Room 15 launch competition
Room 15 is almost here. Publication day arrives tomorrow – Monday July 27 2020 – and as promised I have a launch competition for you. Because sales in the first week are so important to…
Room 15 launch events
At last, it’s preorder day and I can share the cover of my new psychological mystery thriller Room 15 with the world, along with the events planned for publication day. Room 15 launch events Publication…
Everything is copy – review of Nora Ephron Collected
I don’t know about you but I am a sucker for Nora Ephron’s screenplay for When Harry Met Sally. The movie’s pretty good too, but the script is outstanding. On the other hand, I’d never…
Talking with comedy best-seller Paul Bassett Davies
I’m really pleased that this week we have a guest appearance by the best-selling comedy writer (and a good friend of mine) Paul Bassett Davies. Paul has been a writer, director and performer for stage,…
Spies like us – review of Kate Atkinson’s Transcription
Fiction writers are liars by trade and spy novelists are the biggest liars of all. Their entire genre is based on deception and betrayal of trust. And I don’t just mean the characters. As with…
14 things I’ve learned since Corona by Shelley Katz
I’m delighted to invite the multi-hyphenate American novelist-screenwriter-producer Shelley Katz to provide this week’s guest blog. When I read this post on her own blog this week, I knew I had to have it. Shelley…
Jeremy Clarkson has the virus
I can finally reveal Jeremy Clarkson has contracted the virus CO2-19. He had it before and it was thought that he’d recovered, but last week it became obvious that he had succumbed to a second…
A plague on both your houses
So now we are visited by the plague, it seems. Plague is an archetype that goes back deep into our histories. Perhaps the most famous plague quote comes from Romeo and Juliet – when Mercutio,…
Q&A with Adam Hamdy, crime author, screenwriter and co-founder of Capital Crime
I’m delighted this week to host a question and answer session with the successful crime author and screenwriter Adam Hamdy. Adam is the author of the acclaimed Pendulum trilogy, an epic series of conspiracy thriller novels, nominated…
Who’s to blame for the death of Caroline Flack?
If you believe the tabloids, it’s the police or the Crime Prosecution Service (CPS). If you believe the CPS, it’s the media. And if you believe the serious newspapers, it’s us. Yes, you and me.…
Collateral damage – review of Berta Isla by Javier Marías
Last month I reviewed the latest, possibly last, novel by one of the giants of spy fiction, Agent Running in the Field by John le Carré. Today a very different, indeed very unusual, spy novel.…
Computer says procrastinate
I went into my study this morning, bouncing, full of ideas for a new short story and turned on my computer. It had a message for me. COMPUTER: I NEED TO SCAN FOR TROJANS (OR…
Angry movies at the Baftas
We live in angry times, it seems. So I shouldn’t have been surprised when I had a load of angry movies to watch for this year’s Bafta awards. Now, I don’t mean the controversy over…
New book deal
I’m delighted to announce that I’ve signed a book deal this month for my second novel – Room 15 – with the impressively energetic Bloodhound Books. (Impressive, especially, because they like my new book –…
John le Carré’s new novel Agent Running in the Field – review
There’s something about books written by masters of their craft towards the end of their careers. It’s a kind of poise, an ease, that you can see in (say) Philip Roth’s late books. (Which isn’t…
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The 5 Best True Crime Books of 2019
For the first post of the year, I’m delighted to welcome guest-blogger Desiree Villena, a lifelong true crime aficionado. Today she puts her passion and knowledge to use by choosing her best true crime books…
Today’s posting is gluten-free
Just the other day a truck drove past me advertising potato crisps – gluten-free. Very commendable. There was only one problem. In my universe potatoes are automatically gluten-free. That’s how they grow. There was only…
A senior cabinet politician writes…
With elections that nobody wants coming up fast everywhere, people have been asking me what to do about the decline of democracy. I reply, you’re doing more than enough already. We in the governments of…