‘A Bitter Pill’ by S. A. Reeves

Published by Stephen Haunts Ltd,
17 September 2024.
ISBN: 978-1-06872094-9 (HB)

Gemma Curtis is the proprietor of The Bookworm Bookshop which is situated on the corner of the marketplace. She was happy with her bookshop and the hum of the coffee machine in the adjoining café area. However, business was slow and not helped by people who browsed, found a book they liked and then took out the mobile phone found the book on kindle, bought it online and off they went.

Mavis Rawlings her shop assistant remarked ‘Such a shame they miss the whole point, don’t they the feel of the pages, the smell of the paper.’ We need something to bring more readers in. She ponders for a while and then suggests that they could draw people in by inviting an author to talk about his books.

They decide to invite local author Dominic Westley to do a book signing at The Bookworm.  He arrives late and doesn’t look well, and eventually he keels over and dies.  Not a good start to their decision to entice more customers into the shop. However undeterred her trusty assistant Mavis comes up with several more ideas.

Meanwhile they learn that the police have ruled the death as an accidental overdose. But Gemma having met Dominic’s estranged wife begins to suspect that all is not right.  She and Mavis, decide to do a little investigating themselves.  Was it an accidental overdose, or something more sinister?

Set in a small town in Derbyshire, this is a delightful mystery.  I liked the characters and enjoyed the way they developed during the story going from Boss and assistant to two friends.  If was a fun read, but with some clever twists to keep one reading.  Recommended.
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Reviewer: Lizzie Sirett

S. A. Reeves is the pen name of a husband and wife writing duo, who have been married for over twenty years. They are based near the Peak District in Derbyshire (United Kingdom). They both like to read and watch murder mysteries, and will frequently stand in front of a whiteboard, plotting the perfect murder—for creative Fiction purposes, of course.

‘Because She Looked Away’ by Alison Bruce.

Published by Constable,
26 September 2024. 
ISBN: 978- 47212-390-9 (HB)

DS Ronnie Blake has just relocated to Cambridge from London.  She is still recovering from the sudden death of her sister, Jodie, and she and her brother Alex are raising Jodie’s son, eight-year-old Noah.  Ronnie is aware that this will impinge on her professional life, but she, she reports to Cambridge Police Station, expecting to be allocated some duties, but is instead told that she is still considered unfit to work.  Then, to her surprise, she is questioned by members of the Special Investigations Unit for the Eastern Region (nicknamed the DEAD Team).  Ronnie is puzzled by this and eventually discovers that, though the unit has had great success, it only has one outstanding case (Operation Byron) and that is proving difficult to crack.  They have the names of three apparently unconnected people:  a convicted fraudster, a dead academic, and her dead sister, and it seems to involve blackmail.

Despite warnings to stay out of the case, Ronnie cannot ignore it and tries to find out what is going on.  However, she quickly finds a possible lead which appears to connect Operation Byron to a shocking local murder.  She is seconded to the DEAD team and with the help of Malachi (a new member of the team) she tries to find out why her sister died.

The plot develops in a variety of ways:  Ronnie’s relationship with her professional colleagues and the tensions between the DEAD team and Superintendent Cooper (her new boss).  Returning to her childhood home, she is discovering things about Cambridge and her family.  And she and her brother Alex are learning how to care for and support Noah – new roles for both of them.

The various strands are teased out in unexpected ways and the twists and turns make it difficult to spot the criminals.  The story is a gripping read with some dark parts, but short chapters keep the pace going and encourage the reader to read just a bit more.  Ronnie is a great lead, a good detective, determined, persistent but not known for her team spirit.  The other characters are well-developed individuals, with their own hopes and problems, and it will be interesting to see how they develop in future stories.  

