“I confess freely that I cut his throat with a carving knife.. “…in the morning I shall make the short walk from this condemned cell to the gallows here at Newgate. I understand the scaffold has been erected in the yard, inside the prison walls, not outside in the street. Is that so?” Chatty convict […]
This story brings together two of my favourite kinds of book: crime fiction and anything Jane Austen related. Now that doesn’t mean you need to be an Austen fan to enjoy this 23rd outing in the Dalziel and Pascoe series, but it means there’s a treat threaded throughout the story if you are. What’s it […]
Imagine spotting your own photo in a newspaper advert. Is it really you? It looks like you. How did the your photo end up in the classified section? Is it an error? Or is it something much, much worse? What’s it about? Zoe Walker is deeply unsettled when she spots her photo buried next to […]
After five years in prison, devoted mother Patty Watts is free – and still proclaiming her innocence. Waiting to pick her up is her daughter, Rose Gold – the daughter Patty was arrested for spending 18 years harming. Triumphant, Patty crows: ‘Riddle me this: if I spent almost two decades abusing my daughter, why did […]
Imagine seeing colours when you hear sounds. Jasper does. Some are beautiful, some are ugly, but all of them help him understand a world he often finds confusing. Tuesday is bottle green. Wednesday is toothpaste white. And Bee Larkham’s murder was ice blue crystals with glittery edges and jagged, silver icicles. What’s it about? Jasper […]
‘A glorious mash-up of William Golding and Arthur Conan Doyle’ – Val McDermid. The quote above is all you need to know, but if you’d like to learn more about Stu Turton’s latest genre-defying escapade of a book, then keep reading. What’s it about? A murder on the high seas. A detective duo. A demon […]
‘I was beginning to regret choosing crime as the subject for my mold-breaking bestseller – the red tape was fierce.’ Today I am delighted to host an extract from The Awful Truth About the Herbert Quarry Affair, a book purportedly written by the main character in real time… How does that work? Denis Shaughnessy is […]
I think Denis Shaughnessy just invented a new genre. This is crime fiction, but it’s also a wickedly funny send-up of crime novels. It’s a wonderfully self-aware text, in which a completely not self-aware author creates chaos by writing literally whatever comes into his head and hoping the reader will let him get away with […]
Would you visit a human safari park? My guess is that you would be revolted by the terminology, but whether or not you actually visited the ‘park’ would partly depend on how you perceive ancient tribes. Are they human beings – or entertainment for more ‘civilised’ beings? My belief is that you would feel – […]
When I have nightmares, they are often about ants. Ants spilling frantically from an anthill, swarming over my ankles as I try to escape – or worse, suddenly clambering over my recumbent limbs as I sunbathe, jolted out of my peaceful reading by thousands of tiny feet pattering over my vulnerable body. *shudder* I’m certain […]