When I read  Sounds Like Trouble, it brought back memories of other detecting duos for example Dashiell Hammet’s Nick and Nora Charles, Laurie R. King's Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes, Jeffery Deaver’s Lincoln Rhyme and Amelia Sachs to name a few. What makes them work so well as a duo and was it intentional that they had to be a male and a female when for example you have duos such as Sherlock Holmes and Watson, Poirot and Hastings.

PSY & DAS:   Thanks for that amazing compliment. From the start we felt that the dynamic between Jackson and Mackenzie would click. Actually, we saw our two protagonists more like Bruce Willis and Cybill Shepherd in the TV show Moonlighting.  We wanted the same kind of humorous love / hate chemistry.

AO:     Are there any elements of yourselves in your main characters.

PSY & DAS:   We don’t like to admit it, but there are elements of Jackson that are very much like Dwyane and the same for Pamela and Mackenzie. Dwyane can be a little prima donna-like, and Pamela does have her uptight moments.

AO:     What sparked the idea for the current storyline featuring mobsters?

PSY & DAS:   Dwyane has a folder full of story ideas. He came up with the mobster’s storyline and when Pamela heard it, she was hooked. Dwyane is definitely the part of the duo who comes up with the outrageous car chases and action scenes.

AO:     How important is research and do you do a lot of research? In Sounds Like Trouble did you get to hang out with mobsters?

PSY & DAS:   Fortunately, we didn’t have to hang out with mobsters, LOL! We are both long-time fans of crime fiction. We just put our imaginations to work and went for it. We, of course, do research when there’s something we don’t have a lot of familiarity with. For instance, we researched what’s involved in picking a lock. We’ll also make sure the settings for our stories make sense. If we describe a building on a particular street, we make sure the architecture fits.

AO:     How difficult is it then to have storylines to ensure that they are realistic without going overboard.

PSY & DAS:   We work hard to present a realistic story, but as fiction writers, we do take some liberties when it’s necessary. For example, could the two PIs really sneak into a well-guarded cemetery where tons of famous people are buried? Maybe? We try to present each scenario in a way that the reader can at least accept it as a possibility.

AO:     How important is LA as a location in this series and did you consider setting it elsewhere.

PSY & DAS:   Location is very important for us. Local readers love reading about places they recognize. Hence, we give a great deal of thought to where the scenes take place. We want to make sure our LA-based readers can visualize the scene as they’re reading because they’ve visited that exact location. We’re both from L.A. and know the city well, so we never considered another location. That’s not to say we won’t take the story to another location at some point.

AO:     The book touches on themes of justice, loyalty, and morality when working for criminals. Was there a deliberate message that you were trying to convey about the characters' moral compasses, especially given the "offer they can't refuse”?

PSY & DAS:   We weren’t necessarily trying to make a moral statement. Instead, we wanted to create a story with lots of drama, action and conflict, where the stakes our main characters faced were constantly being raised. If that also encompasses a moral or social issue, so be it.

AO:     There is a lot of banter between your two main characters. How easy or difficult has it been to make sure that their relationship does not overwhelm the story.

PSY & DAS:   The banter was both easy and fun to write. That’s because if you eavesdropped on a conversation between Dwayne and Pamela, it might be much the same as the banter between Jackson and Mackenzie. We never feared their relationship would take over the story. Our major focus was always on the plot and making sure it engaged the reader from chapter to chapter.

AO:     Now that you have written two books in the series is there anything in hindsight you wish you could change about both your characters?

PSY & DAS:   No, not really. We were pretty happy with how we crafted our characters.

 AO:     A lot of action takes place.  Which is more important to you character or plot?

PSY & DAS:   Definitely plot! We both write commercial fiction and love a fast-paced, engaging mystery. That doesn’t mean we don’t want well-developed characters. But our primary focus is on our plot.

AO:     There are two types of crime writers those who meticulously plan before writing and those who jump straight in and find the story along the way. Which do you do?

PSY & DAS:   We are definitely meticulous plotters. Dwayne prepared a very detailed chapter-by-chapter outline of Sounds Like Trouble. Then we discussed it and made a few changes. Along the way, the story changed, but because we wrote this book together, it was crucial to have a well-developed outline from the start.

AO:     One could call this series a cross-genre book as it has not only elements of a thriller but that of a mystery and humour.  Was this intentional?

PSY & DAS:   Yes, all of that was intentional. The interplay between Jackson and Mackenzie was intended to be funny, since they have such different personalities. We had a lot of fun with those chapters. We also wanted to keep the reader guessing. If there’s one thing we both equally hate, it’s a predictable ending.

AO:     I believe that if you would like a good grounding in social history and social policy that one should read a crime novel.  How important was it for you to weave important topics into your books?

PSY & DAS:   While we also think that’s important, we didn’t necessarily start out planning to make any social statements. But when the opportunity presents itself, we’ll take it. For example, in the next book in the series, we’ll be delving into AI and the impact of social media on our lives.

