Blimey, how hot has it been this summer? That’s a sentence I think a lot of us have been saying repeatedly over the past couple of months. I don’t know about you, but I’m hoping for a long and cold winter.
This summer has been a very busy one for me. It has seen the eBook and paperback launch of my fourth standalone novel, Maybe Tomorrow. When it came out in 2024 as an Audible Original it went on to become a top ten bestseller of the year. That made me very happy and a huge thank you to everyone who listened to it. The eBook and paperback versions have extra chapters and bonus content. I think an additional 10,000 words in total have been added to the audiobook.
I was also nominated for a Dagger Award at the Crime Writers Association Awards in early July for a short story I wrote called Waiting which was published in Criminal Pursuits, an anthology raising money for the Pink Ribbon Foundation. I didn’t win, unfortunately (many congratulations to Ambrose Parry, who did), but I went to a very swanky do in London and got all dressed up in a fancy-pants suit and sweated half my body weight in 30 degree heat.
July is also the month of the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival in Harrogate which I attend every year. I’ve only ever been asked to do something one year, but I treat this festival as the one time of the year where I get to meet up with all my writery mates for a good old chinwag, a catch-up and a gossip. I went for lunch with John Marrs and his husband and Louise Beech and Liv Matthews. I had my annual dinner out at The Ivy with Marion Todd, Daniel Sellers, Sheila Bugler and Catherine Cooper. Unfortunately, Barnaby Walter and Rachel Lynch couldn’t make the dinner, but Sarah Clarke took their place alongside Daniel’s husband, Gordon. It was a good night, and I didn’t have too much to drink at all, did I Marion?
The highlight was, of course, Elly Griffiths winning the top award for best novel of the year. She has been nominated before (and should have won it many times before now in my opinion) but she finally won for The Frozen People, and I couldn’t have been happier had I won it myself.
It was a wonderful weekend and I left it with no voice as I was all talked out. As a writer, I spend a great deal of time on my own so when I go to festivals like the one at Harrogate, I probably say more words in that one weekend that I do for the rest of the year. Maybe I’ll see you there in 2027. Just look for the bloke in black hiding from the sun.
Here are a few more photos I took of my time in Harrogate. Can you name the authors?
(I know it looks like I’m wearing the same outfit in all these photographs, but I’m not. I hate shopping for clothes so when I find something I like I buy several of them so I don’t need to keep going for new ones).
Another huge crime event is Bloody Scotland in September, and I am pleased to say that I will be appearing on a panel. On Saturday 19th September, I, alongside Luca Veste, Emma Styles and Linda Duncan-McLaughlin, will be discussing all things serial killers. This will be my second visit to Bloody Scotland, my first was way back in 2016, so I’m really looking forward to it.
Hopefully, by September, the temperatures will have cooled, and autumn will be upon us. Speaking of autumn, the 14th books in the DCI Matilda Darke series, First One To Die, is released. You already know who the killer is, but have you guessed how it’s going to end? It’s not looking good for a few regular characters. Tissues at the ready. Not everyone will be back for book 15.
Bye for now.