Wednesday, 6 July 2011

Launch of Len Tyler's Herring on the Nile!




Macmillan launched Len Tyler’s latest book, Herring on the Nile at Goldsboro Books last night (5 July).

Len the winner of the 2011 Last Laugh Award at CrimeFest (earlier this year) for Herring in the Library, wore a very fetching red fez. Having circulated and chatted to all the attendees he finished by reading an excerpt from Herring on the Nile and signing copies.

Shots was represented by Kirstie and Mike ‘Ripster’ Ripley who is shown with Len below!

Herring on the Nile is the latest book in the series about crime novelist Ethelred Tressider and his literary agent, Elsie Thirkettle. In this story the pair go on a cruise down the Nile as research for Ethelred’s new book. Murder and mayhem ensues and the sharp wit of the writer is amalgamated with a tightly woven plot.

Bob's Minky Tale

More great news from Charles Ardai’s Hard Case Crime, which we're proud to reveal is an imprint published by British Titan Books.

Hard Case Crime has published books by a number Mystery Writers of America 'Grand Masters' over the years -- Lawrence Block, Donald Westlake, Mickey Spillane, Ed McBain, Stephen King as well as the highly anticipated 'Choke Hold' from Christa Faust, the follow-up to the disturbing 'Money Shot'-- but in 2012 we're going to add to this illustrious list a Grand Master from the other side of the aisle, the Science Fiction Writers of America: Robert Silverberg.

Five-time winner of the Nebula Award, five-time winner of the Hugo Award, author of acclaimed, mind-bending fantasy novels that have won praise from people like Jonathan Lethem and Michael Chabon, Bob began his career writing under fake names for the last surviving pulp magazines. For the very last issue ever of TRAPPED DETECTIVE STORY MAGAZINE, the editor asked if he could supply a complete novel, and Bob did, an action-packed suspense thriller about a government agent going undercover in the Philadelphia Mob to root out a master currency forger from within. The issue of TRAPPED appeared on newsstands in 1962 -- and after it went off sale a few weeks later, this work by Silverberg vanished. It never appeared under the author's real name, never appeared in book form -- never appeared in any form for the past half-century.

And it's a great read.

So...in April 2012, Hard Case Crime will be giving BLOOD ON THE MINK its first-ever proper publication, including a new afterword by Silverberg discussing the novel's genesis and his work for the pulps, as well as two short stories he wrote for the pulps that have a connection to the novel, and that also haven't seen the light of day for more than 50 years.

Somewhere in Philadelphia, a master engraver is turning out brilliant forgeries of U.S. currency plates for organized crime. To bring the operation down from the inside, the government sends an agent undercover posing as a West Coast crime lord’s right-hand man. It’s a dangerous game of impersonation—one that could prove fatal when the agent’s secret begins to unravel...

Click Here to read a sample chapter

Monday, 4 July 2011

Get Ready for Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy - the 2011 movie

THE HUGELY ANTICIPATED FILM OF JOHN LE CARRÉ’S CLASSIC TALE OF TREACHERY AND ESPIONAGE, “TINKER, TAILOR, SOLDIER, SPY” WILL INFILTRATE U.K. CINEMAS ON 16 SEPTEMBER, 2011

Gary Oldman as George Smiley
The spy thriller features a stellar cast including Gary Oldman, Kathy Burke, Benedict Cumberbatch, Colin Firth, Tom Hardy, Ciarán Hinds, John Hurt, Toby Jones, Konstantin Khabensky, Svetlana Khodchenkova, Roger Lloyd Pack, and Mark Strong. Directed by Tomas Alfredson (“Let The Right One In”) it is a
Working Title production for STUDIOCANAL.

Set in the 1970s, TINKER, TAILOR, SOLDIER, SPY finds George Smiley (Gary Oldman), a recently retired MI6 agent, doing his best to adjust to a life outside the secret service. However, when a disgraced agent reappears with information concerning a mole at the heart of the Circus, Smiley is drawn back into the murky field of espionage. Tasked with investigating which of his trusted former colleagues has chosen to betray him and their country, Smiley narrows his search to four suspects - all experienced, urbane, successful agents - but past histories, rivalries and friendships make it far from easy to pinpoint the man who is eating away at the heart of the British establishment.

The screenplay is by Peter Straughan and Bridget O’Connor and the film, which was shot in London, Budapest and Istanbul is produced by Working Title’s co-chairmen Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner and Robyn Slovo. The executive producers are Debra Hayward, Liza Chasin, Douglas Urbanski, Peter Morgan, Olivier Courson, Ron Halpern and John le Carré.

Check this website out for HD trailer

No Rest for Andrew Gulli

I have enjoyed the company and work of Andrew Gulli, the publisher / editor for Strand Magazine for many years, on my trips to Bouchercon. Gulli is major figure in the genre, who is now involved in a major new release as reported by Reuters


Andrew Gulli, who runs Strand Magazine specializing in crime thrillers and mystery short stories, came up with the idea for a plot and initially invited 12 writers to contribute chapters of their own.

"I had an idea about a woman who was executed for a crime she didn't commit," said Gulli. "So I wrote a prologue and handed it to the first author and he and the others started to write."

What he got back was not enough to make a coherent novel, so he invited more writers and ended up with a total of 26.

The list includes novelist Jeffery Deaver, best known for his Lincoln Rhyme series and now the latest authorized James Bond sequel, Alexander McCall Smith and Kathy Reichs.

"If you add up the group of writers who have taken part in this book, you'll find they have sales of hundreds of millions of books," Gulli told Reuters. "In the history of publishing nothing like this has ever occurred."

The piece relays how work was entailed in getting this book to market

The project took Gulli four years, and his greatest challenges were finding authors willing to contribute for a nominal fee as well as keeping the style and story constant enough for it to be readable.

"I think it's a very entertaining read. When we re-read it, we thought it had the best of all possible worlds in that you can still see the different styles."

Gulli called in his sister Lamia to help edit the novel and share the workload. The pair plan to give all of their proceeds from the book to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society after they lost their mother to the disease in 1997.

No Rest For the Dead is published by Simon & Schuster tomorrow on July 5 and the book launchwhere some of the authors will be signing copies of the book is to be held on Friday, July 8th, at 7 p.m. at The Center for Fiction, 17 East 47th Street, New York, NY 10017.

Read More from USA Today Here

And if you’re not a subscriber to Strand Magazine Click Here for more information.

