With the publication of a new Charlie Parker detective thriller, Shots Magazine’s Spanish editor and English language academic John Parker got an early preview of THE INSTRUMENTS OF DARKNESS. “……The novel is structured as a standalone not requiring any understanding [or memory] of backstory, despite the subtle links to previous novels such as The Wolf in Winter, A Book of Bones and The Woman in the Woods. Coupled with judicious editing, it propels the narrative with significant velocity. The author’s interest in folk horror and the theme of psychogeography is vividly realized, where the ‘pas ..read more

  Alafair Burke, Margot Douaihy, and Sascha Rothchild are the recipients of the Pinckley Prizes in Crime Fiction for 2022 and 2023.  The prizes, named to honor the memory of Diana Pinckley, were presented on 22nd March in New Orleans. The Pinckley Prizes partner with the Women’s National Book Association of New Orleans, of which Diana Pinckley was a founding member. Alafair Burke is the winner of the 2023 Pinckley Prize for Distinguished Body of Work.  Burke is the New York Times, Edgar Award nominated author of twenty crime novels. Published ..read more

  Harrogate International Festivals announced the 18 titles long-listed for the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year 2024, the UK and Ireland’s most prestigious crime fiction award now in its twentieth year. The longlist, voted for by an academy of crime writing authors, agents, editors, reviewers and members of the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival Programming Committee, features stories that transport readers from the burning heat of the Chihuahuan Desert to the chill of nineties Berlin, from down-at-heel Blackpool to the splendour of Georgian London. Crime ..read more

Penguin have announced 10 new additions to their Penguin Green Classics. The books are due to be published on 6 June 2024. Two specific new additions in particular have been out of print in the UK for quite some time. These are -  The Chinese Gold Murders by Robert Van Gulik An intricate, puzzle-like murder mystery set in Imperial China, featuring the indefatigable Judge Dee. A fantastically enjoyable tale by the master of the Tang dynasty mystery! Judge Dee is about to step into the shoes of a dead man…Most people would refuse the job of Magistrate at the lonely port town of Peng-la ..read more

Until recent years, I never really thought about being a crime fiction author, even though my head has been full of stories since I was a child. When I left school, I applied to join the police force but didn’t get accepted due to an inaccurate colour-blind test result (I’m over it now, by the way.) So, I went to work in a shop and quickly realised that I had a bit of a sixth sense. I could smell a shoplifter at a thousand paces and so I trained to become a store detective. I loved the excitement of the job, but looking back, I was young and stupid and didn’t think about the dangers ..read more

  The 2024 longlists for the prestigious Crime Writers’ Association (CWA) Dagger awards, which honour the very best in the crime-writing genre, have been announced [8pm, April 20 at the CWA annual conference, Brighton]. Created in 1955, the world-famous CWA Daggers are the oldest awards in the genre and have been synonymous with quality crime writing for over half a century. Past winners of the prestigious Gold Dagger, which is awarded for the best crime novel of the year, include Ian Rankin, John le Carré, Reginald Hill, and Ruth Rendell. Authors in contention for the Gold Dagger this ..read more

For all you puzzle enthusiasts that fell in love with volume 1 and volume 2 of Murdle you will be pleased to know that there will be a third volume of these exceedingly fiendish puzzles being released in May 2024. G T Karber will be appearing this year at CrimeFest where he will be hosting a special Murdle event on CrimeFest's opening night.  He will also take part in a panel on Columbo, alongside fellow aficionados of the iconic TV show, Laura Lippman, and Vaseem Khan, chair of the Crime Writers’ Association (CWA) There will also be another X competition taking place to ..read more

  Left Coast Crime 2024 presented the four Lefty Awards at the 34th annual convention in Bellevue, Washington: Humorous, Historical, Debut, and Best. The awards were voted on at the convention and presented at the banquet on Saturday, 13th April at the Hyatt Regency in Bellevue.  The Lefty nominees have been selected by convention registrants, and LCC is delighted to announce the 2024 Lefty Award winners for books published in 2023: Lefty for Best Humorous Mystery Novel:  Cheap Trills by Wendall Thomas (‎Beyond the Page Books) Lefty for Best Historical Myste ..read more

  OVERALL CRIME BOOK OF THE YEAR 2023 THE MURDER GAME by Tom Hindle NONE OF THIS IS TRUE by Lisa Jewell THE SECRET HOURS by Mick Herron IN THE BLINK OF AN EYE by Jo Callaghan STRANGE SALLY DIAMOND by Liz Nugent THRILLER BOOK OF THE YEAR 2023 FEARLESS by M W Craven THE SILENT MAN by David Fennell THE RULE OF THREE by Sam Ripley THE ONLY SUSPECT by Louise Candlish THE HOUSE HUNT by C. M. Ewan HISTORICAL BOOK OF THE YEAR 2023 DEATH OF A LESSER GOD by Vaseem Khan THE SQUARE OF SEVENS by Laura Shepherd-Robinson THE MURDER WHEEL by Tom Mead THE GOOD LIARS by Anita Frank THE HOUS ..read more

With the paperback of The Wild Coast due to be published on 10th April 2024 Lin Anderson talks about the Dr Rhona MacLeod and forensics.  Driftnet, the first book to feature forensic scientist Dr Rhona MacLeod was published in 2003. The Wild Coast, the latest and the hardback of no 17 in the series was published twenty years later on the 3rd August 2023. How has the world of forensics changed during that time? The story of Rhona MacLeod… My father was a Detective Inspector in Greenock when I was growing up. He never spoke about his job to his three daughters, but my mother was ..read more