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This week saw the announcement of the nominees in three categories for this year’s Specsavers Crime Thriller Awards. CWA GOLD DAGGER 2010 Blacklands by Belinda Bauer (Corgi/Transworld) Blood Harvest by S J Bolton (Bantam Press/Transworld) Shadowplay by… Read More

At 11.30 on Monday morning the kettle went on in the HarperFiction kitchen and the biscuits were cracked open early. Five editors, three publicists and a designer tried to work out how to turn on the TV and seven minutes later we had lift off. We tuned in to The TV Book Club just in time to pretend we had all read everything Kafka had ever written and to watch the ads. But then, the moment we had all been waiting for - THE DEVIL'S ACRE and Matthew Plampin were on the telly! THE DEVIL'S ACRE, Matthew's second novel tells the story of the short life of Colonel Samuel Colt's Westminster gun factory, and his newly appointed London secretary, Edward Lowry. A desperate time for London's poor, Lowry shows us the underbelly of society when he begins an affair with a girl from the factory floor and discovers corruption is rife. Read More

So... the dust has settled and the ale has run dry on the Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival 2010. The Killer Reads team made the arduous journey up the east-coast mainline and into the waiting arms of the beautiful spa-town of Harrogate. Whether the festival is on or not, I'd recommend you go visit this pretty and relaxing town any time of the year. We went up to 'God's own county' this last weekend from the 22nd - 25th July. Unfortunately, He didn't attend as He generally prefers non-fiction and celebrity cook-books, but He does like a good 'whodunit'. He also correctly guesses who the killer is every time, often before He's even bought or read the book. Read More

Last Thursday evening at the Harrogate Crime Writing Festival we were proud to see BBC Radio 4's Mark Lawson present our very own Reginald Hill with the Theakstons Old Peculier Outstanding Contribution to Crime Fiction Award. His speech was warm and witty and full of praise for his editor Julia Wisdom. Although he was a little put out that she had been put up in a luxurious Hotel du Vin suite while he - the prize winner - only had a standard double... Hill has had forty books published in forty years. His first book, A Clubbable Woman, was published in 1970 and was the first in his hugely successful Dalziel and Pascoe series which went on to become a huge TV hit. His most recent novel, the standalone thriller The Woodcutter, was published last week. And ... as an added bonus, enter our competition to be one of the lucky seven to win the following: Read More

Live from the awards ceremony at The Crown Hotel, Harrogate…the winner of this year’s  novel of the year is A Simple Act of Violence by RJ Ellory! Congratulations!… Read More

Avon author Lee Weeks publishes her 4th novel Kiss &  Die this month. Once again featuring Hong Kong detective Johnny Mann, Kiss & Die follows a  serial killer who appears to be a woman – her target, adulterous businessmen. Yet again, another nerve-shredding thriller from the bestseller Weeks and is perfect for fans of Karen Rose and James Patterson. Killer Reads caught up with Lee for a quick chat. Killer Reads: Who is Lee Weeks? Lee Weeks: I was the youngest of three daughters. My father was a policeman and my mother was a nurse. It was a difficult childhood spent continually moving. I went to eight schools, lastly a convent, before coming to a mutual agreement with the nuns that it was time I left. I came out with one GCSE in Art and was accepted to Art college to do a foundation course. I dropped out and went to Sweden to work as an au pair for a year. After returning briefly, I headed towards a kibbutz in Israel, without a map, and didn't get further than France. After France I stayed for six months in England taking a job as a hotel receptionist in Widecombe-in-the moor. I was given the sack after being accused (falsely) of Witchcraft - I went to live in a small Bavarian village in Germany and worked there as a barmaid before also being given the sack for being a witch! I moved to Munich, worked as a cocktail waitress before moving on to an American army base to live. I worked in a nearby town as a Disc Jockey. I returned home to take my missing GCSEs in a year and three A levels. Then, I headed off to Hong Kong where I lived for over a year and worked as a model and nightclub hostess. It was there that my, already evident, drug problem escalated when I was sold the local equivalent of amphetamine which turned out to be heroin. My supplier, Teresa, owed the triads money and I became part of the debt. After nine months of addiction, and reaching a near death situation, my life turned a corner and I decided to stop all drugs and to put my past behind me. I went into hiding, moving from hotel to hotel to escape Teresa. After three months, when I was at the end of my methadone program, I was rescued from the triads' debt by a prominent member of Hong Kong society,  with whom I had an affair. I was allowed to leave Hong Kong. Returning to live in London, I moved in with an old college friend, fell pregnant and married. I had a second c Read More

Tomorrow afternoon the Killer Reads team heads to Harrogate for its annual Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival. With our very own Stuart MacBride presiding over events, this year promises to be one of the best yet! Read More

1. Silence of the Lambs, Thomas Harris, because he can scare me – not an easy task. 2. In Cold Blood, Truman Capote, because of his style. He took a real life crime and novelized it, but yet retained the grit of a true crime drama, complete with quotes. 3. The Firm, John Grisham, because it was the first legal thriller that I ever read that didn’t bore me during the legal parts. Read More

Killer Reads: What inspired you to write Pretty Little Things? Jilliane Hoffman: My daughter was just eleven years old when a classmate of hers started a texting relationship via cell phone with a boy she’d met on the internet. She had pretended she was sixteen and he had claimed he was a teen, as well. This classmate then passed the telephone numbers and email addresses of all her fourth grade friends along to her new cell phone pal. The friends, being eleven year old girls, thought the whole thing was pretty funny and so they continued the ruse and ‘told’ this stranger that they were all 16. Read More

A terrifying new standalone psycholgical thriller from the bestselling writer of ‘Retribution‘, Julliane Hoffman Special Agent Bobby Dees knows what grief feels like. He understands the pain of losing a child. And he’ll do whatever he can to prevent it from happening again. The phone call that… Read More

An exciting new thriller, introducing Francesco Patrese, FBI expert on religious crime, for fans of Richard Montanari and ‘Messiah’. When Pittsburgh homicide detective, Franco Patrese, and his partner Mark Beradino are called to a domestic dispute at the lawless Homewood estate events quickly spiral out of control. With two dead,… Read More

Jilliane Hoffman's... Pretty Little Things Pretty Little Things is the 4th novel from former Assistant District State  Attorney Jilliane Hoffman. After her fantastic debut Retribution, Hoffman has gone from strength to strength and Pretty Little Things is no exception. A terrifying, spine-chilling tale that is set to get your pulse racing. Inspired by both her experience as a felony prosecutor in Miami and her worst fears as a mother to two young teenage daughters, Hoffman describes it as "the most personal, frightening thriller I’ve ever written". Read the first couple of chapters here Buy now from Amazon Read More