The Crime Readers' Association

Everything is Lies by Helen Callaghan

12th February 2018

Helen Callaghan‘s thrilling debut novel, Dear Amy, was a Sunday Times bestseller. This month sees the release of her second book, Everything Is Lies. What if your parents had been lying to you s...

Lady First by Lea O’Harra

15th December 2017

Lea O’Harra on her new novel, the third in the Inspector Inoue mystery series, published by Endeavour Press, and the themes and concerns that underpin it. Fujikawa, a small town in rural, western Japa...

Mystery Tour, the new CWA Short Story Anthology

3rd December 2017

The CWA Anthology series are collections of short stories by members of the Crime Writers’ Association and celebrate the best of crime writing by showcasing both established and emerging talent. The l...

Writing About a Dying Heroine by J F Kirwan

27th November 2017

88° North has an unusual premise, since the heroine, Nadia, has radiation sickness from her last encounter with her nemesis, Salamander. She’s been given weeks to live. She could go to an exotic islan...

Beau Death – Peter Lovesey on his new novel

31st October 2017

A wrecking ball swings into the roof of an old house near Bath. The people watching are in for a shock. When the dust clears, a skeleton is revealed sitting in the loft dressed in eighteenth century c...

WRITING THE MUSIC AND COMPOSING THE PLOT by Sarah Rayne

31st October 2017

Music has very often been a catalyst for me in the creating of a plot, and it seems to have found its way into a good many of my books. There’s the eerie death lament, ‘Thaisa’s Song’ in The Bell Towe...

99 Red Balloons by Elisabeth Carpenter

31st October 2017

99 Red Balloons follows Stephanie after her eight-year-old niece disappears. She tries to support her sister, Emma, during the search for her daughter. As a mother, it’s my worst nightmare. I wanted t...

CWA Debut Dagger Competition Now Open

18th October 2017

The Crime Writers’ Association have opened their popular Debut Dagger competition for 2018. The competition is for the opening of a crime novel and any writer who has never had a traditional publishin...

Give My Regards to Uncle Stalin by Fiona Veitch Smith

14th September 2017

A recent review of the second book in my Poppy Denby Investigates series, The Kill Fee, has made me laugh. The reader’s main gripe was that in her opinion my characterisation of communists was too ‘po...

Case Files 28

13th September 2017

Case Files issue 28 – out soon! Case Files is an ezine that profiles new or forthcoming novels from members of the Crime Writers’ Association. Subscribing is free – and it let’...

Review CWA Dagger-Shortlisted Titles

13th September 2017

Did you know that the CWA have set up a website where people can leave reviews of the shortlisted books for the CWA Daggers 2017? http://daggerreads.co.uk/readers/ No prizes I’m afraid, but as it’s mo...

Summer in San Remo by Evonne Wareham

3rd September 2017

Summer in San Remo enjoyed a secret book launch. The author, Evonne Wareham, writes: “Secrets are fascinating. Crime writers thrive on them. There would probably be a lot fewer crime books writt...

Is Originality Overrated? By Rafe McGregor

1st September 2017

I came across Richard Bradford’s excellent Crime Fiction: A Very Short Introduction at the end of last year, while preparing a syllabus for a creative writing module.  I was disappointed but not surpr...

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