This is a great start to the new D S Ronnie Blake series, and one looks forward very much to the next instalment.
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Reviewer: Jo Hesslewood
Other books by this author:  The D C Goodhew series:  Cambridge Blue, Cambridge Siren, Cambridge Calling, Cambridge Silence, Cambridge Backs, Cambridge Promise; Stand-alones:  I did it for us, The Moment Before Impact; 

Alison Bruce was born in Croydon and grew up in Wiltshire. She had moved to the Cambridge area in 1998 and decided to make it the backdrop for the books because of its unique mix of characteristics. She writes the DC Gary Goodhew, Cambridge Blue series and has also written two standalone novels, I Did It for Us and The Moment before Impact. Alison has a first-class BSc (Hons) in Crime and Investigative Studies and works with the Eastern region police forces.  The first book in her new series set in Cambridge is, Because She Looked Away, published September 2024.

www.alisonbruce.com

Jo Hesslewood.  Crime fiction has been my favourite reading material since as a teenager I first spotted Agatha Christie on the library bookshelves.  For twenty-five years the commute to and from London provided plenty of reading time.  I am fortunate to live in Cambridge, where my local crime fiction book club, Crimecrackers, meets at Heffers Bookshop.  I enjoy attending crime fiction events and currently organise events for the Margery Allingham Society.

CWA: Oxford Chapter Meeting by Lizzie Sirett

 On the 5th November 2024,
the CWA Oxford Chapter met at Joe’s Bar and Grill.

 

As you will see on the photograph above, there is a space on the right side of the front of the table where resides a pair of glasses. That was where I was sitting when I stood up to take a photograph. In retrospect it would have been more sensible if I had kept the glasses on and then I wouldn't have sliced Philip Gooden in half. It was not intentional: the only thing I can deduce is that at the last moment Philip leaned back so that our illustrious leader Peter Tickler could be clearly seen.

Peter Tickler has been convenor of the Oxford chapter for some years, and arranged many lunches during that time. So a huge thank you to Peter, who has now passed the baton of convenor over to Sarah Williams.

Moving left to right around the table are :
Philip Gooden, Peter Tickler, Sarah Williams, Stephen
Collier, Tom Hindle, Miles Donnelly, Roger Corke.
Vera Morris, and Louise Bolan.
We were later joined by Ruth Mancini.

It was a lively afternoon. Join us for the next one.

News From the Continent by Gitta Edelmann

Days in Red and Black
 A Murderous Meeting
by Gitta Edelmann

Imagine a group of ladies, all dressed in red and black and all of them full of murderous ideas. A lot of them
writing, all of them reading crime fiction. And all of them raiding the little town of Rendsburg in the North of
Germany, not too far from the Danish border.

Yes, I’m speaking of the Murderous Sisters. Of their Ladies Crime Festival 2024.

A group of Murderous Sisters photo: Jürgen Lauterbach

I have been a member of this women’s association for over 20 years now and I’ve seen us grow and thrive.
Founded in 1996 as Sisters in Crime, German Chapter, we have focused our attention to crime fiction written in German. To point out this core theme we set up our own association and changed our name to Mörderische Schwestern in 2006.

Starting as a little group of women with the great idea to promote crime fiction written by women in German, we have meanwhile become the biggest network of mystery and thriller-loving women in Europe with nearly 800 members. And once a year in November we come together somewhere in the German-speaking countries for a members’ meeting, for lectures and workshops, for personal exchange of plans and plots, of publishing strategies and comfort if something doesn’t work out as hoped.

This time our venue was in the far north of Germany. Of course, not everyone could come but our great technical team led by Klaudia Zotzmann-Koch made it possible to stream most of the conference programme online. Yes, we have experts for everything.

(member of the technical team) photo: Jürgen Lauterbach

 I definitely wanted to meet my sisters in person. And I also had a special, secret task that made it absolutely necessary to be live at the festival. So, I set off one cold Thursday morning at five in the morning from Bonn towards Cologne, Hamburg and at last Rendsburg – a ten-hour trip because of the realities of German rail.

I have to admit that I didn’t see much of the little town. We stayed at the Nordkolleg, an educational and conference centre set in a park near the North Sea—Baltic Sea Canal (great to walk along!) with so many buildings and rooms and entrances that we needed a special map to find our way. I still got lost every now and then.