Photo © Ali Karim 2009 “Andrew Gulli at Bouchercon Indianapolis 2009”

Friday, 1 July 2011

Theakston’s Old Peculier Harrogate 2011 Shortlists

The wait is over - The Theakston's Old Peculier Harrogate Crime Festival Award Shortlists have been announced!


Debut novelist William Ryan has been given the public’s seal of approval today, as one of the chosen few to make this year’s shortlist for the Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award. One of the most prestigious crime writing prizes in the country, the newcomer will be battling for the coveted prize amongst five crime fiction stalwarts.

Also on the shortlist is Mark Billingham, looking to make this year a hat-trick after winning the prize in 2005 and 2009 (for Lazy Bones and Death Message respectively). Lee Child, meanwhile, will be hoping that this will be his lucky year; the bestselling author has yet to win the prize, despite the fact that one of his Jack Reacher novels sells somewhere in the world every few seconds. Both authors will go head to head with last year’s Festival Chair Stuart MacBride, and Andrew Taylor, whose Cambridge-set historical chiller Anatomy of Ghosts won much critical praise upon publication.

Lancashire-born SJ Bolton is the only woman to have made the cut with Blood Harvest. Having burst onto the crime scene in 2008, she has been hailed the “high priestess of rural gothic crime”.

The shortlist in full:
· From The Dead by Mark Billingham (Sphere)
· Blood Harvest by SJ Bolton (Corgi Books)
· 61 Hours by
Lee Child (Bantam Books)
· Dark Blood by Stuart MacBride (Harper Fiction)
· The Holy Thief by William Ryan (Pan Books)
· The Anatomy of Ghosts by Andrew Taylor (Michael Joseph)

Now in its seventh year, the Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award, in partnership with Asda, and this year in association with the Daily Mirror, was created to celebrate the very best in crime writing and is open to British and Irish authors whose novels were published in paperback between 1st January 2010 and 31st May 2011.

The winner of the prize will be announced by radio broadcaster and festival regular Mark Lawson on the opening night of the Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival in Harrogate on Thursday 21st July. The winner will receive a £3,000 cash prize, as well as a handmade, engraved beer barrel provided by Theakstons Old Peculier.

On the same night, a special presentation will be made to the winner of the second Theakstons Old Peculier Outstanding Contribution to Crime Fiction Award, which this year is presented to P.D. James.

Born in Oxford in 1920, Baroness James of Holland Park began writing in the 1950s. Her debut novel, Cover Her Face, was published in 1962 featuring her now famous investigator, Adam Dalgliesh. Many of her books have been adapted for film and television, including her 1992 novel Children of Men, which in 2006 was adapted for Hollywood.


P.D. James said:

“It is always a satisfaction and an encouragement for a writer to win a prize, but I am particularly proud to be honoured by the Theakstons Old Peculier Outstanding Contribution to Crime Fiction Award because it comes from Harrogate, a town which it is always a delight to visit and which is the home of one of the most distinguished and pleasurable English literary festivals. I look forward very much to being in this beautiful town again and to receiving an award which, coming in my 91st year, means a great deal to me.”

Simon Theakston, Executive Director of T&R Theakston, said:
"I’m delighted to see that the public have recognised the talents of a broad range of authors in this year’s shortlist, from a debut novelist to names that have been bestsellers for several years. This list reflects the wealth of crime fiction talent we have within the UK and Ireland that continues to grow each year.

“We are also hugely honoured and excited to welcome the crime fiction grandmaster P.D. James to Harrogate this year, to collect her Outstanding Contribution to Crime Fiction Award. Few are as prolific as she, dominating the genre for over 50 years. This award acknowledges that immense achievement.”

If you’ve not booked for the event click here and see you in the bar! This years event looks spectacular with sHuTtEr iSlAnD's Dennis Lehane making a rare UK apprearance with fellow Boston based Joe Finder, and many of the cream of crime writing

Photo © 2010 Ali Karim "Sharon Canavar – Harrogate Operations Director at Bouchercon 2010 San Francisco"

Tuesday, 28 June 2011

Marty Greenberg Obit

This comes via Marty's long-time assistant and friend, Larry Segriff.





Dr. Martin H. Greenberg, known throughout the publishing industry for the scope and scale of the anthologies he produced, passed away on June 25, 2011.

Dr. Greenberg, whose background and training was in political science, and who worked for many years as a professor at the University of Wisconsin Green Bay, was a longtime fan of science fiction. He got his start in publishing when, in the early 1970s, he realized that many great SF stories demonstrated or dealt with themes, ideas, and issues that correlated to what he was teaching. In partnership with Pat Warrick, Marty reached out to a number of authors having at the time absolutely no idea how to clear a permission or what went into the production of an anthology and ended up co-editing his first reprint anthology, Political Science Fiction: An Introductory Reader (1974).

That anthology became the first of many, and spawned a great career and also a terrific friendship with Isaac Asimov. As Marty told the story, when Isaac received his request to reprint "Evidence" and "Franchise," Isaac responded with a very polite letter saying that he would be happy to allow the reprint provided that Marty could prove that he was not a certain individual with a similar name who had a less than savory reputation at the time. Marty did so, writing back with a letter that began by listing his genealogy, went through his academic background and how he ended up in Green Bay, and he signed it, 'Marty the Other.' Isaac responded with a letter addressed to 'Marty the Other,' and so began both a friendship and a career
that lasted a very long time. Isaac introduced Marty to many aspects of publishing, and Marty was Isaac¹s best friend for the last twelve years of Isaac's life.

Marty eventually branched out and started creating original anthologies, and went on to a career that spanned almost four decades and produced over 2,500 books (including nearly a thousand anthologies, many non-fiction works, and many hundreds of novels in multiple genres). Along the way, he helped co-found the Sci-Fi Channel and befriended many authors and editors.

It was always a point of personal pride with Marty that, though he never considered himself a writer, he was always perceived as very author friendly and he worked hard to give writers the absolute best market he could.

During his career, Marty was awarded lifetime achievement honors in science fiction, mystery, and horror‹the only person in history to win such awards in all three genres. Marty won numerous other awards as well, in
essentially every major genre, and was particularly proud of his Guest of Honor appearances at a number of science fiction, fantasy, and mystery conventions.

An interviewer once remarked to Marty that he was known in the business as the 'king of anthologies' and asked Marty how he felt about that. Marty, true to form, borrowed a line from Mel Brooks and replied, "It's good to be the king."

Marty cast a long shadow across the industry, and devoted himself to establishing and maintaining top quality markets for writers. In the wake of his departure, his company, Tekno Books, will continue his good work
under the guidance of his wife Rosalind, but there is no doubt that he will be missed.

Marty was preceded in death by his first wife, Sally. He is survived by his wife Rosalind, their daughter Madeline, of Seattle, WA, two stepdaughters from his first wife; Kari Walsh, wife of John Kerkhof, and their daughter Delenn Kerkhof, of Appleton, WI, and Kate Walsh, wife of Matt Hall, of Bakersfield, CA.

 ******

On a personal front, it was Marty who published by very first commissioned short story "Bubastis" in an anthology he co-editor with Ed Gorman in 1998 entitled THE TREASURY OF CAT MYSTERIES. It seemed it didn't put them off as they then invited me to contribute to the THE BEST OF THE AMERICAN WEST, when my story rubbed shoulders alongside great writers such as Louis L'Amour, Luke Short and Richard Matheson. He and Ed kept the short story assignments coming in and I was asked for another Western which appeared in THE BEST OF THE AMERICAN WEST 2. The last western short story I wrote for him appeared in DESPERDOES (2001)

In 1999 Marty approached me to contribute to a sci-fi anthology called FUTURE CRIMES, and he accepted my dystopian view of London in the future.



I owe both Marty and Ed big time, and I've never forgotten that. My condolences go out to Marty and his family. 

Monday, 27 June 2011

Look to the Lady........



ESSEX POLICE MUSEUM

"Look to the Lady" - The life & crime fiction of Margery Allingham

An illustrated talk about the Essex author Margery Allingham and her famous detective character 'Albert Campion', by Roger Johnson.

Thursday, July 7 · 7:00pm - 9:00pm

£3 Entry (Tea and coffee provided) All profits go to the Museum which is a registered charity.

Spaces Limited. To book please call 01245 457 150 or email museum@essex.pnn.police.uk

Becky Wash
Museum Curator

Information on the Margery Allingham Society can be found here.

Sunday, 26 June 2011

Forthcoming books to look forward to from Orion


Asbury Park is a thrilling police procedural with supernatural elements. Ten weeks ago, Homicide Detective Sailor Doyle worked his first solo case, a gruesome double murder in a remote farmhouse in Virginia. And things turned very nasty for him ...Now Sailor is recuperating with his family at a beach house in Belmar, on the New Jersey shore. He's struggling with prescription drug withdrawal while trying to build up his shattered shoulder and leg, and he's also trying to rebuild his shattered relationship with his wife. Jenny, while pleased he's alive, is less enamoured with the idea of reconciliation. Seeking refuge in a century-old beachfront resort hotel, Sailor meets an elderly man, Mark "Moses" Stillman, a former minor league baseball player whose wife and daughter drowned in the ocean off Belmar years earlier. Sailor's having nightmares about his previous case, and when he starts seeing things again, he realises that once again he's being guided to the truth ...even if it's not what he wants to hear. And it's not long before he finds himself investigating those deaths. Asbury Park is by Robb Scott and is due to be published in January. It is the sequel to 15 Miles.


In Stieg and Me, Larsson's lifelong companion talks about her relationship with Steig Larsson. There is only one person who can tell Stieg Larsson's story other than himself - his lifelong companion and muse, Eva Gabrielsson. She tells the story of their 30-year romance, of Stieg's upbringing and early years, and how this shaped his morals and personality. She talks of his life-long struggle to expose Sweden's Neo-Nazis, of his struggle to keep the magazine he founded, EXPO, alive, his difficult relationships with his immediate family, and the joy and relief he discovered writing the Millennium trilogy. Above all, this is a love story, and shows that if there was another secret besides Larsson's own imagination and convictions, it was his absolute love for his companion and her nurturing of their privacy and shared passions. Their story is told as a series of short vignettes, and Eva Gabrielsson speaks with rare candour and dignity, inspired only by the truth as she knows it. This book is poignant in its account of two soulmates and the life they shared, and most importantly is deeply insightful into the man everyone wants to know better, and about whom so little is known. "I would have preferred to have never written this book. It speaks of Stieg, of our life together, and of my life after his death," writes Gabrielsson early in her book. It was written because she alone can tell this story. Steig and Me is due to be published in July.


Dr Ethan Stark has made his living murderers. He wants to know what makes them tick. The answer to this is of particular interest to Ethan. He only became Ethan Stark when his father's murder conviction forced him and his mother to start new lives. Now, at the facility for the criminally insane where his father is incarcerated, he's going to come face to face with him for the first time in 28 years.... Nature of the Beast is by Tami Hoag and is due to be published in January.

New York, January 1896. Arthur Conan Doyle, the renowned creator of Sherlock Holmes, arrives at the Britannic Hotel with his wife, Louisa, ready to begin his first American tour. While he prepares his lectures, Louisa becomes mesmerised by this brash, vibrant, dangerous city, especially when a woman's brutally butchered corpse is found in a Bowery alley and Louisa is convinced from the artist's sketch in the paper that she'd seen the victim at the hotel. Arthur is patronisingly skeptical about her womanly 'fantasies' but when she sprains her ankle and is forced to remain at the hotel while Arthur goes on tour, Louisa cannot resist pursuing her intuitions. And when more bodies start appearing, she's convinced that she holds the key to the killings. With the help of the hotel's hard-bitten detective and an ambitious female news reporter, Louisa starts to piece together a story of madness, murder and depravity - a story that leads inexorably back to the hotel itself, the strange story of its unique construction and a madman who is watching her every move. Winter at Death's Hotel is by Kenneth Cameron and is due to be published in November.

House of Silk by Anthony Horowitz and is due to be published in November. It is the first official new Sherlock Holmes mystery.


Jailbird and former boxer Danny Boy Lorca was not known for his grip on reality, but when he witnessed in the desert one night convinced Sheriff Hackberry Holland that something very bad had made its way from Mexico into South Texas. The killings were as brutal as anythung Danny Boy had seen. Enough to make Holland realise that this was more than just business:this was evil. A Feast Day of Fools is by James Lee Burke and is due to be published in November.


Orphaned by an act of senseless violence that took their mother from them, half-brothers Clarence Luckman and Elliott Danziger have been raised in state institutions, unaware of any world outside. But their lives take a sudden turn when they are seized as hostages by a convicted killer en route to death row. Earl Sheridan is a psychopath of the worst kind, but he has the potential to change the boys' lives for ever. As the trio set off on a frenetic escape from the law through California and Texas, the two brothers must come to terms with the ever-growing tide of violence that follows in their wake - something that forces them to make a choice about their lives, and their relationship to one another. Set in the 1960s, Bad Signs is a tale of the darkness within all of us, the inherent hope for salvation, and the ultimate consequences of evil. It returns to the haunting ground covered in the award-winning, international bestseller, A Quiet Belief In Angels. Bad Signs is by R.J.Ellory and is due to be published in October.

Michael Connelly and Harry Bosch return in The Drop. Harry Bosch is facing the end of the line. He's been put on the DROP - Deferred Retirement Option Plan - and given three years before his retirement is enforced. Seeing the end of the mission coming, he's anxious for cases. He doesn't have to wait long. First a cold case gets a DNA hit for a rape and murder which points the finger at a 29-year-old convicted rapist who was only eight at the time of the murder. Then a city councilman's son is found dead - fallen or pushed from a hotel window - and he insists on Bosch taking the case despite the two men's history of enmity. The cases are unrelated but they twist around each other like the double helix of a DNA strand. One leads to the discovery of a killer operating in the city for as many as three decades; the other to a deep political conspiracy that reached back into the dark history of the police department. The Drop will be published in October.


With U.S. intelligence agencies wracked by internal power struggles and paralyzed by bureaucracy, the President is forced to establish his own clandestine group - Covert-One - selected from the very best operators America has to offer. It is only activated as a last resort, when the threat is on a global scale and time is running out. In Northern Uganda an American Special Forces team is wiped out by a group of normally peaceful farmers. Video of the attack shows even women and children possessing almost supernatural speed and strength, consumed with a rage that makes them immune to pain, fear, and all but the most devastating injuries. Covert-One's top operative, Army microbiologist Colonel Jon Smith, is sent to investigate the attack and finds evidence of a parasitic infection that for centuries has been causing violent insanity and then going dormant. This time, though, it's different. The infection is purposely being kept alive and the director of Iranian Intelligence is in Uganda trying to make a deal for a biological weapon to unleash on the West. As Smith and his team are cut off from all outside support, they begin to suspect that forces much more powerful than the Iranians are in play - forces that can be traced to Washington itself. Robert Ludlum's The Ares Decision is by Kyle Mills and will be published in October.


The Impossible Dead sees the return of Malcolm Fox in the second novel in Ian Rankin's new series. Malcolm Fox and his team from Internal Affairs are back. They've been sent to Fife to investigate whether fellow cops covered up for a corrupt colleague, Detective Paul Carter. Carter has been found guilty of misconduct with his own uncle, also in the force, having proved to be his nephew's nemesis. But what should be a simple job is soon complicated by intimations of conspiracy and cover-up - and a brutal murder, a murder committed with a weapon that should not even exist. The spiralling investigation takes Fox back in time to 1985, a year of turmoil in British political life. Terrorists intent on a split between Scotland and the rest of the United Kingdom were becoming more brazen and ruthless, sending letter-bombs and poisonous spores to government offices, plotting kidnaps and murder, and trying to stay one step ahead of the spies sent to flush them out. Fox has a duty to get at the truth, while the body count rises, the clock starts ticking, and he fights for his professional and personal life.

Harlan Coben returns in September with a new Myron Bolitar book entitled Shelter. Mickey Bolitar's year can't get much worse. After witnessing his father's death and sending his mom to rehab, he's forced to live with his estranged uncle Myron and switch high schools. A new school comes with new friends and new enemies, and lucky for Mickey, it also comes with a great new girlfriend, Ashley. For a while, it seems like Mickey's train-wreck of a life is finally improving - until Ashley vanishes without a trace. Unwilling to let another person walk out of his life, Mickey follows Ashley's trail into a seedy underworld that reveals that this seemingly sweet, shy girl isn't who she claimed to be. And neither was Mickey's father. Soon, Mickey learns about a conspiracy so shocking that it makes high school drama seem like a luxury - and leaves him questioning everything about the life he thought he knew.

In September, Jeff Lindsay returns with Double Dexter.


Glen Barber isn't the only person in the small town of Milford with things on his mind. The recession has been bad for his construction business, especially after a mysterious fire destroys one of his buildings. But everyone else in Milford seems to have problems too, as the financial pressures begin to pinch. Glen's troubles, however, are about to escalate to a whole new level. His wife Sheila has her own plans for getting them out of their financial jam, but these come to an abrupt halt when her car is found at the scene of a drunk-driving accident that took three lives. Not only is she dead, but it appears she was the cause of the accident. Suddenly Glen has to deal with a potent mixture of emotions: grief at the loss of his wife, along with anger at her reckless behaviour that leaves their young daughter motherless. If only he could convince himself that Sheila wasn't responsible for the tragedy - but as he looks deeper into the circumstances and begins to realise just how many secrets lurk behind Milford's idyllic facade, he may have to face something much, much worse... The Accident is by Linwood Barclay and is due to be published in August.


A Drop of the Hard Stuff is by Lawrence Block and sees the return of Matt Scudder and is due to be published in September. Matt Scudder and Jack Ellery were at school together but never exactly friends. Twenty years later, when Scudder was a detective and Jack was standing the other side of the one-way glass in a police line-up, it was clear their lives had taken very different paths. What they shared, however, was a battle with alcohol. Now Jack is on the ninth step of the AA program and it's time to make amends to the people he's wronged over the years because of his addiction. But when he ends up shot in the head, and it's clear that stirring up the past was maybe not such a good idea, it's up to Scudder to find the killer.

FBI Agent Pendergast returns in Cold Vengeance by Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child. A hunting trip for Pendergast and his brother-in-law, Judson Esterhazy, turns into a violent clash, in which Pendergast is left for dead. Cold Vengeance is due to be published in September.

Spero Lucas has a new line of work. Since he returned home after serving in Iraq, he has been doing special investigations for a defence attorney. He's good at it, and he has carved out a niche: recovering stolen property, no questions asked. His cut is forty percent. A high-profile crime boss who has heard of Lucas's speciality hires him to find out who has been stealing from his operation. It's the biggest job Lucas has ever been offered, and he quickly gets a sense of what's going on. But before he can close in on what's been taken, he tangles with a world of men whose amorality and violence leave him reeling. Is any cut worth your family, your lover, your life? Spero Lucas is George Pelecanos's greatest creation, a young man making his place in the world one battle and one mission at a time. The first in a new series of thrillers featuring Spero Lucas,The Cut is due to be published in August.


