Author, editor
Urban Fox Books is the new imprint I have created to reprint my Hannah Weybridge crime thriller series and in preparation for the launch of book six – Murder in the Lady Chapel – on 21 November, 2023
The series so far Includes:
All are available on Amazon as paperbacks and ebooks, the latter are free with Kindle Unlimited.
The series is available to order from bookshops and online from Blackwell’s with free delivery and £1 discount,
As soon a I read that Jenny Lund Madsen is an acclaimed scriptwriter – her work includes the international hit, Follow the Money, which is one of my favourites – I knew I was in for a treat with her début literary thriller, Thirty Days of Darkness translated by Megan E. Turney. Indeed Thirty Days of Darkness won the Harald Mogensen Prize for Best Danish Crime Novel of the year and was shortlisted for the coveted Glass Key Award.
This novel is a dark but sometimes humorous narrative following the trials of Danish literary novelist Hannah Krause-Bendix who, having taken up the challenge to write a popular crime novel in a month, finds herself in a small town in Iceland where two days after her arrival a murder takes place – or at least a suspicious death. The victim is the nephew of her host, Ella, who speaks neither Danish or English but manages to communicate a little via writing the latter – after a fashion. The limited hours of of daylight and the haunting landscape play a major role in creating mood and motivation.
Never having had a bad review for her literary works, and contemptuous of genre fiction, Hannah searches desperately for a plot. Could she use the unfolding drama in the small town? Maybe if she follows the clues it will inspire her? She gives little thought to the sensitivities of those involved and if she were staying in an Airbnb should wouldn’t receive any accolades as a guest. Ella is amazingly forgiving until Hannah breaks into her host’s locked study! What was she thinking? Actually she was looking for alcohol – something she relies on more than she’d care to admit.
In fact her quest for drinks leads her to the “local” where she meets to local police officer (the town only has one), Viktor and then his wife. The bar owner is a source of the town’s recent history and the personalities involved. But another regular, an enigmatic woman with a slobbering dog is less forthcoming. Hannah is determined to discover the truth about what happened and her sense of superiority makes her impervious to reason thus putting herself and others at risk.
Jenny Lund Madsen has created a spider’s web of a plot that leaves her rather unlikeable protagonist at risk. Hannah does have some redeeming features as you will discover as the author plays with our expectations and pulls the strings of our emotions. As the plot gathers momentum and the dangers accumulate, the breathtaking dénouement of what is the first in a series, is explosive. I’m intrigued to know what Hannah does next.
Thirty Days of Darkness is published by Orenda Books and is available online and from bookshops.
I was a late addition to the festival line-up and was delighted to be invited to moderate the panel of authors who write crime fiction for children and YA. It was a new departure for me as I normally talk about my own Hannah Weybridge crime thriller series but it was good to link the work I do on my parenting website to my passion for crime and books.
I arrived on Friday and booked for the “extra” event – the Polari Salon organised by the inimitable Paul Burston. Paul, Lesley Thomson, Derek Farrell and Lilja Sigurörardóttir read from their work. It was obvious from the start that we were in for a treat when Tom Fisher introduced the show and brought such a sense of fun and theatre to the occasion that I knew we would be in good hands for the following two days. It was brilliant way to launch the festival.
Having experienced a panel with an unprepared moderator, I was determined to give the authors on Let Them Lead The Way – Sharna Jackson, Nicki Thornton and Sarah Todd Taylor – all the attention to detail they deserved. Our slot was second up on the Saturday. As this year’s theme was Bring Me Sunshine each panel was asked to recall their “sunshine moments”. It was no surprise that Sharna, Nicki and Sarah all quoted children’s amazing reactions to their books. Many attendees said how much they enjoyed our discussion, never having considered children’s crime fiction before.
For a festival that has only reached its third year, Morecambe & Vice had all the panache of one that had been long established. This is attributable to the amazing skills and personalities of Ben Cooper-Muir and Tom Fisher with their team of charming and ever-cheerful volunteers. Even registering was a joy – I loved my author tag.
The range of panels – from mental health to writing as a couple and everything in between – meant that there was something for everyone and running one timeline meant not having to choose although this may change in the future if the festival gets bigger. One panel, which was pertinent to authors in particular, was the discussion about running a festival with great insights from Bob McDervitt (Bloody Scotland), Dr Jackie Collins (Newcastle Noir), Quentin Bates, (Iceland Noir) and SJ Bradley (Northern Short Story Festival) and moderated by Ben Cooper-Muir. All of them stressed the importance of paying authors to appear and not charging them for a weekend pass to obtain a place on a panel.
The atmosphere was relaxed and fun. It was great to meet so many bloggers and crime readers. Sarah Hardy who runs BooksOnTheBrightSide must be commended for the blog tour she organised for the authors in the run-up to the festival. Waterstones hosted a bookshop and there was time for authors to sign books between panels.