The TransCrime group, a task force responsible for contacts in foreign countries and workshops at home and abroad, had decided to meet on Thursday, a day before the actual event. We wanted to start celebrating our dear colleague Fenna Williams, our ‘travels lady’ and, by the way, like me and our Scottish sister Marsali Taylor also a member of the Mystery People.  Fenna is this year’s worthy winner of the Goldene Auguste!

Since 2009, the Murderous Sisters have awarded the Goldene Auguste every three years to a person who has made an outstanding contribution to crime fiction written by women. And Fenna has undoubtedly done this. Not only by writing great mysteries like those featuring Pippa Bolle, a sleuthing housesitter, that are set in different European countries, but also by supporting fellow female authors in workshops and coachings, by organising writing and reading retreats and research trips for the Murderous Sisters in Germany, Austria, France, Italy and the UK. And she is still full of plans …

Fortunately, the Nordkolleg has a very nice bar in the basement where we could get together and have a drink or three after we had got rid of some men from a trade union meeting. And before you ask – yes, they are still alive.  Photo: Jürgen Lauterbach

 But let’s go back to our main meeting. I especially enjoyed getting together again with friends and colleagues that I hadn’t seen for a long time. Or sometimes just for a short time like Marsali Taylor, our Murderous Sister from Shetland. I had met her in October on a reading retreat in Kent and it was great to talk to her again. But, of course, it was also fun to meet new writers, bloggers or readers and to find out what we have in common besides our interest for clever misdeeds and more or less grizzly murders.

This year’s special guest was the Canadian and British author Jessica J. Lee, who gave us a wonderful insight into New Nature Writing – in German! Thanks, Jessica, I feel inspired and have a little plan of my own now.

 Jessica J. Lee
photo: Jürgen Lauterbach

 Obviously, a members’ meeting was held, then there were workshops about creative writing techniques as well as about topics we might need to know about for our books. To listen to a psychotherapist talking about child endangerment was not at all amusing but still very informatory.

The DNA-analysis talk, however, was great fun. Privatdozentin Dr. Nicole von Wurmb-Schwark, head of Forensic Genetics and Medicine at the Institute of Haematopathology in Hamburg not only informed us about the current state of DNA analysis but also about things that can go awry by DNA transfer using some shrewd examples that made us laugh. I also enjoyed learning that DNA analysis is sometimes used to find out if the puppies of a pedigree bitch are really the offspring of the purebred dog chosen for breeding (which makes them expensive) or of neighbour’s mongrel. One of the highlights of the Festival was the Ladies Crime Night open for public.

 Audience at the Ladies Crime Night with Marsali Taylor
 photo: Jürgen Lauterbach

 

Our LCN is a special and copyrighted reading format: Eight writers read from their novels or short stories, but only for seven minutes. Then the sound of a gunshot stops them in the middle of a word. This is great fun for the audience, not only because they get to know very different kinds of crime stories but also because of the startled faces of the authors!

Though I was not one of the authors reading this year, my work was still on stage. Marsali Taylor read her story Murder at Up Helly A in English, then Fenna Williams read my translation into German.

We had all worked together for the anthology Slàinte Mhath – A Literary Tour Around Scotland that has been published in German and English.

Of course, the evening ended in our bar, but I won’t tell you more about that.

On Sunday morning we held a ceremony in honour of two wonderful writers of crime fiction. First, we celebrated Karin Müller who won this years’ grant for a very amusing writing project in the making that we all want to read as soon as possible.

 And then it was time for the Goldene Auguste. This prize is named after the Austrian writer Auguste Groner who created the first serial detective in German literature in 1892.

I had been chosen to give the laudatory speech and present my colleague and friend Fenna Williams with the beautiful little gilded statue. An emotional moment for her and me and all of us.

Fenna Williams and the Goldene Auguste.
 photo: Christiane Nitsche-Costa

And then there was a last little lunch and it was all over. We said good-bye hugging and looking forward to next year’s Ladies Crime Festival. I changed from my red dress and high heels to jeans and walking shoes to prepare for my long journey home, tired and yet full of sunshine in my heart. It’s great to have so many sisters! 

