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Tickets still available for crime fiction events

Traditionally, events featuring crime writers are very popular at Kirkcudbright Book Week in Dumfries and Galloway and tend to sell out. However, with just three weeks to go until the beginning of the event, there are still plenty of tickets available for the three crime fiction offerings.

Crime writers due to appear…

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Added by John Dean on February 15, 2024 at 15:19 — No Comments

Writer’s debut novel tells a dark tale of murder

I am delighted to have played a small part in this book making it into print

Castle Douglas writer David L Haigh has had his first novel published, telling a  tale of murder in a rural community.

Crime novel Land Kill, which has been published by Michael Terence Publishing, tells the story of a former stockbroker turned pheasant farmer,…

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Added by John Dean on February 8, 2024 at 13:45 — No Comments

Getting it right from the beginning

I have just started writing my next crime novel for my publishers The Book Folks and as with every new book, that blank first page is at once exciting and daunting.

The excitement comes because it takes all that planning that I’ve been doing over recent weeks…

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Added by John Dean on February 7, 2024 at 11:00 — No Comments

Giveaway treat for audience at crime fiction event

Audience members attending a specially-organised night of crime fiction during Kirkcudbright Book Week will be given a free copy of a 100-page deluxe brochure exploring crime fiction across the British Isles.

The brochure has been put together by the expert team at publisher The Book Folks, which has four of its authors attending the…

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Added by John Dean on February 4, 2024 at 16:47 — No Comments

Why not book your spring break to take in some crime fiction events?

Contemplating a spring holiday/short break? Then why not choose the stunning scenery of Dumfries and Galloway and combine it with your love of crime fiction and choose Kirkcudbright when the town’s annual Book Week is on between March 4-10? I will be chairing one of the events.

You can check out the details at…

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Added by John Dean on February 1, 2024 at 16:30 — No Comments

A thousand reasons to get the editing right

I have been editing the working draft of the latest Jack Harris crime novel before sending it off to my publishers The Book Folks at the end of the month.

For me, as I have mentioned in previous blogs, this is the most intense and most enjoyable stage of the writing process and it’s worth recapping why all writers need to give the process due…

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Added by John Dean on January 23, 2024 at 10:23 — No Comments

Box-set hits the top of the chart

I am absolutely delighted that my recently-released DCI John Blizzard Kindle box-set of crime novels (The Book Folks) has hit Number One in three of Amazon's crime anthology charts, earning the coveted Orange Bestseller Logo.

Thank you to everyone who bought the box-set and has supported me down the years…

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Added by John Dean on January 22, 2024 at 18:30 — No Comments

Fancy writing a besteller?

Ever thought about writing a bestseller? Well, if you have, the talk to be given by author Ryan Stark during Kirkcudbright Book Week is well worth attending.

Ryan moved from IT Specialist to full-time novelist eight years ago. The learning curve was steep and, with no knowledge of the writing process, it was quite a journey. Yet from a…

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Added by John Dean on January 17, 2024 at 14:02 — No Comments

Author added to panel

Crime writer James Davidson has been added to the panel for an in-conversation evening staged by publisher The Book Folks during Kirkcudbright Book Week.

He has agreed to appear following the recent death of author James Andrew, who was due to appear.

Event details: Wednesday March 6 In Conversation with the Book Folks Crime Writers…

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Added by John Dean on January 13, 2024 at 22:10 — No Comments

All the author has to do is the typing

The process of writing continually teaches the author new lessons. It also reiterates the wisdom behind old ones. The truth of that statement has been proved to me yet again as I write the final chapters of my latest DCI Jack Harris novel for my publisher The Book Folks.

I have found myself struggling with pulling together the threads of the…

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Added by John Dean on January 3, 2024 at 10:02 — No Comments

Publisher to host crime fiction event during book week

 

I am really looking forward to being part of this event as part of Kirkcudbright Book Week, which runs in the Dumfries and Galloway town between March 4-10 2024.

