28th February 2019
I think, like many crime thriller authors, my love of the genre started when I was about five years old and started reading the Famous Five series by Enid Blyton. By the time I was in my very e...
28th February 2019
Their lives are ones of quiet contemplation—and brutal murder. Christmas Eve, 1176. Brother Maurice, monk of Fairmore Abbey, awaits the night prayer bell. But there is only silence. Cursing his fellow...
28th February 2019
Splinter in the Blood began with an image: a woman with a gun standing over a shooting victim. My earliest jottings on the story date back to April 2014. I wrote, ‘She looks down at him and feels ange...
11th January 2019
Case Files issue 36 – 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’...
28th December 2018
Two crime writing competitions are open now. 1) The CWA Margery Allingham Short Story Competition Not to be missed for lovers of short-story writing – and being shortlisted for this renowned competiti...
17th December 2018
On 6 December Kate Ellis welcomed another addition to her list of titles. Kate is best known for her long-running series featuring archaeology graduate turned police inspector, Wesley Peterson. Howeve...
3rd December 2018
Over twenty years ago Nick Shannon was in prison for seven years for the mercy killing of his sister, crippled beyond repair by a hit-and-run driver. The only clue he has is that there was a boot prin...
3rd December 2018
I’ve watched the growth in the popularity of novellas with interest, something you can read on your morning commute or in a couple of lunchtimes. Novellas are also a good way to discover new authors....
3rd December 2018
Death on a Shetland Isle began with a story, a true one, of how of how two people went missing from Eynhallow, an island in Orkney. I enjoy putting Shetland folklore in my books, and for this one I wa...
6th November 2018
The CWA Dagger Awards 2018 was a sumptuous event full of glamour, with the glitterati of the crime publishing world in attendance: publishers, agents and especially authors. It was tense and nerve-wra...
5th November 2018
The Halfway Inn is closed to customers, side-lined by a bypass in the inhospitable, wild countryside. One winter’s night, deep in snow, Lee, a student hitching home for Christmas, and Becca a local nu...
31st October 2018
Many authors of series work out in advance how their protagonist is going to develop through each book. I’d like to say my own series was carefully planned in this way, but the truth is I never set ou...
31st October 2018
In the Blood was inspired by a real-life case. I was waiting in court one morning when a young woman was brought up from the cells. The charge was murder, the victim her newborn child. I’ve dealt with...
31st October 2018
AJ Waines chats to the CRA about the background to her latest psychological thriller, Perfect Bones. I can honestly say that when it comes to personal experience of the ‘criminal mind’, fact, for me,...
8th October 2018
The third Killer Women Festival is on 21 October in Brown’s Courtrooms, Covent Garden, London. Headliners include Mark Billingham, Sophie Hannah, Paula Hawkins, CWA Dagger shortlisted Mick Herro...
8th October 2018
Where do you get your ideas from? Almost every author ever published will have been asked this question at some stage. And in the case of my latest crime novel White Lies, Deadly Lies, there are two...
4th September 2018
The Shrouded Path by Derbyshire-based author Sarah Ward is out on 6 September. She talks to the CRA about her new book. Q: This is the fourth novel in your DC Connie Childs series. Is it easier to...
2nd September 2018
Every book begins with a flash of inspiration, something that triggers an idea and starts a plot flowing. The initial idea for The Mechanical Devil was a newspaper article about a sixteenth century ro...
2nd September 2018
One of the most exciting moments in a writer’s life comes with a decision to try something very different, a novel unlike anything one has attempted before. Writing a book in this way is also a scary...
2nd September 2018
I sometimes wonder if Robin Hardy’s cult movie The Wicker Man holds a magical allure for me because I was born at the same time as it was being filmed. This is probably vanity, as the film, the grandd...