‘The Darkening Hour’ by Penny Hancock

Published by Simon & Schuster,
July 2013.
ISBN: 978-1-47111-124-2

What is harder for a writer than producing a debut novel which dances and sparkles its way into a publisher’s consciousness, and thence on to readers’ bookshelves via a string of enthusiastic reviews? The debut is hard enough – but a lot of authors would say writing a second novel which achieves the same level of success is even more difficult. Penny Hancock’s creepy debut Tideline won a lot of plaudits. The question was, could she do it again? She not only could; she has. In The Darkening Hour she tackles totally different themes, explores a whole new set of issues via completely disparate characters, makes an important political point without seeming to preach – and if possible, held me even more firmly gripped than the first time, by the tension and creeping menace with which she imbues a middle-class household which on the surface appears quite normal.  

The narrative alternates between radio presenter Theodora, juggling a demanding and insecure job, an indolent son and a geriatric father, and Mona, the woman from a desperately poor north African background whom she employs to care for her father and help in the house.

Secrets and agendas abound, and the relationship between the two women becomes increasingly fraught as Theodora’s demands multiply and Mona begins to learn her secrets and exact small, subtle forms of revenge.

First-person narration from both protagonists helps Hancock to get under their skins and inside their heads, and despite the frequent switches from one to the other there’s never a moment’s confusion about who is telling the story. Supporting and minor characters, too, have a clarity and roundedness which many novelists with a far longer track record struggle to achieve.

Hancock’s sense of place and talent for creating a living, breathing backcloth to the story plays a key role, and as in Tideline, the river Thames contributes to the rich, evocative atmosphere and has its own part to play.

As Theodora’s past is revealed and her true colours emerge, the tension level rises until an explosive climax about eighty pages from the end comes almost as a relief. But even then it’s not over. The ending of her story (though not entirely the end of this highly accomplished novel) is about as chilling as it gets. If Penny Hancock continues to produce novels of this quality, she will soon corner the market in disturbed middle-class women. On this showing, she’s already halfway there.

------

Reviewer: Lynne Patrick

  

Penny Hancock. Afterr several years in London, Penny Hancock now lives in Cambridge with her husband and three children. She is a part-time primary school teacher at a speech and language school and has traveled extensively as a language teacher. Tideline is her first novel.

 Lynne Patrick has been a writer ever since she could pick up a pen, and has enjoyed success with short stories, reviews and feature journalism, but never, alas, with a novel. She crossed to the dark side to become a publisher for a few years, and is proud to have launched several careers which are now burgeoning. She lives on the edge of rural Derbyshire in a house groaning with books, about half of them crime fiction.

‘The Bird That Did Not Sing’ by Alex Gray

Published by Sphere,
13 March 2014. 

ISBN: 978-1-84744-567-4

An explosion in the countryside near Glasgow draws Detective Superintendent William Lorimer into contact with MI6 over a threat to the Commonwealth Games, due to take place in 2014.  But he has other worries: the behaviour of his beautiful, red-haired teenage-sweetheart whose husband has died on his watch, and the death of a young black woman marked with a strange Celtic tattoo ...

This novel opens with a lyrical description of the Scottish countryside in spring, and, in keeping with the book’s title, Gray plays with the idea of birds throughout.  DS Lorimer and his wife Maggie have worked their way through difficulties to being people you enjoy spending time with: a restful older couple, each dedicated to work – I enjoyed the glimpes of Maggie’s classroom world.  Because his involvement with the case of the dead husband means Lorimer can’t be in charge, you see more of his emotional side, as well as the reactions of Maggie, to the cuckoo in their nest.  The fear and bewilderment of Asa, the African girl kidnapped from her village, draws you into her story too, and you’re kept wondering how she’s going to mesh into the plot overall.  Among the police, we follow both DI Wilson and his new recruit daughter Kirsty investigating the murders, while Lorimer himself focuses on the terrorist threat.  The plot moves quickly between strands, the Glasgow setting is a real presence in the book, and the euphoria and pride in the crucial Commonwealth Games plausibly evoked – it must have felt strange writing a book set just in the future in this way!  However the expected influx of visitors links the city to the wider world in an unexpected and sinister way ... Although this is well through the Lorimer series, it reads as a stand-alone, and wouldn’t spoil earlier books, so the reader can enjoy it, then go back.

A keep-you-reading police procedural with strong emotional involvement in the characters.  Highly recommended.

