Ali Karim's Silence To Die For - The Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris

Ali Karim is Assistant Editor at Shots eZine, a contributing editor at January Magazine & The Rap Sheet and writes for Crimespree Magazine, Deadly Pleasures. He is an associate member of The Crime Writers Association [CWA], International Thriller Writers [ITW] and the Private Eye Writers of America [PWA]. Karim contributed to ‘Dissecting Hannibal Lecter’ ed. Benjamin Szumskyj [McFarland Press] a critical examination of the works of Thomas Harris; The Greenwood Encyclopedia of British Crime Fiction [ed. Barry Forshaw] and the Edgar and Anthony Award nominated ITW 100 Thriller Novels ed David Morrell and Hank Hagner [Oceanview Publishing]. In 2011 at the Anthony Awards held at Bouchercon St Louis, he was presented with the 2011 David Thompson Memorial Award for Special Services to the Crime and Thriller Genre.

Ali Karim is also the programming chair for Bouchercon 2015 in Raleigh, North Carolina, USA.

When Ayo Onatade asked me to write about John Connolly and Declan Burke’s Books To Die For, she remarked that she didn’t need to guess which featured book and essay I would chose. She was right, despite the massive array of masterful essays from some of our leading writers commenting on novels that appear at the apex of the genre, there will always be one book, and one writer that I would die for.

Firstly, I have to admit my love and hatred of books like this, having contributed to them myself. The love of these peer reviews / appreciations comes from my own reading compulsion, and reading extensively allowing me to learn about life and the “world / reality” I see before me through the eyes of others. The hate comes from my knowledge that I am far from as ‘well-read’, as I consider myself, though this is tempered by using tomes such as this, in seeking out books and writers that I have overlooked, or perhaps cajoling me to re-read a particular work due to someone else noticing something or aspects writing, that I had missed. Much of this comes from my understanding of the aging process in a reader. Some books that knocked ‘me for six’, when I was a teenager, when I re-sampled them later in middle age, have not stood the test of time. Others however appear much more complex than my teenage mind understood at the time I first cracked their spines. You see, the books [per se] have not changed [unless they are redux versions, like Stephen King has done with ‘The Stand’ releasing it a decade later with additional text that was edited out in the first release]. Though what has changed is the reader [and his/her mind]. Age [and life] alter ones thinking and cognition and therefore changes aspects of the book, when re-read many years later with a more mature mind.

I have to applaud the Irish writers Connolly and Burke for producing such an interesting and hefty tome; an audacious idea soliciting erudite and passionate essays from some of the worlds greatest writers about books that enthused them. For what is life without passion and enthusiasm? And who best to select such milestones in the crime and thriller genre than the writers who plough that dark road themselves. The contributors are a “who’s who” of contemporary fiction, and to list them all would be a feat itself, and proves what a herculean task Connolly and Burke have achieved. Speaking in hyperbolic terms, the novel and essay that Ayo Onatade guessed would be the one I would write about is of course Kathy Reichs’ essay on Thomas Harris’ The Silence of the Lambs.

Reichs’ essay is filled with insights, that start with Harris’ precursor, the 1981 Red Dragon and Harris’ reoccupation with the injustices of God, as viewed by Lecter and Harris’ own Southern Baptist past. As a scientist, Reichs indicates the layered authenticity in the narrative from Harris’ own journalistic background as a crime reporter, but special mention is made on the characterization, how Harris carves the protagonists and antagonists as if deploying the skills of a master sculptor. Writing about such a well known work of the genre is a tricky assignment, though Reichs’ excels at showing the importance of secondary characters such as the Smithsonian entomologists Pilcher and Roden and how the scenes that flow from the narrative owe more to Poe than Ludlum. She uses the term ‘unsettling’ in her examination of Harris’ novel and how this atmosphere bleeds into the narrative, making the reader as edgy as one of Buffalo Bill’s victims. Naturally mention of the examination of the relationship between Lecter and Starling is shown as being pivotal to the proceedings. The critical point in the examination of Harris’ Silence of the Lambs rests in the opening from the editors “Harris maintains a low media profile and is reputed to find the process of writing intensely difficult: he has published only five novels in thirty-seven years”. This indicates that to produce something as definitive as Silence of the Lambs is hard, hard work, something that is shared with the novels dissected in this wonderful book.

Kathy Reichs’ last line ‘His writing greatly influenced mine’ shows the respect she has for this genre-shaping novel; a work that is as unsettling as it is insightful. Reading it makes one feel what it is like, to be that rabbit hypnotized and paralyzed by the headlights of that oncoming car, the self same metaphor that Harris uses in the first chapter. The Silence of the Lambs is not a book that you walk away from without your worldview being shaken, like a bullet wound, when you close the covers, it remains inside you, reminding you what the dark end of the street feels like.

Continuing the hyperbolic theme, Books To Die For is probably the most important work chronicling the novels and writers that make the crime and thriller genre the most interesting part of fiction-publishing. Any enthusiast who does not have this volume on their bookshelf is depriving themselves of the most enlightening glimpse of what the vertigo-inducing heights that crime and thriller fiction can scale. Reading it is like going back into a time machine, as you get flooded with memories of ‘what and who you were’ when you read some of these magnificent novels; because they scar your psyche.

Bravo Mr John Connolly and Mr Declan Burke for producing such a treat, and one that will endure and one that I hope to see in the non-fiction award nominations for 2012.  

And Ayo, you guessed right, it will always be The Silence of the Lambs for this reader, as Thomas Harris has produced a monster of a novel, and one that Kathy Reichs’ essay does justice to.

CrimeFest Day 3 part 1

I am little behind in my blog posting, but I promise that I will catch up.  Funnily enough, I did not stay up too late after the Dagger nominations were announced.  I managed to get to bed around 12:30am.  For me that is incredibly early especially since there were loads of people that I really wanted to talk to.  Unfortunately, no matter how much the spirit was willing the body was sadly weak!  I missed the first panels but was determined not to miss the Lee Child interview.  A number of interesting interviews were due to take place alongside Lee Child’s.  P D James was being interviewed by Barry Forshaw and Sue Grafton by Maxim Jakubowski.  Luckily not all at the same time.  That would have been disastrous!  Peter Guttridge was interviewing Lee.  I did actually tweet during Lee’s interview, however, it was a very interesting interview and once Lee got going, he was a mine of information.  The room was full.

Of course (and I for one was not very surprised) when Peter started by asking him about Tom Cruise and the Reacher movie.  The film is due to be released on Boxing Day this year.  Lee explained that the film had been in the works for quite some time and there had been a number of actors interested in the film aside from Tom Cruise.  Keanu Reeves had also been interested in playing Reacher and had pitched for it.  He also described the rather surreal breakfast (actually, he had three) that took place at the Beverly Hills Wilshire Hotel when they began to seriously discuss the making of the film.  There had been (and most of us I am sure were already aware that there had been) a lot of feedback online about the fact that many fans were unhappy about Tom Cruise playing Jack Reacher.  This had included a Facebook page denouncing it.

He took his daughter to the first read through of the film that took place in Pittsburgh.  His daughter is a film buff and had been a tad upset when he stopped working for Granada. He believes that as a movie it will be a terrific crime film.  It is going to be 120 minutes long.  Lee Child jokingly promised that he would not hold a gun to anyone’s head and force them to go and see the film, neither would he come to anyone’s house and steal their books.  When asked about how many films could be made he commented that with his background in television that he felt that he did not want the series to be more than two or three and that he hoped that no more than three Reacher films would be made.  As it is, the film company are themselves cautious about claiming that it is a series.  One Shot is the first film, Bad Luck and Trouble is the third and with the second, there is a bit of a stumbling block.  Could possibly be Hard Way or 61 Hours.  Lee said that when he wrote 61 Hours it was the last book in his contract and that he never assumed that the contract would be renewed.  That is why 61 Hours as far as Lee was concerned could also be seen as a self-contained book.

One of the questions he was asked was whether in the light of Tom Cruise (and bearing in mind what happened to Colin Dexter’s Inspector Morse) playing Reacher would he change Reacher.  Lee stated that despite the casting of Tom Cruise, he would not be altering Reacher nor would not be shrinking him.

Lee also revealed some interesting titbits of information about Reacher as a character.  He found out that Reacher is the best person to have an affair with, as he will not stay around afterwards to complicate your life.  He also has a feminine sense of justice.  He finds it extremely liberating that he has no job or no location.  He sees Reacher as a western hero a lá Zane Grey.  He also felt that there was a strong element of Mystery in the Reacher books.

 A little known fact about Lee Child is that he is a life-long member of the National Trust!  Sue Grafton was a massive influence on him.  His new book the Unwanted Man is due out in August and there will also be another e-book entitled Deep Down as well later on this year.  Lee also revealed that he did indeed have a cameo in the film.  In due course, look for him playing a desk sergeant who gives Reacher back the only permanent thing that he carries with him – his toothbrush!

The other interview that I attended was the Sue Grafton interview.  Like the Lee Child interview, the room was full.  I did manage to spot a number of ladies wearing some rather fetching t-shirts that stated "I Learned My ABC's from Sue Grafton".  In her interview with Maxim Jakubowski, Sue Grafton stated that her father CW Grafton who also wrote a number of crime novels gave her some very good advice and that was her minor characters were important along with punctuation and spelling.  Her father’s first novel The Rat Began to Gnaw the Rope won the 1943 Mary Roberts Reinhart Award.  She also stated that she felt that sometimes a writing schedule was not always good for a marriage.  She confirmed that she wrote the plotline for A is for Alibi during her divorce, which had been rather acrimonious.  A is for Alibi is not her first novel.  She had written a number of earlier books that had not been published in the US.  A couple have been published in the UK.  Sue Grafton explained that she had also worked in Hollywood as a film and series scriptwriter.  She adapted two Agatha Christie novels, The Caribbean Mystery and Sparkling Cyanide.  As a result of her work in Hollywood she is determined not to sell the television or film rights to her books and has forbidden her family to do so either.  She also feels that it is crazy for authors to write two books a year.  She spoke to her publishers about this and they accept that this is not something that she would be doing.  She has seen good fine writers who do not know when to quit. She was asked if she would right anything else and she admitted that she would be tempted to do so if she felt worn out by the current series. Sue Grafton was asked that whilst she has made it clear that she would not sell the film or television rights she does not in fact not have any specific female actress in mind to play Kinsey Milhone.

Some things you may or may not know about Sue Grafton.  She admitted that not only did she have a devious and dirty mind but that she was not good at being a team player or a good sport.  She had been in the US edition of the Office.  She needs a shifting cast of characters to keep her fresh.  Whilst she loves computers she is not very good on them.  She only takes five days off in between books. She hates the letters that she receives from people telling her that she got something wrong in her writing especially as she knows that she has made it up. With regard to Kinsey Milhone, she likes the fact that she has to do her sleuthing the old fashion way. She has no mobile phone or internet to use. Listening to Sue Grafton talk was amazing.  She has a very dry wit and a really lovely sense of humor!

The final panel that I managed to attend before the last panel of the day which was on The Killing and David Hewson (whose new book is an adaption of series 2) was that between Paul Doherty and Philip Kerr: Masters of the Timeless Crime. They were being interviewed by Peter Guttridge.  Both of them write historical crime fiction.  Paul Doherty is in fact quite  prolific. Philip Kerr's new book involves Nazi's and the SS.  Whilst doing research the information that he found out the way the Nazi's lived made one think of the television programme of Downtown Abbey and the SS. He stated that he had always wanted to write about the Nazi's and the ordinary man but that there was not much information around. Paul Doherty's new book is called the Midnight Man and it deals with the 1303  theft of the Crown Jewels and how the Midnight Man deals with it.  The Midnight Man is a mixture of gothic and mystery.  Paul Doherty also stated that unlike what people thought, serial killers were not a recent thing but had been around for ages.  It was also clear that men were more visible as killers as opposed to women.  Philip Kerr also stated that as he had once been a lawyer he now had a horror of them.  Both Paul Doherty and Philip Kerr agreed that for some reason people were fascinated by Henry VIII and Nazi's.  They also both agreed that multiple sources were needed for research to ensure that facts were right. Paul Doherty was asked what he was working on at the moment and he informed the audience that he had just finished a novel on the last days of Henry VIII.

Saturday was rather a strange day. We had such lovely weather that it was a shame to be in doors.  I did in fact manage to seek sometime outside and spent it in the pleasant company of Thalia Proctor who is desk editor at Little, Brown. 

The only other thing that I had to do was to go and get all dolled up for the gala dinner.  Somewhere there are some photo's of me dressed up in all my finery.  They were taken by Ali "snapper" Karim and I am sure that they will surface at some stage.

My last post will cover the gala dinner, the last day of the conference and what happened on Criminal Master mind!  Stay tuned.

Newsy Stuff!

Publishing phenomenon Martina Cole hit another milestone this week, becoming the first British female novelist who writes for an adult audience to break the £50m sales mark since records began. The amount of money spent on physical editions of her books since 1998 is a eye watering £50.3m. Put another way, if you were to place all of her 7.3m books sold end to end, they would stretch roughly the distance between central London and Budapest as the crow flies (or 902 miles).

Just heard that across the pond, movies getting pilot series adaptations include a drama at ABC based on The Lincoln Lawyer - the Micky Haller series written by Michael Connelly. Lionsgate will co-produce with Lakeshore Entertainment, which was also behind the film. "Lawyer" screenwriter John Romano and Michael Connelly, the novelist who created the property adapted to film, will co-write the pilot script and exec produce along with Joel Gotler and Lakeshore's Gary Lucchesi and Tom Rosenberg. Protagonist Michael "Mickey" Haller is a character in five different novels by Connelly, presumably giving producers a lot more material to use. It wouldn't be the first time a legal-themed movie was made into a TV show, with NBC set to bring an adaptation of "The Firm" to the small screen in the midseason.

Additionally, ABC has put in development Anti-Mafia Squad, a drama based on the 2009 Italian series Squadra Antimafia – Palermo Oggi. Additionally, NBC is eying straight-to-series orders for 2 Bryan Fuller-written dramas: a Munsters reboot and Hannibal, based on the Hannibal Lecter character. Fuller is developing a script against a 13-episode commitment, meaning that the project won’t go through a pilot stage but straight to series if NBC like the script. The latter will make Ali Karim more excited than a chocoholic in a chocolate factory.

For those of you that have (like me) been reading about the plagiarism by Q R Markham and the furore surrounding it, you may wish to read the extremely interesting post by Jeremy Duns on his blog The Debrief and also Duane Swierczynski’s Secret Dead Blog both of whom “blurbed” the book. Alison Flood of the Guardian has also written an article about it.

Bouchercon Shifting into gear!

So the first two days of Bouchercon are over! It has been such good fun. The panels have had a constant buzz about then with a lot of the conversation spilling out onto the signings. The book room is also full. There were around 100 walk ins on Thursday.

The panel Passengers fasten your seatbelts…. was full but it was not unexpected since the panel was comprised of most of the guest of honours. It was a freewheeling panel, which was moderated by Oline Cogdill. It was also clear that all the panel members were not only got on well with each other but were friends as well. The questions were wide ranging and the one on where the authors got their inspiration from received the best response from them all especially Val McDermid’s explanation.

I also managed to attend the Unnatural Vices – Comics and Crime Fiction panel that was not only amusing but also interesting. The panel members were Max Allan Collins, Gary Phillips, Jonathan Stantlofer, Jason Starr and Duane Swierczynski who also moderated the panel instead of Cullen Bunn who unfortunately could not be there.

There were other panels that took place but unfortunately I was unable to attend some of them. The other big event that took place on Thursday evening was the opening ceremony and reception where the Macavity Awards and Barry Awards were to be given out along with a number of Crimespree Awards as well.

Crimespree Magazine awards that were given out were as follows –

Best First Novel- Do Some Damage by Hilary Davidson

Best Novel – Expiration Date by Duane Swierczynski

Ali Karim was also honoured as the first recipient of the David Thompson Award for Special Services. Luckily, I got to say a few words about him before he was given the award and it was quite nice to see him taken aback for a change. Congratulations Ali! The award was well deserved. The David Thompson Award for Special Services was named after the late David Thompson of Murder by the Book in Houston who was an enthusiastic and supportive about crime fiction author and everything about the genre.

The winner of the Barry and Macavity awards are as follows –

Barry Awards -

Best novel – The Lock Artist by Steve Hamilton

Best first novel – The Poacher’s Son by Paul Doiron

Best British Novel – The Woodcutter by Reginald Hill

Best Paperback Original – Fever to the Bone by Val McDermid

Best Thriller – 13 Hours by Deon Meyer

Best Short Story – The List by Loren D Estleman

Congratulations to all the winners but especially to Val as this is her third Barry Award!

Macavity Award -

Best Mystery Novel – Bury your Dead by Louise Penny

Best First Mystery – Rogue Island by Bruce Da Silva

Best Mystery Non-fiction - Agatha Christie's Secret: Fifty Years of Mysteries in the Making by John Curran

Best Mystery Short Story – Swing Shift by Dana Cameron

Sue Feder Memorial Historical Mystery – City of Dragons by Keli Stanley.

Congratulations to all the winners!

After the ceremony Harper Collins publishers gave out copies of books of some of their authors. I got asked to help out and so I spent part of the evening helping Val McDermid and Laura Lippmann give out copies of their books to various people. Luckily for me despite the fact that I was busy working I managed to get hold of a copy of Laura Lippman’s new book The Most Dangerous Thing, Alafair Burke’s standalone novel Long Gone and Jonathan Hayes Novel A Hard Death.

I also managed to get away and attend the Atlantic Monthly Press and relaunch of The Mysterious Press cocktail party. I did not however stay up too late as I was due to be on a panel the following morning at 8:30am.

There has been such a buzz at Bouchercon and of course the bar has been full at all times. One cannot fully express how wonderfully run this convention has been. It has been superb. From the hospitality suite that is constantly in use to the large number of volunteers that are on tap to help out or answer questions, to the book room that is not only vast but also wants you to spend the whole day there. I can only say that Ruth and John Jordan along with Judy Bobalik have put on a wonderful event.

Friday morning started with a bang for me as I had a panel at 8:30am. However before then I attended the Librarian breakfast, which was held in the magnificent Crystal Ballroom on the 20^th floor of the hotel. The event was hosted by the mid-western chapter of the MWA and had tables, which were sponsored by a number of authors. It was good way to start the morning and there were very few speeches. Colin Cotterill said a few words and Charlaine Harris gave a wonderful speech on her love of libraries and the books that influenced her.

My 8:30am panel was entitled Bad Blood – Celebrating Agatha Christie. My fellow panel members were Carolyn Hart, G M Malliet and Val McDermid. The moderator was Ted Hertel. It was a good panel and a large number of people turned up to listen to us talk about all things Agatha Christie including her legacy, did we consider her to be a cosy writer? The answer was evidently not!, whether or not Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple were given an appropriate send off, we all thought that they had not. What did we think of her most controversial novel The Murder of Roger Ackroyd? Had she played fast and loose with the reader? What did we think of her two main characters? And of course what were our favourite novels or short stories by Agatha Christie? As can be expected we all trooped into the book room for signing and I was rather amazed to see that not only had a signing desk been allocated to me but I also had a number of people come up and ask me to sign their programme!

One of the off site events that had been arranged as part of Bouchercon was a charity bowling event that took place at the Flamingo Bowl. Everybody had a wonderful time and I was part of the Crimespree Wrecking crew. I understand that $500 was raised for the St Louis County Library. However as a result of this I had to miss a number of the interviews that were taking place at the same time and this included the Toastmaster Ridley Pearson being interviewed by Jeff Abbott and Robert Crais being interviewed by Gregg Hurwitz. One of the good things about this Convention however is the fact that all the panels are being recorded.

The Shamus Awards were also given out on Friday evening at a dinner that was held off site.

The Hammer Award – Sara Paretsky for V I Warshawski

Lifetime Achievement Award – Ed Gorman

Best Hardcover – No Mercy by Lori Armstrong

Best First Novel – In Search of Mercy by Michael Ayoob

Best Paperback – Asia Hand by Christopher G Moore

Best P I Short Story – The Lamb was Sure to Go by Gar Anthony Haywood.

One of the highlights of every Bouchercon is the live auction. This year so far over $17,000 was raised. The auctioneers for the event were Laura Lippman and Mark Billingham. The auction had been organised by Crimespree’s film and comic guru Jeremy Lynch who did a magnificent job. I mean who would not want mementoes from Robert Crais character Elvis Cole? The highlight of the auction was the $7,000 paid by Laura Lippman to be a named character in the final Sookie Stackhouse book by Charlaine Harris. She piped Karin Slaughter (who was voting by proxy) to the post.

Friday night at the movies was also arranged and the films that were shown included a documentary about Derrick Raymond and Salvation Boulevard by Larry Beinhart.

So what is up for the last full day of Bouchercon?

I have a panel at 11:30am which I am moderating. My panel members are Megan Abbott, Daniel Woodrell, Paul Dorion, Thomas H Cook and Paul Gaus. Sarah paretsky is going to be interviewed by Kevin Guilfoile and Val McDermid by Jen Forbus. For those that are a lot more energetic there will be a basketball game as well.

More later……

Bouchercon here we come!!

This is the first of what will hopefully be my blog about Bouchercon. How frequent it is going to be I do not know.

Bouchercon does not exactly start until tomorrow but pre-Bouchercon stuff has been fun already. Thanks to Jon Jordan so far I have managed to go to a baseball game and saw the St Louis Cardinals beat the Atlanta Braves along with the ever delightful Ruth Jordan (Mrs Crimespree), Kirstie Long and Paul Jordan. At the same time the St Louis Rams were playing the Philadelphia Eagles and I have to say that despite the fact that I was at the baseball game I was also keeping my eye on the football results. Why you may ask? That is because I support Philadelphia Eagles so it was nice to see the results and realised that they beat the Rams! I have had a trip round the City Garden and have seen the wonderful sculptures and the pink flamingos! If you have chance to go to the City Garden then one should do so as it is a delight.

