News

My fourth novel, is now finished and has won the Dundee International Book Prize, and been published by Polygon. Meanwhile I have started to work on the next one. Like my three previous crime novels the setting is Dundee, Scotland. Sad to say my first novel, a fishing saga, languishes in the bottom drawer and will never see the light of day.

Dead Wood is published by Polygon, Price £9.99

Other suppliers:- Amazon and Waterstone's

January 2010

Phew, I've finished reading the Constable Trophy submissions and the crits are written. What a lot of raw talent there is out there. It has been a time-consuming task but a very pleasurable one, I just hope those entrants who are not among the winners are not too disappointed.

I am still receiving lots of emails through this web site saying how much they enjoyed Dead Wood. I try to answer every one, but unfortunately sometimes the email links don't work. So to anyone who has written to me and not got an answer, I apologise, and it vexes me when I can't respond to you because I appreciate your comments so much.

Now, the good news is that Polygon have started doing short-run reprints of Dead Wood. So the book should be available again. However, I am still waiting for their verdict on Cold Vengeance. My fingers have been crossed for so long they are cramping.

December 2009

The Scots Magazine has a super review of Dead Wood this month you can see it online, although it looks much better in the magazine. The sad thing is that there is no word of a reprint and lots of shops now have no stocks left of the book. However, I notice that Waterstone's online store are still advertising the book as being in stock, although Amazon are fluctuating between a few books being available and then none at all. Some days I look there are none and then the next day they have one or two. I can only hope that someday soon a decision will be made to reprint.

I have now placed my second book, Cold Vengeance, with Polygon, and am waiting to hear whether or not they are interested in publishing it. Meanwhile I will continue to write the third novel, Predator, which is now 20,000 words in.

I am currently involved in reading manuscripts for the SAWs (Scottish Association of Writers) Constable Trophy. This is a prestigious award for an unpublished general novel and I am honoured to have been asked to adjudicate. I will be announcing the winner at the SAWs annual conference at Erskine Bridge, in March.

So, as you can see it's been a busy time for me.

November 2009

I delivered a talk this month to Angus Ladies Luncheon Club, a lively group of ladies who meet regularly and who are all avid readers. The organiser was a bit put out, though, to discover there was a dearth of books to sell at the luncheon. She managed to rustle up 2 books from the local bookseller, but was unable to take orders for copies at a later date because none were available. To say she wasn't best pleased about this scarcity would probably be an understatement. I just hope there will be books available for my next booking for the SAW conference in early March.

October 2009

Great excitement this month. I am Crimesquad.com's Fresh Blood for October. Great review and it's looking good.

I don't know whether to be pleased or concerned. After only three months of being on sale the print run for Dead Wood is finished. It is out of stock at the warehouse, although the shops still have the book on their shelves and Amazon are still listing it as in stock. However, once these stocks are sold out that will be it, unless the publisher decides to reprint. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

I'm also in the last throes of the final revision of my novel Cold Vengeance, and am hoping the publisher will be interested. Fingers crossed again.

August & September 2009

Both events went well and I enjoyed them immensely. A reasonable number of people attended and it was all very informal. I talked about the book, the characters, and how I came to write it, as well as telling them what an incredible experience winning the Dundee prize was. It seemed to go down well and everyone seemed to enjoy the events.

August & September 2009 Events

I've been booked to speak at two events in August and September:-

1) Dundee Book Event at Dundee University at 7pm on 20th August - tickets available from Waterstone's Dundee Branch cost £3

2) Dundee Library Event at Central Library in the Wellgate Centre at 2.30pm on 29th September.

August 2009

Dead Wood seems to be selling well locally although it's difficult to assess how well it's doing nationally or even internationally. I do know that some copies have crossed the pond to Canada, and one of my contacts from Harrogate is promoting it in Cyprus. Online I've discovered it on US, