Ruth Rendell will appear as a Special Guest at the 2013 Festival

I have only ever written one fan letter and it wasn’t to my ultimate pop star of my youth (and I’m not telling you who that was, either). My one and only letter was to a writer who I greatly admired and still do to this day. And the geek that I am – I still have the reply sent to me from Ruth … Read More >>

Talking to many other crime fiction fans my introduction to crime fiction echoes many others, like them I was introduced to crime when my grandmother gave me two books by Agatha Christie. I was twelve at the time and in the early eighties there wasn’t anything remotely resembling the choice young readers have these days. I must have been looking through my Nan’s books (she had a big bookcase that reached from floor to ceiling) crammed … Read More >>

Once again, the good people over at Crime Squad have been making lists of the best crime novels. This time Sylvia has been delving in to the world of Historical Crime Fiction and has picked her favourite  crime novels set in the past. From Treacherous Tudors to Murderous Monks Historical Crime Fiction is packed with interesting characters and gripping plots and here are ten of the best examples.

1. Alexandria (AD 77) – Lindsey Davis
Arrow £7.99
“Marcus Didius … Read More >>

When we asked the crime fiction fanatics and reviewers over at Crime Squad what the best books by authors at this year’s festival were, they put their heads together and came up with ten not to be missed books. Including classic writers like Colin Dexter and Ian Rankin, welcoming newcomers such as Ryan David Jahn and Julia Crouch and of course throwing in something Scandinavian from Jo Nesbø this is a varied list packed with the … Read More >>

It was on 22nd July 2011 that I was at the Theakstons Crime Writing Festival in Harrogate and heard about the atrocities that had happened in Norway. A car bomb in Oslo quickly followed by random cold-blooded shootings at a summer camp at Utoya. The total was to be seventy-six people killed and hundreds injured. It was a horrific day.

Fast forward to the festival twelve months later and on Friday 20th July we had to hear … Read More >>

On the 3rd December 1926 an author of crime fiction who was on the cusp of becoming the most celebrated crime writer of all time, left her home ’Styles’ in Sunningdale, Berkshire and disappeared from sight. Before her career had even begun and when there was so much controversial debate about her latest novel, ‘The Murder of Roger Ackroyd’, Agatha Christie was going to become infamous for completely different reasons. It was to make the name … Read More >>

Crime Writing Month starts on the 25th May and finishes 5th July 2012 – so it’s more like six weeks – it just wouldn’t have sounded as ‘catchy’ to call it ‘Crime Writing Six Weeks’, I guess. This stems from the past two years with Crime Writing Week, but as crime fiction is such a huge genre (and the biggest selling genre, at that) it was deemed not long enough, hence the extension.

This is my last … Read More >>

CrimeSquad's Chris Simmons talks 'Forgotten Authors'

Just a week ago I was ‘tweeting’ Emlyn Rees, the author of ‘Hunted’ about a question he threw out in to the ‘twittersphere’. Did anyone know of a novel that had criminals in it where nobody actually got murdered? My reply to him was ‘Uncle Paul’ by Celia Fremlin. It was Fremlin’s second book released just as her first, ‘The Hours Before Dawn’ was given the ‘Edgar’ for Best Crime … Read More >>

CrimeSquad's Chris Simmons

As I wrote in March on ‘Crimesquad Comments’ we are at the beginning of what publishing may well call ‘The E-book Age’ in the future. I believe it is a fantastic opportunity for credible authors to have their work ‘published’ and read by the paying public. For me, there is no harm in that. The purchaser doesn’t feel they have been strong armed in to a purchase and know full well that with … Read More >>

CrimeSquad's Chris Simmons

Ian Rankin spoke at the 20th anniversary party of Orion Publishers at the Natural History Museum. During his speech Rankin stated that writers would always need publishers. I agree with the man that publishers do have their rightful place in the world of literature.

Over a quarter of the books ‘published’ last year were self-published e-books. Now, let’s get something straight. E-books are here to stay. They are part of the future in literature. … Read More >>