(Fenna and Gitta with Christiane and Sandra
(members of the board))
photo: Jürgen Lauterbach

 

Gitta Edelmann is an author of mysteries for adults and children. She also writes romance, historical fiction and fantasy and occasionally works as a translator or editor.  She is a member of PEN, the Murderous Sisters and other writers’ associations in Germany and of the Mystery People. (photo by Christa Henke)

www.gitta-edelmann.de    

‘A Lively Midwinter Murder by Katy Watson

Published by Constable,
5 November 2024.
ISBN: 978-1-4087-2040-0 (HB)

When the three best friends Caro, Rosalind, and Posy, actors and amateur sleuths, known as the three Dahlia’s, are invited to the Christmas society wedding of their friend Libby to Duncan Alexander, held in his remote Scottish castle. They are in no time packed and ready for good food and plenty of mulled wine, accompanied of course by their partners.

Initially all looks good. The castle is amazing, and the location is stunningly beautiful all set for enjoyment and romance.  Unfortunately, the weather has distinctly other ideas, and the storm of the century brings unprecedented heavy snow and leaves them with no electricity, phone connection, internet, and in short, they are completely cut off from the mainland.   

It could be worse, they have food, and Bill the husband of Nora, the parents of Duncan manages to get an old generator working providing some heat for the castle.  But then the dead body of one of the guests is found outside in the snow dressed in Libby’s wedding gown and wearing a necklace of diamonds that the housekeeper Elsbeth has been trying to find, as they are family heirlooms and Nora wants Libby to wear them on her wedding day.

Unable to contact the police, or leave the castle, Jack, Rosalind’s partner, who is ex-police takes it upon himself to question everyone to get someone idea of their whereabouts during the day, as he does so secrets start to immerge.  And there are a lot of secrets.  The three Dahlia’s put their heads together to unravel the history of Dunwick Castle, and Kinley House that is situated on the other bank of the loch. The two families fell out decades ago, but why? There are many twists and turns in this fascinating book.  It will keep you reading into the early hours it did me. Highly recommended.
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Reviewer: Lizzie Sirett

Katy Watson Grew up in a family of murder mystery addicts, Katy learned early to look for means, motive and opportunity. After studying English Literature – with a sideline in crime fiction – at Lancaster University, she set about teaching herself to write her own stories, while also experiencing enough of the world to have things to write about. Two careers, a lot of airmiles, one husband, two children, three houses and forty five published books for children and adults later, lockdown finally gave her the means, motive and opportunity to create her own murder mystery – with the aid of her scientist husband’s worryingly thorough knowledge of poisons. The Three Dahlias is the result.

‘The Ghosts of Paris’ by Tara Moss

Published by Verve Books,
21 November 2024.
ISBN: 978-0-8573083-3 (PBO)

I loved Tara Moss's previous novel The War Widow and was delighted to be able to follow Billie Walker's further adventures in this sequel set-in post-War Sydney, London and Paris. 

Billie Walker is an intrepid investigator following in the footsteps of her father when she takes over his Investigative Bureau in Sydney.  She has an important and lucrative client who wants to find out whether her husband is alive and if so, what has he been doing for the last two years? 

Billie has her own demons too which involve the disappearance of her husband feared dead in the Warsaw uprising three years earlier.  She is tormented by the thought of his probable death or his choosing to live without her.

Set in 1947 this is a terrific historical mystery that keeps one gripped until the very end.  I loved the descriptions of London and Paris during the post War years and especially the ritzy hotels she stays in with her faithful and attractive side kick Sam!  The novel is packed with fascinating characters, issues and events.  There is a sympathetic portrayal of the persecution of minority cultures and communities, and Billie is a smart and persuasive protagonist whose adventures I would like to follow further! 
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Reviewer: Toni Russell

Tara Moss is an internationally bestselling author, human rights activist, documentary host, and model. Her crime novels have been published in nineteen countries and thirteen languages, and her memoir, The Fictional Woman, was a #1 international bestseller. She is a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador and has received the Edna Ryan Award for significant contributions to feminist debate and for speaking out for women and children, and in 2017 she was recognized as one of the Global Top 50 Diversity Figures in Public Life. 

