News & Events

Current news

RSS news feed

Current News

Martyr short-listed for Dagger
(July 23, 2010) Martyr has been short-listed for a top award - the CWA John Creasey (New Blood) Dagger. Others on the short list are Acts of Violence (Ryan David Jahn), Cut Short (Leigh Russell), Random (Craig Robertson), Stop Me (Richard Jay Parker), Rupture (Simon Lelic), The Holy Thief (William Ryan), The Pull Of The Moon (Diane Janes). The prize is sponsored by Louise Penny and Michael Whitehead. The finalists will be announced on August 9 - and the winner will be named in October at the Specsavers Crime Thrillers Awards, screened in the UK on ITV3. The short-list was announced today during the Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival in Harrogate.
» more

Bodies all over the shop
(July 17, 2010) A good evening for meeting authors and other criminals at Thursday's brilliant Bodies In The Bookshop event at Heffers in Cambridge, UK. In all, about sixty crime writers turned out for the event. A few of us read gory bits from our latest novels for Mandy Morton of BBC Radio Cambridgeshire. Her show goes out on Wednesday (July 21) between 6-7pm. If you can't listen in live, you will be able to catch it on iPlayer.
» more

Bodies In The Bookshop
(July 7, 2010) Along with dozens of other authors, both historical and criminal (so to speak), I'll be at Heffers bookshop in Cambridge next Thursday (July 15), for the 20th annual Bodies In The Bookshop get-together. Tickets at £5 are available from Richard Reynolds on 01223 568532. Or email him at literature@heffers.co.uk. The evening kicks off at 6pm and includes such brilliant writers as Andrew Williams, Elliott Hall, Ann Featherstone, Mike Ripley, A.L. Berridge and Imogen Robertson...
» more

Kingston Killers
(June 24, 2010) As Mahut and Isner slug out their astonishing tennis match on Wimbledon's court 18, I'm off to Kingston-upon-Thames to the Kingston Killers book event. I'll be joined there by the authors Imogen Robertson, Diane Janes and Meg Gardiner. Should be a spine-chilling evening...
» more

All quiet on the eastern front
(May 23, 2010) Peace and quiet and sunshine and barbecues. That's Norfolk, UK, this weekend - and I couldn't ask for anything more. Perfect weather, lovely countryside and not too much happening. A great time to get down to some serious hard work on the next John Shakespeare thriller. Oh, and this very colourful, very unElizabethan balloon drifted overhead...
» more

Holt Bookshop
(May 17, 2010) I'll be at Holt Bookshop in Norfolk, UK, this Friday (May 21), signing copies of Revenger and talking a little about the background to the book. There is an entrance fee, I'm afraid, but this will be taken off the book if you buy it. It's a brilliant bookshop - truly independent and innovative, and well worth supporting.
» more

King's Lynn Waterstones
(May 7, 2010) I'll be at Waterstones in King's Lynn, Norfolk (UK), from 11am-1pm tomorrow (Saturday the 8th). All welcome. Yesterday, I had a fascinating day at Heffers, in Cambridge, meeting fellow historical authors A.L. (Louise) Berridge (17th century), Imogen Robertson (18th century) and John Wilcox (19th century). We all fought our corners for our own centuries - but I still say the 16th is unbeatable.
» more

Heffers revisited
(May 3, 2010) I shall be at Heffers bookshop in Cambridge, UK, on Thursday (May 6th), 6.30pm for a Historical Crime Fiction evening. Also on the panel will be the bestselling novelsists A.L.Berridge, Imogen Robertson and John Wilcox.
» more

Revenger published in UK
(April 29, 2010) Revenger comes out in the UK today. Its title pays homage to the so-called 'revenge tragedy' plays of the late sixteenth and early seventeenth century, in which the stage ended up littered with bodies. I hope I don't give readers too many sleepless nights!
» more

New-look website
(April 20, 2010) Just over a week to go until the UK launch of Revenger, the second book in my series of John Shakespeare thrillers, and so I have asked the team at Pedalo to tart up my website. This is the result. The other good news is that I have been signed up by publishers John Murray to write a further THREE books in the series. That will keep me busy until at least 2013!
» more

Translation rights
(March 4, 2010) More translation deals done for Martyr - the publisher Swiat Ksiazki in Poland and Nakladatelstvi Argo in the Czech Republic.
» more

Moscow bound
(February 10, 2010) Good news from Russia. The Moscow publishing house Veche has agreed a translation deal for Martyr.
» more

In the charts
(January 29, 2010) Martyr made the UK paperback fiction charts in its first few days of release last week, coming in at number 21. It did even better at WH Smith, charting at number 11. More good news is that the publisher Pegasus Yayinlari is acquiring rights for Turkey.
» more

