Blog posts
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The shortlist has been announced for the Dagger in the Library award, run by the Crime Writers’ Association and based on nominations from people working in libraries and borrowers. The winner will be announced, with the other winners, at the Daggers Awards in July and will be an author who is popular with readers and…
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The Bloody Scotland crime writing festival in Stirling has named the first all-women shortlist for its Scotland Debut Prize, including Dumfries and Galloway author May Rinaldi, author of the psychological crime novel Liar Thief, her first published novel. The others shortlisted authors are Frances Crawford, Linda Duncan McLaughlin, Kirsty Lockwood and Zoe Rankin and the…
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I have always been supportive of the review facility on the likes of Amazon. Readers have the right to express their views of a book and I respect that. Indeed, an author can learn from negative reviews. I am fortunate in that most of my reviews are complimentary and even if a review is less…
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The Book Folks, a Joffe Books company, has decided to re-issue the first four books in the Nash and Moretti series by Ian Robinson, prior to the fifth being released on June 15. They are terrific books from one of my favourite authors and the series by Ian, who is from South West Scotland, will…
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I am delighted to see quite a few posts recently on the various social media sites of which I am a member, cautioning against the effect of AI on the industry we all love. I am extremely concerned about its impact on the likes of authors and editors and the like. To that end, I…
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I am fortunate in that I don’t really suffer from writer’s block but that is not to say that it does not happen on occasion. My solution? It’s turning to my characters, starting a dialogue that will allow them to come up with suggestions. But how do you do that? Well, you need to adopt…
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I first encountered Darlington author Paul Hodgson more than twenty years ago through his excellent autobiographies based on the life and times of a wheelchair-bound football fan, which were poignant, thought-provoking and humorous. Now, he has a new novel out. John‘s Journey tells how, in the blood-soaked trenches of World War One, Private John Wray…
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Some of the most exciting new talent in the crime fiction genre has been named in the shortlist for the McDermid Debut Award, whose winner will be revealed at the opening ceremony of the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival in Harrogate on Thursday July 24, 2026 The judges say that the six authors on…
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I have posted another free Handy Hint for authors, this time dealing with the dangers of entering the comfort zone. You can find it in the Handy Hints – General page
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Joffe Books has announced that it is working on an initiative designed to increase its hardcopy sales. With ebooks and Kindle Unlimited so dominant in many genres, Joffe is working to build up a print channel in the UK ‘non-trade space’, such as garden centres. Working with sales partner John Waters, it has offered a…
