I am always interested in what triggers a new character for a writer. Maybe the process begins with something physical. Maybe, for example, the writer becomes taken by someone who cannot wear a tie smartly. That is where DCI John Blizzard…

Crime writers owe a lot to libraries. They lend our books in return for PLR, they stage our events, including during National Crime Reading Month in May each year, and they raise our profiles.

So, I had no hesitation when I was asked by Martin Edwards to be the Crime Writers’ Association Libraries Champion in Scotland.

For me, like many…

It’s funny how a sense of place inspires writers. As you may know if you have read my blogs on our weekend writing courses at my home (details below), we moved to a hillside in Dumfries and Galloway a year and a half ago. The landscape has had a…

Writers, even the biggest names with many millions of sales behind them, will readily acknowledge that they are always learning. I certainly am, striving to make sure that the next sentence, the next paragraph, the next novel is better than the one it follows.

Editing is where a…

I talk to many writers who say: ‘I can write but I can’t do dialogue.’ For those struggling, here’s an experiment. It’ll make you feel self-conscious but it could be worth the embarrassment. Sit down with a group of friends and chat about whatever you fancy.  Get one of you to take notes and come up with the…

Places are still available for a crime fiction workshop being run by best-selling crime novelist John Dean as part of the literary line-up during Darlington Arts Festival in May.…

Delighted to say that Error of Judgement (The Book Folks), the new DCI Jack Harris mystery, is out.

Years after a fatal plane crash, the investigation is reopened when a missing body is discovered. It was a tragedy that shocked the nearby Pennine communities to the core. Several deaths were recorded, but one body was never found. That changes…

Feast of events organised for national crime writing festival in May

From Staffordshire to Cardiff, Newcastle to Bristol, Middlesex to the hills of Dumfries and Galloway, May will be a time for murder and mayhem as National Crime Reading Month (NCRM) makes a welcome return.

Dozens of events have been organised for NCRM,…

As a writer, I am always inspired by a sense of place. Whether it be a gloomy city or a stunning hillside, a glass-strewn council estate or a majestic waterfall, something about my surroundings repeatedly triggers…

I was asked the other day for my golden rules for new writers. I replied: “Write something every day because you cannot be a writer if you do not write– it may not always be brilliant but at least you’ve done it.”…

Delighted that the DCI John Blizzard mystery Strange Little Girl (The Book Folks) has hit 50 reviews on Amazon with the response from readers being largely favourable.

You can find out what they said at…

I can heartily recommend the latest crime novel from my good friend Bud Craig. A Dangerous Time has just been published by The Book Folks.…

Here’s some thoughts on a common theme for me, the need to start stories by creating momentum right from the off.

The first rule of opening lines is that they should possess most of the individual elements that make up the story. An opening paragraph should have a distinctive voice, a point of view, a rudimentary plot, some hint of…

Crime writers offer a reflection of the world in which they live and you can see that in the themes they select as backdrops for their stories.…

I recently taught a section on humour as part of a creative writing course I am running. Let me say at the outset that I know humour can be scary for a writer who does not have a naturally comic ability. It is certainly the case that a straight-laced, humourless person might well struggle to write side-splitting comedy but if you are an author, that might not be a good enough…

One of the big challenges for a writer is not falling into the trap of using clichés, defined by Dictionary.com as trite, stereotyped expressions that have lost originality, ingenuity and impact through over-use. Examples of clichés are often similes, for example cold as ice, black as coal and like a fish out…

Absolutely delighted that a number of my novels, including The Long Dead, are doing well in the Canadian Amazon Kindle charts.

It’s always humbling to be read by people in other countries and I thank my Canadian…

May will be a time for murder and mayhem as National Crime Reading Month (NCRM) makes a welcome return – and the organisers are urging writers and venues to become involved.…

Delighted that Dead Hill (The Book Folks) - where it all started for DCI Jack Harris - is at number 23 in the Amazon Kindle Crime Fiction chart. You can find out who else is there at…

Further to my previous blog, which referred to DCI John Blizzard becoming a father and how the experience has caused him to mature as a man, you can find out how he balances the competing demands of the search for a gunman with those presented by a baby…