Crime writer

A J Waines, Fiona Veitch Smith and Holly Watt will feature in this year's National Crime Reading Month, which is now online due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Co-ordinated by the Crime Writer's Association (CWA) and Crime Reader's Association (CRA), the annual festival promotes authors at live events across the UK.

I have a bias toward the private investigator novel, most of it driven by the imagery of classic film noir-shiny-wet pavements, sinewy cigarette smoke curling upward, vintage cars with fat white-wall tires, hard kisses that dip-to-black. The guys wearing sharp-creased fedoras and baggy-legged pants. The women with lipstick pouts, seamed stockings, and hats cocked to the side.

If you had asked the late Christopher Booker, the English journalist and author would have told you there are a limited number of story plots to go around. He had such conviction in his theory that he even wrote a book about it.  Read more

A few months ago, I had the chance to speak to a group of MFA students about my second novel, Last Seen Leaving. One of them said, "I know that so far you've written literary thrillers, but I see that your new book is a fantasy novel. What did you find to be the biggest difference between writing crime and writing fantasy?"  Read more

The Norwegian crime writer Jo Nesbø, 59, has sold more than 33m books worldwide and won a host of prizes, including the prestigious Glass Key for best Nordic crime novel. Nesbø took a circuitous route to becoming a bestselling author, playing football for Norway's premier league team Molde before torn knee ligaments ended his career.  Read more