Love You More is by Lisa Gardner. WHO DO YOU LOVE? One question, a split-second decision, and Brian Darby lies dead on the kitchen floor. His wife, state police trooper Tessa Leoni, claims to have shot him in self-defence, and bears the bruises to back up her tale. For veteran detective D. D. Warren it should be an open-and-shut case. But where is their six-year-old daughter? AND HOW FAR WOULD YOU GO ...As the homicide investigation ratchets into a frantic statewide search for a missing child, D. D. Warren must partner with former lover Bobby Dodge to break through the blue wall of police brotherhood, seeking to understand the inner workings of a trooper's mind while also unearthing family secrets. Would a trained police officer truly shoot her own husband? And would a mother harm her own child? ...TO SAVE HER? For Tessa Leoni, the worst has not yet happened. She is walking a tightrope, with nowhere to turn, no one to trust, as the clock ticks down to a terrifying deadline. She has one goal in sight, and she will use every ounce of her training, every trick at her disposal, to do what must be done. No sacrifice is too great, no action unthinkable. A mother knows who she loves. And all others will be made to pay. Love you more... Love You More is due to be published in July.


Bill Moore is a man with a plan. He's got a lucrative job selling condos in the Florida keys, a great marriage, and a beautiful house. He had a five year plan for world domination, too, but it's already creeping into year six...so now he's decided to mix it up - just a little. This means getting in tight with the people in power, the players who run the area like their personal kingdom. It's all going to plan until the day Bill gets to work to find a card left on his desk. It's black on both sides, just one word printed in white: MODIFIED. From that moment, Bill's life begins to change. At first barely noticeably, then in more and more disturbing ways. Bill soon finds out, in the most terrifying fashion, that he has become the subject of a dark and deadly game...and that he has no choice but to fight back. Packed with relentless twists and sinister thrills, Killer Move is the latest psychological thriller from bestselling, award-winning author Michael Marshall. Killer Move is due to be published in July.


An elite public school. An outsider. Rumours of a haunting Fleeing expulsion and the death of a close friend, Andrew Taylor is sent by his father to spend his final year at the prestigious public school Harrow. It is an eccentric place, a rambling ancient building filled with the sons of the rich and famous. Shortly after he arrives, the other pupils notice Andrew's striking resemblance to Lord Byron, a former pupil of Harrow, and Andrew is persuaded to play Byron in the forthcoming school play. This is where his troubles begin. Before long Andrew senses a malevolent presence. His fellow Harrovians joke about 'The Lot Ghost' but when a classmate dies, the haunting becomes all too real. Soon another classmate falls ill and Andrew discovers old letters hidden in a bricked-up basement. Aided by his housemaster Piers Fawkes - a once famous poet turned alcoholic - Andrew realises he must discover the secret history behind the letters to prevent further deaths. The White Devil is by Justin Evans and is due to be published in October.


The Diamond Chariot is by Boris Akunin and is due to be published in September. The first of the interlinked plotlines is set in Russia during the Russo-Japanese War in 1905. Fandorin is charged with protecting the Trans-Siberian Railway from Japanese sabotage in a pacy adventure filled with double agents and ticking bombs. Then we travel back to the Japan of the late 1870s. This is the story of Fandorin's arrival and life in Yokohama, his first meeting with Masa and the martial arts education that came in so handy later. He investigates the death of a Russian ship-captain, fights for a woman, exposes double-agents in the Japanese police, fights against, and then with the ninjas, and becomes embroiled in a shocking finale that interweaves the two stories and ties up the series as a whole.

Defending Jacob
is by William Landay and is due to be published in January. When a teenaged boy is discovered stabbed to death in the woods adjoining the local high school, a wave of shock ripples through the suburban community of Newton, outside of Boston. Assistant district attorney Andy Barber is used to dealing with murder and its after-efffects, but with his own son, Jacob, also a student at the school, he too is anxious for a swift arrest and conviction. But as the kids appear to be stonewalling the cops and the investigation stalls, evidence emerges that ties Jacob to the crime - and suddenly Andy faces a very different challenge: preventing his son from being convicted of murder. Together with his wife, Laurie, the family closes ranks in the midst of an increasingly hostile community as Andy prepares for the trial of his life, the one trial he cannot afford to lose. Especially when the emergence of his own dark family secrets threatens to undermine Jacob's defence. And as the drama reaches its climax, Andy and Laurie have to face every parent's toughest questions: how well do you really know your own child, and how far would you go to save them?


In Spartan, Dunn's explosive debut, he draws on his unique background to breathe dynamic new life into the contemporary spy novel. Featuring super-spy Will Cochrane, Dunn paints a nerve-shredding, stunningly suthentic picture of today's secret world. It's a place where trust is precious and betrayal is cheap. And where a violent death is the reward for being outplayed by your enemy. Will Cochrane, the Service's most prized asset and deadliest weapon, has known little else since childhood. And he's never been outplayed. So far... Spartan is due to be published in August.

The Devil Colony
is by James Rollins and is due to be published in December. In the Rocky Mountains, a horrible massacre ensues. Bodies are found purposefully positioned to form two symbols. One man recognises the warning behind the gruesome murders: Painter Crowe, director of SIGMA, has seen these symbols before and knows the deaths were a personal threat. One of the victims was his beloved cousin. Crowe joins forces with Commander Grayson Pierce to penetrate the shadowy heart of a dark cabal that has been manipulating American history. But can he discover the truth before it destroys all he holds dear? The truth lies hidden within the ruins of a cursed lost colony - a place known only as THE DEVIL COLONY

Saturday, 25 June 2011

Latest Crime News Round-Up

For those of you that missed out on the event of the year i.e. Crime in the Court then have no fear as the redoubtable David Headley of Goldsboro Books will be having another crime fiction related event in September. This time the event will be History in the Court. The date is 29 September and there will be historical re-enactments taking place. Watch this space for more information!

According to the Bookseller Ian Fleming Publications have appointed Curtis Brown as the worldwide literary agents for the Ian Fleming James Bond novels as well as future Bond literary works. Jonny Geller and Curtis Brown are taking over from Simon Trewin at United Agents.

Sphere have according to the Bookseller have signed Scottish author Alex Gray to two more books in her Glasgow based crime series.

Despite the fact that her editor Kate Eldon has moved to HarperCollins, bestselling author Karin Slaughter has signed up again to a two-book contract to Century.

Harvill Secker have signed Norwegian author Jo Nesbø to a single book deal. Nesbø is the author of the Harry Hole novels. According to the Bookseller the Phantom is the sequel to the bestselling novel The Leopard and will be published in January 2012.