The paperback's here
January 20 (2010) The UK paperback of Martyr has arrived in many shops - including WH Smith, where it is nicely displayed as the Times recommended read of the week. Just a few days to go to pick up a copy for £2.99 when you by your copy of The Times.
» more

The big thaw...
(January 17, 2010) Four days to go until Martyr comes out in paperback in the UK. The snow has almost gone in Norfolk, England. All that's left is the remains of a snow fort, a snow camel and an igloo in our back garden...
» more

Front Row
(December 17,2009) I was overwhelmed to hear Martyr named as one of the crime novels of the year by BBC radio 4's Front Row yesterday. Many thanks to Jeff Parks for naming the book as one of his six favourites for 2009.
» more

Revenger cover
November 20, 2009) At last, the UK cover of Revenger drops on my doormat - and I love it. It looks to me like a rain of blood falling from a black sky and washing over the land and sea. Full of foreboding and menace, yet elegant too. I particularly like the late 16th century galleon pendant from the V&A. My thanks to John Murray and their designers at www.edwardbettison.com. The book is due out next April in the UK (late summer in America). Before that, however, I have the British paperback of Martyr to look forward to, in January.
» more

Mentioned in dispatches
(October 3, 2009) A big thank you to the judges of the 2009 CWA Ellis Peters Historical Crime Award for nominating me as one of two long-listed authors 'of Special Merit'.
» more

Eastward bound
(September 2, 2009) The rights to Martyr have been acquired in Taiwan by InStars Multimedia of Taipei.
» more

Bookhugger
(August 27, 2009) Bookhugger, the superb website for people who love a good read, kindly invited me to take part in one of their innovative 'author panels' - in which three genre writers talk about their craft and discuss each other's comments. See the results at http://bookhugger.co.uk/2009/08/author-panel-historical-fiction/. My co-panellists were the historical authors Margaret Elphinstone and Andrea Japp, both pictured here.
» more

Paperback cover
(August 18, 2009) I have now seen the cover for the paperback edition of Martyr, which is due out on August 18 next year (2010). I really like it a lot. It's rich, beautifully textured and has a nice Elizabethan feel to it. Here it is: hope you like it as much as I do
» more

Doodling
(August 10, 2009) Been busy doodling in the front of my books for an innovative rare book company called Doodled Books Ltd. I can't claim that drawing is my strong point, but I gave it my best shot, with my very inaccurate version of a 16th century galleon. My artist wife Naomi showed me how it should be done - my effort is on the left, hers is the good one. Have a look at the Doodled Books website - www.doodledbooks.co.uk
» more

Digital books
(July 28, 2009) I welcome the advent of digital books - but will they ever replace the old-fashioned kind? Talking with friends, I came to the conclusion that there will always be a place for both varieties. The problem with taking Kindle or Sony Reader on holiday is that you are always liable to drop it in the pool or get it jammed up with sand - and that would be an awful lot of money to lose.
» more

Heffers
(July 7, 2009) Heffers bookshop in Cambridge, England, is a real treasure. I was there yesterday to sign dozens of copies of both the UK and US hardback editions of Martyr. It was a delight to meet first-edition collectors such as David and Nick, who had travelled into the city specially. A big thank-you also to Richard Reynolds for his hospitality. He runs the Heffers crime department and I would guess he knows more about the genre than almost anyone else in the country. I learned a great deal in a few short hours.
» more

Holt signing
(June 27, 2009) Many thanks to David Makinson at the Holt Bookshop in Norfolk, England. He has a fantastic customer list, many of whom turned up for my book-signing on Saturday and bought copies of Martyr. It was gratifying to meet such a dedicated group of book-lovers.
» more

Large print
(June 18, 2009). Large print rights for Martyr have now been acquired - by Thorndike Press in the US and BBC Audio in the UK. Watch this space for publication dates.
» more

In the shops
Martyr is now on sale in the UK, America and Canada. This is the first book in the John Shakespeare series of Elizabethan thrillers. It's a tremendously exciting time for me, but I realise that publication is not the culmination of anything - just the beginning. I want people to read the book because I think it is a good, entertaining story - but also because I want to shed light on a forgotten tyranny, a time which can tell us an awful lot about the days in which we live. I have been delighted by the early reactions to Martyr in both America and Britain (see my Books page on this website for a few of the reviews). Now I just hope that the really important people - the people who love to read books - enjoy my first novel. It's the result of fifteen years of plotting, research, hard work and a great deal of fun on my part.
» more

Upcoming dates
I'll be signing books at a couple of brilliant UK stores in the next few weeks. First the Holt Bookshop in Norfolk on June 27, 11am-1pm, then Heffers in Cambridge on July 6, from 11am.
» more

2009 Cartier Diamond Dagger award
It was a glittering affair, in a room suitably lit by dozens of flickering candles and furnished with heavy drapes behind which murderous monks and other assassins might lurk.
» more

Queen Elizabeth 1st