AO:     What next for Jackson Jones and Mackenzie Cunningham.

PSY & DAS:   We truly enjoy breathing life into Mackenzie and Jackson and dreaming up adventures for them. We plan to write many more books in this series and are currently drafting the third book in the series.       

Sounds Like Trouble by Pamela Samuels Young and Dwayne Alexander Smith (Faber & Faber) £9.99 (Out Now)

Three mobsters. Two detectives. A deadly race against time. Jackson Jones and Mackenzie Cunningham – two of the best private investigators in the business – are presented with a case they aren’t allowed to refuse. The heads of L.A.’s three major crime families have tasked them with finding sensitive information hidden by a man in critical condition before he flatlines. Or else.  The pair can’t agree on how to furnish the office of their new joint venture, Safe and Sound Investigations, let alone the nature of their feelings for each other. But with a masked man on their tail, they are going to have to stick together if they are going to have any chance of solving the case.

More information about the authors can be found on their websites - www.pamelasamuelsyoung.com and Dwayne Alexander Smith

Dwayne Alexander Smith can also be found on Instagram @theamazin and on Facebook

Pamela Samuels Young can also be found on  X and Instagram @AuthorPSY and on Facebook

Paupers and Princelings by Simon Lewis

In Bad Traffic I wrote about a Chinese cop searching or his daughter in the UK. I wanted to show familiar territory from a fresh new perspective; and there’s great drama in someone trying to investigate in an alien country where they can’t even speak the language. For the sequel it seemed natural to keep him here, so I made him a target of China’s notorious ‘tigers and flies’ anti-corruption campaign - knowing he’ll be arrested on trumped up charges if he goes home, he has no choice but to live on as an illegal immigrant, reluctant daughter in tow. 

In No Exit they are living a precarious existence in a slum block of flats, beholden to a sleazy landlord. Their situation worsens when Jian is blackmailed by a gang into hunting down a thief who has robbed a Mah Jiang den. The trail leads them, unexpectedly, to elite society, and another kind of high rise, a penthouse in a new development on the Isle of Dogs. 

The seed for the plot of No Exit was the observation that some of the richest and the poorest Londoners are mainland Chinese. The poorest, like Jian live in a twilight world, at the mercy of unscrupulous gangmasters and landlords. Though, unlike many Chinese at the bottom, at least Jian is not beholden to a snakehead people smuggling gang, working off a high interest debt. 

As for the richest… they are often young, here to study, as a qualification from a British university carries prestige back home. Cash-strapped British universities love high-paying Chinese students, and some London colleges have up to a forty percent Chinese intake. Economics and the like used to be the most popular subjects, but now it seems to be the graphic arts. The kids are supposed to have a TOEFL English language score above a certain level - but it is not uncommon to find students who are clearly nowhere near that score. They are confident that their universities won’t fail them and are probably right: it would shut down a lucrative pipeline. (Knowing this, you have to wonder how long a British education will have any prestige in China. Or anywhere else). 

Among these kids are ‘princelings’ (tai zidang) - the children of the mainland political elite. With Chinese politics growing uncertain it can be a good idea to stow your kids far away. As the benefactors of nepotism, they are often much resented by other Chinese.

Others will be ‘white gloves’ (bai shoutao) - used for money laundering. The emigre can control a foreign bank account that can be stuffed with illicit cash from home. Wealth equivalent to two percent of China’s GDP is estimated to be hidden abroad. 

It's an urgent business because (as Jian well knows) the Chinese government does not mess around when it catches you: I know an ex-pat Chinese who was asked to become emergency adoptee for a mainland baby, as its parents, both customs officials, had been found guilty of corruption and were about to executed. 

To try to understand how these groups might see the city I interviewed among both. The wealthy students described feeling more at home in Canary Wharf than in Chinatown. They liked English tea, the parks and green spaces and the heritage buildings, though wondered where the London that they knew from costume dramas had gone - no bowler hats or gentleman culture. The poor, on the other hand, were brutally matter of fact: to them the city was expensive and unforgiving, and they only cared about opportunities to make money. 

Rich, rather naive kids abroad for the first time, and desperate illegals: there is much dramatic potential in a story that takes in these very different extremes. I think crime fiction is particularly suited for this kind of broad presentation of society’s highs and lows - I think it’s the modern form that a writer like Dickens would feel most comfortable with! I hope that readers appreciate the attempt to show groups too little written about in the west, and the familiar seen from a different angle - as well as a rollercoaster story full of twists and turns, taking in, as well as cultural dislocations, kidnap, blackmail, gambling and gangsters.

