Sunday Summary and Monday Winner

First of all, thank you for the good wishes! Back from a weekend in Bristol where we finalised the programme for Crimefest without too much stress (mine) and pain (Adrian's). Lots of great authors going and I'm really looking forward to it.

An excellent article in the music magazine Hot Press in which Doug Johnstone talks whisky and crime fiction. And here is his list of forthcoming events. I can't wait to get my hands on SMOKEHEADS.

Read 'Em, Don't Weep reviews Alexander McCall Smith's THE CHARMING QUIRKS OF OTHERS, PhiloBiblos with a few words for Charles Cummings' THE TRINITY SIX - which gets a few more words in The Scotsman, and Paul Brazill with a small but perfectly formed review of the small but perfectly formed KILLING MUM by Allan Guthrie.

Alexander McCall Smith talks to the Mail Online.

Over at Travelling Booky, a run down of M C Beaton's Hamish MacBeth mysteries.

The Museum of The Macabre talks about Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and the History of Spiritualism.

Philip Kerr will be appearing in Toronto on April 20th.

And, finally, after putting all the names in my favourite pair of Docs, the winner of Tony Black's TRUTH LIES BLEEDING is Janet. Janet - if you send me your address I'll forward it to the lovely people at Random House.

All Change On The Western Front

Well, it's all change around these parts. I was made redundant on Tuesday. Scary, but good. I'm going to use it as a way to have a complete change of career (at nearly 50? What am I thinking?!) I'm hoping to go back to university and study for a Masters degree in Community Education and Development (if they'll have me). Anyone have any experience in that field? All hints and tips gratefully welcomed. This is going to seriously curtail my gadding off to conventions and trips to Alaska, but apart from that, I'm looking forward to it!

Do you remember the Ramones Challenge? Well, the mad genius that is Jimmy Callaway - who wrote a great story based on The KKK Took My Baby Away - has only gone and made it into a film, hasn't he? How utterly brilliant is this?

My Dad's recent find, Danielle Ramsay, will be appearing at Dundee Waterstones on Saturday 29th June at 1.30pm.

Ian Rankin: A Scots Hard Man.

Apparently, winter keeps Irvine Welsh writing.

Katie Anderson reviews Kate Atkinson's BEHIND THE SCENES AT THE MUSEUM, Steven Clark enjoys Stuart MacBride's HALFHEAD and Margaret at BooksPlease discovers Joyce Holms' Fizz and Buchanan series.

And now, I am off to Bristol for a weekend of eating, drinking and finalising the programme for Crimefest (which will no doubt involve me beating Adrian about the head as he tries to disrupt my carefully constructed house of cards, and him then plying me with several of his extremely strong cocktails to calm me down). Have a lovely weekend, Dear Reader.

Thanks And Things

First of all, a huge thank you to everyone who has e-mailed me or DM'd me about my Lefty Award nomination for OLD DOGS. I am really, really honoured and chuffed to be nominated and haven't stopped smiling and hugging myself since. I wish I could hug the people involved in the nomination, but, since I don't know who it is/they are, I shall just thank three very special people - my lovely agent Allan Guthrie, Maxim Jakubowski of Maxcrime and the late - and much missed - David Thompson of Busted Flush. He would have been very happy.

Ian Rankin has been named an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland. That's brilliant Ian - well done. Errrrr...any chance you could come round and give me a quote for a loft conversion? Might be a few wee hitches - I actually live in a flat, so my upstairs neighbour might not be too chuffed.

One Regard enjoyed Kate Atkinson's STARTED EARLY, TOOK MY DOG, which View From Carmine Superiore calls "a damn fine read", while Shelf Love reviews BEHIND THE SCENES AT THE MUSEUM.

A BBC radio crime drama by David Ashton for your delectation.

BooksPlease picks Christopher Brookmyre for letter C of the crime fiction alphabet.

The lovely Ayo over at Shots blog continues her 'looking forward to' series of posts.