The public vote for World Book Night 2012 is now open to the public so that members of the public can nominate their favourite 10 novels. More information can be found here. The vote is open until 31 August 2011.

Interesting article in the New York Times by Jeff Lindsay the author of the Dexter series. In his article he talks about writing his Dexter series and why we are so fascinated by serial killers.

Congratulations go to Mulholland UK who are due to publish Iced by Bernard Minier, a debut French crime writer. The full news can be found here.

With a five part mini-series currently being shown on Sky Atlantic featuring Kate Winslet and Evan Rachel Wood, Sarah Churchwell's article in the Guardian about re-reading James M Cain’s Mildred Pierce wonders what has been gained and lost with the Todd Haynes adaptation.

With the recent release of her memoir There Are Things I Want You To Know' About Stieg Larsson and Me about her relationship with Stieg Larsson, Eva Gabrielsson his common-law-widow answers a Q&A for the Wall Street Journal online. The is also a Los Angeles Times Books article as well.

With Jeffrey Deaver still on his James Bond duty with the recent launch of Carte Blanche, TheWeek.com have a list of his six favourite espionage novels. Needless to say and unsurprisngly there is at least one Ian Fleming novel on the list as well as a John le Carré novel and Len Deighton.

John le Carré has been awarded the Goethe Medal for his contribution to "the development of coalescence, peace and creativity in Europe". The full article can be found in the Guardian.

With Smokin’ Seventeen just released in the US, Janet Evanovich talks to USA Today about all things Plum related and the fact that for the first time there will be two numbered Plum books released in 2011. Explosive Eighteen will be released in November in the USA.

A group of best-selling authors has teamed up to urge the public to donate money to a cutting-edge university facility - a morgue. According to the BBC author Val McDermid along with other luminaries such as Lee Child, Stuart McBride and Tess Gerristen have already pledged their support. The Guardian article can be found here.

According to Publishers Weekly, under the auspices of its Vintage Crime/Black Lizard imprint, Vintage Books is launching the Weekly Lizard, a mobile-optimized online site devoted to news and feature content about crime and mystery writing. It will also offer content under several topical sections on the site. First up includes a feature on Ruth Rendell by Val McDermid. She writes about the longevity of Inspector Wexford.

Huffington Post asks their readers to pick their favourite book character that they would most like to sleep with. So far the entries include Mr Rochester from Jane Eyre, Acheron from Sherrilyn Kenyon’s Dark Hunter series (now that I can understand), Mr Darcy, Sherlock Holmes, Lady Chatterley, Albert Campion, Willie Garvin (Modesty Blaise’s sidekick), Alex Cross, Elisabeth Salander, Ranger and Morelli from Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum series, Lee Child’s Jack Reacher, Roarke from J D Robb’s InDeath series (another one I can understand), Rhett Butler, Atticus Finch, Harry Dresden, Philip Marlowe and Lucas Davenport to name a few!

According to Deadline.com Jennifer Lopez is in talks to play the lead female opposite Jason Statham in Parker, the Taylor Hackford-directed action film adaptation of the Donald Westlake mystery novel series. The character has already been played by Lee Marvin in Point Blank and of late by Mel Gibson in Playback.

According to Inside Movies actor Antonio Banderas is teeming up with Pedro Almodóvar for the thriller The Skin I Live In. What initially looks like a straightforward hold-up turns into something entirely different. The Trailer can be seen below!


La Piel Que Habito Teaser / flix.gr by Flixgr
The Skin I Live In was shown earlier at Cannes 2011. The Guardian review can be found here.

ITV have re-commissioned another series of Lewis. Three of the new films are currently titled - ‘Generation of Vipers’, ‘The Age of Foolishness’ and ‘Death of the Author. Former Bond villain Toby Stephens will star in one of the episodes and Morse creator Colin Dexter will continue to act as series consultant

If you were like me and positively devoured the award winning series of graphic novels 100 Bullets written by Brian Azzarello and illustrated by Eduardo Risso then I am sure that you will be pleased learn that according to Deadline.com, Showtime have joined forces with David S Goyer to write and executive produce 100 Bullets as a drama series project as a potential TV series. It will be interesting to see how this turns out. 100 Bullets was an absolutely fantastic series of graphc novels.

According to TV Eh?, Canada’s source for information on Canadian Television shows three Canadian authors have had their books optioned for television series. The authors are William Deverell, Giles Blunt and Robert Rotenberg. The full media release can be found here. Deverell's series, set in the Gulf Islands and featuring attorney Arthur Beaucham, won the Hammett award for crime writing in 1997; Giles Blunt's Detective John Cardinal series won Britain's Silver Dagger Award for Fiction in 2001; and Robert Rotenberg's debut novel Old City Hall, about a popular radio host who is arrested for murdering his wife. Giles Blunt is said to be adapting his own material for television.

Vigilante Entertainment has optioned bestselling true-crime author Gregg Olsen's book Starvation Heights. Set in the Pacific Northwest it is the story of a egotistical woman doctor who took advantage of the popularity of Dr. Kellogg's health sanitarium in Battle Creek, Michigan and starved her patients to death.

Those of you that have been following Bouchercon memories over on the Bouchercon2011 blog may be interested to note that are very own Ali Karim has his own Bouchercon memory up on the blog. My Bouchercon memory can be found here.

The sad news of the death of Martin Greenberg has just been revealed by Mystery Fanfare Those of you that are fans of anthologies and short stories will no doubt recognise his name. Martin Greenberg was the editor of many an anthology spanning crime, horror and speculative fiction. I can attest to the fact of what a prolific editor he was by just looking on my own bookshelves where I stack my anthologies. He will most certainly be sorely missed. (Thanks to Janet Rudolph for the sad news)

Wednesday, 22 June 2011

Certainly not a Blue Monday!


Monday saw the launch of the new Nicci French book Blue Monday at Penguin’s Offices in central London. The launch took place on the 10th floor of their building along the Strand which afforded us magnificent views of the London skyline. It was just a shame that the rain did not afford us a clear view.

Blue Monday
is a new series for the crime-writing duo and the first in a new series of 8 crime novels featuring a series character. They will be published over the next ten years, with the first seven each named after a day of the week. The final title will bring the whole series together. Set in London Psychotherapist Frieda Klein will be introduced as the series heroine in the first title.