No Exit by Simon Lewis (Sort of Books) £9.99 Out Now

Inspector Jian and his daughter Weiwei just want to go back to their home in China: but Jian is facing a corruption charge in his absence and risks arrest. Instead, he tries to scrape a living on London's meanest streets as an illegal immigrant, reduced to hustling Mah Jiang for cash. A bleak future looks to be growing bleaker still when a triad gang blackmail him into tracking down an unlikely young robber. In No Exit Jian and Weiwei scramble between London's grimiest bedsits and its swankiest penthouses as they penetrate the glittering world of 'princelings' - the rich children of the Chinese elite, who treat the city as their playground. Locked in a desperate struggle, with no way out in sight, it will take all their wiles, as well as some lucky gambles, to come out of this latest venture alive.

More information about Simon Lewis and his work can be found on his website and at Inspectorjian.com He can also be found on Facebook @SimonLewisauthor and on Instagram @Simon7684

Author photo ©Mark Pengelly

Penguin Classics Crime and Espionage for 2026

Publishing through 2026, the Penguin Classics Crime and Espionage series brings together landmark works of fiction from across the twentieth century and beyond. Highlights include Robert van Gulik’s Judge Dee mystery The Chinese Nail Murders, Dorothy B. Hughes’s noir classic Ride the Pink Horse, Robert Littell’s Cold War thriller The Amateur, and Mai Jia’s international bestseller Decoded. The list also features Giorgio Scerbanenco’s Italian noir Traitors to All, alongside Rear Window and Other Stories, a newly curated Penguin Classics selection of suspense stories by Cornell Woolrich, originally published in the 1930s and 1940s. 

The Chinese Nail Murders by Robert van Gulik (9 July 2026) First published in 1961

Judge Dee returns in one of Robert van Gulik’s strangest and most atmospheric mysteries, set far from the courtly intrigue of Tang China and deep into a ferocious northern wilderness. In a remote, freezing region, a young girl vanishes, jewels are stolen and a brutal beheading shocks the local community. As Dee pulls at the threads, the case begins to circle an unsettling local obsession, the “Seven Board”, a popular game that may be more than a harmless pastime. With its locked room ingenuity and mounting dread, the novel offers all the pleasures of classic puzzle crime while using the harsh landscape and tight knit settlements to heighten the tension. Van Gulik’s Judge Dee novels are celebrated for their vivid historical texture, and this instalment is a particularly rich example, blending clue driven plotting with an immersive sense of place and period.

About the author: Robert van Gulik (1910 to 1967) was a Dutch diplomat and a leading authority on Chinese history and culture, who lived much of his life in the Far East. He wrote sixteen Judge Dee mysteries alongside influential studies of Chinese art and music.

Ride the Pink Horse by Dorothy B. Hughes (9 July 2026) First published in 1946

A heat hazed, high pressure noir that shifts the genre out of shadowy alleyways and into the bright glare of the American Southwest. Sailor, a former gangster’s muscle, arrives from Chicago in Santa Fe during Fiesta season with revenge and money on his mind. But the city is packed, the temperature is punishing, and the forces ranged against him are both organised and unpredictable. With nowhere to stay and danger in every crowd, Sailor is pushed into a tightening web of corruption and violence, where survival depends on reading people quickly and striking first. Dorothy B. Hughes turns the usual noir palette inside out, using vivid colour and sunlight to make paranoia feel even sharper. The result is a lean, propulsive thriller that builds dread through constant motion, chance encounters and the sense that the whole town is watching.

About the author: Hughes (born Kansas City, later based in New Mexico) was a journalist and poet who became one of the key voices of American hard-boiled fiction. Several novels were adapted for film, and she was named a Grand Master by the Mystery Writers of America.

The Amateur by Robert Littell (23 July 2026) First published in 1981

A classic Cold War thriller built on a deliciously unnerving premise: what happens when an ordinary man decides to do an extraordinary, violent thing and refuses to be stopped. Charlie Heller is a CIA cryptographer, a quiet specialist in codes and patterns, not fieldcraft. When his beloved fiancée is murdered by terrorists and his superiors choose not to pursue the killers, Heller turns his grief into purpose. He forces his way into the role of avenger, following the trail behind the Iron Curtain and stepping into a world he understands only on paper. Littell’s brilliance is in making Heller’s “amateur” status an advantage as well as a vulnerability. He does not know the rules, but he can see structures others miss, and his enemies underestimate him until it is too late. The novel moves with pace and bite, balancing tradecraft detail with mounting moral stakes, and it remains a sharp, unsettling meditation on bureaucratic cynicism and personal justice.

About the author: Robert Littell (born 1935) is a major American novelist of espionage and Cold War fiction, also known for The Company. The Amateur has been filmed twice, most recently as a major film released in April 2025.

