Saturday 5th March 2011 is World Book Night. I think it's a brilliant idea. 1 million books to be given away by passionate readers. 20,000 readers who apply will be chosen to give away 50 copies of their chosen book from a list of 25 titles. As I say, brilliant. I was, however, a bit disappointed by the list of books. Not because they're bad books. But because they are, on the whole, big, well-known books. They've either won awards, or had a lot of press for one reason or another, so most readers will at least already have heard of them, even if they haven't read them.
So, dear reader, how about an Alternative World Book Night? Now, I don't know about the rest of you, but I can't afford to give away a million books. Or 50 books. But I can afford to give away one book. A book that maybe isn't so well known but which I love and which deserves to be far better known - maybe Eddie Muller's THE DISTANCE, or Donald Ray Pollock's KNOCKEMSTIFF, or John Welter's NIGHT OF THE AVENGING BLOWFISH, or one of Douglas Lindsay's Barney Thompson novels, or one of Paul Johnston's Quintilian Dalrymple series, or Declan Burke's EIGHTBALL BOOGIE or...or...or... So many choices. Books I have either bought copies of for people, or thrust my copy into peoples' hands saying "Here, you have to read this book."
Any bloggers fancy joining me on 5th March and giving away a book you love which other people may not have heard of? I know it's a long way away, but I'll remind you :o) All you have to do is post on 5th March with a summary of the book, why you love it and offer it to someone (however you want, competition, draw it out of a hat...whatever). If you're joining in, let me know, and I'll link to them all here. Anyone without a blog who wants to join in, also let me know and I'll host your book rave here. So, what do you think? Anyone in?
And now, some Scottish crime fiction stuff.
Ian Rankin on family. Lovely stuff.
The Times Colonist on Kate Atkinson's STARTED EARLY, TOOK MY DOG. And Book Bird Dog reviews M C Beaton's BUSY BODY.
Over at Type M For Murder, Peter May introduces Aline Templeton. And Murder By Type takes a look at Peter Turnbull.
An article on Alexander McCall Smith at Jumeirah.
New of the Danny Boyle Trainspotting sequel.
Congratulations to Louise Welsh, who has been appointed Writer In Residence at Glasgow University.
And, finally, a couple of snow stories. I'm just imagining my mum's reaction to the video one...
Showing posts with label peter turnbull. Show all posts
Showing posts with label peter turnbull. Show all posts
Sunday, 5 December 2010
Tuesday, 15 June 2010
Mackerels to the Shovel
Tim reminds me that the Edinburgh Book Festival programme is announced on Thursday (thanks Tim!).
L'Express parle avec Philip Kerr. Which means that I get to experience the joys of Babelfish again, which tells me that "Of book in book, one will have known all during this attractive plunged in the middle of the system national-Socialist: rise of the Nazism, preparation of the OJ of Berlin, agreements of Munich and the Night of crystal, Heydrich, Himmler and Goering, Berlin in ruin and occupied Vienna, but also of voluptuous prostitutes, mackerels to the shovel, the mafiosi, the spies, the dispensers of justice… and Bernhard Gunther, of course." Mackerels to the shovel? How lovely. Sadly, I do believe it means, instead "pimps by the shedload" Much less intriguing.
Karen Campbell's SHADOWPLAY is Books From Scotland's Book of the Month. Nice one Karen!
Earth Times looks at a new book about the locations that inspired Sherlock Holmes.
Louise Welsh will be chatting to Laura Marney (author of the wonderful NOBODY LOVES A GINGER BABY) on 17th September
The always excellent Barry Forshaw reviews Christopher Brookmyre's PANDAEMONIUM, while Mystica reviews Peter Turnbull's INFORMED CONSENT and Brandy Purdy looks at Louise Welsh's TAMBURLAINE MUST DIE.
And the lovely Lisa-Marie Ferla, guest-posting over at Do Some Damage has very nice things to say about the brilliant Helen Fitzgerald, as well as some old dog who is in great company. Thank you Lis.
L'Express parle avec Philip Kerr. Which means that I get to experience the joys of Babelfish again, which tells me that "Of book in book, one will have known all during this attractive plunged in the middle of the system national-Socialist: rise of the Nazism, preparation of the OJ of Berlin, agreements of Munich and the Night of crystal, Heydrich, Himmler and Goering, Berlin in ruin and occupied Vienna, but also of voluptuous prostitutes, mackerels to the shovel, the mafiosi, the spies, the dispensers of justice… and Bernhard Gunther, of course." Mackerels to the shovel? How lovely. Sadly, I do believe it means, instead "pimps by the shedload" Much less intriguing.
