We're All Going On A Summer Holiday

First of all, I just want to say a huge thanks to everyone who's sent me e-mails, tweets and text messages about the book deal for OLD DOGS :o) I am so unbelieveably thrilled and happy, as well as extremely thankful to the world's best agent Al Guthrie, and to Mr Lovely Publisher for wanting to publish it. When Al gave me the news I told him I wanted to give Mr Publisher a big hug. Apparently, that's not normal. Well, it should be, is all I can say. I'm currently working my way through e-mail and will answer all of them this evening, but for those of you who have asked, here's what the book's about:

OLD DOGS is a crime caper set in Glasgow. It features two septuagenerian ex-hookers turned con artists who decide to steal a pair of golden, jewel-encrusted Shih Tzu dogs from a museum. Unfortunately, they're not the only ones after the dogs, everyone wants to get their hands on the precious artefacts - including the elderly ladies' dodgy chauffeur who wants in on the action, a pair of Glasgow neds who want to buy their own pub, an out of work insomniac bent on revenge, and an innocent young Scottish islander who wants the dogs returned to the Buddhist monastery they came from. Oh, and there's an Australian hitman after the elderly con artists. After hours on a Saturday night turns out to be the museum's busiest time. Burglary, kidnapping, murder and some very bad decisions.

And now, back to your regularly scheduled blog...

A little wrap up before I go away on holiday. There will be posts while I'm away as I've worked out how to do the scheduled posts thing, but I won't be able to respond to comments until I get home. But please do comment and I promise to answer in due course.

Ian Rankin has donated the first four pages of his yet to be published book THE COMPLAINTS to the Samaritans - a charity very close to my own heart. It will be auctioned on 22 June and the winner will also receive a signed first edition when it's published in September. Amongst other items going under the hammer is a handwritten unpublished poem by Alexander McCall Smith.

I've dipped into this book a little so far and it's really good fun - Bob Moore's DON'T CALL ME A CROOK: A SCOTSMAN'S TALE OF WORLD TRAVEL, WHISKY AND CRIME, originally published in 1935. The first sentence is "It is a pity there are getting to be so many places that I can never go back to, but all the same, I do not think it is much fun a man being respectable all his life. "

Scottish publisher Two Ravens Press - a small independent press whose love of books is clear, post a thoughtful and thought-provoking blog post about the future.

I've added a new author to the list of Scottish authors. The lovely people at Hodder and Stoughton sent me a copy of Julie Corbin's TELL ME NO SECRETS which is a psychological thriller set on the east coast of Scotland.

And so to holiday. First of all a note for burglars - don't even think about it - there will be someone here. Ewan and I are off on Thursday morning for 5 days in New York and 5 days in San Francisco. Apart from meeting up with some good friends, some of my highlights are going to be:

• Seeing indie band Crocodiles at the Mercury Lounge
• Seeing Spinnerette (with ex Distillers band members including the gorgeous voiced Brody Dalle
• Visiting a speakeasy cocktail bar in the Tenderloin that you need a password to get into
• Punk rock karaoke in San Francisco
• DSW shoe warehouse - oh yeah
  

Be good.