Decoded by Mai Jia (13 August 2026) First published in China in 2002

An international bestselling spy novel that plunges into the secretive world of cryptology and the psychological cost of genius. Rong Jinzhen is a mathematical prodigy, recruited into China’s clandestine Unit 701 to crack “Code Purple”, an enemy cipher so elusive it becomes an obsession. As Jinzhen’s reputation rises, so does the pressure: the work is isolating, the stakes are national, and the line between brilliance and breakdown begins to blur. What starts as a triumph narrative becomes something darker, a descent into paranoia and mental unravelling as the act of decoding becomes a metaphor for power, secrecy and the limits of the human mind. Mai Jia writes from intimate knowledge of intelligence culture, giving the novel an unusual authenticity and a strong sense of Chinese social texture across decades. The result is both a gripping thriller and a portrait of a man consumed by the very talent that makes him indispensable. Decoded was first published in China in 2002 and became a phenomenon.

About the author: Mai Jia (pseudonym of Jiang Benhu) is one of China’s most awarded and bestselling writers, often credited as a key moderniser of Chinese espionage fiction.

Traitors to All by Giorgio Scerbanenco (3 September 2026) Originally published in Italian in 1966

A landmark of Italian noir and a defining case for Duca Lamberti, Scerbanenco’s doctor turned detective with a hard-earned moral core. One spring evening outside Milan, a Fiat carrying two passengers plunges into a canal. The deaths are initially filed as an accident, but Lamberti notices the pattern: the canal has claimed others, and the circumstances feel staged. His investigation points to a respectable lawyer with a murky history stretching back to the Second World War, and to an uncomfortable personal link, the man once shared a prison cell with Lamberti. Winner of the Grand Prix de Littérature Policière in 1968, the novel is both a razor tight mystery and a social portrait of “swinging sixties” Milan, where prosperity sits uneasily atop old wounds, compromised loyalties and opportunism. Scerbanenco’s writing is brisk, street level and unsentimental, exposing how violence and betrayal thread through every class. It is a gripping, morally charged thriller that helps explain why Scerbanenco is often called the father of Italian noir.

About the author: Born in Kiev in 1911, Scerbanenco moved to Italy young and settled in Milan as a teenager. After early romance fiction, he pioneered a distinctly Italian crime style, with many adaptations for film. He is best known for the Milan Quartet.

Rear Window and Other Stories by Cornell Woolrich (1 October 2026) Stories first appeared individually in the 1930s–1940s.

Nine superb crime stories from one of the twentieth century’s great masters of suspense and the lethal plot twist. The collection includes the tale that inspired Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window, in which an injured, housebound man becomes convinced he has witnessed a murder and must investigate without ever leaving his apartment. Elsewhere, Woolrich pushes ordinary people into extraordinary corners: an accidental killer improvises a grotesque hiding place for a body just as the landlord starts showing the room to prospective tenants; an innocent youth accused of murder flees, only to discover an unnerving talent for crime. Woolrich’s gift is acceleration: he takes a simple premise, tightens the screws with plausible obstacles, and then swivels the reader into a new, darker understanding at exactly the right moment. These stories show why he was so influential on film and fiction alike, and why his work remains a touchstone for psychological suspense. This selection follows the success of the Crime and Espionage edition of his novel I Married a Dead Man and offers an ideal entry point for new readers, while giving collectors a concentrated dose of his best short form work.

About the author: Cornell Woolrich (1903 to 1968) was a hugely admired American crime writer whose work inspired numerous films including Rear Window, Phantom Lady and The Bride Wore Black. He lived a notoriously difficult life and became a recluse in later years.

2026 International Thriller Writer Award Nominees Announced

 

Best Standalone Novel

Cross My Heart by Megan Collins (Atria)

Zigzag Girl by Ruth Knafo Setton (Black Spring Press)

The Burning Library by Gilly Macmillan (William Morrow)

The Locked Ward by Sarah Pekkanen (St. Martin’s Press)

So Happy Together by Olivia Worley (Minotaur)

Best Series Novel

Chain Reaction by James Byrne (Minotaur)

The Big Empty by Robert Crais (Penguin/Putnam)

Head Cases: A Novel by John McMahon (Minotaur)

The Tourists by Christopher Reich (Thomas & Mercer)

Terminal Moonlight by Vincent Zandri (Down & Out Books)

Best First Novel

Death at the White Hart by Chris Chibnall (Pamela Dorman Books)

Party of Liars by Kelsey Cox (Minotaur)

Count My Lies by Sophie Stava (Gallery/Scout Press)

History Lessons by Zoe B. Wallbrook (Soho Crime)

Julie Chan is Dead by Liann Zhang (Atria)

 

Best Audiobook

King of Ashes by S. A. Cosby (Macmillan) Narrated by Adam Lazarre-White

The Wasp Trap by Mark Edwards (Simon & Schuster) Narrated by John Hopkins and Anna Burnett

Best Offer Wins by Marisa Kashino (Macmillan) Narrated by Cia Court

When Devils Sing by Xan Kaur (Macmillan) Narrated by Michael Crouch, Anjali Kunapaneni, Jennifer Pickens and Landon Woodson

The Cheaters Wife by C N Mabry and N’Dia Rae (Simon Maverick) Narrated by Ruffin Prentiss and Machelle Williams

