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 This award is made in memory of CWA founder John Creasey, for first books by previously unpublished writers.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 shortlist
ed 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!
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 news
paper 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! 
