Month: November 2016

CTG’s FIRST TIME “ON AIR”: TWO CRIME WRITERS AND A MICROPHONE PODCAST

Leave a comment

copy-of-2crime-writer-1-1

 

This week I was totally excited to join the awesome Steve Cavanagh and Luca Veste on their brilliant TWO CRIME WRITERS AND A MICROPHONE podcast. Their hilarious show is a must listen for crime fiction fans – the guys are very funny and totally knowledgeable about all things crime and thriller – I’m usually laughing out loud as I listen!

Anyway, having been an avid listener of their weekly show, I was thrilled to be invited to take part, alongside my dynamic publisher Karen Sullivan, and uber blogger Liz Barnsley. It was a lot of fun to record, so I hope it’ll be fun to listen to …

Click HERE to go to the TWO CRIME WRITERS AND A MICROPHONE podcast site.

I totally recommend you listen to all the episodes and sign up for the weekly downloads.

And also be sure to follow them on Twitter @TwoCrimeWriters and like them on FaceBook at www.facebook.com/twocrimewriters/

GORGEOUS COVER REVEAL: #STASIWOLF by DAVID YOUNG

1 Comment

stasi-wolf

 

I am so excited to be a part of this cover reveal for the fantastic new book from CWA Historical Dagger 2016 winner, David Young.

Out on 9th February 2017 from Bonnier Zaffre, STASI WOLF is the second instalment in the Karin Müller series. I’ve had a sneak peep at the book already, and it’s a fabulous read.

What the blurb says: “How do you solve a murder when you can’t ask any questions? The gripping new thriller from the bestselling author of Stasi Child. East Germany, 1975. Karin Müller, sidelined from the murder squad in Berlin, jumps at the chance to be sent south to Halle-Neustadt, where a pair of infant twins have gone missing. But Müller soon finds her problems have followed her. Halle-Neustadt is a new town – the pride of the communist state – and she and her team are forbidden by the Stasi from publicising the disappearances, lest they tarnish the town’s flawless image. Meanwhile, in the eerily nameless streets and tower blocks, a child snatcher lurks, and the clock is ticking to rescue the twins alive . . .”

You can pre-order STASI WOLF from Amazon here

And be sure to follow David Young on Twitter @djy_writer to keep up to date with all his news.

CTG REVIEWS: NIGHT SCHOOL by LEE CHILD

Leave a comment

unknown

What the blurb says: “In the morning, they gave Reacher a medal. And in the afternoon, they sent him back to school. It’s just a voice plucked from the air: ‘The American wants a hundred million dollars’. For what? Who from? It’s 1996, and the Soviets are long gone. But now there’s a new enemy. In an apartment in Hamburg, a group of smartly-dressed young Saudis are planning something big. Jack Reacher is fresh off a secret mission and a big win. The Army pats him on the back and gives him a medal. And then they send him back to school. It’s a school with only three students: Reacher, an FBI agent, and a CIA analyst. Their assignment? To find that American. And what he’s selling. And to whom. There is serious shit going on, signs of a world gone mad. Night School takes Reacher back to his army days, but this time he’s not in uniform. With trusted sergeant Frances Neagley at his side, he must carry the fate of the world on his shoulders, in a wired, fiendishly clever new adventure that will make the cold sweat trickle down your spine.”

Lee Child’s latest addition to the Jack Reacher series is Reacher #21 – NIGHT SCHOOL and I was super excited to get my hands on an early proof copy – black covers, very minimal (rather like the great Reacher himself). Or at least it was very minimal, till I travelled to Scotland with it in my overnight bag, and the glitter originally stuck onto the wrapping paper of a gift I was taking relocated itself onto the book cover. I guess I’m probably the only person with a glittery copy of NIGHT SCHOOL!

Anyway, back to the book …

Well, as always, Reacher #21 delivers the Reacher-style goods. It also forces fans to delay gratification on the present day Reacher/Chang what-happens-next question from the end of the previous book – MAKE ME – and instead takes us back in time to when Reacher was still in the military. Not an easy delay for an impatient Reacher addict like me to take, but as Lee Child pairs Reacher back up with Neagley I’m willing to concede it’s a fair trade.