The White Crow by Michael Robotham (Simon & Schuster) Narrated by Katy Sobey

Best Young Adult Novel

Murder Between Friends by Liz Lawson (Delacorte Press)

This Stays Between Us by Margot McGovern (Penguin Young Readers)

Shiny Happy People by Clay McLeod Chapman (Delacorte Press)

The Silenced by Diana Rodriguez Wallach (Delacorte Press)

The Thrashers by Julie Soto (Wednesday Books)

Best Short Story

Level Up by Katrina Carrasco (Bywater Books)

The Seduction of Dr Dimension by Scott William Carter (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine)

Eleven Numbers by Lee child (Amazon Original Stories)

False Note by David Lagercrantz (Amazon Original Stories)

The Violent Season by Jessica Van Dessel (Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine)

ITW will announce the winners at Thrillerfest XXI on Saturday, May 9, 2026 at the New York Hilton Midtown, New York City.

Congratulations to all the nominated finalists!

The Extraordinary Gwen Moffat

In all the publicity due to the American Climber Alex Honnold free-climber scaling the skyscraper in Taiwan - Renaissance Man The Talented Mr Ripley pointed out that BBC Radio 4 referenced British Rock Climber Gwen Moffat on their ‘Rewind’ programme this week.

Here’s a 3.5 minute clip from Rewind’ about Gwen Moffat © 2026 BBC Radio 4

I use the term extraordinary as not only is she an acclaimed and accomplished mountain climber, as well as a prolific writer of detective / crime fiction BUT also one of Shots Magazine’s longest serving book reviewers.

And Gwen is now 101 Years Young and as fit as ever and continuing to provide her incisive book reviews in our review pages.

“Longevity isn’t how many years you’ve lived, it is how you’ve spent them. In youth the fun is enhanced by danger; in old age by serenity” – Gwen Moffat on her 100^th Birthday

For more information about the extraordinary Gwen Moffat CLICK HERE

For Gwen Moffat’s book reviews at Shots Magazine CLICK HERE

Denise Mina to be Guest Programmer for Bloody Scotland 2026

 

Denise Mina Revealed to be Guest Programmer for 

Bloody Scotland International Crime Writing Festival 2026

International bestselling crime writer, Denise Mina, is today revealed to be the guest programmer for the Bloody Scotland International Crime Writing Festival 2026 which will return to the historic city of Stirling from 18-20 September.

She follows the success of Sir Ian Rankin, who as the first ever guest programmer brought a host of big names to the 2025 festival including Kate Atkinson, Kathy Reichs and the Reverend Richard Coles.

Denise is working alongside festival director, Bob McDevitt, and the programming team - which includes fellow authors, Abir Mukherjee, Lin Anderson, Craig Robertson and Gordon Brown - to bring another world class line-up of authors and special guests to the prestigious Festival.

All will be revealed when the programme launches in June 2026. Bob McDevitt said:

‘I'm very much looking forward to working with Denise on this year's programme and can't wait to share some of the details of what she's bringing to the party! She's one of my favourite writers, a passionate advocate for Scottish culture, a champion of other writers, and a huge supporter of book festivals.’ 

Denise Mina said:

“Bloody Scotland is the high point of the crime fiction calendar in Scotland and I’m thrilled and honoured to be the second ever guest programmer. Established by crime writers for crime readers, every year feels like coming home.”

Denise is one of most charismatic authors writing in Scotland today and a great ambassador for crime writing internationally. She first won the McIlvanney Prize in 2017 with The Long Drop when she led the inaugural torchlit procession from Stirling Castle flanked by Val McDermid and Ian Rankin. She won again in 2019 with Conviction. The second time, slightly by default, when the chosen winner announced her intention to share the prize with her fellow finalists. The other winners looked perplexed; Denise was delighted.

She has a busy year in 2026. The world premiere of The Long Drop is on at The Citizens Theatre in Glasgow this summer and the play of her novella Rizzio (Polygon) is currently in development. Her most recent book, The Good Liar (Vintage), is published in paperback in March and will be Scottish Book of the Month for Waterstones. The Guardian, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal and the FT selected it as one of their Books of the Year 2025.

David McCloskey on The Persian

I’d originally envisioned my new novel, The Persian, to be about a joint CIA-Mossad operation in Iran, but as I tinkered with that it became clear that the more daring and, importantly, kinetic the operation became, the less likely it was that CIA would be involved. For example, when Mossad ran a targeted killing program aimed at Iranian nuclear scientists, the CIA stayed out of the fray. Most often CIA did not even know these operations were underway.

So this just wasn’t a CIA story. In fact, I was beginning to feel the CIA might not have a role in it at all. This was a novel about the secret shadow war playing out between the intelligence services of Israel and Iran. Why complicate it by injecting an inauthentic American presence? So the CIA went by the wayside for this novel, and what emerged was a rich tapestry of Israelis and Iranians, all of whom are in desperate conflict, all of whom think they are doing what’s best for their families and their countries. 