The festival brochure was Tom and Ben’s labour of love and they produced a work of art. Many of the participating authors found themselves in the centre spread as the subject of a crossword clue – winner to receive £100 voucher for Waterstones.
Setting the festival in the art deco Midland Hotel – think Poirot – added a sense of occasion to the proceedings although staying there was out of my price range. I left earlier than planned due to the terrible weather but wished I had stayed to the end. Morecambe & Vice is a festival to be cherished and supported. I’ll certainly be there next year, if invited.
There are very few certainties in life, but one, for me, is opening a new Marnie Rome novel by Sarah Hilary and knowing that I am in for a literary treat.
Come And Find Me begins with a brutal prison riot in which a prisoner escapes and others lie injured in hospital, two in the mortuary. The thoughts of one of these, written in the first person, are interspersed throughout the investigation in which DI Marnie Rome and DS Noah Jake are trying to find Michael Vokey, the dangerous and manipulative escaped prisoner who may try and contact the two women who have been writing to him in prison… Or the young single mother who survived his last attack.
The investigation is complicated by the fact that Marnie’s adopted brother who had murdered her parents is one of the injured in hospital and Noah’s parents are not talking to him as their younger Sol is on remand. Noah had arrested and charged him for importing class C drugs. But prison was the last place he needed to be. The back stories of Marnie and Noah are expertly interwoven into the narrative which is fast paced with many heart-in-mouth moments.
As usual Sarah Hilary writes with precision and emotional intelligence. No word is superfluous. The characterisation and plotting are faultless. The narrative totally compelling.
Come And Find Me is the fifth in Sarah Hilary’s police procedurals set in London. Although it can be read as a stand-alone, I’d recommend starting with the first book, Someone Else’s Skin and progress through this fascinating and absorbing series.
I received an advance reading copy from the publisher.
Published by Headline, the hardback and Kindle editions are released on 22 March, paperback 4 October, 2018.
In a recent interview with bestselling author Jane Davis (pictured left) for her Virtual Book Club series, one of the questions was about how I choose names for characters and I mentioned checking out the popular names for the year the character was born.
For Death’s Silent Judgement I went to a website that gave Somali names as well. A friend also wanted to be a character in the book and he fit the bill for one of them but sadly hasn’t made it to book three. That’s the trouble with crime novels – characters die.
In the third Hannah Weybridge thriller to be published by Urbane Publications next year, I have some Asian characters and am name-checking with my Asian friends as well as websites.
Currently I am completing the first draft which is basically a wobbly skeleton of the novel but have got to the point when I can’t keep putting XX or a question mark for the name of a character. Even I am getting confused!
So today’s job is to go through the manuscript naming names. Some characters have made it through from Dancers in the Wind and Death’s Silent Judgement so their names are set in stone. Others I can think about what suits them, their culture and age.
The novel opens with the discovery of a body in Peckham Rye lake – the Pond – by two young boys and I had their names early on: Jace and Ollie. These two local boys from a nearby estate are up to no good and I loved writing their (possibly only) scene!
So now I am off to read through the manuscript to find all those XXs and question marks to insert some names and add them to the little blue book that I keep for name checks, physical characteristics, ages, roles …
As I write crime thrillers, it’s good to step outside the genre and read something rather different. Here are some of the books I’ve recently read and enjoyed that focus on relationships (and maybe a few crimes!).
I was fascinated by Exquisite (Orenda Books) by Sarah Stovell. The novel centres on the affair which develops between Bo Luxton, a best selling author who is married with two children living in the Lake District and Alice Dark a young aspiring writer in a dead end job and relationship in Brighton. They meet at a workshop run by Bo and their friendship develops via emails and then Alice’s visits to the author. The story is brilliantly told from both viewpoints and both characters are unreliable in their narration. Totally absorbing .
In The Cruelty of Lambs (Urbane Publications) Angelena Boden tackles the complicated issue of domestic abuse. Her main characters – Ian and Una – are well drawn and the plot moves along at a cracking pace. The narrative switches from Ian, a cellist who lost his teaching job when wrongly accused of inappropriate behaviour, to Una, a high-flyer who stands to lose the business she built up. Financial ruin faces them but their reactions couldn’t be more different. The supporting characters – friends of the couple who become entangled in the situation – are realistic and their concerns are credible. A thought-provoking and often disturbing read which challenges your preconceptions.
If you like a sexy and mature romantic read, you’ll love Seeking Eden by Beverley Harvey (Urbane Publications). Kate and Neil decide to move out of London after they are burgled and settle into a new, up-market housing estate. But Neil’s job is still in the capital and he spends some of the week staying over at a friend’s flat leaving Kate to her own devices and her new neighbours and Ben – the boyfriend who had walked out on her years ago and now wants to rekindle their relationship… A good contemporary read with well-drawn characters.