-------

Reviewer: Marsali Taylor

Alex Gray born 27 May 1950, Glasgow, is a Scottish crime writer. She was brought up in the Craigbank area of Glasgow and attended Hutchesons' Grammar School. She studied English and Philosophy at Strathclyde University and worked for a period in the  Department of Heaklth & Social Security before training as an English teacher. In 1976 she lived in Rhodesia for three months, during which time she got married, and she and her husband returned to Scotland. She continued teaching until the 1990s, when she gave the profession up and began to write full-time. Alex is a member of the Femmes Fatales crime writing trio, together with Alanna Knight and Lin Anderson .She has published six novels, all set around Glasgow and featuring the character of Detective Chief Inspector Lorimer and his psychological profiler Solomon Brightman, the earlier novels being published by Canongate and later books by Little Brown. She has also written several magazine articles.

www.alex-gray.com/‎

Marsali Taylor grew up near Edinburgh, and came to Shetland as a newly-qualified teacher. She is currently a part-time teacher on Shetland's scenic west side, living with her husband and two Shetland ponies. Marsali is a qualified STGA tourist-guide who is fascinated by history, and has published plays in Shetland's distinctive dialect, as well as a history of women's suffrage in Shetland. She's also a keen sailor who enjoys exploring in her own 8m yacht, and an active member of her local drama group.  Marsali also does a regular monthly column for the Mystery People e-zine.

‘The Green Remains’ by M K Graff

 Published by Bridle Path Press, 2012.
ISBN: 978-0-9852331-0-5

I’m sure British authors who set their work in the USA make minor boo-boos which make their American readers smile; the same is certainly the case the other way round. I found myself smiling more than once as I read The Green Remains, and encountered slang and regional speech which was very nearly but not quite right, and slightly out of date aspects of life this side of the pond, like pound notes and British Rail.

But it’s a measure of a good crime writer that the smiles are not all about the bloopers. Little details like this fade into the background very quickly when there are well-drawn characters, a warm-hearted and well-observed picture of an area, and a plot that keeps you guessing but still comes to a logical conclusion.

M K Graff knows the Lake District; of that there is no doubt. I felt I knew my way around the small town of Bowness even though I’ve never been there. Her engaging cast of characters, too, left me feeling I’d made new friends – though as is the way of crime fiction, there were one or two I’d rather avoid on a dark night!

The plot proved to be nicely complex, with enough forensic detail but not too much gore; the denouement was dramatic without resorting to guns and car chases; and between hotel-keeping, furniture restoration, art, cookery, even a broken engagement, there’s plenty else going on as well, to maintain a reader’s interest.

Briefly: Nora Tierney, eight months pregnant and about to see her first children’s book in print, is staying with her friend and illustrator Simon Ramsey and his sister Kate in their pretty country house hotel on the shore of Lake Windermere. She discovers the murdered body of the son and heir of a notable local family by the lakeside, and when suspicion falls on Simon, sets about proving his innocence by finding the killer herself.

Local bad boys, incomers with an agenda, secrets from the past and conflict in the present all have a part to play, and eventually it’s Nora who is first to work out the truth, putting herself and her unborn baby in danger.

There are plenty of tense moments and a lot of sparky dialogue, and it all adds up to a fine example of the ‘cosy’ sub-genre. 

------

Reviewer: Lynne Patrick

M K Graff is the award-winning author of the Nora Tierney series. Her first novel, The blue Virgin, won First Place for British Cozy in the Mystery and Mayhem Awards from Chanticleer Media.  Set in the UK, Graff's series follows an American children's book writer as she manages to involve herself in police investigations. The blue Virgin, is set in Oxford, that hallowed mix of town and gown; The Green Remains takes Nora to England's glorious Lake District. Readers will be pleased to know Graff is working on Book 3 in the series, The Scarlet Wench. A native New Yorker now living in rural North Carolina, Graff is the author of essays, interviews, poetry, screenplays, as well as a second mystery series set in Manhattan.  Graff also writes a weekly crime book review blog at

http://www.auntiemwrites.wordpress.com.

Lynne Patrick has been a writer ever since she could pick up a pen, and has enjoyed success with short stories, reviews and feature journalism, but never, alas, with a novel. She crossed to the dark side to become a publisher for a few years, and is proud to have launched several careers which are now burgeoning. She lives on the edge of rural Derbyshire in a house groaning with books, about half of them crime fiction.