Karen Campbell's SHADOWPLAY is Books From Scotland's Book of the Month. Nice one Karen!
Earth Times looks at a new book about the locations that inspired Sherlock Holmes.
Louise Welsh will be chatting to Laura Marney (author of the wonderful NOBODY LOVES A GINGER BABY) on 17th September
The always excellent Barry Forshaw reviews Christopher Brookmyre's PANDAEMONIUM, while Mystica reviews Peter Turnbull's INFORMED CONSENT and Brandy Purdy looks at Louise Welsh's TAMBURLAINE MUST DIE.
And the lovely Lisa-Marie Ferla, guest-posting over at Do Some Damage has very nice things to say about the brilliant Helen Fitzgerald, as well as some old dog who is in great company. Thank you Lis.
Monday, 30 November 2009
Looking Forward To 2010 - Part 4
G J Moffat - FALLOUT
Publisher: Hachette Books Scotland
Date: April 2010
From Amazon: 'Logan Finch has made a new life for himself with his daughter Ellie. But a blossoming relationship with DC Rebecca Irvine is about to be put to the test when Irvine's old flame, drug-addicted rock star Roddy Hale, enters her life again. And there's a small matter of a professional killer following her every move. Alex Cahill, close-protection operative and ex-US army special-forces soldier, hates babysitting celebrities. Maybe this time will be different. Kara Priest is a Scots girl about to break into Hollywood and is back in Scotland for the premiere of a low-budget film as a favour for a friend. She is the target of a disturbed stalker and needs Cahill and his team to watch her back. As the clouds roll in to blanket the sky at the end of an Indian summer, violence erupts all round, putting everyone at risk. For Logan, there are impossible choices to be made: between his best friend and the woman he loves. Between who lives and who dies.' I still haven't read the first one, but this looks good.
Craig Robertson - RANDOM
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Date: April 2010
A debut novel. This from the publisher: 'Glasgow is being terrorised by a serial killer the media have nicknamed The Cutter. The murders have left the police baffled. There seems to be neither rhyme nor reason behind the killings; no kind of pattern or motive; an entirely different method of murder each time, and nothing that connects the victims except for the fact that the little fingers of their right hands have been severed. If DS Rachel Narey could only work out the key to the seemingly random murders, how and why the killer selects his victims, she would be well on her way to catching him. But as the police, the press and a threatening figure from Glasgow's underworld begin to close in on The Cutter, his carefully-laid plans threaten to unravel - with horrifying consequences.'
Manda Scott - THE FIRE OF ROME
Publisher: Bantam Press Date:
January 2010
From the Random House website: 'AD 34: Sebastos Pantera is twelve. Training for the time when he too will be a soldier of Rome, he follows his father to a garden tomb on the outskirts of Jerusalem where he watches him greet two men and a heavily pregnant woman. In a moment that changes his life forever, he sees a wounded revolutionary being brought out of the tomb alive . . .Twenty years later, Pantera returns from five years undercover in Britannia as assassin and spy for the Legions. He is sick of spying, but a deadly combination of old loyalties and a sense of unfinished business combine to lure him homeward to the city of Rome where, his former mentor and spymaster, the Machiavellian Seneca the Younger, charges him with rooting out the revolutionaries responsible for the city’s seething unrest. Pantera discovers that the main troublemaker is none other than his closest friend, Saulos, a recent convert to the new religion of Christianity, and Saulos is planning the biggest single act of terrorism the Roman Empire has known. Spying, forbidden secrets, an ancient manuscript and an apocalyptic fire combine in a gripping thriller that will change the way we think about the ancient world.'
Alexander McCall Smith - THE DOUBLE COMFORT SAFARI CLUB
Publisher: Little Brown Date:
March 2010
Eleventh in the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series. From Amazon uk 'Mma Ramotswe and Mma Makutsi are called to a safari lodge in Botswana's Okavango Delta to carry out a delicate mission on behalf of a former guest. The Okavango makes Precious appreciate once again the beauty of her homeland: it is a paradise of teeming wildlife, majestic grasslands and sparkling water. However, it is also home to rival safari operators, fearsome crocodiles and disgruntled hippopotamuses. What's more, Mma Makutsi still does not have a date for her wedding to Phuti Radiphuti and is feeling rather tetchy herself. But Precious knows that with a little patience, just as the wide river will gently make its way round any obstacle, so will everything work out for the best in the end ...'
