Offer on Kindle

For anyone owning an amazon kindle my second (bestselling) crime thriller, ROAD CLOSED, is on a special Easter promotion on amazon.co.uk for £1.20 until 2nd May. Here's the link if you'd be kind enough to check it out
http://tinyurl.com/RoadClosedKindle

Books for Christmas

If anyone on Blogland Lane can't come to a book signing but would like a signed book for Christmas, feel free to email me leighrussell@live.co.uk and we can sort something out.

It's such a long time since I visited here. My debut thriller, Cut Short, has been shortlisted for the Crime Writers Association New Blood Dagger Award and is now a bestseller, as is my second, Road Closed, published this year. Yesterday I delivered the MS for the third in my series, Dead End, to my publisher. Now I have to finish working on the next book which is due with my agent mid-January. In the meantime, life has gone crazy with newspaper reporters turning up at my events, or even coming to work to interview me - three photographers wanting to snap me this week for different newspaper articles and I hate being photographed! I've been out in bookstores every weekend and as soon as school breaks up on the 17th I embark on a 5 day signing tour starting on the 18th and finishing on the 22nd December. No wonder I haven't had time to visit Blogland Lane for a while!

Life as an Author

I haven't been to my little purple house on the hill for a long time. I've been away, on an extended book tour, but had to pop back to share my exciting news...
Busy as I am, what would induce me to get up at 5.30 in the morning? The mystery grew darker as I hurried to catch the first train up to London. Was I going on holiday? No, although the reason for my excursion begins with the same letter… Sorry, as a crime writer I tend to think in ‘clues’, but without more ado, I’ll come clean and confess: I was travelling to Harrogate as an invited guest at the ITV3 Crime Thriller Season Launch Ceremony sponsored by Specsavers.
The shortlist for the Crime Writers’ Association John Creasey (New Blood) Dagger was announced at a lunchtime ceremony at the The Crown Hotel, Harrogate during the Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival. This award is made in memory of CWA founder John Creasey, for first books by previously unpublished writers.
CWA Chairman Tom Harper said: “The CWA Dagger Awards have always enjoyed huge prestige among crime fiction fans and authors. The shortlists this year are incredibly strong, and that for the John Creasey has some exciting new talents, all working at the top of their game.”
The shortlisted books:
Acts of Violence, Ryan David Jahn (Pan)
Cut Short, Leigh Russell (No Exit Press)
Martyr, Rory Clements (John Murray)
Random, Craig Robertson (Simon & Schuster)
Stop Me, Richard Jay Parker (Allison & Busby)
Rupture, Simon Lelic (Picador)
The Holy Thief, William Ryan (Mantle )
The Pull of the Moon, Diane Janes (Robinson)
And if you haven’t worked it out yet – check the second book on the list!
Here are a few photos taken at the ceremony. The first one shows me dwarfed by two giants of crime writing (and I was wearing my heels!) Ian Rankin is on the right of the picture and Mark Billingham on the left. We were swapping horror stories about book signings. The second photo is courtesy of Ali Karim and in the third you can see Tom Harper, chair of the Crime Writers' Association.

My second book, ROAD CLOSED, has been reviewed in The Times "confirms her promise as a writer... well-written, soundly plotted and psychologically acute" ! I've delivered the draft of DEAD END to my publisher for publication in 2011 and am currently researching my next book in the series. Ain't no stopping me now!

on writing, interviews, and cake!

Dear neighbours
I haven't been here for a while, I've been so busy -and a little down for health reasons which I hope will be all sorted very soon. I need to chill out in my little purple house on Blogland Lane for a while so please join me - the kettle is on and I've just baked a cake... um... OK, I've just unwrapped a cake.
I haven't been completely idle while I've been away. The MS for my second book, ROAD CLOSED, is now finally done and is on course for publication in June. I'm now working on the third in my series, and my publisher have just approached my agent for a fourth...
And to finish on a cheerful note, please take a look at this interview on The Literary Project. I'm rather proud of it! See the post dated 19th March.
http://theliteraryproject.blogspot.com/
Must go - someone's at the door. I hope it's you!

Life as an author

It's such a long time since I've posted here, I thought I should drop my Blogland Lane neighbours a line. Life's been very busy. CUT SHORT has now been reprinted and I'm back book signing again, booked every Saturday until June, with invitations starting now to sign on Sundays. I am passionately committed to supporting real bookshops, but I have to keep one day a week free for writing!
ROAD CLOSED, the second in my series, will be published in June. It has already been selling on amazon - it reached 10,000 on amazon sales ratings. With so many people preordering, I felt like Dan Brown!
I'm now working on DEAD END, my third book, which will be out in June 2011. And after that... well, my publisher have already approached me for a fourth book, but that's one to think about next year.
If anyone on Blogland Lane would like a scanned signature, just drop me an email.
You can see photos of my recent events on my author blog http://leighrussell.blogspot.com
I'll be back here on Blogland Lane again soon, to spend some time in my little purple house on the hill overlooking the sea.