Toni Russell is a retired teacher who has lived in London all her life and loves the city.  She says, ‘I enjoy museums, galleries and the theatre but probably my favourite pastime is reading.  I found myself reading detective fiction almost for the first time during lockdown and have particularly enjoyed old fashioned detective fiction rather than the nordic noir variety.  I am a member of a book club at the local library and have previously attended literature classes at our local Adult Education Centre.  I am married with three children and five grandchildren.

A Poisoned Chalice by Alison Joseph

Published by Joffe Books Ltd
24 October 2024.
ISBN: 978-1-83526826-1(PB)

Sister Agnes works at a young people’s homeless hostel where several people come looking for Jay Sorrell who has gone missing including his wife Neave. Not long after, the derelict old church of St Bruno’s is set on fire and Jay’s body is pulled from the ashes. The church safe had also been prised open.

It doesn’t help that she is certain that her old and trusted friend Father Julius knows something about Jay that he’s not telling her. This she finds particularly disconcerting when the two had shared each other’s confidences for so long. She does know that Julius was given the artifacts from St Bruno’s for safekeeping when the church was decommissioned. Did the arsonist set fire to the church because he’d failed to find the legendary Judas chalice which, according to Julius, went missing some time ago. Did someone break into the church to look for the chalice and then set the place on fire in frustration when he failed to find it? Did he know Jay was sleeping rough in the crypt? Was Jay involved in some way?

Sister Agnes is determined to find answers even if it means bringing down the wrath of her convent superior Sister Winifred.  

This is Book 8 of Alison Joseph’s Sister Agnes Mysteries, but it can be read as a standalone. This is the first in the series that I have read, and I confess though it would have been helpful to have been more familiar with the various ongoing characters and their relationships at the start of the novel, but it did not stop me from enjoying the book.

Having been brought up in convent schools, worked with nun colleagues throughout my teaching career and numbering nuns among my friends, including two or three who didn’t conform to the perceived image, I have to say, Sister Agnes is nothing like any nun I’ve ever come across. Her dress choice of jeans and trainers I can just about credit, but it took me some time to adjust to her love of prosecco.

What I enjoyed most was the convoluted plot which kept me on my toes. With so many different threads, it was impossible to guess how they would all be woven into a credible finale, though Alison Joseph managed to do very successfully.
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Reviewer: Judith Cranswick  

Alison Joseph was born and brought up in London. She studied French and Philosophy at Leeds University, and then worked in local radio in Leeds as a producer and presenter. She moved back to London in 1983 and worked for a Channel 4 production company, making short documentaries. In 1985 she set up her own company, Works on Screen. Productions included Through the Devil's Gateway, a series about women and religion presented by Helen Mirren, which was broadcast by Channel 4 in 1989. A book of the series was published by SPCK. Her first Sister Agnes mystery was published in 1996. There are now eight books in the series. Alison has also written short stories for Radio 4, for YOU magazine, for Critical Quarterly and for various women's magazines, as well as abridging novels for Radio 4's Book at Bedtime and The Late Book, including the award-winning production of Captain Corelli's Mandolin. She is the author of two radio plays, both broadcast on Radio 4, Go For The Grail (1995) and Baby on Board (1996).
Alison lives in London with her husband. 

