Are Some Writers Thieves? By Fergus McNeillI steal a lot of stuff. There aren’t too many professions where you can freely admit that sort of thing but, happily, writing is one of them. I steal indiscriminately, from friends, from...
The Write Way? By David HodgesSince the age of 11, when I started writing, I always envisaged myself living in a garret at the top of some old Victorian house in Covent Garden, surrounded by books and with the smell of coffee from...
Why do we like the wrong people? By Fergus McNeillMost of us believe that our moral compass points in the right direction. We know the difference between right and wrong, and we generally hope that good will prevail over evil. So why, when we read, d...
Shetland Noir by Mary BaleExtract from Threads of Treason and Pamela St Abbs Inspector Campbell Mysteries by Mary Bale. Thursday 12 November At about 7pm we passengers experience an extra quick journey to Sumburgh from Edinbur...
My writing life has taken a new turn. After spending the last year in the company of crime fiction writers, attending events, meetings, launches and festivals, it’s time to get serious. Although...
Diary of a Debut Author by Fiona CumminsAt 2am, when darkness has settled in for the night, I often hear the pit-pat of footsteps on the landing outside our bedroom. The door pushes open, drenching me in light, and a child appears in the we...
Crime novels I have read in three (or fewer) sittings by Matthew PritchardNovelist Phillip Roth says that if you take longer than two weeks to read a novel, you haven’t really read it – a statement with which I agree. Developing upon this idea, I think the hall...
A Day in the Life of Author Vaseem Khan5am and my mobile phone wake-up alarm detonates with a rousing rendition of Beethoven’s Ode to Joy. A bleary stumble to the bathroom to splash water on my face, then downstairs with laptop in hand. En...
Translation Troubles by Matthew PritchardFor those of you who have read my debut novel, Scarecrow, you’ll know that the title is central to the plot. However, when the novel was translated into German, the title was changed to Die Stunde des...
Diary of a Debut Author by Andrea CarterThe Famous Five, the Five Find-Outers and Dog, the Bobbsey twins and Trixie Belden: I spent my Irish midlands childhood with gangs of child detectives, both English and American. Reading my library bo...
Why Write Crime Fiction? by Matthew PritchardLike most novelists, I write because I love to read. But when I first tried to set pen to paper, this posed me something of a problem. What was I going to write? After all, I loved to read everything:...
Spotlight on Lea O’HarraWelcome to CWA Member Lea O’Harra who is advertising her novel Imperfect Strangers with us this month. Lea’s book was published in the UK in Sept 2015 by Endeavour Press. Imperfect Stranger: Synopsis...
Post Mortem by Jean Briggs‘Madame Ribault … managed to crawl to a chimney-board, where she traced with her finger, dipped in blood, the letters Commis de MT.’ Handy that, my Inspector Hardacre of Manchester would have s...
Partners in Crime by Jean BriggsAre we to have a Watson? The question is asked by A.A. Milne. His only detective story, The Red House Mystery, gives the answer. Milnes’s amateur detective, Antony Gillingham who ‘was born not...
Person or Persons Unknown by Jean BriggsIn a letter entitled ‘How I Write My Books’, Wilkie Collins refers to the development of plot and character in the writing of The Woman in White. The central idea of conspiracy, he says, sugges...
Diary of a Debut Author By Jackie KablerI’ve loved books ever since I learned to read…as a child, I would lose myself in anything by Enid Blyton, and I read classics like Little Women and Black Beauty so many times that my copie...
Murder and Its Motives by Jean BriggsSomewhere recently, I read of a detective who advised his subordinate, young and keen, to disregard motive. Concentrate on the evidence, he insisted, and we’ll get our man – or woman, presumabl...
Can baddies be too goodie? By P.J Nash (Paul Morris)Crime fiction is populated with cops and robbers. Of course the good guys and gals hog most of the limelight. But there wouldn’t be much point building up a multi-faceted character on the one ha...
Doing it for the love and (or) the money By P.J Nash (Paul Morris)So you’re a writer… that don’t impress me much… Well it does sometimes. Maybe on a cultural level. I don’t overtly tell people I’m a writer. But when during a regul...
Location, Location, Location By P.J Nash (Paul Morris)Rebus is Edinburgh. Edinburgh is Rebus. Morse is Oxford. Oxford is Morse. You can’t take the sense of place out of crime novels. In many books the main character and the place are so intertwined that...
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