And in NIGHT SCHOOL it’s fascinating to see Reacher back in the structured environment of the military – reacting to the confines of protocol and hierarchy, yet still very much ‘being Reacher’; hard-wired to do whatever is needed to get justice, pushing blocks out the way (or ignoring them), and challenging the status quo. There’s a strong investigatory feel to the story, with lots of twists and turns to keep the reader guessing, and the pace whips along at breath-taking speed.

The relationship between Reacher and Neagley is complex and interesting – the mutual respect, the banter, the attraction yet inability to connect physically due to Neagley’s phobia of being touched. It was a joy to spend time with them in NIGHT SCHOOL and I’m hoping that we might get to see more of their relationship in future books.

NIGHT SCHOOL is everything you want from an action thriller – fast, hard and gripping. Read it now, then go back and read all the rest!

And, for the next book in the series – Reacher #22 (I’m guessing black cover, no glitter) what I REALLY want to know what happens between Reacher and Chang!

You can buy NIGHT SCHOOL from Amazon here

Find out more about Lee Child and the Reacher series at www.leechild.com 

 

EVENT ALERT: FEMMES FATALES PANEL – 6.30pm Thursday 24th November. Portsmouth Writer’s Hub

Leave a comment

img_4068

If you’re in Portsmouth on Thursday then why not pop along to the Portsmouth Writer’s Hub ‘Femmes Fatale’ event.

As part of Portsmouth DarkFest, five female authors will be talking about the dark themes in their work, why they chose them and how they write – and one of the authors is me!

Here’s the full ‘femme fatale’ line up …

Cal Moriarty, Author is the creator and author of the Wonderland series published by Faber. A series which can be read together or as standalone novels. The first novel in the Wonderland series, The Killing of Bobbi Lomax, was published by Faber in hardback on May 5th, 2015 and described by the London Times as a ‘Total wow of a debut. Superb.’ It was named as A Crime Novel of the Year (2015) by the Financial Times.

Steph Broadribb – ‘Crime Thriller Girl’ – was born in Birmingham and grew up in Buckinghamshire. Most of her working life has been spent between the UK and USA. As her alter ego – Crime Thriller Girl – she indulges her love of all things crime fiction by blogging at www.crimethrillergirl.com, where she interviews authors and reviews the latest releases. Her debut novel Deep Down Dead published by Orenda books is out as an eBook now and in paperback in January 17.

V.H.Leslie – Victoria Leslie – writes fiction that focuses on psychological issues and perspectives, that blurs boundaries or takes place within liminal or marginal spaces. Her stories are driven by setting and often connect to other texts, to mythology, folklore and art. Her short story collection ‘Skein and Bones’ and her first novel ‘Bodies of Water’ were both released earlier this year.

Carolyn Hughes – Author is writer of historical fiction set in the middle ages. Her debut novel ‘Fortune’s Wheel’ published by Silverwood books is about the aftermath of the Black Death in a fictional Hampshire village and is out this Autumn.

The panel will be moderated by Diana Bretherick – a criminologist, former barrister and author. She has written two historical thrillers in the Lombroso series – ‘City of Devils and ‘The Devil’s Daughters’, published by Orion. Both are set in 19th century Turin and feature the world’s first criminologist.

The event is free. To find out more follow this link – Femmes Fatale

Hopefully see you there!

CTG REVIEWS: A TIME TO DIE by TOM WOOD

Leave a comment

51fo4kdydel

 

Here’s the blurb: “A killer can be a hero. If the assassin known only as ‘Victor’ once had a moral compass, it is long since buried, along with his many victims. But some men are so evil they must die for reasons other than just money. Like Milan Rados, a former war criminal who has escaped trial to become a formidable power. Tracking down and killing this brutal man will win Victor a reprieve for his own recent crimes on British soil. But Victor isn’t the only one who wants Rados dead. One woman will do anything to see Rados’ blood spilled on the snow of Eastern Europe. Now Victor has an unlikely ally – but an army stands between them and justice.”

I’m a big fan of the Victor the Assassin books and A TIME TO DIE is another great addition to the series.

Victor is the ultimate ‘lone wolf’ – he’s known as Victor but has many aliases, he changes his appearance regularly to put anyone on his tail off track, and he has no family or friends. He doesn’t trust anyone, and regards all he meets as a potential threat. He’s cold, calculating and by rights should be very difficult to like. Yet as a reader I find him strangely likable. Perhaps it’s because he’s so up front about how he is – there’s no pretence, he says what he thinks even when it’s not what someone wants to hear (for example, if they ask if he’s going to kill them and the answer is yes!). That said, he does some dreadful things, so I don’t think I’d actually want to meet him!