www.alisonjoseph.com 

Judith Cranswick was born and brought up in Norwich. Apart from writing, Judith’s great passions are travel and history. Both have influenced her two series of mystery novels. Tour Manager, Fiona Mason takes coach parties throughout Europe, and historian Aunt Jessica is the guest lecturer accompanying tour groups visiting more exotic destinations aided by her nephew Harry. Her published novels also include several award-winning standalone psychological thrillers. She wrote her first novel (now languishing in the back of a drawer somewhere) when her two children were toddlers, but there was little time for writing when she returned to her teaching career. Now retired, she is able to indulge her love of writing and has begun a life of crime! ‘Writers are told to write what they know about, but I can assure you, I've never committed a murder. I'm an ex-convent school headmistress for goodness sake!’ Her most recent book is Journey To Casablanca  

http://judithcranswick.co.uk/

‘Look In the Mirror’ by Catherine Steadman

Published by Quercus Books,
1st August 2024.
ISBN: 978-1-52943-883-3 (HB)

Catherine Steadman is a woman of many parts - quite literally, since, as well as being the author of twisty psychological thrillers, she also writes screenplays, and is an actress, appearing on stage and on screen on both sides of the Atlantic.

Look in the Mirror is her fifth standalone thriller, and a stunning tour-de-force. The opening of the book has the reader standing with Nina, a thirty-something Cambridge academic, who has recently lost her father and is dealing with his estate. A sentence on the very first page of the book sets the tone for Nina’s wry outlook on life - “The business of losing a father is a full-time, short-term contract with limited perks and a clear cutoff point.” Nina’s father had been an extraordinarily clever and accomplished man - a crossword compiler, an architect, a structural engineer, and a remorseless setter of challenges for Nina, his only child, whom he brought up as a single parent after his wife died soon after giving birth.

Amongst the paperwork Nina sorts through after her father’s death is a solicitor’s letter, informing her that her very private, very English father, has left her a house in the British Virgin Islands. Baffled - to her knowledge her father had never been to the Caribbean - Nina catches the flight the solicitors have arranged for her and travels to investigate - and perhaps to find out more about her father. Not long after she arrives, Nina finds that things are not entirely as they seem, and that she will need to be on her A-game if she is to decode the puzzles she is confronted with and survive her sojourn in the house.

As well as Nina, we also encounter Maria, a Venezuelan refugee, Yang Joon-Gi, a Korean handyman, Joe, an American construction worker, and Lucinda, an extremely wealthy woman. Their stories, woven through the book in shifting timelines, all contribute to the final unravelling of the mystery of the house, as Nina is driven almost to breaking point by the deadly hazards she must overcome.

A complex, beautifully constructed book, with striking characters, and a brilliant, deeply unsettling plot.
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Reviewer: Sarah Williams

Catherine Steadman is an actress and writer based in North London. She is known for her roles in Downton Abbey and Tutankhamun, starring alongside Sam Neill, as well as shows including Breathless, The Inbetweeners, The Tudors, and Fresh Meat. She also has appeared on stage in the West End including Oppenheimer for the RSC, for which she was nominated for a 2016 Laurence Olivier Award. 

catherinesteadman.com. 

Sarah Williams has been a professional writer for most of her adult life. She started writing under the name of Sarah Matthews, publishing translations from the French, as well as children’s information books, school textbooks, and school editions of authors such as Conan Doyle and Mark Twain. Most recently, she turned to crime, and has published How to Write Crime Fiction (Robinson), a second edition of which is due in Spring 2025. There are also two crime novels in the offing.

    Follow her on Substack at https://sarahwilliamsauthor.substack.com

‘Istanbul Crossing’ by Timothy Jay Smith

Published by Leapfrog Press,
24 September 2024.
ISBN: 978-1-94858599-6 (PB)

Istanbul Crossing is an easy to read, sensitively written story based in and around Istanbul over a nine-day period. It has one main protagonist, a young Syrian refugee called Ahdaf, and two main topics: people smuggling and Ahdaf’s embryonic homosexuality.

Ahdaf left Syria in a hurry after it became obvious that his sexuality made him an ISIS target – his cousin Sadiq had been pushed off a roof and murdered for just this reason. After walking for ninety days, he arrived in Istanbul and found himself a basic flat. Then, using his language skills, he set about making a meagre living by helping fellow countrymen with some of the arrangements necessary for them to cross over to Greece. Ahdaf is a caring and generous soul who never tries to overcharge those he helps. He understands exactly what it is like to flee your homeland because you fear persecution of one type or another. Carrying his own load of guilt and shame he had often considered suicide. Death sometimes seemed the only option for those of his sexuality.