Monday, the lowest point of the week. A day of dark impulses. A day to snatch a child from the streets ...The abduction of five-year-old Matthew Farraday provokes national outcry and a desperate police hunt. And when his face is splashed over the newspapers, psychotherapist Frieda Klein is left troubled: one of her patients has been relating dreams in which he has a hunger for a child. A child he can describe in perfect detail, a child the spitting image of Matthew. Detective Chief Inspector Karlsson doesn't take Frieda's concerns seriously until a link emerges with an unsolved abduction twenty years ago and he summons Frieda to interview the victim's sister, hoping she can stir hidden memories. Before long, Frieda is at the centre of the race to track the kidnapper. But her race isn't physical. She must chase down the darkest paths of a psychopath's mind to find the answers to Matthew Farraday's whereabouts. And sometimes the mind is the deadliest place to lose yourself.

Those joining Nicci French for the launch included the editor of Crime Time Barry Forshaw and Chris Simmons of Crime Squad.

More information about Nicci French and their books can be found here.

Pictures © Ayo Onatade

Sunday, 19 June 2011

Top Notch Thrillers from Ostara Publishing


In July 2011, Top Notch Thrillers is proud to reissue two great British thrillers from the early 1980’s, both of which are fine examples of ‘flight and pursuit’ novels in the John Buchan tradition.


Geoffrey Household (1900-88), often seen as the natural successor to John Buchan, is rightly famous for his 1939 classic Rogue Male about an aristocratic English big game hunter’s failed attempt to assassinate Hitler and his subsequent fight for survival as the hunter becomes the hunted.

More than 40 years after that ground-breaking thriller, Geoffrey Household gave us the sequel, Rogue Justice, where the background to the previously anonymous ‘Rogue Male’ is revealed as he declares his own private war on Nazi Germany, blazing a blood-stained trail from Poland to Greece to dispense his own type of justice on the brutal ideology which has destroyed the Europe – and the woman – that he loved.

Not only is Rogue Justice a sustained, fast-moving action thriller, told with all Household’s usual skill when it comes to a pursuit over wild terrain and his self-depreciating humour, it is at heart a dark, nobly romantic but fatalistic love story. For the rogue hero this time, it is not a question of whether he will survive, but how he will choose to meet his death....

*
Jessica Mann is well-known as a broadcaster, journalist and crime-writer and is currently the crime fiction critic for the Literary Review.

Her 1981 novel Funeral Sites is nothing less than an updated, feminist take on John Buchan’s famous tale of flight and pursuit, The 39 Steps, as the main character finds herself on the run from her politically ambitious (and murderous) brother-in-law. In a frenzied escape from a Swiss alp via London’s club land to a Cambridge hospital, she finds a lone ally in feisty archaeologist Tamara Hoyland, who was to become Jessica Mann’s series heroine, and the chase comes full circle in a dramatic showdown back in the Swiss mountains.

Funeral Sites
is a frantic, breathlessly-paced chase thriller which puts a female stamp on what had seemed until then a very male preserve and whilst staying true to the form, the novel cheekily references the work of John Buchan – and indeed Geoffrey Household, another master of the genre.

Jessica Mann is the first woman to join the ranks of British authors reissued under the Top Notch Thriller imprint, who include: John Gardner, Victor Canning, Brian Callison, Duncan Kyle, Francis Clifford and Adam Hall.

Rogue Justice ISBN 9781906288549
Funeral Sites ISBN 9781906288600*

(*also available as an eBook)

*

Top Notch Thrillers is a specialist imprint of Ostara Publishing which was established in 2009 to revive Great British thrillers “which do not deserve to be forgotten” using the latest print-on-demand technology and offering many titles as eBooks for the first time. The series editor is Mike Ripley, who currently writes the ‘Getting Away With Murder’ column on www.shotsmag.co.uk.

By September 2011, there will be 20 Top Notch Thrillers available in print and (in many cases) electronic formats. They can be purchased through good bookshops or Amazon and via the Ostara website (www.ostarapublishing.co.uk) which contains much additional information of TNT books and authors.

Friday, 17 June 2011

Couple of Highlights from Headline Publishers


The brilliant new Elizabethan thriller from the highly acclaimed author of Sacred Treason. 1564: Catholic herald William Harley, Clarenceux King of Arms, is the custodian of a highly dangerous document. When it is stolen, Clarenceux immediately suspects a group of Catholic sympathisers, the self-styled Knights of the Round Table. Francis Walsingham, the ruthless protege of the queen's Principal Secretary, Sir William Cecil, intercepts a coded message from the Knights to a Countess known to have Catholic leanings. He is convinced that Clarenceux is trying to use the document to advance the cause of the Catholic Queen. And soon Clarenceux enters a nightmare of suspicion, deception and conspiracy. Conflict and fear, compounded by the religious doubts of the time, conceal a persistent mystery. Where has the document gone? Who has it and who really took it? And why? The roots of betrayal are deep and shocking: and Clarenceux's journey towards the truth entails not just the discovery of clues and signs, but also the discovery of himself. The Roots of Betrayal is due to be published in July and is by James Forrester the pen-name of Dr Ian Mortimer.


Joseph Finder's first Nick Heller novel, Vanished, was published to widespread acclaim. Now Nick Heller returns in an explosive new thriller Buried Secrets. When private investigator Nick Heller returns home to Boston to set up his own agency, he soon gets an urgent case closer to home than expected. Alexandra Marcus - teenage daughter of hedge fund titan and Heller family friend Marshall Marcus - has been kidnapped. But it's no ordinary kidnapping - she has been abducted by professionals, buried alive in an underground casket, a video camera streaming her desperate pleas live over the internet. With a limited supply of food and water, time is quickly running out. Nick is determined to catch the perpetrators but when Marcus is arrested by the FBI for fraud, accused of operating a Ponzi scheme, Nick realises that he has some powerful enemies who may have the motivation to go after his daughter and a conspiracy that reaches up to the very highest levels of government. Nick must play a dangerous game if he hopes to flush out those responsible before Alexa is buried for good...

Both James Forrester and Joseph Finder will be at Theakston’s Old Peculair Crime Writing Festival in July.

For those of you that missed reading Dr Yes by Bateman when it came out in hardback then you can have a second chance. The paperback version is due out just before the end of June.




One to look forward to in August is A Serpent Uncoiled by Simon Spurrier.