Advance warning of a literary lunch with Alexander McCall Smith on June 2nd. And Books To The Ceiling reviews CORDUROY MANSIONS.

I wish I lived in Wisconsin. They get to study Scottish crime fiction. Lucky sods. I wonder whether Professor Bob Nowlan does a distance learning version.

I Meant To Read That blog with a great review of Allan Guthrie's HARD MAN.

And, finally, talking of Super Agent Al, the wonderful Anthony Neil Smith (if you haven't read his stuff and like dark, perverse and twisted, then do yourself a favour) has an 'imaginary' conversation with his agent - the aforementioned Allan Guthrie (who looks scarily like a bald Nick Cave (although not in real life)) . Well, Neil says it's imaginary, but I can hear Al saying everything - including the "I want to make dirty, sassy love to it." In fact, especially that line.

Aye, Right, it's Aye Write

First of all, this weekend's film viewing. First was a French film called Harry, un ami qui vous veut du bien. The English title - although sticking reasonably close to the French - was the rather rubbish - Harry, He's Here To Help. Don't let the title put you off. It's a lovely little witty psychological thriller. A French family, on the way to the holiday home which they are doing up, meet up with an old school-friend of the husband, Michel. Michel has only the vaguest memories of Harry, but Harry seems to be rather more...obsessed... with Michel. Hitchcockian suspense, black comedy, and nicely low-key. Our next film was The Disappearance of Alice Creed - a claustrophobic British thriller with a cast of three and which mostly takes place in one room - a room where two men take a young woman and hold her hostage, in order to extract a large ransom from her rich father. A good (but not great) thriller - gritty and twisty but lacking in something. I didn't care enough about any of the characters. Well worth a watch, though.

The Aye Write programme is up. From a quick look through, the crime related events are (I've put a * by the ones I'm planning on attending, if anyone fancies meeting up):

Friday March 4th
Jasper Fforde - 18.00 - 19.00

Saturday March 5th
Alexander McCall Smith - 10.30-11.30
Denise Mina, Karen Campbell, Caro Ramsay - 14.00-15.00 *
Alex Gray, Louise Welsh, Alice Thompson - 15.30-16.30 *
Mark Billingham and Jo Nesbo - 19.00-20.00

Sunday March 6th
Val McDermid - 17.00-18.00 *

Monday March 7th
Allan Guthrie, Denise Mina, Louise Welsh - 19.30-20.30 *

Tuesday March 8th
Kevin MacNeil - 18.00-19.00 (not sure if it's crime fiction but one description calls it a 'dark, maniacal thriller'. It looks excellent. *
Doug Johnstone - 19.30-20.30 *

Friday March 11th
Christopher Brookmyre - 21.00-23.00

Saturday March 12th
Iain M Banks and Ken MacLeod 14.00-15.00 (although this one is more SF)
Neil Forsyth - 15.30-16.30 (more his comedy than crime fiction)

I think that's it, but if I've missed anything, please let me know.

And another event, on 4th February Louise Welsh at the GFT talking about Robert Louis Stevenson and the Theatre of The Brain.

And now, a few reviews. First of all, a very thoughtful and interesting review of Stuart MacBride's SHATTER THE BONES, The Star Online reviews Ian Rankin's THE COMPLAINTS, and the lovely Dorte enjoys John Buchan's THE THIRTY-NINE STEPS.

Ian Rankin, amongst others, talks about turning fifty.

And, finally, David Thomas in The Mail on The Pitbull of The Baskervilles.

Looking Forward to...ooooooh...Lots

The weekend again - lovely. And I'm in a good mood because today I booked tickets to go and see The Kills. In Berlin. And you know how much I love Berlin. Yessssssssssssssssssssssss.

News about Aye Write, and the programme will be announced this weekend. Looking good already from this little snippet of information.

GeekNative reviews Denise Mina's A SICKNESS IN THE FAMILY.

At last - Caro Ramsay is back in the world of the blogging.