One day after he’d got himself established, Ahdaf made the mistake of taking Kalam, a refugee he was trying to help and to whom he was attracted, back to his flat. Unfortunately, Malik, the leader of an ISIS cell at the mosque Ahdaf attended, was having him followed.  Malik warns Ahdaf that his sexual proclivities are known. Under pain of exposure and death, Malik blackmails Ahdaf into helping with his nefarious activities. The CIA, in the person of Selim, have Malik under observation. They see an opportunity to enlist Ahdaf’s help so the hapless Ahdaf becomes a double agent. Selim and Ahdaf are attracted to each other. 

Hair raising adventures follow including the shooting of five policemen by Malik’s thugs and the death of innocent refugees who had already lost nearly everything bar their lives. When the opportunity to cross to Greece presents itself, Ahdaf has to make two major decisions:  does he want to leave Istanbul, and whom to spend the next part of his life with, Kalam or Selim?

Whilst it is undoubtedly full of tragedy, Istanbul Crossing is also a tribute to the resilience and fortitude of the ordinary - or perhaps the extraordinary - Syrian people who have had the bravery to leave their homeland, driven out by the terrible persecution they faced.  In the gentle character of Ahdaf, we have a wonderful reminder of the kindness of mankind. The book may break your heart, but it may also help to restore your faith in man’s humanity.
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Reviewer Angela Crowther.

Timothy Jay Smith has travelled the world collecting stories and characters for his novels and screenplays which have received high praise. Fire on the Island won the Gold Medal in the 2017 Faulkner-Wisdom Competition for the Novel. He won the Paris Prize for Fiction for his first book, A Vision of Angels. Kirkus Reviews called Cooper’s Promise “literary dynamite” and selected it as one of the Best Books of 2012. Tim was nominated for the 2017 Pushcart Prize for his short fiction, "Stolen Memories." His screenplays have won numerous international competitions. Tim is the founder of the Smith Prize for Political Theatre. He lives in France.

Angela Crowther is a retired scientist.  She has published many scientific papers but, as yet, no crime fiction.  In her spare time Angela belongs to a Handbell Ringing group, goes country dancing and enjoys listening to music, particularly the operas of Verdi and Wagner.

Chiltern Kills : One Day Crime Writing Festival

 Report by Roger Corke 

Investigative journalist Roger Corke’s debut thriller, Deadly Protocol, has just been published, so he decided he’d better pop along to one of Britain’s newest crime-writing festivals – Chiltern Kills at  Gerrards Cross. He was in for a few surprises, not least two rounds of applause for his new book - instigated by Jeffrey Archer!

    Frederick Forsyth cuts the ribbon to
                    open Chiltern Kills

I knew we were in for a revealing day when the distinguished patron of
Chiltern Kills, Frederick Forsyth, cut the ribbon and told us about the
afternoon’s keynote speaker. 

“I knew Jeffrey Archer when he was an honest man – and that was a long time ago!” disclosed the master of the high-octane thriller. 

Lord Archer – famously convicted and jailed for perjury in 2001 – had plenty of surprises of his own when he finally came on stage, but there were revelations all day at this delightful festival, which is only in its second year but feels as though it’s been around for ever.  

That’s because of the vibe. It’s friendly and relaxed, due in no small part to the way the two local writers behind Chiltern Kills –
Paul Waters and Tony Kent –
have set it up. This is not a big money spinner for organisers, authors and publishers. All profits go to the Centrepoint charity for homeless young people and every writer gives their time for free. 

 Frederick Forsyth with Chiltern Kills curators
Paul Waters, left, and Tony Kent.  

And there was no shortage of writing talent on hand to impart the
secrets of their craft.
First up in the morning was a group of debut authors in Fresh Blood, who were asked how they came up with the plot for their debut crime thrillers.

