The Crime Warp

Don’t judge a book by its cover, but in this case you’d be alright – I like the cover and what’s inside too. It’s about a woman who was married to a gangster, a premise that took me back to my youth. I once was friendly with a woman who’d just divorced a Mafiosi. They remained on relatively friendly terms, for the sake of their children, no doubt, and when her birthday rolled around, he rang her. ‘I’ve got a birthday present for you …   but I’d like to show it to you in person…’ Turns out he’d bought his ex a cemetery plot with a gravestone in place, with a photo of her as a child on it.   All that was missing was the date of her death.   He showed her the view from the plot and how close it was to a water source so they could keep any flowers planted watered. She hadn’t planned on causing him any trouble, she had her kids to think of after all, but he wanted to be certain. And it worked. The protagonist of Red Hot Front , gangster widow Tatiana Goodwin, has a lo...

Get your ticket here Really pleased to announce that Leeds Trinity University, my alma mater, is hosting the fantastic Dorothy Koomson who will be talking about and reading from her new novel,  Tell Me Your Secret, which was released just a few days ago. Last year, when my daughter graduated from Leeds Trinity, I was privileged to see Dorothy receive her Honorary Fellowship from the University. This was particularly poignant as Dorothy is also an alumna from the university. A week or so later, I bumped into Dorothy at Harrogate Crime Writer's festival , so although she no longer resides in Yorkshire, it's clear where her roots lie.  Dorothy hs always been an author who handles difficult issues and whose wrting is inspirational in its use of expansive narratives. I look forward to reading Tell Me Your Secret and  I can't wait for this talk which should be truly inspirtional with Dorothy talking about her writing process, her publishng journey and offering tips to the...

Available here POSH JIMMY BLISS The wood in which human bones are unearthed by a bunch of kids, introducing readers to DI Jimmy Bliss for the first time in Bad to the Bone , is neither dense nor particularly eerie, but it is ancient with narrow pathways spider-webbing its outer edges. This case also saw the first appearance of the Bone Woman, who at the time was working at one of Peterborough’s most visited attractions, the Flag Fen Bronze-Age site. When Bliss was first transferred from the Met to Peterborough, he was less than impressed with the city. A significant number of housing and business estates are the kind of bland and featureless late 70s design that leaves no lasting impression on the casual visitor, and seemed to offer few endearing features for the city’s inhabitants. The Thorpe Wood police station where Bliss works is a prime example of this architectural malaise, and the poor bloke has to see it every day. Over time, however, Bliss has...

Jim Napier, author of  Legacy  (Friesen Press, 2017) There were three legacies in Sally Beck’s brief life. The first was her grandmother’s bequest, which allowed Sally to attend an elite girls’ school. That was followed by the second, a life-changing event she experienced while a student there. The final legacy was due to Sally’s chance encounter, years later, with someone from her past which set in motion a chain of violence no one could have foreseen. When a young woman killed in London traffic is found to be carrying no identification, Detective Inspector Colin McDermott is assigned to figure out who she is and to track down her family so they can be notified. Soon he discovers she had not one but two identities, which concealed a very private life. When the trail leads back to McDermott’s alma mater, the detective is faced with the possibility that the young woman was murdered—and whether an old friend and mentor is involved. The decision to pick  conte...

Available here Blurb Jessica Ripley didn’t kill her ex-husband. But everyone thinks she did. After serving twelve years for his murder, it’s time to get her own back on those who put her inside. During those twelve years, Jessy’s son, Michael, has turned against her. Whatever mercy Jessy had for her intended victims, just blew away. CSI Eddie Collins is having a hard time watching his father enjoying life. He’s also having it tough in the form of two new recruits to his office. One is off his tree on drugs and the other wants his job. And then the murders begin. Can Eddie trust the evidence, or is someone twisting it, desperate to get even?  And who did kill Jessy’s ex? Author biography – Andrew Barrett Andrew Barrett has been a CSI since 1996, and one way or another, Andrew’s life has revolved around crime ever since. In 1997 he finished his first crime thriller, A Long Time Dead , and it’s still a readers’ favourite today, some 150,00...

Available here My new novel, Righteous Assassin (A Mike Stoneman Thriller) is the first in a series starring New York Police Department Homicide detective Mike Stoneman.   The first book is set in New York City (as will be most of the rest of the series, with a few road trips).   I lived in New York for 13 years and although there are many books and movies set in NYC, few of them get it right.   That’s what I love about writing these books – I have the chance to really capture New York for an audience that’s mostly not from there.   One of my favorite reviews said: “ What I particularly appreciate as a native Manhattanite is that the author gets all the New York details exactly right, not only geographically (although that is certainly a big plus), but also the energy and pace and feel of the city.”              Detective Mike Stoneman lives in an apartment on the Upper West Side, 68 th s...

Malcolm Hollingdrake Amazon Author page Harrogate is a beautiful, old spa town in the Yorkshire Dales and for me, it is the perfect setting for a number of sinister crimes, with its Edwardian architecture, wide streets and proximity to some of the most stunning scenery in the United Kingdom. The Harrogate Crime Series now comprises eight cases, each one featuring DCI Cyril Bennett and DS David Owen.                Setting a series here was pure chance. A few years ago I read Harrogate was the happiest place in the UK to live and so I thought introducing some crime would not go amiss; it was also a town I knew well having lived in Bradford for eighteen years and then Ripon for three. It is a location my family has always visited. Harrogate’s architecture is varied, beautiful and easily identifiable and so the description of specific places and settings within the pages of the books are enjoyed by many of my readers. There are so...

Once again, Chief of Police Bruno is cooking up a storm. For Francophiles and gourmets alike - starring French country cop Bruno, his trusty sniffer dog Balzac, a number of shifty suspects and Claudia, a murdered rich American art historian. Can’t afford a holiday home in France? Buy the book, and live the good life in the sun vicariously through Bruno. He is so busy enjoying his rural lifestyle with his interest in gourmet food, good wines, music and the arts and his love of French history, that having to solve a tricky murder is almost an inconvenience. Or perhaps a welcome distraction from the good life? Bruno has been compared to our Sicilian detective friend Montalbano, and indeed there are great similarities. The one entices you to book your next holiday in Sicily, and the other urges you to travel to the Perigord region in France, where The Body in the Castle Well is set. It is lovely to escape to a world where no one is in a rush, where people have time to pre...

Available here BLURB Harrogate attracts hundreds of players to the annual Games Convention and for one player it is the perfect opportunity to kill by the mechanics of his own sinister game. Each victim will die in the same way. Each will be classed as the loser and their time will have run out. The escape room and the game table will draw more, each believing they are invincible. However, in every game there is always a traitor waiting in the wings. The latest in the bestselling Harrogate Crime Series. Author Bio You could say that the writing was clearly on the wall for anyone born in a library that they might aspire to be an author but to get to that point Malcolm Hollingdrake has travelled a circuitous route. Malcolm worked in education for many years, even teaching for a period in Cairo before he started writing, a challenge he had longed to tackle for more years than he cares to remember.  Malcolm has written a number of successful short ...