WHSmith signing tour

I'm pleased to announce that I'm going to be doing a mini-signing tour of WHSmith stores in central Scotland over the next couple of months. The tour is focusing on The Samaritan, because The Time to Kill isn't out in paperback until next year.

WHS has been a big supporter of me (not least through the Richard and Judy Book Club promotion), so I'm looking forward to doing my first actual book tour with them.

You can see full details of these events both on the WHSmith Events blog and my website, but here are the dates. If one of the stores is near you, come along and say hello!

• Saturday 22 October - Hamilton, 12-3pm
• Saturday 29 October - East Kilbride, 12-3pm
• Saturday 12 November - Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow, 12-3pm
• Saturday 19 November - Ayr, 12-3pm
• Saturday 26 November - Livingston, 12-3pm
• Saturday 3 December - Stirling, 12-3pm

 

 

May I count on your vote?

The Richard and Judy Spring Book Club is coming to an end at the end of this month, to make way for eight new titles for summer. It's been a fantastic experience and an honour for me to have The Samaritan selected as one of the titles.

The polling is now open to vote for the winner of the Spring Book Club.

You can vote in literally ten seconds: two clicks and an email address (used for administration, they don't retain your email or spam you).

Obviously I would appreciate any votes for The Samaritan enormously, but all eight of the books are deserving selections.

Voting closes on 28th April - go forth and exercise your democratic right!

Top tens and articles and the continuing coolness of seeing one's book in a shop

Hello, hope 2016 has been treating you nicely so far!

I'm taking a short break from writing Carter Blake book 4 and listening to David Bowie songs to do a quick blog update.

Things have been pretty busy over the past couple of weeks with The Samaritan paperback coming out. Of course, on publication day I made sure to head out to bookshops and supermarkets to see the book on shelves, particularly as part of the Richard & Judy Book Club in WHSmith...
..

I still love seeing my book in a real bookshop. I think some of the Smiths staff may have assumed I was a mystery shopper when I was busily taking pictures of their shelves.

Anyway, to coincide with publication, I've been asked to do some interviews and articles in various places. If you're interested, click on the links to check 'em out:

Susan Lobban interviews me for eReader1 as the featured author for January, grilling me on my inspirations, my typical writing day, how I deal with writers' block, advice for aspiring writers and lots of other things.

A couple of 'Top 10' blogs for two great booksellers - Foyles asked me for my top 10 locations to set an action thriller, while over at the Waterstones blog they have my top 10 thriller heroes and heroines.

Tartan Noir maestro Michael J. Malone kindly hosts me on his MJM Ink blog to give my top 5 tips on being a writer. There are 5, as the title suggests, but if you're in a rush it can all be boiled down to "write stuff", really.

Scottish Book Trust includes Winterlong in its 27 Scottish novels to look forward to in 2016. It's not really a Scottish book if we're being strict, being set in Siberia, Seattle, Kandahar, Minnesota and New York, but I'll gladly accept a place on any list that includes Chris Brookmyre, James Oswald, Irvine Welsh and Helen Fitzgerald.

And that's about it for now. I'm hoping to announce some events soon, but in the meantime, I've updated the buy page on my website to make sure you can get Richard & Judy Book Club selection The Samaritan (I'll never get tired of saying that) and The Killing Season in all formats.

If you've already bought them, a million thank yous, and please tell a friend!

Paperback day... and a BIG announcement

The Samaritan is out in UK paperback at all good bookshops today.

But you'll see it particularly well-displayed if you go into any branch of WHSmith, because...

Yep.

I'm delighted to be able to announce (at last) that The Samaritan has been selected for the Richard and Judy Spring 2016 Book Club. This is a massive deal, and it's really a dream come true for my book to get this kind of recognition.

Head over to the Smiths blog to check out the other great-sounding novels on the list, and you'll also find a preview chapter from The Samaritan, Richard & Judy's excellent review of the book, some book club questions, and a Q&A with yours truly.

You can buy the book from today from bookshops and supermarkets, online and off, but if you buy from WHSmith you'll get the special edition with exclusive bonus content.

The Richard and Judy book club is a fantastic way to reach new readers, and I'm honoured to be chosen as one of only eight from hundreds of submitted books. I can't wait to see what people make of The Samaritan and Carter Blake. 

If you like the book, I'd love to hear from you - you can tweet me, drop me an email, like my Facebook page, or just comment here at the blog. And if you want to find out when the next book is coming up, sign up for my mailing list. 

That's enough from me - happy 2016 and happy reading!

You can buy The Samaritan now from: 

Paperback
WHSmith

Waterstones

Amazon

ebook
Kindle

Kobo
iBook

Audio

Audible

Go to masoncross.net to find out publication dates for the United States and foreign territories.

Telegraph Promotion

The Telegraph has chosen The Killing Season for its promo title this week in the UK, which means you can get the paperback for less than half price with a purchase of the newspaper at WHSmith.


All you have to do is buy the Telegraph in any WHSmith high street or travel store between Thursday, April 30 and Wednesday, May 6, or bring in one of the printed vouchers published in the paper on Thursday, April 30 or Saturday, May 2.


It's great to see the book displayed so prominently on the high street, and I've also been spotted at Glasgow and Bristol airports, meaning I have officially fulfilled my ambition of writing an airport thriller. Definitely an excuse for a Friday beer.