The Crime Readers' Association

New CWA Anthology Celebrates Vintage Crime

31st July 2020

A new short story anthology with a difference celebrates short stories from the archives of the Crime Writers’ Association (CWA). Vintage Crime gathers gems from the mid 1950s, when the CWA began, unt...

Battling with the Muse, by Diane M Dickson

28th July 2020

I believe in The Muse. I am one hundred per cent convinced that there is a magic force that guides artistic endeavour. For interest mine is female, taller than me with longer, curlier, blonder hair, f...

Author in Lockdown: Merryn Allingham

30th June 2020

Please tell us a little about yourself and the books you write. I currently write what might be called traditional crime. It’s historical—the Tremayne Mysteries Series is set in the 1950s—and I have a...

Thirty-One Bones, by Morgan Cry

30th June 2020

When Daniella Coulstoun’s estranged mother Effie dies in Spain under suspicious circumstances, she feels it’s her duty to fly out for the funeral. On arrival, Daniella is confronted by a d...

Location, Location, Location by Graham Minett

25th June 2020

Just recently I read CJ Carver’s latest (and highly enjoyable) thriller The Snow Thief, which is set in Tibet. On the sleeve of the book was a note to the effect that she had been inspired to write th...

44 short stories by your favourite CWA crime writers

18th June 2020

For National Crime Reading Month in May we put out a call to our CWA member authors to contribute short stories to our online anthology. Well, they came in thick and fast! If you didn’t manage t...

CWA authors contribute to NHS charity anthology

10th June 2020

A dozen CWA authors have joined forces with Newcastle-Upon-Tyne based literary group, Noir at the Bar, to publish a collection of short, fictional crime stories to raise funds for NHS Charities Togeth...

CWA DAGGER AWARDS 2020 LONGLISTS ANNOUNCED

5th June 2020

The 2020 longlists for the prestigious CWA Dagger awards, which honour the very best in the crime writing genre, have been announced. The world-famous Crime Writers’ Association (CWA) Daggers are the...

The Pleasure of Rereading, by Sheila Mitchell

26th May 2020

H.R.F. Keating was one of the great pillars of British crime writing in the twentieth century; he was a crime fiction critic for decades, President of the Detection Club, Chairman of the CWA, Fellow o...

Lemonade, With A Cherry On Top , by Cathy Ace

26th May 2020

(Or, How Lockdown Celebrations Can Be “Fun”!) 2020 was always going to be a Big Year for me. I was going to celebrate my 60th birthday in style: husband and I would relax on a cruise around the Caribb...

Book Clubs and Covid-19, by Andy Griffee

26th May 2020

Tiller Thriller author Andy Griffee describes a close encounter with a book club. In the year BC (Before Coronavirus) a neighbour ambushed me at our farm shop. Would I join her and her lady friends at...

Golden Inspiration, by Victoria Dowd

11th May 2020

The so-called cosy mystery is a staple of crime fiction. From Agatha Christie to M.C. Beaton, we can’t get enough of village life with the occasional body thrown in. For me, the Golden Age shone with...

The Tempus Project by Antony Johnston

11th May 2020

Bridge is back. In The Exphoria Code, elite MI6 hacker Brigitte Sharp foiled a terror attack on London that used stolen military drone software to deliver a ‘dirty bomb’. Now Bridge must battle a seri...

The 2020 CWA Diamond Dagger Winner Interview

27th April 2020

Award-winning historical novelist Andrew Taylor, holder of the Diamond Dagger himself in 2009, interviews the CWA’s Diamond Dagger in 2020: renowned editor, versatile writer of fiction and non-fiction...

Short story writing – by Alex Chaudhuri

27th April 2020

 May 1 sees the publication of a thrilling new collection of crime stories by ten of indie publisher Lume Books’ (formerly Endeavour Media) best crime writers. The anthology, Given in Evidence, featur...

Crime Writers in Residence

17th April 2020

During the Covid-19 crisis authors will not have the usual opportunities to promote their books at public events. Festivals, readings and launches have been cancelled – including all of the events sch...

Coronavirus and Creativity, by Antony Johnston

30th March 2020

‘Self-isolate? You mean stay indoors, don’t leave the house, and don’t socialise with anyone? Why, I’ve been practising for this my whole life!’ Every author has cracked some form of this joke over th...

Join the CRA

Joining the CRA is FREE. There are no lengthy forms to fill out and we need nothing but your email. You will receive a regular newsletter but no spam.