Nicola Soloman

Interview

Leigh Russell talks to Nicola Soloman

Nicola Solomon is General Secretary of the Society of Authors.
Her role includes protecting authors' interests in negotiations/disputes with publishers and agents, advising on tax, privacy etc.
Campaigning for authors’ rights, including copyright, e-book rights, Public Lending Right, defamation reforms and freedom of speech.
Liaison with the Management Committee and Council on setting and implementing
policy and managing finance.

Leigh: You work tirelessly to support authors. What drew you to this career path?

Nicola: I am an avid reader and feel passionately about the importance of reading for information and pleasure. I had been an intellectual property solicitor for 26 years and was excited at the chance to use my skills and legal knowledge to support individuals and to further such an important cause. It is also exciting to get to meet all my heroes!

Leigh: Should authors build an online presence, or is merely it a distraction from writing? 

Nicola: Developing an online presence can be a useful marketing tool, but isn’t the work itself, so authors need to get the balance right and resist the tendency to play with the website at the expense of actual writing.

Mere self-promotion is never very appealing, but writing material that you suspect your readers will want to find out about can be satisfying and even whet appetites for the next book... A good website should offer something to interested readers than they cannot find elsewhere, so consider including thoughts on previous books, or ideas about the craft of writing in your genre, and a list of forthcoming speaking engagements. 

A good website can be an excellent shop-window for your work and – if you get it noticed – can lead to contracts as well as commissions for magazines or journals.

Leigh: What advice would you offer to authors, both new and established? 

Nicola: There’s no getting away from the oldest lesson of all: know your market. Authors should be aware of trends within their genre, what’s selling, what’s popular, what’s being talked about. I’m certainly not advocating that one should slavishly follow the fashions of the moment, but being aware of them and reacting as one’s inclinations and abilities prompt can only be an advantage.

As to practical matters, I’m still amazed how many authors accept contracts that are less favourable to them than need be, or do not know who turn to when they have questions or problems. Often just some simple and unbiased advice, such as the Society provides, can result in a revised contract that is much more favourable to the author, or the solution to a disagreement,  

Leigh: How do you see the future for self-published authors, and for the traditionally published?
Nicola: No-one knows what the future will bring but the world of publishing will continue to take advantage of advances in new technology, and authors will be able to target specialist audiences as never before. Self – published, traditionally published and all variants in between look set to continue side by side for the foreseeable future. .Authors need to consider all options and see what is best for them. Self-publication is clearly a growing trend which will continue, though possibly at a slower rate. However, self-publishing is time-consuming and can be expensive.  Marketing and distribution are generally held to be by far the most difficult areas of publishing, and this is particularly true of self-publishing. Fortunately the Society has a ‘Quick Guide to Marketing Your Book’ available to members from our website and we are running a seminar on this subject in June. With one or two rare exceptions self-published works will never sell anything like the number that a traditionally published book will; so if you think you can make a million by cutting out the middleman, you may wish to think again. A traditional publishing deal will still be better for most authors but do ensure you know exactly what is being offered and what rights you are giving. Traditional publishers are cutting their lists and offering lower advances but are demanding greater rights from authors. Many contracts which look traditional are only offering print on demand or ebooksand we are seeing increasing numbers of deals which look bona fide but amount to little more than the old vanity contracts. The trick is to be informed, to take impartial advice and not to be discouraged.

Leigh: I have seen serious discussions online about whether all writers are insane. What do you think?

Nicola:  It’s not just online discussions “The lunatic, the lover and the poet are of imagination all compact” as Shakespeare had it. I wouldn’t myself say all writers are insane, particularly not Society of Authors members, but some do exhibit the same dogged obsession and never-ending love of a topic that a mad person also might. Fortunately they can often harness it to wonderful effect.

Leigh: Finally, in one sentence, what does the Society of Authors offer its members?

Nicola: Our aim is to protect the rights and further the interests of authors, and within that short phrase nestles a host of services - contract vetting, advice on copyright, agents, publishers, free copies of the Quick Guide series, our own information-packed magazine The Author, invitations to talks, free ALCS membership, discounts on books from major retailers – and that’s just a start.

www.societyofauthors.org

Leigh Russell is the author of seven books Cut Short, Road Closed, Dead End, Death Bed and Stop Dead, published May 2013. Cold Sacrifice the first in a new series featuring Ian Peterson was published September 2013. Her latest book is Fatal Act. Cut Short (2009) was shortlisted for the CWA New Blood Dagger Award for Best First Novel. Leigh studied at the University of Kent gaining a Masters degree in English and American literature. A secondary school teacher, specializing in supporting pupils with Specific Learning Difficulties as well as teaching English. The Geraldine Steel series and Ian Peterson spin off series have been optioned by Avalon Television Ltd to be made into a TV series., Leigh Russell is married with two daughters and lives in Middlesex.

