So it’s that time of year again.  Devised by Cathy at 746Books, the aim is to read 10, 15 or 20 books between 1 June and 1 September. I  have taken part for the last six years. I think I’ve only made it twice! You can read about the challenge on Cathy’s excellent blog here. Because…

Murder by Natural Causes by Helen Erichsen is published by Muswell Press on 25 May 2023. Helen kindly answered a few of my questions. 1. Tell us a little about Murder by Natural Causes. 22 year old Cilla is a trained hitman who specialises in The Dry Job: an assassination that masquerades as a death…

Published by Pushkin Vertigo Publication date – 30 March 2023 Source – review copy Every year, a small group of acquaintances pay a visit to the remote, castle-like Mill House, home to the reclusive Fujinuma Kiichi, son of a famous artist, who has lived his life behind a rubber mask ever since a disfiguring car…

May is here. A month of bank holidays, brilliant books due to be published and apparently there’s something going on in London involving crowns and swords and suchlike.  The days are getting longer and if you look carefully, there may be signs that the weather is improving. Though here in the UK that’s never a…

The longlist for the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year 2023 has been announced today by Harrogate International Festivals. The search for the best crime novel of the past year gets underway as the public are now invited to vote for their favourites to reach the next stage. The winner will be announced…

There are thousands upon thousands of books published each year. Only a small percentage of those make it to the best-seller list. That doesn’t mean that the rest aren’t worthy of reading. It may be that they are written by self-published authors who don’t have the marketing knowledge or a small independent publisher who doesn’t have…

Yesterday the the Windham-Campbell Prizes announced this year’s recipients of a $175,000 award to support their work. The prize recognises eight writers each year for literary achievement across four categories – fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and drama. With annual prize money exceeding $1.4m USD – and total prize money awarded over the past decade at almost $16m…

April already! More than a quarter of the way through the year, just. March saw me heading to London for the launch of the Theakston’s Crime Writing Festival which happens every July in Harrogate. Yep, it confused my husband too when I said I was going to London to celebrate the launch. I had a…

On Tuesday afternoon I made my way to London (a chance to sit and read for 2 hours, yes please), having been invited to the official launch of the 2023 Theakston’s Crime Writing Festival. Now in it’s 20th year, the weekend in July sees Harrogate celebrate all that is murderous and villainous about writing. It…

Published by Tramp Press Publication Date – 7 April 2022 Source – review copy The mountain remained, unclimbed, for the first year that they lived there. Bell and Sigh, a couple in the infancy of their relationship, cut themselves off from friends and family. They turn their backs on a city divided by scores of…