 BBC journalist Louise Minchin revealed that a spell on I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here!
was her inspiration. The contestants were cut off by a violent storm, which she found absolutely terrifying.

 “It was doing my head in so much that I thought I had to harness that terror and fear and write it,” Louise told moderator Heather Fitt, so she set her upcoming thriller on the remote set of a reality TV show. Isolation Island was born

Fresh Blood: For first-time author Tina Payne, working for 18 years at the sharp end of the criminal justice system as a police investigator, dealing with victims of domestic violence, enabled her to write Long Time Dead.

LJ Shepherd was brutally honest about her inspiration. “My idea came from laziness,” said Laura, who trained as a lawyer. “I decided I’m going to have to write a legal thriller and I love high-concept thrillers.” The Trials of Lila Dalton, is about a barrister who stands up to speak in a murder trial but has no idea how she got there, is the result.

Left to right Heather Fitt, Louise Minchin, Tina Payne and LJ Shepherd. 

Flat Out Thrillers was asked that very question and they all came up with a different answer.

Left to right - Mason Cross, Robert Rutherford and Rob Parker in Flat Out Thrillers.

“A good and a bad guy,” said Mason Cross.

“A countdown to something,” said Robert Rutherford

“High stakes,” said Rob Parker.

Of course, you need all of those ingredients if your thriller is going to be really successful, as a group of leading authors found out in The Writers’ Room.

We don’t go in for writers’ rooms much in this country but they have elevated series like The Wire, Succession, Breaking Bad and The Sopranos into some of the greatest examples of TV drama ever.

 MJ Alridge in The Writers’ Room.

Best-selling author MJ Alridge decided to try the writers’ room concept with crime thrillers and got together with a number of colleagues from his publishers, Orion. He set out a detailed treatment for a thriller and his co-writer produced the first draft.

“Reading the first draft, it was fantastic to find surprises in a story you know really well,” Matthew told the Chiltern Kills audience.

And the experience has altered the way some of those colleagues now write.
MJ always plotted his books before writing but
co-author Lisa Hall didn’t. She does now.

“My process changed, because the treatment is now the thing,” said Lisa. “I don’t think I could write a book now without a treatment.”

Lisa Hall in The Writers’ Room

British crime-writing’s most famous jailbird has never needed a writers’ room to write more than 40 thrillers and collections of short stories. Jeffrey Archer gets by with sheer hard work, bags of ideas – and, as his audience soon discovered, plenty of charm. Within half a minute, he had the packed-out tent eating out of his hand.

In fact, the only person not charmed by the old rascal was moderator Jeremy Vine, who swiftly found himself very much surplus to requirements.

“Thank you for coming, Jeremy,” said Lord Archer, who pushed his chair back, strode to the front of the stage and spent the entire time talking to all of us about how he produces blockbuster after blockbuster.

“I like to work between six to eight, ten to twelve, two to four, six to eight and in bed by nine-thirty,” said the sprightly 84-year old.  The first draft takes 40 days but he writes as many as – wait for it – fourteen! “So, I tell every budding author that, God willing, you’ve got the talent, but it won’t stop have having to work damned hard.”
Still, it helps if you base all your main characters on a real person, which is why he puts wife Mary is in almost every one of his books. "Try not to invent characters,” he said. “The easiest thing is to write the human being standing in front of you because you will be with them and so will your readers.”

Still, it helps if you base all your main characters on a real person, which is why he puts wife Mary is in almost every one of his books. "Try not to invent characters,” he said. “The easiest thing is to write the human being standing in front of you because you will be with them and so will your readers.”

Roger Corke is a TV journalist who has travelled the world producing and directing documentaries for flagship current affairs series like the BBC's Panorama, Channel 4's Dispatches and ITV's World in Action and Tonight. That experience was invaluable in writing his first crime thriller and it was a chance conversation with a scientist whilst on a filming trip in America that led him to devise the plot for Deadly Protocol.