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A reminder that a number of competitions are open for entries from writers living in the North of England. Open now until 5 February 2026 are: Plus, the Hachette Children’s Novel Awards are still open until 12 January, the Young Northern Writers’ Awards until 5 February, and the Children’s Books North Network Prize until 26
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Rapidly-expanding UK publisher Joffe Books is closing in on the completion of a deal to acquire Canongate’s Severn House, which is known particularly as a crime fiction specialist operating in the United States. The deal, which the two parties hope will be completed in the New Year, is the latest in the expansion of award-winning
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The importance of books to the Scottish economy was underlined when a major tourism award was awarded to the Edinburgh International Book Festival. The 2025 Scottish Thistle Awards National Final, whose winners are pictured here, shone a spotlight on Scotland’s tourism offering with events and festivals well represented throughout the evening. After winning the Regional
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Analysis by Google has added to the growing perception that 2025 has been a very good year for crime fiction sales both in the UK and globally. A number of pieces of market research released through the year have already supported the contention that the genre is performing much better than a number of others.
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Caption: Best-selling crime novelist Richard Osman sighing books at Capital Crime and Chris Brookmyre appearing at Bloody Scotland Dates have been announced for the return of two popular annual crime writing festivals in 2026. Capital Crime will stage its next three-day festival between Thursday 18 June-Saturday 20 June 2026, when more than 100 authors and
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The third novel by crime writer David L Haigh, who lives in Dumfries and Galloway, has been published and you can read my thoughts on it in the Reviews section.
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NielsenIQ BookData and GfK Entertainment have released their international data for book sales in the first eight months of 2025, and it reveals a mixed picture. Eleven out of 19 territories reported revenue growth, often accompanied by significant price increases, with crime fiction performing particularly well. The authors of the report say that international book
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There is still plenty of time for authors to enter one of the world’s most exciting prizes for unpublished writers. The Emerging Author Dagger (formerly the Debut Dagger), is run by the UK-based Crime Writers’ Association and sponsored by Fiction Feedback Editorial Consultancy. An international competition, it is open to any unpublished writer in the world
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Publisher Joffe Books has announced the winner of the Joffe Books Prize 2025, which has gone to T.L. Haseeb, for The Portrait Maker, the first in a new police procedural series featuring Amber Kash, a seasoned British Asian Detective Inspector in her forties. The author receives a two-book publishing deal with Joffe Books, a £1,000
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Book reviewer Lars Walker, of Brandywine Books.has has been working his way through the some of the DCI Jack Harris crime novels written by John Dean and published by The Book Folks, a Joffe Books company. Down to earth, perceptive and honest (he does not like everything the books do and does not mind saying
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John Dean - Crime Writer 