The Incident Room

Very pleased to say that I'll be appearing in the Orion Incident Room at Harrogate again this year, this time recording a Two Crime Writers podcast with a Just a Minute twist! I'm pretty good at talking for a minute, but deviation, repetition and hesitation is usually a major feature of my public speaking, so I'll have to do my best to rein it in...

Lots of other cool stuff going on in the Incident Room and at the wider festival (see below). Hope to see you there if you're in Harrogate next weekend.

Friday 19th July, Library Room, Old Swan Hotel, Harrogate

9:30-11:00: Two Crime Writers Play ‘Just a Minute’ (Steve Cavanagh, Luca Veste, Mason Cross, Adrian McKinty, Stephanie Marland, Marnie Riches, Paul Finch)

11:30-12:30: A Journey to Publication with Tracy Fenton (Rob Sinclair, Alison Belsham, AJ Park, Amy McLellan, Louisa de Lange)

13:00-13:30: The Wreckage Proof Signing and Giveaway with Robin Morgan-Bentley

14:00-14:55: Desert Island Crime (Isabel Ashdown, Mari Hannah, Emma Kavanagh, Tim MacGabhann, Chris McGeorge, Oscar du Muriel)

15:30-16:45: Crime Girl Gang Podcast Live Event (Elle Croft, Niki Mackay, Victoria Selman, Emma Rowley, Lara Dearman, Elisabeth Carpenter, Isabel Ashdown)

17:15-18:00: Orion author meet and greet (All welcome)

18:30-19:15: One Night with Ian Rankin

What I've been doing lately

I wonder how many blog posts in the year 2018 being with "Sorry I haven't blogged in a while..."? Well, this is another.

Anyway, I thought it would be good to post an update of what I've been up to over the last while. First up, the annual Theakston's Old Peculier Crime Festival in Harrogate.

As usual, this was a great opportunity to chat to other writers, catch up with my editor Francesca and generally mingle with book people.

Following on from last year's success, Orion did another great job with the Incident Room - a suite in the Swan Hotel they booked out for the weekend and decked out with some gruesome props, and a bunch of great events.

I arrived at the festival fashionably late on the Friday, in time to be one of the jurors grilled by Steve Cavanagh for Thirteen Live, along with Neil White, Stuart Neville and Martyn Waites.

Saturday started with The Hungover Gameshow, hosted by the Two Crime Writers (aka Luca Veste and Steve Cavanagh) and for legal reasons, bearing absolutely no similarity to Pointless.

I had a pretty good teammate...

We didn't quite manage to win, making it to the final round before being defeated by Val McDermid and Mark Billingham's superior crime fiction knowledge. The whole thing was recorded, and it will be available to listen to sometime soon on the Two Crime Writers website.

My last event of the weekend was a panel on series fiction, hosted by the excellent Marnie Riches. It was me, Rob Sinclair, Emma Kavanagh and Daniel Cole. We got to discuss the challenges of writing a series character, our inspirations, how much research we do, and how we plot the books. 75% of us used spreadsheets to keep things straight. I felt at home.

Sunday and the long train journey home, during which I was able to catch up on my edits for book 6 (which isn't a Carter Blake book).

...and then I was straight into the next thing, which was filming an episode of the brilliant CBS Reality series Written in Blood with my fellow author Simon Toyne.

If you haven't seen it, the series involves Simon talking to a crime writer about a case that has inspired something in their work, or that they have a local connection to. I ended up discovering a serial killer almost literally in my back yard...

The episode will air in the UK as part of the new series in the autumn, and I'll be sure to let you know as soon as I have a date. The whole experience was fascinating, and Simon was a terrific host.

I rounded off a busy couple of weeks with a talk to the Waterstones Durham reading group, followed by a signing. It was nice to actually stop in Durham for once, rather than just seeing it from a train window. A cool city and a great store.

I even got to fix the mistake on p288 of Don't Look For Me.

Next up on the festival front, I'm going to be making the trip to St Pete's, Florida for my first Bouchercon in a few weeks, at which I'll be on a panel with Meg Gardiner, Jennifer Hillier, Elizabeth Little and Neil S. Plakcy, moderated by Kristopher Zgorski. Can't wait to hit my first US festival.