One of my favourite recent reads is My Name is Lucy Barton (Penguin), my first foray into Elizabeth Strout’s fiction. I love a first person narrative when it’s told well, and this one is perfection told by Lucy Barton, from her hospital bed, reminiscing about her family and their poverty, which isolated them from the community where they lived. Lucy moved up in the world and became estranged from her parents but it is her mother’s unexpected vigil in the hospital room that helps Lucy reassess her past and move towards a different future. A short but totally absorbing read.
Currently reading and would recommend Jackie Buxton’s Glass Houses and Beware the Cuckoo by Julia Newman, both published by Urbane Publications.
This time last week I was on the train to Bristol and my second CrimeFest courtesy of my publishers Urbane Publications.
What a difference a year makes! Last year I was looking forward to the publication of Dancers in the Wind in October. This year I had just celebrated the launch of the second Hannah Weybridge thriller, Death’s Silent Judgement. And I was booked to take part in a panel!
There are often three panels taking place at the same time so it’s wise to study the programme beforehand and make decisions. Friday was a busy day for me as I went to four panels and then appeared on one of the last ones of the day “Journalists: Characters who tell stories for a living” moderated by Rod Reynolds. Once I’d got over my nerves, this was great fun and the other three panelists, Walter Lucius, Antti Tuomainen and Matt Wesolowski were a hoot.
On the Friday evening there were two drinks receptions – the first being the Crime Writers’ Association’s Dagger Announcement always fun with a thrill of expectation. Not mine I hasten to add, but one day…
One of the wonderful things about CrimeFest is meeting up with other writers, book bloggers and readers, publishers and agents. Some of whom I know well, others I’ve enjoyed getting to know better. There was a wonderful woman from Melbourne who had a great idea for circumventing having to take numerous signed copies back with her. She asked authors on the panels to sign her programme and then bought the books in her home city.
Last year I had to leave on the Saturday morning to attend a wedding, so this year I booked for the Gala Dinner which was great fun – especially sitting with and near other Urbane authors. The only disappointment was that Matthew Smith, CEO of Urbane Publications, was unable to join us.
Listening to other authors discussing their work is fascinating and instructive. My favourite panel was the last one I went to before leaving: Short Stories – Motives for Murder moderated by Martin Edwards and joined by fellow CWA grandees Ann Cleeves, Janet Laurence, Peter Lovesy and LC Tayor. The rapport between these five was brilliant and as writers they are inspirational.
So dates in the diary for CrimeFest 2018!
Panel photo courtesy of Joy Kluver.
What better place to launch a book than at the scene of the first murder? In Death’s Silent Judgement, the first body is discovered in the crypt at St John the Evangelist Church at Waterloo. So in November 2016, I tried to reserve the crypt, only to discover that publication day – 11 May, 2017 – was already taken! Only slightly disappointed, I booked Tuesday 16 May two days before CrimeFest in Bristol.
The crypt proved to be the perfect venue for my launch although we did have to supply the glasses for the wine we brought with us. However the bar was soon set up and the room began to fill with familiar faces.
It was lovely to be supported by fellow Urbane authors: Lloyd Otis, Andrew Smith, Julie Newman, Simon Michael and Hugh Fraser (unfortunately Pete Adams’ train was held up so he isn’t in the photo). Sadly the CEO of Urbane Publications, Matthew Smith, was ill and couldn’t attend.
By happy coincidence, I know the vicar at St John’s and was delighted that Revd Canon Giles Goddard managed to pop down to wish me luck with the book.
At occasions like these it’s important to thank all the people who helped bring a book to fruition. Ian Patrick who was in the Met during the 1990s when the book is set and checked some facts for me, now lives too far away for London parties but Dr Geoff Lockwood (pictured) arrived in time for the speech!
Numerous friends have helped me in so many varied ways – some of them aren’t even aware that I used one of their traits for a character. However a special thanks must go to my amazing daughter, Olivia who is always such a fabulous support and is ready to roll her sleeves up to run the bar and keep smiling!
I had a brilliant time and everyone spoke of the wonderful atmosphere – and at least there were no dead bodies to haunt us!
You can see more launch photos in an album on my Facebook page.
Death’s Silent Judgement is available in bookshops, Hive (free P&P) and Amazon.
10 May – If In Doubt Read Review
11 May – Damp Pebbles – Review
11 May – Linda’s Book Bag – The Challenges of Writing a Sequel
12 May – Off The Shelf Books – Best of Crime
13 May – The Quiet Knitter – My Inspiration for Death’s Silent Judgement
14 May – Liz Loves Books – 20 Questions
15 May – Anne Bonny Book Reviews – Review and Q&A
16 May – Crime Book Junkie – Guest Post on Minor Characters
17 May – Have Books Will Read – Review
18 May – Grab This Book – Q&A
19 May – By The letter Book Reviews – My Writing Day
