A book signing due to be held by author John Dean as part of Kirkcudbright Book Week has been expanded to include fellow crime writer Ryan Stark.

John, who lives in Dumfries and Galloway, will sign paperback copies of his recently-published novel The Meek Shall Inherit (The Book Folks), which will be available to purchase…

This is where writing comes perilously close to madness but I am a strong believer that fictional characters, if allowed their head, can tell their own stories and all the author has to do is type!

It does not happen every time you write, which is why authors must value it when it does, but it happened to me today when writing an account of a…

Book Review The Red Shoes Mystery by David Pearson

David Pearson continues to delight his many fans with his latest crime novel, in which his investigators O’Shea and Maguire face their most challenging case yet—the mysterious death of Maria Hyka.

As Maguire and her team dig deeper, they uncover connections to a…

Book Review - Murder in the New Forest by Carol Cole (The Book Folks).

It’s always a moment laden with anticipation when a new crime series emerges onto the scene and Carol Cole does not disappoint with Murder in the New Forest (The Book Folks).

At the heart of the novel is a new central character, DI Callum MacLean,…

The central message of this blog may seem an obvious one but it's important to remember - do your research and get your facts right.

The reason is that it can be all too easy to go with what you think you know. As someone who worked as a journalist for 40 years, I know never to assume but I still do it on occasion.

As a…

I am becoming increasingly intrigued by the creative process. Surely, I hear you cry, you're an author you always were?

Well, yes and no. You see, writing is such a technical skill - and although it might sound to some people like an odd thing to say I absolutely love the craft, the forensic focus on each word - much more than the…

I am delighted that two of my crime fiction works are this morning in the top 100 Organised Crime Kindle charts on Amazon.

The DCI John Blizzard box set containing the first seven novels in the series, (The Book Folks) for just 99p - now if that is not an outstanding offer, I do not know what is -  is at number 43 (it is already topping…

Organisers of the fourth annual Kirkcudbright Book Week have been awarded a £1,750 grant from the Robin Rigg Community Fund to help them develop the crime fiction component of the festival.

Kirkcudbright Book Week is designed to celebrate the growing literary scene in and around the South West Scotland town and crime fiction has proved to be a…

Fancy taking a Spring getaway amid the stunning scenery of South West Scotland and combining it with a chance to hear from best-selling crime writers including Chris Brookmyre and Dr Marisa Haetzman, who write together as Ambrose Parry, Aline Templeton, pictured here, Sara Sheridan, and myself, plus the opportunity to find out more about emerging…

The latest in the DCI John Blizzard series of crime novels by John Dean has been published.

The Meek Shall Inherit (published by The Book Folks) is the author’s 25th crime novel to be published and is available in ebook format with paperback and hardback to follow shortly, from Amazon.

In the novel, when an elderly couple walk into…

A few years ago, I ran a creative writing course and, at the beginning of one of the sessions, I asked my fifteen students how they worked.

The result was fifteen different answers –one author wrote everything by hand then typed it onto their computer, another wrote it all in note form then linked the notes together, one did not edit anything…

Writing is an art form which combines two skills which appear, at first glance, to have nothing on common – unrestrained creativity and well-controlled discipline.

However, good writing is not possible without either of them. To explain, as I write the latest DCI Jack Harris crime novel, I am being disciplined and following the synopsis that I…

I am part of the team that organises an annual short story competition for young writers in Dumfries and Galloway, as part of the run-up to Kirkcudbright book week 2025 in March. The competition is run by the event organisers Kirkcudbright Book Week Society and Kirkcudbright Library. Myself and Lesley Garbutt from the Library are the judges and this…

One of the strongest features of Kirkcudbright Book Week right from its early days has been the popularity of crime fiction - and the 2025 event is set to continue the tradition.

The programme to run in the South West Scotland town between March 3-9 includes appearances by several best-selling crime fiction authors as well as those starting…

Writing a long-running series of novels, as can so often be the case for crime fiction authors, brings its own set of challenges, not least how do you keep the writing fresh for reader and writer alike?

As I start the latest DCI  Jack Harris novel for my publisher The Book Folks, the twelfth in the series where the action is divided between…

Having just completed my latest DCI Blizzard crime novel for my publisher The Book Folks, this is both a nervous time and an exciting time. Nervous because, however experienced you are (and this is Book 25), it’s always a tense time as you wait for feedback from your publisher. You are never too old to learn!

Exciting because your thoughts…

I am currently 43,000 words into my latest DCI Blizzard crime novel for The Book Folks and key to getting the process right is to ensure that the story continually benefits from injections of energy to maintain its momentum - and increase it, where necessary.

But how do you do that? It’s not as simple as the old crime writers adage that if you…

Crime writer Ian Robinson has a new novel out, marking the return of renegade police officer Sam Batford in his latest undercover assignment for the Metropolitan Police.

In Lines Crossed (The Book Folks), an armed gang is robbing cash vans in North London, and Detective Sergeant Batford’s bosses want his help catching them. That’s not all that…

As I have said in past blogs, the wise author listens when the story speaks to them and if that means changing the original plan then so be it.

But how far should the author be prepared to change the story that they originally decided to write? I mean, it was the author’s idea long before those pesky character stuck their oar in, wasn’t it?…

Each year, Raworths Harrogate Literature Festival in North Yorkshire welcomes a stellar line-up of bestselling authors and celebrated speakers to the Harrogate stage and this year these include Theresa May, Victoria Hislop, Ros Atkins, Peter Reid, Monty Panesar, Alison Weir, William Hanson and many more.

In association with Yorkshire Life…