Crime Writing and Reggie Kray, by retired cop Paul HarrisonAs an ex-cop turned crime writer, I have now had 30 plus books traditionally published in the true crime genre. I was still in the police when my first book was published, yet another book about Jack...
E S Thomson Finds Time for CrimeRecently, the fabulous Denise Mina remarked that crime writers were expected to write a book a year – an extraordinary undertaking for any writer. ‘Yes,’ I thought. ‘She’s right! Even worse, some of...
Jan Newton – Diary of a Debut AuthorI wonder if I’m unusual, or whether other writers have found themselves thrilled and delighted (of course) but also more than just a little stunned at the thought of having a book out there on the she...
Mick Finlay: Diary of a Debut AuthorThe review copies of my first novel Arrowood arrived three days ago. I had a couple of glasses of wine and opened one but couldn’t bring myself to read the words. It’s getting serious now. You put a l...
Dark Minds for CharityDark Minds is a collection of crime and thriller short stories written by authors from around the UK and beyond. Including best-selling authors from the giant publishing houses, hugely successful inde...
Skin & Bone giveaway – Robin Blake on the Birth of ForensicsBy today’s standards, the Georgian age, in which my Cragg and Fidelis mysteries are set, was a particularly callous one. Unequal rights for women, the slave trade and cruel capital punishment were all...
Ready to Enter the Debut Dagger?The CWA’s competition for the start of a crime novel by an unpublished writer is underway! Is this the year you will enter? And maybe get shortlisted, or even win? The prize for the winner is £5...
Launch of Dagger in the Library 2017The CWA is pleased to announce the launch of Dagger in the Library 2017. The prize is made to an author for a body of work that is popular with library users. The prizewinner must have at least 4 crim...
Have You Got It Covered? by AJ WainesThe cover for AJ Waines’ new psychological thriller, Inside the Whispers, was recently revealed. Here Alison reveals how it was put together: The Design I’m very honoured to have an excellent cover de...
Retirement is just a word…. Taking off the mask of the detective, which had been part of everyday life for many years, proved more difficult than we thought after leaving the police force. Five...
Poison Panic is perhaps best described as Victorian true crime… Discovery It was a note scribbled in the margin of a burial register that first alerted me to the Essex poison cases of the 1840s. A m...
Clare Chase: How I Wrote A Stranger’s HouseHow I wrote A Stranger’s House by Clare Chase The Initial idea I got the idea for the novel from snooping round other people’s homes! I became fascinated by the clues you can pick up about a person’s...
Sara Sheridan writes the popular Mirabelle Bevan Murder Mysteries set in 1950s London and Brighton as well as historical novels set in 1820-1845. Fascinated particularly by female history she is a cul...
Shetland author Marsali Taylor talks about writing, saliling and living in the northern islesA blog by MARSALI TAYLOR, the Shetland author of the Cass Lynch Mysteries. What book would you save in a house fire? This is a hard one, because I have so many books which are now out of print, like m...
What Next? by Peter TicklerWhat Next? by Peter Tickler It’s a strange feeling. My latest crime novel, Dead in the Water, has just been published by Joffe Books. In addition, as I sit at my laptop typing this blog, I am feeling...
Sarah Ward – When Two Is Better Than One: Dual TimelinesCrime fiction readers demand more sophisticated novels than the ones I read as a teenager. While the golden age mysteries that I devoured had complex plots full of twists and turns, the action was usu...
ON EDITING AND BEING EDITED – Natasha CooperLooking back to my years in publishing, I sometimes wonder that I survived without feeling the blade of an axe in my head I knew my authors hated being edited nearly as much as I hated being caught be...
A single event on a summer’s day, way back in 1975, changed my life for ever. I was fifteen and living in Melbourne, Australia, where my parents and I had emigrated the year before. I was kickin...
CrimeFest and the CWA Diamond DaggerThe CWA is excited to announce that the 2015 Diamond Dagger recipient Catherine Aird will be doing a series of appearances at this year’s Crime Fest. The acclaimed author, who follows in the footsteps...
When I began writing a few years ago, I hadn’t a clue about the craft of writing and didn’t even know if I could sustain a narrative for the required 80-100k words. For thirty odd years the only writi...
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