But reading about him is fantastic.

Tom Wood’s writing has a fabulously cinematic quality to it and in A TIME TO DIE Victor is both hunter and prey. His assignment is more dangerous than is usual even for him. He has to gain the trust of the elusive war criminal Milan Rados – a man with no conscious and a sickening love of the brutal and macabre – in order to get close enough to kill him.

But hard as that is, it’s complicated even further when Victor learns he has a price on his head – a throw back from a previous job – and he becomes the target of other professional assassins.

With some stunning action-packed set pieces, and a pace that whips along from beginning to end leaving you breathless, A TIME TO DIE is a must-read for thriller fans.

You can buy A TIME TO DIE from Amazon here

To find out more about Tom Wood pop over to his website https://tomwoodbooks.com/books/ and be sure to follow him on Twitter @TheTomWood

CTG EXCLUSIVE: Kati Hiekkapelto author of The Exiled talks her 5 Favourite Crime Writers

1 Comment

 

Today I’m delighted to be joined by the fabulous Kati Hiekkapelto for the latest stop on her Finnish Invasion blog tour. Kati’s latest book The Exiled is out now, and like all great crime writers she is also a big reader – in her post today she talks about the five authors at the top of her list.

Over to Kati …

 

  1. Leena Lehtolainen is probably the most successful Finnish crime writer to date. She published her first novel at the age of twelve, and has written about thirty books (not only crime). Her work has been translated into twenty languages and her career has truly inspired me. Her Maria Kallio series (which includes My First Murder, The Lion of Justice and Copper Heart, amongst others) has been adapted for TV, too. Well worth reading for their stark, very Finnish setting, and labyrinthine plotting.
  2. Åsa Larsson sets her stories in Northern Sweden and that is one of the reasons why her work resonates to me. They are beautifully written stories in cold, harsh Lapland, exploring religious small community life and individuals trying to cope within it – something that is very familiar in Northern Finland, too. But that’s where ‘real life’ ends. There aren’t that many murders committed in either Swedish or Finnish Lapland!
  3. Karin Fossum is, quite literally, a researcher of human mind. Her (extensive, quite wonderful) Inspector Konrad Sejer series takes the form of a police procedural with deep psychological threads. I remember the feeling when I first read one of her books – a big wow, and probably the moment when I began to understand the flexibility and possibilities of crime fiction.
  4. Eva Dolan is a new, young and rebellious voice from the UK. I am tempted to say ‘angry’. I love her style, her characters, her incredible sense of social justice – the whole package. Her Zigic & Ferreira series is set in the Hate Crimes Unit of a police department in Peterborough, and I’m sure she’ll have no shortage of material over the coming years. Classy, beautifully written, confident crime fiction with a freshness that I admire.
  5. Enid Blyton is my childhood favourite, and worth mentioning. I’m sure that the books we read when we grow up are much more influential than we can even imagine. In fact, I suspect that they are as crucial for the imagination as healthy food and PE is for the body. I could list dozens of childhood books and writers that I loved, but Enid Blyton is the one that stands out. I vividly remember George (from The Famous Five), a girl who wanted to be a boy. How revolutionary for that time!

A huge thank you to Kati for stopping by and sharing with us who her top 5 crime writers are. I’m also a huge fan of Eva Dolan, and read many of Enid Blyton’s books as a child. 

Kati’s latest book is The Exiled – here’s the blurb: “Anna Fekete returns to the Balkan village of her birth for a relaxing summer holiday. But when her purse is stolen and the thief is found dead on the banks of the river, Anna is pulled into a murder case. Her investigation leads straight to her own family, to closely guarded secrets concealing a horrendous travesty of justice that threatens them all. As layer after layer of corruption, deceit and guilt are revealed, Anna is caught up in the refugee crisis spreading like wildfire across Europe. How long will it take before everything explodes? Chilling, taut and relevant, The Exiled is an electrifying, unputdownable thriller from one of Finland s most celebrated crime writers.”

You can buy The Exiled from Amazon here

To find out more about Kati Hiekkapelto and her books pop over to her website here and be sure to follow her on Twitter @HiekkapeltoKati 

And don’t miss all the other great stops along the way of The Finnish Invasion Blog Tour …

finnish-blog-tour