And before that, I'm going to be making a short research trip to the Scottish Highlands for that non-Carter Blake book I mentioned earlier.

I'll have a lot more to say about that one soon. Watch this space...

Fringe elements

Quite naturally for me, I'm appearing on the fringe of things a couple of times over the next few weeks.

First up, I'm excited to be part of the special Two Crime Writers and a Microphone podcast recording at the Harrogate festival this Friday:

Steve Cavanagh and Luca Veste play 'Two Truths and a Lie' with top crime writers A.K. Benedict, Elle Croft, Mason Cross, Julie Cohen and Isabel Ashdown for their popular podcast Two Crime Writers and a Microphone.

Watch live from The Incident Room studio!

Click here to book tickets [SOLD OUT]


...and in August I'll be appearing as part of Blackwells Bookshop's Writers at the Fringe event running alongside the Edinburgh festival:

Now in its tenth year, Blackwell's Writers at the Fringe brings you once again the best in Scottish writing.  Every Thursday during the Festival we invite a selection of Scottish performers to give us a taste of their work.

New and unpublished works of literary art stands alongside established novelists, from folk music to contemporary fiction and all that is found in between.

Thursday 24th August
Sara Sheridan
Peter Ross
Natalie Fergie
Daniel Shand
Mason Cross

The event is free, click here to book your ticket

For more information or if you would like a signed copy of any of the books because you can't make it to the event, please contact Ann Landmann on 0131 622 8222 or ann.landmann@blackwell.co.uk

Check out my events page to see where else I'm going to be, including Bute Noir, Oban and Bloody Scotland.

Hope to see you over the summer...

*Meaningful pause* I have a train to catch.

I've boarded a train bound for Harrogate, and am looking forward to my first trip to the Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival. I'll be hosting a table at the author dinner on Saturday, and generally mingling all weekend, so if you're headed to Yorkshire, I hope to see you there.

In the meantime, here's a few more cuttings - click through to read the full reviews and check out these fine blogs.

Hopefully my journey will be less eventful than the one Carter Blake takes in The Time to Kill...

Douglas Skelton posts his review along with notices for Matt Bendoris and TF Muir:

"The previous two books in the series gave us little hints to Blake’s past, nothing much, just little nods and winks, but this time it comes raging back to haunt him. If the past is a foreign country, Blake’s past is one the government would not advise travellers to visit ... I’m a sucker for thrillers on trains. From ‘The Lady Vanishes’ through to ‘Breakheart Pass’ and, my personal favourite, ‘Narrow Margin’, there’s nothing more exciting than riding the rail and pitting your hero against the bad guys. And Cross does it incredibly well."

Civilian Reader reviews the first two books in the series - can't wait to hear the verdict on the third:

"Put simply, The Samaritan is superb. My favourite new thriller series, long may it continue! A must-read for all fans of thrillers and gripping fiction. Both of these novels are very highly recommended."


Lastly, Crime Thriller Girl selects The Time to Kill as one of her top 10 summer reads - be sure to check out the rest of the top 10!

"THE TIME TO KILL is an adrenaline rush from the first page to the last. Packed with stunning set-piece action sequences, and an emotional punch as you discover more of the rather mysterious Blake’s backstory, this cinematic action thriller is like reading Reacher crossed with Bourne plus added fabulousness."

Upcoming events - including this week!

I've just updated the events page on the website. Three library events and my first ever trip to Harrogate for the legendary Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival. I'll be hosting a table at the author dinner on the Saturday night, so if you've ever had a hankering to dine with a crime writer, I hope you'll consider me.

Hamilton Town House - Thursday 24 March, 7:30pm 

Larkhall Library - Tuesday 10  May, 2:00pm

Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival author dinner - Saturday 23 July, 7:00pm

The Ben Cleuch Centre - Tuesday 9 August, 7:00pm

Hope to see you at one of these. Or heck, even all of them, if you happen to have a social life as quiet as mine.

Hamilton Town House - I probably won't need the whole building...