Aline Templeton - THE ROAD TO NOWHERE
Publisher: Hodder
Date: May 2010
From Hodder's catalogue: 'A young woman has been wrongly accused of murder - or is she devious and deadly? When a landslide crushes the cottage she has been living in, she becomes engulfed in events she struggles to understand, and DI Marjorie Fleming herself is drawn into a nightmare of danger and death.'
Peter Turnbull - DELIVER US FROM EVIL
Publisher: Severn House Publisher: Hachette Books Scotland
Date: April 2010
From Amazon: 'Logan Finch has made a new life for himself with his daughter Ellie. But a blossoming relationship with DC Rebecca Irvine is about to be put to the test when Irvine's old flame, drug-addicted rock star Roddy Hale, enters her life again. And there's a small matter of a professional killer following her every move. Alex Cahill, close-protection operative and ex-US army special-forces soldier, hates babysitting celebrities. Maybe this time will be different. Kara Priest is a Scots girl about to break into Hollywood and is back in Scotland for the premiere of a low-budget film as a favour for a friend. She is the target of a disturbed stalker and needs Cahill and his team to watch her back. As the clouds roll in to blanket the sky at the end of an Indian summer, violence erupts all round, putting everyone at risk. For Logan, there are impossible choices to be made: between his best friend and the woman he loves. Between who lives and who dies.' I still haven't read the first one, but this looks good.
Craig Robertson - RANDOM
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Date: April 2010
A debut novel. This from the publisher: 'Glasgow is being terrorised by a serial killer the media have nicknamed The Cutter. The murders have left the police baffled. There seems to be neither rhyme nor reason behind the killings; no kind of pattern or motive; an entirely different method of murder each time, and nothing that connects the victims except for the fact that the little fingers of their right hands have been severed. If DS Rachel Narey could only work out the key to the seemingly random murders, how and why the killer selects his victims, she would be well on her way to catching him. But as the police, the press and a threatening figure from Glasgow's underworld begin to close in on The Cutter, his carefully-laid plans threaten to unravel - with horrifying consequences.'
Manda Scott - THE FIRE OF ROME
Publisher: Bantam Press Date:
January 2010
From the Random House website: 'AD 34: Sebastos Pantera is twelve. Training for the time when he too will be a soldier of Rome, he follows his father to a garden tomb on the outskirts of Jerusalem where he watches him greet two men and a heavily pregnant woman. In a moment that changes his life forever, he sees a wounded revolutionary being brought out of the tomb alive . . .Twenty years later, Pantera returns from five years undercover in Britannia as assassin and spy for the Legions. He is sick of spying, but a deadly combination of old loyalties and a sense of unfinished business combine to lure him homeward to the city of Rome where, his former mentor and spymaster, the Machiavellian Seneca the Younger, charges him with rooting out the revolutionaries responsible for the city’s seething unrest. Pantera discovers that the main troublemaker is none other than his closest friend, Saulos, a recent convert to the new religion of Christianity, and Saulos is planning the biggest single act of terrorism the Roman Empire has known. Spying, forbidden secrets, an ancient manuscript and an apocalyptic fire combine in a gripping thriller that will change the way we think about the ancient world.'
Alexander McCall Smith - THE DOUBLE COMFORT SAFARI CLUB
Publisher: Little Brown Date:
March 2010
Eleventh in the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series. From Amazon uk 'Mma Ramotswe and Mma Makutsi are called to a safari lodge in Botswana's Okavango Delta to carry out a delicate mission on behalf of a former guest. The Okavango makes Precious appreciate once again the beauty of her homeland: it is a paradise of teeming wildlife, majestic grasslands and sparkling water. However, it is also home to rival safari operators, fearsome crocodiles and disgruntled hippopotamuses. What's more, Mma Makutsi still does not have a date for her wedding to Phuti Radiphuti and is feeling rather tetchy herself. But Precious knows that with a little patience, just as the wide river will gently make its way round any obstacle, so will everything work out for the best in the end ...'
Aline Templeton - THE ROAD TO NOWHERE
Publisher: Hodder
Date: May 2010
From Hodder's catalogue: 'A young woman has been wrongly accused of murder - or is she devious and deadly? When a landslide crushes the cottage she has been living in, she becomes engulfed in events she struggles to understand, and DI Marjorie Fleming herself is drawn into a nightmare of danger and death.'
Peter Turnbull - DELIVER US FROM EVIL
Date: April 2010
The nineteenth in the Hennessy and Yellich police procedural series and another one I can't find anything about other than that.
