Criminal Law In the Blood by Ruth ManciniIn 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...
How Working in a Safe-House influenced my WritingAJ 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,...
Get Ready for Killer WomenThe 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...
The Curious Case of the Pheasant and the Dog, by Peter TicklerWhere 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...
Interview with Sarah Ward, author of The Shrouded PathThe 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...
Spooky fifteen-inch robot provides inspiration for Kate EllisEvery 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...
An Appointment with The Wicker Man, by Charles E McGarryI 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...
A DISCORDANCE OF ANCIENT LAWS by Sarah RayneI wasn’t expecting to find I had combined an ancient law and opera for a book, but Song of the Damned, published in July 2018, turned out to have both elements at its heart. It’s not, of course, so ve...
The second disappearance of Aldo Moro by Timothy WilliamsLeft-wing terrorists kidnapped Aldo Moro in Rome on 16 March 1978. Fifty-five days later, on 9 May, his lifeless body was found abandoned in a Renault 4 hatchback in the heart of the city. He had been...
And What Do You Do? by Diane DicksonWhen I was in my late twenties, I worked as a receptionist. Not any old receptionist, I worked in the staff health clinic in a military hospital in Saudi Arabia. It was confidential work. It wasn’t ju...
James Bond in a Toga and Sherlock Holmes with a Rapier, by Peter TonkinSince bringing the 30-novel Mariner series of action adventures to a close and retiring from full-time teaching, I have been working on two parallel series of historical novels. One is a sequence of...
The most prolific murderer in history? (And the chances are you won’t have heard of her) by Tessa HarrisAsk a serious crime buff to name the most prolific serial killer in history and many will no doubt say Harold Shipman, the Lancashire doctor who is thought to have killed more than 200 victims. Others...
A Day in the Life… by Abi Silver, author of The Aladdin Trial, out 28 June, published by Lightning BooksI find myself lurching into the morning routine around 6.45; rousing the boys for school (I have three, in their teens), sorting the washing (whites/colours), including remembering to put to one side...
CWA Diamond Dagger Winner Michael Connelly InterviewMichael Connelly – winner of the CWA Diamond Dagger 2018 Michael Connelly is to receive this year’s CWA Diamond Dagger, the highest honour in British crime writing. The Dagger award recognises autho...
Forgotten Classics: Cornish Author Katherine Stansfield’s ChoiceKatherine grew up in Cornwall, and though she now lives in Cardiff, she can’t stop writing about her former home. Her historical crime series, Cornish Mysteries, blends real crimes with local folklore...
Interview with Simon Michael, who writes about 1960s LondonGood afternoon, Simon and welcome to the CRA blog. Hello, and thank you for inviting me. For those of us who haven’t yet encountered the Charles Holborne series, would you object to the books being ca...
Every Cloud Has a Silver Lining… by Paul GitshamOne of the dirty little secrets that we crime writers are sometimes loathe to admit in polite society, is that when something really bad happens to a loved one, our second thought (after checking they...
Why Do We Write Fiction? by Patricia FinneyYes, I know Terry Pratchett got here first but I can’t find the relevant quote from his Witches Abroad. I mean seriously. Why? Why do we sit down for many many many hours, busily writing long ex...
CWA Announce Longlists for Prestigious Crime Writing DaggersThe Crime Writers’ Association announced the much anticipated longlists for the annual Dagger awards at a reception during CrimeFest in Bristol on the evening of Friday 18 May. Several titles ap...
National Crime Reading Month 2018 UnderwayNational Crime Reading Month, an initiative promoted by the CWA, is now underway, with libraries, bookshops and writing festivals throughout the country hosting events and talks this month with author...
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