The Inverness Courier on Tony Black. And remember, just by blabbing something you may well rather forget, you can win a copy of his new book.

John Hannah says that he was "wrong for Rebus." Uh-huh.

Apparently, Stuart MacBride is magic.

Sisters In Crime converse with Val McDermid. And here's a review of TRICK OF THE DARK.

The estate of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle has authorised Anthony Horowitz to write a new Sherlock Holmes novel.

Ray Banks deservedly makes the top 10 of 2010 over at Literary Kicks. While over at Shots, the lovely Ayo is looking forward to 2011.

An interview with William Meikle.

And, finally, congratulations to Nigel Bird who's won a crime fiction fairy tale short story competition over at Things I'd Rather Be Doing. Well done, mate.

Ladies and Gents...Mr Tony Black

The lovely people at Random House have offered a copy of Tony Black's soon-to-be-released book TRUTH LIES BLEEDING as a give-away on the blog.

While a big part of me is just tempted to just keep it to myself, I shall be a good blogger and do a give-away.

If you haven't read any of Tony's books before, then you're in for a treat. This one is the first of a new series, featuring Inspector Rob Brennan. If you have read him before, then you already know what a great writer he is.

Here's the blurb:
Four teenagers find the mutilated corpse of a young girl stuffed into a dumpster in an Edinburgh alleyway. Who is she? Where did she come from? Who killed her and why? Above all, where is the baby to which she has obviously recently given birth? Inspector Rob Brennan, recently back from psychiatric leave, is assigned the case.

And Tony's having a book launch in Edinburgh on February 9th. I'm hoping to make it there myself as Tony has promised me chocolate if I go. A new book by one of my favourite authors and chocolate? What more can a girl ask for?

But before that, if you live in Brunswick, Australia, then you can hear Tony talk about Celtic Noir tomorrow night. Although, if you do live in Brunswick, it's probably already tomorrow.

So, all you have to do to win the book is tell me something about yourself that I don't already know. Just leave it in the comments. Or, if it's really embarrassing, send me an e-mail and I promise not to tell more than 20 people. I'll then pull one lucky winner out of one of my favourite boots.

And, just to start you off, here's mine. I once played a butch, weightlifting nurse in a German play (I know, I know - typecast). A very nerve-wracking experience, especially since ad-libbing in German was not an option if I forgot my lines. Luckily, I was murdered at the end of Act I.

From Zombies to Superheroes

Fancy some graphic novels? Geeks.co.uk reviews Denise Mina's A SICKNESS IN THE FAMILY, as well as some Sherlock Holmes adventures, including VICTORIAN UNDEAD: SHERLOCK HOLMES VS ZOMBIES. And Broken Frontier also reviews SICKNESS.

If you live in Tyneside, how about an evening with Stuart MacBride on February 3rd? No zombies...probably.

A review of Graham Moore's THE SHERLOCKIAN, and THE HOLMES AFFAIR and the blog In Which I Read Vintage Novels reviews John Buchan's THE THREE HOSTAGES. Keith Walters really enjoyed Craig Robertson's RANDOM, and reviews over at Eurocrime for M C Beaton's AGATHA RAISIN AND THE BUSY BODY and Grant McKenzie's SWITCH.

Talking of John Buchan, here's his grandson on the 39 steps to writing the perfect thriller.

Louise Welsh will be giving a reading at the University of Glasgow on Tuesday 18th January.

Allan Guthrie has a new blog E-Books That Sell.

It looks as though Alexander McCall Smith is going to be busy again next year. As well as the Aye Write gig, there's a musical night with him in Edinburgh on March 4th, and he's appearing at the William and Mary College in Colonial Williamsburg on April 7th.

Better hurry up if you want tickets for a special screening of TRAINSPOTTING on 2nd February.

And, finally, I do wish Glasgow could have its own Superhero like Seattle does. Given the latest bizarre twist to the Tommy Sheridan perjury trial, I think Glasgow's should be a wee yellow and black striped hero called Spelling Bee.