Louise Welsh - NAMING THE BONES
Publisher: Canongate Books
Date: March 2010
From Amazon 'Some secrets are best left buried - Knee-deep in the mud of an ancient burial ground, a winter storm raging around him, and at least one person intent on his death: how did Murray Watson end up here? His quiet life in university libraries researching the lives of writers seems a world away, and yet it is because of the mysterious writer, Archie Lunan, dead for thirty years, that Murray now finds himself scrabbling in the dirt on the remote island of Lismore. Loaded with Welsh's trademark wit, insight and gothic charisma, this adventure novel weaves the lives of Murray and Archie together in a tale of literature, obsession and dark magic.'
Thursday, 24 September 2009
P Is For...
Pat McIntosh - author of six books in a series featuring Gilbert Cunningham, a young notary in 15th century Glasgow. The first book in the series - THE HARPER'S QUINE - introduces us to Gil as he investigates the murder of a young woman in the new Glasgow Cathedral. Later books in the series are set in Glasgow University, Stirling, Linlithgow, an almshouse, and a coalmine amongst other locations. "With a historian's eye for detail and a novelist's flair for plot and characterization, McIntosh provides an intelligent, authentic, and suspenseful historical whodunit that will please the most demanding of Ellis Peters' fans." - Booklist
Paul Johnston - Paul Johnston is the author of three very different series - the Alex Mavros novels, set in Greece, featuring a half-Greek, half-Scottish private investigator; the Matt Wells novels which feature a crime novelist as protagonist; and the Quintilian Dalrymple series (my favourite of Johnston's series) which are set in a dystopian Edinburgh in the near future (2020s). The protagonist is an ex-policeman turned private investigator who's not best loved by the authorities. Funny, clever and great storytelling. And it's been far too long since the last one. "In a series of highly original books set a couple of decades in the future, Paul Johnston has created a portrait of the post-Enlightenment city-state of Edinburgh, whose inhabitants' drab lives are controlled by a secretive little group of dour Guardians. Despite the grimness of the setting, the books are always entertaining, in part because of the unsquashably rebellious personality of Johnston's maverick sleuth, Quint Dalrymple, and the sardonic humour which enlivens the narrative." - Sunday Telegraph
Peter May - as well as writing for TV, Peter May has written standalone thrillers, plus a series featuring a half-Scottish, half-Italian former forensic scientist called Enzo MacLeod who lives in France and solves cold cases. Peter May is probably best known, however, for his China set thrillers which pair detective Li Yan and pathologist Margaret Campbell. "An accomplished pulse-racer of a novel. This book is much more than just a run of the mill whodunit, think Silence of the Lambs crossed with Quincy, with a bit of the Lonely Planet's Guide to Beijing thrown in." -Daily Record (about chinese Whispers).
Peter Turnbull - Peter Turnbull is the author of over 35 novels. He is best known for the police procedurals set in Glasgow's P Division - a fictitious division similar to Ed McBain's 87th Precinct. Like McBain's books, the stories don't focus on one or two characters, but the entire division. Sadly, he stopped writing this series in the late 1990s. He also writes a police procedural series set in York featuring Chief Inspector Hennessey and Sergeant Yellich, as well as a number of standalone novels. "Our own mean streets done to a turn by Turnbull" - The Times. "Grips like the devil’s forceps" - The Observer.
Philip Kerr - Philip Kerr has written six books in the Bernie Gunther series - Bernie is a hard-boiled detective in Berlin in the 1930s who specialises in finding missing persons. Kerr has also written a number of other thrillers set in the past, present and future, as well as childrens' books under the name P B Kerr. His most recent Bernie Gunther novel - THE DEAD RISE NOT - recently won the RBA international prize for crime fiction - the world's most lucrative crime fiction prize (125,000 Euros - nice!) "Kerr builds his story like an apple strudel, lots of layers that peel away to reveal a shocker based on fact that threatens everybody from Peron down to Gunther...A Quiet Flame is an intelligent, smartly written thriller with a touch of reality that makes its chills even more chilly" - Pittsburgh Post Gazette
Paul Johnston - Paul Johnston is the author of three very different series - the Alex Mavros novels, set in Greece, featuring a half-Greek, half-Scottish private investigator; the Matt Wells novels which feature a crime novelist as protagonist; and the Quintilian Dalrymple series (my favourite of Johnston's series) which are set in a dystopian Edinburgh in the near future (2020s). The protagonist is an ex-policeman turned private investigator who's not best loved by the authorities. Funny, clever and great storytelling. And it's been far too long since the last one. "In a series of highly original books set a couple of decades in the future, Paul Johnston has created a portrait of the post-Enlightenment city-state of Edinburgh, whose inhabitants' drab lives are controlled by a secretive little group of dour Guardians. Despite the grimness of the setting, the books are always entertaining, in part because of the unsquashably rebellious personality of Johnston's maverick sleuth, Quint Dalrymple, and the sardonic humour which enlivens the narrative." - Sunday Telegraph
Peter May - as well as writing for TV, Peter May has written standalone thrillers, plus a series featuring a half-Scottish, half-Italian former forensic scientist called Enzo MacLeod who lives in France and solves cold cases. Peter May is probably best known, however, for his China set thrillers which pair detective Li Yan and pathologist Margaret Campbell. "An accomplished pulse-racer of a novel. This book is much more than just a run of the mill whodunit, think Silence of the Lambs crossed with Quincy, with a bit of the Lonely Planet's Guide to Beijing thrown in." -Daily Record (about chinese Whispers).