‘Con Law’ by Mark Gimenez

Published by Sphere,
13 February 2014.
ISBN: 978-0-7515-4381-09

  

It’s a truth universally acknowledged, at least by booksellers, publishers and possibly readers, that people love series. So when an author begins to acquire a following, it’s a fair bet that a a few books down the line, a series will appear.

So it is with Mark Gimenez, who had deservedly begun to corner the market in Texas-based mysteries with a lawyer as protagonist. His latest book is the first of what promises to be a long-running series featuring John ‘Book’ Bookman, a tenured professor (lecturer to British readers) of constitutional law at the University of Texas’s prestigious law school.

‘Book’ has been likened to Indiana Jones, and has his own reasons for never missing an opportunity to kick important political ass. He also likes to take on lost causes, and consequently is showered with letters from desperate people.

In Con Law, the letter is from a former student, now a lawyer. Book and his reluctant intern Nadine hop aboard his Harley Davidson and head for oil country, where fracking is the new route to Billionaire’s Row. But in the wrong hands (or in any hands at all, depending on how environment-conscious you are) fracking is a recipe for disaster, and the lawyer, who represents the company which runs the entire industry in that part of Texas, has made a devastating discovery.

Devastating for the industry – and for him. When Book and Nadine arrive, they find the lawyer is dead.

Was it an accident, as local law enforcement claims and most people in the town, including the man’s family and friends, have chosen to believe? Or was it murder? No prizes for guessing which Book thinks it is.

With the help of a colourful cast of characters including an old-fashioned newspaperman, a glamorous environmentalist and the local sheriff, he proceeds to take on Billy Bob Barnett, the most powerful oilman in the west. Of Texas, that is. As the action winds up to breakneck pace, there are car-bike chases, a shotgun fired though a hotel window, fights in bars... (did I mention Book is a taekwondo grand master?).

It’s not giving away too much to say that Nadine ends up in hospital but discovers that she can’t hide away from real life for ever. And just when you thought it was all over for Book, there’s a neat twist which sends everything careening off in a different direction from the one you thought you were following.

John Grisham, eat your heart out. This could be the kind of legal thriller series that will actually make young people want to study law.  And those letters keep landing on Book’s desk...

------

Reviewer Lynne Patrick

Mark Gimenez  grew up in Galveston County, Texas. He attended Southwest Texas State University in San Marcos, Texas, and earned a B.A. in Political Science with honors. He then attended Notre Dame Law School in Indiana and earned a J.D. degree magna cum laude. He practiced law with a large Dallas law firm and became a partner. After ten years, he left to practice solo and to write. Mark lives in texas.

http://www.markgimenez.com/

      Lynne Patrick has been a writer ever since she could pick up a pen, and has enjoyed success with short stories, reviews and feature journalism, but never, alas, with a novel. She crossed to the dark side to become a publisher for a few years, and is proud to have launched several careers which are now burgeoning. She lives on the edge of rural Derbyshire in a house groaning with books, about half of them crime fiction.

‘Refusal’ by Felix Francis

Published (USA) by Putnam, 3 September, 2013. ISBN 978-0-399-16081-3
(UK) Michael Joseph, 12 September, 2013. ISBN 978-0718159368

 It's been six years since investigator Sid Halley retired, tired of the beatings, pressure and danger.  Since then, he has lived a quiet life with his wife and young daughter, earning a living as an investor, trading money instruments and shares.  He promised himself and his wife that he would not return to his former profession, but events proved the opposite when the chairman of the racing authority begged him to look into a series of questionable races.

Following a familiar Francis formula, circumstances arise which force Sid to reverse his adamant refusal to undertake such an investigation. The day after his meeting, the chairman is found dead, a possible suicide, but Sid believes really murder.  Then a telephone call from a
man with a Belfast Irish accent menacingly demands that Sid write a report claiming the races were not suspicious.  Thus, the stage is set for the expected scrutiny, danger to Sid, his family and associates, and confrontation with the culprits.