My starting point is always to get the setting right, and then let the characters and plotlines grow from there. When I began writing The Persian, I tried to nail the current dynamics of the Israel-Iran relationship and how their intelligence services fight in secret. Where might the plot take me from there? I hope this approach gives the book a dose of authenticity and the ability to speak to something true in the present, wherever the headlines may go. 

My principal characters in The Persian – as in my other novels – are intelligence officers and agents, so to depict them authentically I need to deal authentically with their craft, which means getting the tradecraft right, whatever the geopolitical or technological environment. This involves a lot of research. It means drawing on my experience working for the CIA, certainly, including in Stations around the Middle East. It means extensive time spent interviewing former case officers and CIA Chiefs of Station. Discussions with former Mossad officers. A lot of time spent with Iranians. Sessions with former Delta Force operators about special operations and asymmetric warfare. Studying technical drawings and specs for next generation UAVs. Even sitting for a week-long course on what we call the ‘Ubiquitous Technical Surveillance’ environment – how tradecraft can be adapted to operate in a world of phones, cameras, sensors, biometrics, cheap data storage, and AI-powered analytic tools. It’s fun, it’s a lot of work, and it’s all in service of the characters. 

In some ways you might think a dentist, Kamran Esfahani, a Persian Jew living out a dreary existence in Stockholm is an unlikely main character for a spy novel. He’s not an intelligence officer, and he’s certainly not a character in the mould of the Hollywood Superhero Spy. But he’s exactly the sort of person who might get a look from an intelligence service such as the Mossad, because he can move in and out of Iran, fly under the radar (he’s a dentist, after all), and, at a deeper level, he’s got cracks in his heart and soul that make him a viable recruitment target. He’s a dentist, but he’s the perfect dentist to turn into a productive support asset. He’s exactly the sort of nondescript but fascinating player who’s rolling the dice in the spy game. Spies can have a loose relationship with the truth, and Kam’s confession is written in the first person for exactly this reason: he’s been keeping a secret. Throughout the novel we wonder if he is being truthful, or if he’s lying, or if he is plying the borderlands between.

I’m often asked how research for my novels and for The Rest is Classified podcast, which I do with Gordon Corera, inform one another? Because I am attempting to write authentic espionage novels, and because the podcast deals with true spy stories, the two streams are complementary. In particular, I’ve found that the podcast provides a great deal of grist for the novels, everything from ideas for characters, to tradecraft, to the spytech. Turns out the real world of espionage contains a host of wild stories a spy novelist might draw from. 

And I draw inspiration from other writers. I’m a longtime reader of the espionage genre, so the list is long. Le Carré of course. Charles McCarry (who I consider the American answer to le Carré). Graham Greene. David Ignatius, Jason Matthews, Daniel Silva, Tom Clancy, Martin Cruz Smith (though he’s perhaps more of a mystery / crime writer). Dozens of others. Outside the genre the list is even longer, but one of the writers is Quentin Tarantino. I like stories that accelerate madly toward the end, and that usually go out with a bang.

And finally, for those of you worried about Artemis Aphrodite Procter, CIA case officer, five foot ball of ruthless spy craft and inspired profanity, and feature of my first three novels, do not fear. She will return. Her adventures are far from over though, though she may need to dial down her drinking if she wants to stay healthy enough to keep having them…

The Persian by David McCloskey.(Swift Press)

What happens when a spy is forced to reckon with the consequences of his deception? Kamran Esfahani, a Persian Jewish dentist from Stockholm, dreams of starting afresh in California. To finance his new life, he agrees to spy for Mossad in Iran, working with a clandestine unit tasked with sowing chaos and sabotage inside the country. When he’s captured by Iranian security forces, Kamran is compelled to confess his experiences as a spy, in a testimonial dealing not only with the security of nations, but also with revenge, deceit, and the power of love and forgiveness in a world of lies. Mixing suspense with strikingly cinematic action, David McCloskey takes readers deep into the shadow war between Iran and Israel, delivering propulsive storytelling and riveting tradecraft.

David McCloskey's new novel The Persian is published as a £20 hardback on 29 January by Swift Press.

More information about David McCloskey and his books can be found on his website. He can also be found on Facebook, on X, Instagram and Tik Tok @mccloskeybooks, 

David is also co-hosts The Rest is Classified Podcast.

 

 

Call for Papers

True Crime and Ethics Symposium

University of Portsmouth

29th May 2026

True crime is a mercurial genre. It shifts, adapts and transforms with and to the popular mediums, motivations and social concerns of the day. From high-budget, horror-infused dramatisations to self-shot Mukbangs, to unmissable Netflix series and 3-minute TikToks, the genre continues to fill production schedules, streaming platforms and social media feeds. Yet, as true crime’s influence has grown, so too have questions about its ethical implications. How should the makers of true crime frame these tragedies, and how should audiences respond to these images of death, abuse and grief? Who has the right to tell true crime stories, and is their commodification worth the very real trauma they can cause? How are social inequities related to gender, race and disability represented in true crime narratives? 