Wednesday March 6 In Conversation with the Book Folks Crime Writers Selkirk Arms High Street Tickets £8 7pm - Publisher The Book Folks presents an evening with some of its…

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Added by John Dean on January 3, 2024 at 10:00 — No Comments

Blizzard storms the best-seller charts

The latest DCI John Blizzard Kindle box set (the first seven in my series of Blizzard crime novels published by the Book Folks, for just 99p) is storming the Amazon best-selling charts!…

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Added by John Dean on December 12, 2023 at 13:05 — No Comments

Crime writing award launched with new format

I am proud to have been part of the team that has revamped the Crime Writers' Association's (CWA) prestigious Dagger in the LIbrary award for crime writers.

I was involved because I am one of the CWA's UK Libraries Champions (I am our representative in Scotland) and one of the main aims of the revamp is to increase the number of library staff…

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Added by John Dean on December 5, 2023 at 15:00 — No Comments

Revealing some of the crime fiction secrets

I am really looking forward to this event, which is part of Kirkcudbright Book Week, which runs in the Dumfries and Galloway town between March 4-10 2024.

 

Monday March 4   Ryan Stark Selkirk Arms High Street 2pm Tickets £6

Ryan Stark is a Midlands-based thriller writer and publisher. His Aidan Beckett and Daley & Whetstone…

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Added by John Dean on November 8, 2023 at 16:46 — No Comments

Crime writer to appear during book week

I am really looking forward to this event, which is part of Kirkcudbright Book Week, which runs in the Dumfries and Galloway town between March 4-10 2024.

 

Thursday March 7 An evening with Simpson Grears Selkirk Arms High Street 7pm £5 Supported by Scottish Book Trust through its Live Literature programme

The crime writer talks…

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Added by John Dean on November 8, 2023 at 16:41 — No Comments

An excellent start to a new series

Book Review The Ferry Port Mystery by David Pearson (The Book Folks)

What do you do if you are the author of a couple of popular crime fiction series but fancy a change? The answer is to create a new series with a new cast of characters, which is exactly what David Pearson has done with The Ferry Port Mystery.

The first in a new series…

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Added by John Dean on November 8, 2023 at 13:34 — No Comments

Sense of place works its magic

Some of you may know that I was one of four crime writers who appeared recently at an in-conversation event during the inaugural Kirkcudbright Fringe festival (along with Jackie Baldwin, Ann Bloxwich and fellow Book Folks author Ian Robinson).

To feed the conversation, each of us selected a facet of writing to talk about and I chose the way…

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Added by John Dean on September 15, 2023 at 11:15 — No Comments

An enjoyable read

Book Review - Nothing But Smiles by Linda Hagan (published by The Book Folks)

A truly enjoyable novel which sees Linda Hagan returning to Belfast for the seventh book in her popular Northern Irish crime series.

Characterised by the author’s customary economical style…

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Added by John Dean on September 15, 2023 at 8:54 — No Comments

Crime fiction event

This event may interest

 

Castle Douglas Community Centre

Love Crime Fiction?

Curious how those plots are plotted?

Join us at an informal workshop

Exploring how crime novels take shape and

doing some plotting of our own

Thursday September 14th…

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Added by John Dean on September 4, 2023 at 14:28 — No Comments

New anthology is published

Inkers, a long-established collection of writers of which I am a founding member and who gather fortnightly in person at the Friends’ Meeting House in Darlington, as well as online, have published their latest anthology.

A Thread of Raindrops and Other Stories contains short stories in various genres, many of them featuring a satisfying…

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Added by John Dean on September 3, 2023 at 14:00 — No Comments

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A welcome addition to the crime fiction canon

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, newly arrived in Hampshire from Glasgow and plunged into…See More
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Bestseller chart success

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 various anthology charts).My new…See More
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Grant award helps develop crime fiction programme

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 popular genre with audiences…See More
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The way authors work

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 until everything was…See More
Dec 29, 2024
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Knowing when to cast all caution to the wind

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 developed right from the…See More
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