A missing mobster. A bizarre spiritualist society. And three deaths, linked by a chilling forensic detail. Working as an enforcer in London's criminal underworld brought Dan Shaper to the edge of breakdown. Now he's a private investigator, kept perilously afloat by a growing cocktail of drugs. He needs to straighten up and rebuild his life, but instead gets the attention of his old gangland masters and a job offer from George Glass. The elderly eccentric claims to be a New Age Messiah, but now needs a saviour of his own. He has been marked for murder. Adrift amidst liars and thugs, Shaper must push his capsizing mind to its limits: stalked not only by a unique and terrifying killer, but by the ghosts of his own brutal past.

Harlan Coben and Lee Child crime fiction film news!

Tom Cruise is mulling an opportunity to get involved in a new action-driven literature-turned-film series that revolves around the exploits of a man with the initials J.R. – and no, the role in question would not be that of Jack Ryan. Rather, Cruise could play ex-army cop Jack Reacher in an adaptation of Lee Child’s novel One Shot.

Oscar-winner Christopher McQuarrie (who co-wrote the Cruise-starring Valkyrie back in 2008) penned the One Shot screenplay and is prepped to helm the project as well. However, while McQuarrie has written numerous scripts over the past few years alone, his only other directorial effort was the 2000 film The Way of the Gun.
Lee Child (the pen name for author Jim Grant) has so far written fifteen full-length novels that feature the Jack Reacher character to ...

Click to continue reading Tom Cruise Offered Jack Reacher Role in ‘One Shot’.




Ben Affleck is in early talks to direct an American adaptation of the Harlan Coben novel "Tell No One,"

Warner Bros. and Universal Pictures are negotiating to acquire the rights to the novel. They already have a deal with Chris Terrio to write the script.
Affleck directed Warners' 2010 "The Town."

"Tell No One," published in 2001, is the author's first New York Times bestseller. The story, made into a movie in France in 2006, is about a pediatrician -- Coben is married to a pediatrician -- whose wife suddenly vanishes. When the doctor goes looking for her, he is beaten -- and then is considered a suspect.

When police determine she is the victim of a serial killer, he's off the hook -- until more bodies are found years later, and he's once again a suspect. French director Guillaume Canet adapted the French version. Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall will produce the American version. Warner Bros. will release it domestically; Universal Pictures International will release it abroad.

Deadline.com first reported the news.

Thursday, 16 June 2011

New Move for Selina Walker



Selina Walker moves to Century and Arrow

16.06.11 | Charlotte Williams

Cornerstone has appointed Selina Walker, currently publishing director of Transworld's crime and thriller list, to the role of publisher for Century and Arrow.

Walker will begin her role in mid-July, following 11 years at Transworld where she worked with authors including Tess Gerritsen and Simon Sebag Montefiore.

At Century and Arrow, she steps into Kate Elton's shoes, who is moving to HarperCollins.

Cornerstone m.d. Susan Sandon said: "I've long admired Selina's publishing: she has a wonderful eye for talent and a track record which is second to none. I know that she will add lustre to Century and Arrow."

Walker added: “I’m thrilled to be given the hugely exciting opportunity to run imprints that span commercial fiction and non-fiction whilst being able to benefit from staying within The Random House Group.”

As a result of Walker's promotion, Sarah Adams, currently editorial director Transworld crime and thrillers, will become publishing director, with Cat Cobain promoted to publishing director of the women's fiction list.

Sarah Emsley, currently non-fiction editor working with popular culture titles, will be promoted to senior editorial director.

Wednesday, 15 June 2011

Sleepless in Glasgow

At Shots Ezine we’re always looking out for interesting debut novels, and though not a debut novel as such, ‘The Dead Won’t Sleep’ is Anna Smith’s debut crime novel and one to look out for if you enjoy tough urban noir. Following the journalistic traditions of fellow Scottish crime-writers Val McDermid and Tony Black, Anna Smith has been a journalist for over twenty years and is a former chief reporter for the Daily Record in Glasgow. She has covered wars across the world as well as major investigations and news stories from Dunblane to Kosovo to 9/11. She writes a regular newspaper column in the News of The World with a readership of more than a million in Scotland alone. The Dead Won't Sleep is the first thriller in a series featuring crime journalist Rosie Gilmour.


The body of a young teenage hooker is found washed up on the beach near Glasgow. This stark event barely captures a headline in the cynical world of tabloid newspapers. This is Glasgow in the 1990s and she’s just another dead heroin addict. But Tracey Eadie was only fourteen years old and came from a children’s home in Glasgow. How did she get from there to where she is now? One of Tracey’s friends on the street contacts Rosie Gilmour, a tabloid journalist. She gives Rosie a tip off that’s dynamite, too hot to print but impossible to ignore. Rosie has covered many dark stories in her career. Her background has plenty in common with Tracey’s and her own life could have gone either way. Her investigation exposes a sordid tale of corruption and child abuse that leads from the murky streets of Glasgow to the very top of the establishment. For Rosie, it is the only story worth telling, but she soon discovers that the forces united against her will stop at nothing to make sure nobody ever gets to the truth.


The Shots team met up with Anna Smith in Holborn’s Chancery Court Hotel last night together with award-winning writer / critics Laura Wilson and Natasha N J Cooper thanks to the Quercus Publishing team, who have published the worldwide bestsellers of Stieg Larsson and John Ajvide Lindqvist.


Over cocktails we discovered that Anna has seen the reality of the dark side of human nature, witnessing as a journalist the very worst mankind can offer, and she said while covering the Rwanda genocide, she still can smell of death and decay and it rests uneasily in her memory, so perhaps the title ‘The Dead Won’t Sleep’ is an apt title. She has recently been reading up on the crime-fiction genre listing her favourite writers being James Crumley, Harlan Coben and was very enthused by Noah Boyd’s debut ‘The Bricklayer’. Her inspiration to introduce Rosie Gilmour in her first outing, is due to her first-hand knowledge of the havoc that the Heroin epidemic caused in Glasgow and seeing the effects as a journalist made her focus that period into a dark narrative.


Anna credits strong encouragement from her agent Ali Gunn as well as her editor, the legendary Jane Wood for steering her toward writing a crime-fiction series, and one that would have an appeal beyond the dark streets of Glasgow, and the trail of shared heroin syringes.

Read More about Anna Smith’s ‘The Dead Won’t Sleep’ and other upcoming books from Quercus Publishing here and the launch party here


We know that we’ll be hearing a lot more from Anna Smith’s Rosie Gilmour novels as they probe the dark side of human nature, and provide insight; which is what a journalist does when faced with the shadows in reality.


Photo © 2011 Ali Karim ‘Anna Smith at The Pearl Bar in Holborn’s Chancery Court Hotel’