As the genre continues to engage new audiences in innovative ways, its ethical questions become more complex. This one-day symposium, featuring a keynote lecture by Professor Tanya Horeck (author of Justice on Demand: True Crime in the Digital Streaming Era), will bring scholars together to consider these issues with the aim of developing an edited collection. 

Proposals are invited for 20-minute papers on topics that explore true crime and ethics. Topics can include but are by no means limited to:

• Gender, ethics and true crime
• Race, ethics and true crime
• Disability, ethics and true crime
• Class, ethics and true crime
• The body in true crime
• Fictionalising true crime (from dramatisations such as Netflix’s Monster series or The Staircase miniseries to amateur-created fan fiction)
• Ethics of internet sleuthing
• True crime on different platforms (streaming, podcasts, and social media)
• Ethics and true crime fandom/audiences
• Survivor/victim-centred true crime
• True crime and social movements (#MeToo, Black Lives Matter, Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, etc.)
• The ethics of true crime aesthetics (from text to paratexts) 
• True crime narrative tropes 

Please send abstracts of 200-300 words along with a short biography by 2nd March 2026 to Dr Simon Hobbs and/or Dr Megan Hoffman at the University of Portsmouth. 

simon.hobbs2@port.ac.uk

megan.hoffman@port.ac.uk

Applicants will be informed on or before 20th March 2026.

This symposium is open to all academics and researchers who are interested in true crime and will be in person only. Registration will be free, and lunch will be provided. A number of £50 travel bursaries will be available for precariously employed academics/independent scholars/PhD students. Please indicate in your email if you would like to be considered for one of these travel bursaries. 

If you have any questions, please contact Dr Simon Hobbs and/or Dr Megan Hoffman on the above emails. 

CWA Diamond Dagger recipient announced

 

Mark Billingham Awarded CWA Diamond Dagger

Mark Billingham receives highest accolade in crime writing

Mark Billingham is the 2026 recipient of the Crime Writers’ Association (CWA) Diamond Dagger, sponsored by Karen Baugh Menuhin.

The award recognises authors whose crime writing careers have been marked by sustained excellence, and who have made a significant contribution to the genre.

One of the UK’s most prominent societies, the CWA was founded in 1953 by John Creasey. The awards started in 1955 with its first award going to Winston Graham, best known for Poldark.

25 years ago, Mark Billingham’s debut novel Sleepyhead became an instant bestseller, launching a prolific career as a novelist.

Born in Birmingham, he worked as an actor and stand-up comedian before becoming a full-time author, best known for playing the role of Gary in the cult children’s TV show, Maid Marian and Her Merry Men. Mark continues to be a regular face and voice on TV and radio.

Sleepyhead introduced Detective Inspector Tom Thorne, leading to a further 18 books in the series, which was adapted to screen by Sky 1 in 2010, starring David Morrissey as Thorne. The latest Thorne book, What the Night Brings, was published in June 2025 - Billingham’s 25th book.

Mark Billingham said: “Presuming this is not an administrative error, I could not be more thrilled or honoured. To be added to a list that features most of my literary heroes is fantastic. That so many are also friends is the icing on the cake and, for me, a mark of how very special the crime-writing community is.”

Recent recipients of the Diamond Dagger include Mick Herron, Lynda La Plante, James Lee Burke, Peter James, Walter Mosley, Lee Child, Lawrence Block, Ian Rankin, Michael Connelly, Lindsey Davis, Andrew Taylor, Martina Cole, Ann Cleeves, Val McDermid, Robert Goddard, Martin Edwards, Catherine Aird and Simon Brett.

Past icons of the genre acknowledged with a Diamond Dagger include Ruth Rendell, PD James, Colin Dexter, Reginald Hill, and John le Carré.

In 2023, Billingham introduced a new series featuring DS Declan Miller with The Last Dance followed by The Wrong Hands (2024). The third book in the series, The Shadow Step, is due out this year. His stand-alone novels include In the Dark, Die of Shame and Rabbit Hole. A series based on the novels In the Dark and Time of Death was screened on BBC1 in 2017.

Nadine Matheson, Chair of the CWA, said: “Across a remarkable body of work, Mark has consistently set the bar for contemporary crime fiction, while also being generous with his time and support to emerging writers. His influence on the genre extends far beyond his own novels, shaping the crime writing community as a whole. For his outstanding contribution to crime fiction, his lasting impact on readers and writers alike, and his commitment to the genre, Mark Billingham is a thoroughly deserving recipient of the Diamond Dagger.”

In 2022, Billingham won the CWA’s Dagger in the Library, voted by librarians, for his body of work. He’s also been awarded the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year twice (Lazybones, 2005 and Death Message, 2009).

