The Crime Writers' Association has announced the eagerly-awaited winners of this year's Daggers awards - well done to all those who were successful. You can find out who won at 

thecwa.co.uk

I am delighted to have been asked to make a short film for Dumfries and Galloway Libraries Service, my local library service, in which I answer questions about writing from some of their Facebook followers.

Work like this is particularly close to my heart because I am one of two Libraries Champions for the Crime Writers’ Association, with…

Want to learn more about crime writing? Then this online course could be for you

I am pleased to say that Last Man Alive, the latest book in the series featuring Detective Chief Inspector Jack Harris, is selling well and attracting positive reviews and ratings, having been published by The Book Folks.

In the book,  my 21^st crime novel to appear, Harris is on the trail of a missing man whom he suspects of having…

Bestselling crime writer Leigh Russell joins interviewer Sara West to talk about her books, the success of her Geraldine Steele series (more than one million sales) and her top tips for writers in the latest instalment of the free Tall Tales Mysteries Mug Shots series of films. Tune in onto their Youtube channel at…

I am returning to my theme of how writers evoke reactions in their readers for this blog. Good writing is about triggers with the author using words, phrases, images, places and sensations that reach deep into the reader’s mind.

That reaction will be based on something that the reader has actually experienced, or may be something that the…

I have just written a chapter for my latest Blizzard novel in which my detectives fall out with witnesses then with each other, all of which allows me to come back to one of my familiar themes for my blogs – conflict.

I find that writing becomes easier if there is conflict in the air. Why? Because stories need things to happen and conflicts…