The formula, which has been successful for about four dozen books by the Francises, pere et fils, works like a charm once again.  Felix had now written four novels as a co-author with Dick, and this is the third one on his own.  Looking forward with bated breath for the
fourth. Highly recommended.
------
Reviewer: Ted Feit

Felix Francis  is Dick Francis’s youngest son. Born in 1953, Felix studied Physics and Electronics at London University and then embarked upon a 17 year career teaching Advanced Level physics at three schools, the last seven as head of the science department at Bloxham School in Oxfordshire. Over the past 40 years Felix assisted Dick with both the research and the writing of many of his novels. They shared a love of racing and often worked together on plot and character details at Dick’s home in the Cayman Islands. This partnership allowed Dick to draw upon Felix’s knowledge and experience as a physics teacher in Twice Shy and his past as an international marksman in Shattered (2000) and Under Orders (2006). With the publication of Dead Heat in 2007, Felix took on a more significant role in writing. Silks (2008) was the second novel in this father-and-son collaboration and Even Money (2009) was the third. Crossfire (2010) was the novel Dick and Felix Francis were working on when Dick died in February 2010, marking the end of one chapter and the beginning of another in the Dick Francis brand. Dick Francis was acclaimed as one of the greatest thriller writers in the world and he wanted his legacy to live on through his son, Felix, and the novels that they planned together. Gamble, which was published in September 2011, is a Dick Francis novel written by Felix Francis.

http://www.felixfrancis.com

Ted and Gloria Feit live in Long Beach, NY, a few miles outside New York City.  For 26 years, Gloria was the manager of a medium-sized litigation firm in lower Manhattan. Her husband, Ted, is an attorney and former stock analyst, publicist and writer/editor for, over the years, several daily, weekly and monthly publications.  Having always been avid mystery readers, and since they're now retired, they're able to indulge that passion.  Their reviews appear online as well as in three print publications in the UK and US.  On a more personal note: both having been widowed, Gloria and Ted have five children and nine grandchildren between them.

‘The Shroud Maker’ by Kate Ellis

Published by Piatkus,
5 June 2014.
ISBN: 978-0-7499-5803-9

In Tradmouth in Devon, it is the time of the annual Palkin Festival, celebrating the town's famous (some say infamous) Fourteenth Century Mayor, John Palkin. Holiday makers and locals, all clad in variations of medieval dress, flock to the town to celebrate the wealthy shipowner. For the police, the Palkin Festival is a time of incipient trouble and extra work. DI Wesley Peterson had been away from Tradmouth last year during the Palkin Festival, but his boss, DCI Gerry Hefferman was there and is still haunted by the memory of the mysterious disappearance of a beautiful, red-haired young woman called Jenny Bercival. Now Jenny's mother is back in Tradmouth, desperate to find her daughter and the searchers' darkest fears become reality when the body of a red-haired young woman is found floating in an open boat in the harbour.

Also in Tradmouth, Wesley's friend, Neil Watson is conducting an archaeological investigation on the site of Palkin's house and warehouse. When Neil and his team make a grisly discovery, it is unclear whether they have found evidence of a contemporary crime or a historical one. Past and present are united by a fantasy website called Shipworld. In this fantasy, Palkin is a supernatural hero who fights a faceless villain known as the Shroud Maker.

More deaths follow and the nearer Wesley and Gerry move to solving the crimes and discovering the identity of the Shroud Maker, the closer they come to personal danger.

In The Shroud Maker, the past and present are drawn together, as every chapter begins with a short historical section, mainly in the form of excerpts from a history of John Palkin written by Josiah Palkin-Wright, a Victorian who claimed to be a descendant of Palkin, or letters written by Charlotte, Palkin-Wright's desperately unhappy wife.

This is the 19^th in the Wesley Peterson series. It combines the historical and contemporary investigations with great skill. The contemporary investigation is riveting and the tension is well maintained. The police officers are well characterised and likeable people and the description of life in a Devonshire port town is totally believable.

This is an excellent and enjoyable police procedural, which I would definitely recommend.

------

Reviewer: Carol Westron

Kate Ellis was born in Liverpool and studied drama in Manchester. She is interested in archaeology and lives in North Cheshire.  Kate has twice been nominated for the Crime Writers' Association Short Story Dagger and has alse been nominated for the Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year.

