First Love by Maxim JakubowskiIt might appear perplexing to some that the latest book by the erstwhile owner of the Murder One bookshop and current Chair of the Crime Writers’ Association happens not to be a crime and mystery nove...
Bookseller of the Month: Griffin Books, PenarthThe CWA’s Bookseller of the Month for December is Griffin Books in Penarth. Griffin Books in Penarth is one of those shops writers love to be invited to. It’s run by the amazing Mel Griffin who...
KGB Banker by William Burton McCormick & John ChristmasA return trip to the land of his ancestors is about to turn deadly for one whistleblowing Chicago banker. When financial executive Bob Vanags takes a job at ominous Turaida Bank in Latvia, he hopes to...
A Theft, A Dog and a Man called Harold by Peter BartramOne of the pleasures of crime writing is when research turns you into a ‘snapper up of unconsidered trifles’. (The Winter’s Tale, Act 4 Scene 3, if you were torturing yourself to remember where the qu...
Dagger Awards to Carry Cash Prizes and Open to Authors to Self-NominateThe CWA Daggers – synonymous with quality crime writing for over half a century – is set to again award cash prizes beginning in 2023, for titles published and nominated in 2022. Detail of the amounts...
Bookseller of the Month: The Book Makers, BrightonEvery month, as part of the new CWA Booksellers Champion initiative, we want to celebrate a bookshop because we believe bookshops don’t just sell our books – they bring our streets alive. This month,...
Many Deadly Returns by the Murder SquadIt’s 21 years since Murder Squad, a group of award-winning crime and mystery writers, was formed and they have written a new anthology of short stories to celebrate the occasion with a bang. Murder Sq...
How I Came To Write ‘Appointment in Tehran’, by James StejskalWest Berlin, 1980. We knew it was going to happen sometime soon. When exactly was a mystery. It was one of those closely guarded secrets that would only be revealed when it was successful or went spec...
‘The Marriage Trap – what to do with the love interest in period detective fiction’ by Fiona Veitch Smith“Excuse me, miss. I think you’ve dropped something.” He held the camera under one arm like the bellows of a bag pipe, while with the other he thrust something in her direction. A book. The one she had...
CWA October Bookseller of the Month: Guid Books, AlvaEvery month, as part of the new CWA Booksellers Champion initiative with bestselling author Elly Griffiths, we want to celebrate a bookshop because we believe bookshops don’t just sell our books – the...
‘Lying Ways’ by Rachel LynchWhen the danger is already inside, nowhere is safe… Highton Prison sits nestled within the moors of western Cumbria. When two former inmates turn up dead, DI Kelly Porter believes that she is hu...
The Diamond Dagger Interview: Andrew Taylor speaks to Martina ColeThe Diamond Dagger is awarded those authors whose crime-writing careers have been marked by sustained excellence, and who have made a significant contribution to crime fiction writing. In our annual i...
RUNNING OUT OF ROAD by Cath StaincliffeA missing schoolgirl, a middle-aged recluse, an exploited teenager. Lives thrown into chaos and set on collision course. With the police in hot pursuit. Scarlett is dancing in the school talent show t...
CWA September Bookseller of the Month: Cogito Books, HexhamEvery month, as part of the new CWA Booksellers Champion initiative with bestselling author Elly Griffiths, we want to celebrate a bookshop because we believe bookshops don’t just sell our books – the...
True Crime? How we bottle up and serve real-world acts of depravity, by Ed WhitfieldThe British fascination with murder has a long and illustrious literary history. From Thomas De Quincey’s 1827 essay, On Murder Considered as one of the Fine Arts to Kate Summerscale’s The Wicked Boy,...
When close confinement was a choice, by Kate EllisMy twenty-fifth Wesley Peterson mystery, The Stone Chamber, begins with the execution-style murder of Robert and Greta Gerdner at their home in the Devon countryside. DI Wesley Peterson suspects that...
The Postscript Murders by Elly GriffithsWhen 90-year-old Peggy Smith is found dead in her seaside apartment, it’s assumed to be from natural causes. Then her carer, Natalka, finds business cards describing the dead woman as a ‘murder consul...
August Bookshop of the Month: No AlibisEvery month, as part of the new CWA Booksellers Champion initiative, we want to celebrate a bookshop because we believe bookshops don’t just sell our books – they bring our streets alive. August...
CWA Opens Membership to Self-Published AuthorsFor the first time in its 68-year history, the prestigious Crime Writers’ Association will allow self-published authors to join its ranks. The move comes after the CWA consulted its members, who voted...
‘Crime in Trying Times’ by J.G. HarlondDo you actually know anyone who is entirely good? Or entirely bad, with no redeeming qualities? I ask because as a crime writer I create both goodies and the baddies: those who do their very best in t...
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Case Files 52
The CRA Newsletter: September 2021
The CRA Newsletter: August 2021