Blog posts
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He’s back! One of the fictional world’s most unusual killers has returned in the sequel to the novella Koki, by thriller writer Malcolm Beadle. The first book in the series by Malcolm, of Darlington, County Durham, which was published in 2025, introduced readers to former rodeo clown/turned Army sniper Trent Blane. Blane has been a…
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What has a classic Ferrari F40 got to do with one of the most important elements of the craft of writing? All will be revealed in my latest free handy hints for emerging writers to be found on the Handy Hints – Writing with Pace, Light and Dark page, which can be accessed off the…
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Authors and football personalities supported the official launch of the National Year of Reading at The Emirates, the home of London club Arsenal. The nationwide initiative from the Department for Education and the National Literacy Trust seeks to address the steep decline in the nation’s enjoyment of reading by inspiring people of all ages to…
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The thriller novella Koki has been given a bold new front cover ahead of the publication of its sequel Koki’s Last Dance The books by Malcolm Beadle tell the story of Trent Blane, clown turned Vietnam War sniper who paints his face before going out hunting the enemy in Vietnam. The sequel, a full-length novel,…
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Voting is under way for this year’s Dagger in the Library crime writing award and people working in libraries are being encouraged to take part. Run by the Crime Writers’ Association (CWA), the award’s success is down to the work of library staff and volunteers in the UK and Ireland. They initially nominate authors, often…
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Members of the Goodreads review website team have been tracking the most eagerly-anticipated books of 2026 and now the list is out. The 68 books are all to be published in the United States in 2026 but the list will be similar elsewhere in the world. They were selected on the back of factors including…
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The latest book written by author Tracey Iceton has been published – and it’s a remarkable work which is very different from her previous titles. Sparky: My Barn Owl Tale (2026, Cinnamon Press) is Sparky’s semi-(auto)biographical account of life before, and since, she and Tracey met in 2022. Hatched in the UK in August 2017,…
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The Crime Writers’ Association (CWA) has issued a reminder that there is still time to enter one of the most exciting opportunities available for unpublished writers. The Emerging Author Dagger (formerly the Debut Dagger), sponsored by Fiction Feedback Editorial Consultancy, is an international competition, open to any unpublished writer in the world writing in English,…
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The business world was shaken to its core with the publication six years ago of the searing expose of corporate big business The Diary of Ridley Pinstripe. Indeed, it was so shaken that virtually no one bought a copy of the book, so now it has been relaunched thanks to popular lack of demand and…
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No publishing format is growing more rapidly worldwide than audiobooks at the moment, and it is possible to enjoy eight of John Dean’s crime novels being brought to life by the excellent Nicholas Camm (pictured here). They include four each in the DCI John Blizzard and DCI Jack Harris series of books, published in other…
John Dean - Crime Writer 