Visit her at www.kateellis.co.uk

 

Carol Westron is a successful short story writer and a Creative Writing teacher.  She is the moderator for the cosy/historical crime panel, The Deadly Dames.  Her crime novels are set both in contemporary and Victorian times.  The Terminal Velocity of Cats is the first in her Scene of Crimes novels, was published July 2013

www.carolwestron.com

'The Fruit Gum Murders' Roger Silverwood

 Published by Robert Hale,
31 March 2014.
ISBN 978-0-7198-1231-6

We begin at a gala dance at Muick Castle where a very valuable necklace disappears during a black-out.    Inspector Angel is faced with several cases involving murder and fraud besides this apparent jewel robbery.  He works in Bromersley, South Yorkshire and has a reputation for successful solutions.  He is an experienced detective but an inspector is only as successful as his last case, I suppose, so he feels a constant need to succeed.

The murder scene that faces the Inspector and his team in an anonymous hotel room is suitably baffling.  The most significant clue to a mysterious death is a fruit gum found on the floor!    Even the pathologist experiences difficulty in deciding the cause of death,  Further deaths follow including that of an ex-hospital porter as deeply buried family secrets start to surface and raise the possibility of blackmail.  The pressures on the Inspector intensify as further deaths occur.  The leitmotiv of fruit gums occurs to increase the bafflement of the team.

Fortunately Inspector Angel is a dogged investigator despite the many distractions.  He manages to separate the various tangled skeins so that he can achieve solutions.  Another leitmotiv is an ugly and unidentifiable statuette that neighbours have given Angel and his wife.  Efforts to both identify the animal and to persuade someone else to take it constantly backfire!

-------

Reviewer: Jennifer S. Palmer

Roger Silverwood was the son of a Yorkshire businessman. He was educated in Gloucestershire before National Service. He later worked in the toy trade, then as a copywriter in an advertising agency. He went into business with his wife in the antiques trade before retiring in 1997. His Inspector is now on 20th book.

http://www.rogersilverwood.uwclub.net/RogerSl.htm

Jennifer Palmer Throughout my reading life crime fiction has been a constant interest; I really enjoyed my 15 years as an expatriate in the Far East, the Netherlands & the USA but occasionally the solace of closing my door to the outside world and sitting reading was highly therapeutic. I now lecture to adults on historical topics including Famous Historical Mysteries.

‘Cold Steal’ by Quentin Bates

Published by Constable and Robinson, 1 May 2014.

This is another fine mystery by Mr Bates.  He is adept at turning a cold eye on a seemingly placid community like Iceland, more particularly, on Reykjavik, deftly dissecting the seething subsoil of crime which lies beneath the Nordic landscape. 

In Cold Steal, he turns his ice-pick sharp attention to the nefarious operations of what he calls the Baltic Boys, from east Europe, who have invaded the Icelandic criminal society.  A man is found dead in a house in a half-completed suburb of the city, with his naked girl-friend crouched beside him.  Who?  Why?  At the same time, the police are trying to track down a highly-successful burglar whom nobody ever sees or hears.  Sergeant Gunnhildur "Gunna" Gísladóttir is on the case again, doggedly following information, talking to possible suspects, making the kind of intelligent moves which bring her ever closer to the solution.

We are also introduced to three women who have come from eastern Europe to Iceland to look for work, and find it by getting taken on by a company which has contracts to regularly clean houses, many of them on the self-same half-completed suburb in which the unknown burglar operates.

Bates has the gift of bringing alive his terrain, as well as a subtle sense of humour.  Gunna's family complications are hilarious.  Cold Steal is a complex, multi-stranded and absorbing crime story  in which Bates skilfully interweaves the various threads of his plot and shows him making a significant advance as a novelist.

Highly recommended.

------

Reviewer: Susan Moody

Quentin Bates  is an English novelist of mystery/crime fiction novels. Quentin found himself working in Iceland for a year, which turned into a decade, and has used some of that experience as well as a university writing course to develop his Gunnhildur series. Although he is British, Quentin is more in line with Scandinavian crime fiction authors. Quentin is also a full-time journalist and feature writer for an obscure nautical trade magazine.

www.graskeggur.com

Susan Moody was born in Oxford is the principal nom de plume  of Susan Elizabeth Donaldson, née Horwood, a British novelist best known for her suspense novels. She is a former Chairman of the Crime Writer's Association, served as World President of the International Association of Crime Writers, and was elected to the prestigious Detection Club. Susan Moody has given numerous courses on writing crime fiction and continues to teach creative writing in England, France, Australia, the USA and Denmark.  In addition to her many stand alone books, Susan has written two series, on featuring PI Penny Wanawake (seven books) and a series of six books featuring bridge player Cassie Swan.