The Crime Readers' Association

Featured Author Friday: Pauline Rowson

7th February 2014

Why the crime genre is so popular Crime fiction is the bestselling genre and tops the most borrowed fiction books from public libraries in the UK. So what is it that makes crime fiction so popular?  F...

Featured Author Friday: Chris Simms

31st January 2014

A Price To Pay – the ideas behind the story For the last three weeks, I’ve been discussing where ideas for novels come from. Sometimes, they ambush you. You might be sitting at home, minding your own...

CRA Blog Author Chris SimmsCRA Blog Author Chris SimmsFeatured Author Friday: Chris Simms

24th January 2014

Cut Adrift – the ideas behind the story My previous two posts looked at where ideas for novels come from. For some writers, a book is created when a very particular thought hits home: what if? This wa...

Click Alison Joseph

22nd January 2014

Click by Alison Joseph ‘You’d know if he was dead, though, wouldn’t you? Your own husband…..’ She stared into the black water. Around her the trees dripped with recent ra...

Reading: A Specialist Activity

22nd January 2014

David Stuart Davies writes: Reading books is becoming a specialist activity no longer enjoyed by the general public, writer Ruth Rendell has warned. The crime novelist and peer said reading is no long...

Julia JonesMargery Allingham: mystery on Mersea Island

21st January 2014

  Where do your ideas come from? Chris Simms says that he’s sometimes tempted to tell audiences that he downloads them from www.ideasfornovels.com. But however much authors may dislike bein...

CRA Blog Author Chris SimmsCRA Blog Author Chris SimmsFeatured Author Friday: Chris Simms

17th January 2014

Outside the White Lines – the ideas behind the story In last week’s post, I described how one question makes authors quake in their shoes: where do your ideas come from? Most writers – myself included...

CRA Blog Author Chris SimmsCRA Blog Author Chris SimmsFeatured Author Friday: Chris Simms

10th January 2014

The question authors dread. They stare at me in silence, hands raised high. It’s the part of a talk when I feel like David Dimbleby on Question Time. Who should I point to? ‘OK, the dark-haired lady i...

Reviewer’s Diary: Barry Forshaw

30th December 2013

Sitting in Soho with Simenon’s Son There are definite perks to being a writer of books on crime fiction. Such as invitations to a meal at discreet Soho House (situated, coincidentally, in Soho)...

D A MishaniThe International Author: D. A. Mishani

24th December 2013

Being a crime novelist in a country where crime writing is scarce, I’m often asked why I have chosen to write crime novels of all things. After all, I could have written novels that don’t...

IslNoir.Bob&ArnaldurChasing the elusive Lights, and Iceland Noir

19th December 2013

Earlier this year, Yrsa Sigurðardóttir, Ragnar Jónasson and I met over a curry and a beer, and it turned out we had had similar thoughts about Iceland’s lack of any kind of crime fiction festival. Ice...

The Magus of Hay Phil RickmanPhil Rickman – The Magus of Hay

7th December 2013

Phil Rickman swapped his native Lancashire for the rural peace of mid-Wales to work as a BBC radio and TV reporter. He now lives on the Welsh Border, where he writes crime novels with a restrained ele...

Jean Chapman Deadly seriousJean Chapman, Deadly Serious

7th December 2013

Jean Chapman lives in rural Leicestershire worked as freelance journalist before switching to fiction. After a first foray in the short story magazine markets, she wrote sixteen historical novels befo...

Dying to KnowAlison Joseph, Dying To Know

7th December 2013

Alison Joseph is a London-based crime writer and also radio dramatist with about 25 radio plays and adaptations to her name. Her series of novels feature Sister Agnes, a contemporary detective nun bas...

classic in the pits amy myeAmy Myers, Classic in the Pits

7th December 2013

Amy Myers lives in Kent. By chance, so does Jack Colby – her classic car sleuth. Evoking the golden age of crime, Amy’s tales are narrated by Jack. And the setting? Traditional Agatha Christie c...

Charlie Flowers, The Riz Sabir Omnibus

7th December 2013

When I asked what inspired the Riz Sabir thriller series, Charlie told me he has a background in the UK extremism scene – having seen it from ‘both sides’. Knowing what a bizarre, murky and violent wo...

Mark Roberts The Sixth SoulMark Roberts, The Sixth Soul

7th December 2013

Mark Roberts was born, lives and works in Liverpool.  He was a mainstream teacher for twenty years and for the last eleven has worked as a special school teacher.  A stint spent writing for the theatr...

Leigh Russell, Fatal Act

7th December 2013

Not content with just one crime-fighting hero, Leigh Russell writes both the Geraldine Steel and Ian Peterson series of psychological crime novels. Leigh tells me she is fascinated by characters, espe...

Daggerville GamesFestive Giveaway: Special Bonus from Daggerville Games

7th December 2013

CRA seven days of celebrations with a great prize for any fan of the best in crime and thriller writing. BONUS GIVEAWAY DAY SEVEN: A Murder Mystery Game for one lucky winner. The Giveaway Daggerville...

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