Sponsor of the CWA Diamond Dagger, Karen Baugh Menuhin, said: “As sponsor of the CWA Diamond Dagger, I am thrilled to congratulate Mark Billingham on being chosen as the 2026 recipient of crime fiction's highest honour. His place amongst crime writing royalty is hard won and richly deserved.”

Mark is also a member of the rock band, The Fun Lovin’ Crime Writers, a combo of bestselling crime and thriller writers (Val McDermid, Luca Veste, Doug Johnstone, Stuart Neville, and Chris Brookmyre) who performed at Glastonbury in 2019 and 2024.

The CWA Daggers are now regarded by the publishing world as the foremost British awards for crime-writing. As the oldest awards in the genre, they have been synonymous with quality crime writing for over half a century.

Nominations for the CWA Diamond Dagger are recommended by CWA members. Industry experts then narrow these down to a shortlist. The winner is then voted for by a panel of past Diamond Dagger winners.

C E Hulse on writing Vivian Dies Again

Writing a novel means working in a world of simultaneous opposites. It means working with unbounded creativity, at the same time as absolute discipline. It means keeping the big picture in your head, while working on tiny details; it means both having the ego to believe you have something to say, with the humility to know your work isn’t good enough. it means knowing there are too many books in the world for anyone to ever read, yet deciding to add another. 

Vivian Dies Again started with a clear agenda in mind. I was a comedy writer, but I always knew, one day, I’d write a mystery – but only if I could find a way of making it feel fresh and different, and worthy of my heroes. I am a huge fan of Golden Age mysteries, to the extent I wore out two The Complete Poirot DVD boxsets, (it was my middle-of-the-night insomnia comfort TV for a long time). I am the proud owner of a crocheted Hercule Poirot figurine.

But I wanted to do the idea justice, so I set myself a logic challenge. How could I write a Serious Mystery Novel, with all the hallmarks of a golden age mystery, but in a fresh, contemporary setting? How could I give readers the same satisfying experience (red herrings, clues, twists, clever plotting, a rewarding ending) in this age of DNA profiling and CSI techniques and surveillance cameras?

I mulled, and mulled. I landed on the idea of having narrator in a time loop, one who kept dying so had no time to investigate before going back to the start: a neat way to dodge the tech elements that could scupper a murder mystery. I decided my main character would go to a funeral, where she would be killed again and again, and need to solve her own (repeated) murder. Sorted!

Except … no, not sorted. Like a true logic puzzle, every solution created a new problem. 

Because if someone kept murdering Viv, how would she not be able to immediately identify who had killed her before?

(I got it. Her memory would reset each time she died.) 

But then how did I stop the book being repetitive? 

(By starting the book towards the end, after multiple loops had already happened.)

But then how would Viv and the reader know what had happened in previous loops?

(By bringing another character into the time loop, one who remembered and was able to bring Viv and the reader up to speed. The two would work together to piece together the clues.)

The logic of the book came together piece by piece, over several years, as I solved one problem by creating another. I planned meticulously on spreadsheets. Only when I was happy with the plot mechanics did I think about character, and only then did Viv grow from a cypher to a larger-than-life person: an infuriating antihero who is her own worst enemy, one who takes dodgy internet prescription drugs and family events, and sleeps with married men at funerals. Only then did I create Jamie, the long-suffering, sleep-deprived waiter who has been pulled into the time loop and has to help Viv.

And only then did I start writing – and I wrote the book wrong. And wrote it wrong in the next draft too. I find writing books a protracted exercise of ‘not that. How about this?’ 

Eventually I got happy enough with the book that I sent a draft to my agent. Who told me I hadn’t written a Serious Crime Novel, I’d written a comedy. 

Turns out you can’t control *every* element of writing with a spreadsheet. 

So I leaned into my fate, embracing the comedy, stuffing the book with one-liners and having fun with the kind of complex relationship dynamics that may be wryly relatable if you don’t come from a John Lewis advert family. 

I set out to write a Serious Crime Novel. It took me a long time. I failed. 

And, along the way, I created something I’m really proud of. 

And – trust me – Vivian Dies Again is much easier to read than it was to write.

Vivian Dies Again by C E Hulse (Viper Books) Out Now

Time heals all wounds. Except blunt force trauma. Vivian Slade is a cautionary tale. The wrong side of thirty, she's no longer the life and soul of the party - she's a party of one. But she's determined to turn over a new leaf, even if that means going to a family gathering where everyone hates her. Turns out, someone really hates her - enough to push her off a balcony to a very messy end. But then Vivian wakes up! Only to be murdered again. And again. Stuck in a baffling time loop, Vivian's only ally is a sleep-deprived waiter who just wants to finish his shift. Will Vivian be able to solve her own murder? Only time will tell...

More information about the author can be found on her website. She can also be found on Instagram @carolinehulse1

Photo © Nathan Cox