Crime Writing Month Starts Today

Here in the UK the CWA’s Crime Writing Month kicks off today.  Click on the pic to see the dedicated website and the events going on across the country.  On Monday we will be revealing what we are involved with here at It’s a crime!


#CWM2012 Crime Writing Tips – No.3

Today marks the start of CrimeFest in Bristol and here’s #CWM2012 crime writing tip number 3:

**Clues**

Remember there are five senses, not just sight. Most clues tend to focus on the visual. Marple or Poirot would call on all five when relevant, so keep it open and interesting.


Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival: Crime on Tour

Starting next week: 29 May – 14 June 2012

This year, the Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival, Harrogate turns ten, and to mark the occasion it is taking to the road to bring an early taste of Festival fun to crime writing fans this May and June. Packing its overnight bag for a series of Festivals in miniature, the celebrations will see a range of handpicked local new talents and established crime authors visiting libraries across the North of England.

Since its inception in 2003, the Festival has been committed to supporting the work and careers of new authors, with its annual ‘New Blood’ panel showcasing debut authors. With ‘Crime On Tour’ the Festival will be able further highlight the wealth of new and emerging authors out there, taking the Festival’s successful recipe of live literature events, which aim to be both thought-provoking and exciting, to fresh audiences.

Each ‘Crime on Tour’ event will be hosted by an established UK crime writer with roots in each region. The journey will commence in the city of Leeds on 29 May with Steve Mosby, continuing to York and passing on the baton to Peter Robinson, stopping off in Manchester with host Chris Simms, then to Hull with the Festival’s reader-in-residence Martyn Waites and ending its journey in Newcastle with host Ann Cleeves. Each host author will introduce two up-and-coming northern authors, ones to watch in 2012, with featuring names including David Mark, Danielle Ramsay, Alex Walters and one of the Festival’s Creative Thursday alumnae Mari Hannah. Writers will have the opportunity to discuss their work in front of a friendly and intimate audience, sharing their own success stories and giving crime writing aficionados the opportunity to ask questions and find out first-hand about each author’s travelling road to success.

**Click here to book** Tickets for all of the events are available online now, and are priced at £5.


#CWM2012 Crime Writing Tips – No. 2

Today’s #CWM2012 crime writing tip, number 2, concerns pyschology:

**Pyschology**

Play around with the pyschology of your characters. Example: have one lulled into a very confident but false sense of security. Then let your readers know what your criminal mastermind is planning…


#CWM2012 Crime Writing Tips – No.1

Officially, the CWA’s Crime Writing Month (#CWM2012) starts on Friday, 25 May, but today we start an occasional series of crime writing tips.

**The Red Herring**

A perfectly delivered and meaty red herring will prove a very popular catch for readers.


The future for bookselling on the UK’s High Streets?


Waterstones teams up with Amazon Kindle for Digital Reading

Amazing. From an interview James Daunt gave to John Walsh in the Independent which appeared on 5 December 2011:

‘Daunt makes no bones about his dislike of Amazon. “They never struck me as being a sort of business in the consumer’s interest. They’re a ruthless, money-making devil.”’

Only yesterday Robert McCrum’s column included this quote from Daunt on ereader strategy:

“We’ll be different from Amazon,” he says, with characteristic ebullience, “and we’ll be better.”

And this morning, this:

Afternoon update: more information now available in The Bookseller following an interview with Daunt.


To be/recognise a crime fiction addict …

Some may say this is the season of literary festivals but those ‘in the know’ realise it’s fast turning into the crime fiction season.  Next weekend we have CrimeFest; running from 25 May to 5 July is the CWA’s Crime Writing Month; July 5 will see the CWA award many of its Daggers at a Gala Dinner; and 19-22 July is the weekend of the Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival in Harrogate.  So, how do you spot a real, 24 carat crime fiction addict at one of these UK events?

  1. They know both what and who Bouchercon is/was, and they can pronounce it properly.
  2. They will have a pet or pets and they will be named after a crime fiction author or character.  (If this is a serial killer, make early apologies and hide in the loo.)
  3. They don’t have a pet, but long for one just so they can name it after a crime fiction author or character.
  4. If they have kids their middle names will be those of crime fiction authors or characters.
  5. They can easily run off the trends of the last five years, current trends and tell you what’ll be hot in 2013.
  6. They can tell you what percentage of crime fiction book buyers are female and how – if at all – this has changed over the last 20 or so years.
  7. They will know what 4MA is.
  8. They are generous and will offer you a drink before you can focus on them with your eyes.
  9. If male and under 35, they will wear a heavy metal style T-shirt or a floral shirt.  They will definitely be involved in a male-bonding shirt competition during the weekend and this part applies to any age.
  10. If the hair in the audience is essentially all white, they can tell you with 100% accuracy who the special guest is.
  11. They know the difference between a festival and a convention.
  12. If female and 45+, they can tell you about the time they made a ‘Miss Marple’ tweed skirt.
  13. Their quiz team will have been organised aeons ago and has been ‘full up since yesterday’.
  14. They will know who won the CWA’s 2008 Diamond Dagger.
  15. They will have a ‘theory’ on Kevin Wignall.
  16. They can tell you which crime fiction critic is with which newspaper for the UK.
  17. After just one more alcoholic drink they will do their Jane Gregory impersonation.
  18. They can tell you which literary critic ruffled some feathers criticising the trend in serial killer tomes.
  19. They will know what SMA is and its importance to crime fiction.
  20. Naturally, they will have an online presence.
  21. They can tell you which Andrew Taylor novel was a Richard & Judy pick.
  22. In the rain with no umbrella, they will be the one with soggy hair.  (The two plastic carrier bags they just purchased will be double-wrapped around the books they are clutching to their chest under their coat or cardi.)
  23. They can tell you the details of their book buying budget in 5 minutes.
  24. They will have an Amazon account older than their email address.
  25. They will have strong opinions on whether the hard copy print book is actually dying out due to digital.
  26. They can be found in the bar during a weekend gig but never in the hotel gym or pounding the pavement with some jogging.  (They know there is no time for such matters.)
  27. They can tell you with no hesitation the latest time they were still up in the bar at Harrogate and what year it was.
  28. They will know why Barry Forshaw gained the ‘Prof’ before his name.
  29. They will know who the real Mr Ripley is.
  30. With no hesitation, they will be able to identify the completely ridiculous suggestion hidden in the others above.

That was part one…


The Olympic torch has arrived in the UK …

… and later in the year we will see plenty of this.

(A pic I captioned yesterday when in a ‘mood’.)


BBC4 The Bridge – Anticipation of the Finale

**Potential spoilers below**

Tonight sees the last two episodes of The Bridge.  Here are the summaries from the Radio Times:

Episode 9:  The complex trail of clues finally leads the police to a man they believe could be the killer. The officers then wait to find out what his next move will be – until the case takes a brutal twist that has terrifying consequences for Martin and Saga.

Episode 10:  The case reaches a terrifying conclusion as Martin realises he is the killer’s final target. He joins his colleagues to search for the villain, but faces a race against time to prevent further bloodshed. Meanwhile, Saga refuses to be deterred from her pursuit of justice.

Martin’s wife Mette and her guardian angel when she is in pain.

On Monday, check out this link from the Radio Times’s Alison Graham who tweeted on Friday:


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