News, Reviews and Interviews

The My Life In Books event at the wonderful Glasgow Women's Library last night seemed to go well. We had a nice turnout and Karen Campbell and Caro Ramsay were a joy to interview. They talked about books that had influenced them throughout their lives (turns out that between us we had a shared history of Enid Blyton (although I was the only one of us who'd ever got into trouble because of The Famous Five), Black Beauty, Just William and the Jennings series of books. They also talked about their own writing. Karen read from a very atmospheric piece from her most recent book PROOF OF LIFE and Caro read the chilling prologue of her forthcoming book, due out in January. I had a good time, despite my nerves prior to the event.

Talking of JUST WILLIAM, serendipitously, Kate Atkinson chooses it for her top 10.

Jake Kerridge does a much better round-up of Harrogate than I did but then, he gets paid for it.

A review of Allan Guthrie's SLAMMER and an interview with the man himself over at The Crime Of It All, where there is also a review of Alice Thompson's THE EXISTENTIAL DETECTIVE.

Ian Rankin and others campaign to save Radio 4's short story content. Talking of Ian Rankin, here's a reminder about the charity event in aid of the Royal Blind.

Fancy a mystery tour of England and Scotland? Want to meet crime writers? Have a spare $6,000? Then this could be the trip for you. While you're in Edinburgh, you could go on this TRAINSPOTTING tour. Let's hope the "worst toilet" isn't too realistic.

Reader Dad reviews Ray Banks' small but perfectly formed novella GUN. And Paul Brazill interviews Ray here.

The Globe And Mail on Alexander McCall Smith's THE DOG WHO CAME IN FROM THE COLD, and Bookbag reviews Gordon Ferris' THE HANGING SHED.

Chris Ewan is appearing at a bookstore near you (if you live in Thousand Oaks) on August 6th. If you are near, go and see him, he's very entertaining and a top bloke.