Blog posts
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New Writing North has named the writers who will take part in this year’s ADAPT development programme supporting writers from any creative background to adapt their work for the screen. Three writers in the North East have been selected to receive 1-2-1 script development support, participate in workshops on the fundamentals of screenwriting, story and…
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Here’s an optimistic thought for those authors who, quite rightly, worry that a lot of their readers are retired people, and that welcome as they are, they will not be around for ever, and that there are not enough young people reading crime fiction to replace them. Research on the Accio.com website has identified a…
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As you know if you read my blogs, I have been struggling with ideas for my new Jack Harris novel, which will be the fourteenth {the thirteenth is currently going through editing and is due out in November}. An old idea came back to me, a good one, but I had this nagging feeling that…
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The programme for the Durham Book Festival has been revealed and tickets are on sale. The event, which runs between October 9-11, includes Christopher Eccleston, Susanna Clarke, Sophie Irwin, Lucy Foley, Sufiyaan Salam, Neil Tennant, Hollie McNish, James Marriott and many more.Whether you love music and poetry, fantasy and gaming, crime and Regency romance, life…
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When we set up our website dedicated to crime writing in Dumfries and Galloway earlier this year, we knew that there were decent foundations on which to build but I don’t think we realised quite how much there was happening. The website, which has been created by Chris Walker, owner of the Selkirk Arms Hotel…
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You may recall that yesterday I was facing the dreaded blank page and the even more dreaded mind as I begin work on my new crime novel. My solution was to start writing and see where it took me. It does not always work but it did on this occasion. I imagined my character DCI…
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Ah, the dreaded blank page. I am starting on the latest DCI Jack Harris crime novel but I am undecided what it will be about. Normally, I have a strong Idea but not this time – scraps of ideas, yes, strong ideas no. It is a problem which myself and fellow crime writer Ian Robinson…
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Best-selling crime writer John Dean will mark 20 years as a published novelist with a discussion about the nature of ideas with fellow crime writer Ian Robinson at a Kirkcudbright hotel in Dumfries and Galloway. The title of the event is taken from the quote from Robertson Davies, Canadian novelist, playwright, and critic, who when…
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He’s back! The latest crime novel featuring Detective Chief Inspector John Blizzard, written by Dumfries and Galloway author John Dean, will be published on September 10, 2026. The Informer, the 27th of John’s books to be published by The Book Folks, a Joffe Books imprint, is the 13th featuring Blizzard and is set as usual…
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The winner of the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year 2026 is The Frozen People by Elly Griffiths, with Frances Crawford winning the McDermid Debut Award (and a Highly Commended going to Mel Pennant), and David Baldacci being awarded the Theakston Old Peculier Outstanding Contribution Award. The Frozen People is the first book in a…