Peter Turnbull - Peter Turnbull is the author of over 35 novels. He is best known for the police procedurals set in Glasgow's P Division - a fictitious division similar to Ed McBain's 87th Precinct. Like McBain's books, the stories don't focus on one or two characters, but the entire division. Sadly, he stopped writing this series in the late 1990s. He also writes a police procedural series set in York featuring Chief Inspector Hennessey and Sergeant Yellich, as well as a number of standalone novels. "Our own mean streets done to a turn by Turnbull" - The Times. "Grips like the devil’s forceps" - The Observer.
Philip Kerr - Philip Kerr has written six books in the Bernie Gunther series - Bernie is a hard-boiled detective in Berlin in the 1930s who specialises in finding missing persons. Kerr has also written a number of other thrillers set in the past, present and future, as well as childrens' books under the name P B Kerr. His most recent Bernie Gunther novel - THE DEAD RISE NOT - recently won the RBA international prize for crime fiction - the world's most lucrative crime fiction prize (125,000 Euros - nice!) "Kerr builds his story like an apple strudel, lots of layers that peel away to reveal a shocker based on fact that threatens everybody from Peron down to Gunther...A Quiet Flame is an intelligent, smartly written thriller with a touch of reality that makes its chills even more chilly" - Pittsburgh Post Gazette
Thursday, 10 September 2009
Is This A Cover I See Before Me?
How gorgeous is this? After my excited post about my yummy US cover, here is my equally yummy UK cover. I particularly love the cigar stuck in the cake - the person who designed it has totally nailed it.The UK and US covers are completely different but both are absolutely perfect and I am so thrilled. And I don't think I will ever get over the excitement, joy and 'pinch me' - it can't be real' of having my name on the cover of a book. I'm very grateful to those people who have made it possible - especially my lovely agent Allan Guthrie.
And now, before I get all Kate Winslet on you and burst into tears, on to proper news...
A nice piece on the underrated Peter Turnbull.
Good on ya, Ian Rankin.
A reminder of a rather spiffy looking event. I'm looking forward to this one:
Waterstone's Crime Time - Denise Mina, Louise Welsh, Helen Fitzgerald, Harry Morris and Karen Campbell.
Eastwood Park Theatre
Sunday 13th September 2009 from 6.30-10.30PM
Tickets £8 available from: Waterstone's Newton Mearns, 0141 616 3933 and Eastwood Park Theatre Box Office, 0141 577 4970
Featuring the cream of Scotland's crime writers, telling stories, reading from their novels and answering your questions.
Louise Welsh - Author of prize-winning novel 'The Cutting Room', and Berlin burlesque crime thriller 'The Bullet Trick' will be reading exclusive previews from her next novel due out in March 2010.
Denise Mina - Author of the acclaimed Garnethill series will be talking about her latest novel - 'Still Midnight' an intelligent crime thriller which has been awarded numerous plaudits by the critics.
Karen Campbell - has penned her incendiary second novel 'After the Fire' a literary crime follow-up to 'The Twilight Time'. Her skillful writing is informed by her experiences in the Glasgow Police Force.
Helen FitzGerald - Author of sparklingly black crime fiction with a wicked twist, Helen will be talking about her latest novel 'The Devil's Staircase'
Harry Morris aka Harry the Polis - is well known for his hilarious anecdotes about serving as a Glasgow Policeman, and his stand-up routine always goes down fantastically well. His latest book 'Up Tae My Neck In Paperwork' continues the side-splitting saga.
For further details contact; Waterstone's Newton Mearns, 38 The Avenue, Newton Mearns, Glasgow, G77 6EY, 0141 616 3933.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