Since mid-morning Monday people have already started to turn up. I finally got to meet the wonderfully delightful Jen Forbus. Hi Jen! Adrian Magson and his wife Ann were amongst the first Brits to arrive (aside from myself and Kirstie long) who have been in St Louis since Saturday. Also renewed my acquaintance with Ann McNulty whom I last saw at Baltimore and also B G Ritts. Also met Kat Tromp again, John Purcell and Emily Bronstein (whom I last saw at Crimefest last year!). It was also lovely to see again after such a long time McKenna Jordan who owns Murder by the Book in Houston and Crimespree’s comic and film extraordinaire Jeremy Lynch along with his lovely wife Jill and his mother. Of course the place to be is the bar!

Pictures © Ayo Onatade

Yesterday evening (Tuesday) a lot more Brits started to arrive. My fellow Shotsmag colleagues Mike Stotter and Ali Karim flew in with Roger Ellory, Lauren Henderson, CWA Chairman Peter James, and Guest of Honour Val McDermid and rather later on Tuesday night (sans luggage) Russel McLean. Even though things have not really started today (Wednesday) is going to be rather busy. Trucks to unload with all the book bags and the stuff for registration, which should start @3pm this afternoon. The book bags are stuffed full of wonderful books and I dare anyone to complain! There will also be a swap table set up so if people want to leave books and or swap them there. It will be interesting to see how the hotel manage to cope with the large influx of people that are no doubt due to turn up today. I am sure that they will be fine as they have been excellent so far. So, if you see me wandering around the hotel at some stage during Bouchercon please do come up and say hello, give me a hug as I am sure that I may not remember to do so or I might be distracted and I would not want anyone to think that I was ignoring them on purpose.

There are also a lot of pre-Bouchercon activities taking place as well today. Noir at the Bar will be starting at eight PM, will be held at Meshuggah Café 6269 Delmar Boulevard Saint Louis, MO 63130 (314) 726-56626269. Admission is free, but bring money for drinks and books. Food is also available. Subterranean Books and Bouchercon present Charlaine Harris and Laurell K. Hamilton in an intimate Q&A to benefit the St. Louis Public Library, at Christ Church Cathedral, 1210 Locust Street (across from Central Library, two blocks from convention hotel), Wednesday, Sept 14 6pm (Doors at 5pm). This is a ticketed event and your ticket price gains you admittance to the one-hour event and gets you a signed copy of Harris' SOOKIE STACKHOUSE COMPANION or Hamilton's HIT LIST.

Tickets available here

St Louis County Library presents “Suspense Night 2011” on Wednesday, September 14, at 7 p.m. at Library Headquarters, 1640 S. Lindbergh Blvd. The free event brings together seven suspense authors from across the country. The authors are Megan Abbott, Reed Farrell Coleman, S J Rozan, Peter Spiegleman, Steve Hamilton, Lisa Lutz and Christa Faust.

Crimefest 2010 - Day 3 (Part1)

Technically speaking I am correct and it is day three of Crimefest. However, yesterday evening I had the pleasure of announcing the Short Story Dagger Short List. I already posted the short list online earlier this evening and the winners will be announced at Harrogate Crime Festival in July.

Dinner last night was spent in the pleasant company of my friend Kirstie Long, fellow Shots colleagues Mike Stotter and Ali Karim, Adrian Magson and his wife Ann, Matt Hilton and his wife Denise and Shelia Quigley. I am not sure what the Italian restaurant thought of us but we were actually well-behaved and were not too noisy. After dinner we made our way back to the bar in the hotel where I have just the rest of the night (before deciding to come back up to my room and post this blog) talking to Stanley Trollip, (one half of the team that writes as Michael Stanley), Alison Bruce, Emily Bronstein and Peter Rozovsky who has the excellent blog Detectives Beyond Borders.

Unlike last night where I went to bed relatively early (for me anyway)at 11:30pm tonight I am still up at 1:50am in the morning. Tomorrow (or I should say) later on this morning I shall make up my mind what panels I am going to attend and unlike yesterday morning (when I made the mistake of thinking that the panels started at 10:00am)I am quite certain that the panels start at 10:00am. I am just not certain which one I am going to attend. Will it be All The Young Punks: Debut Authors or In the Spotlight where authors have 15 minutes each to talk about whatever they want. I shall just have to wait and see.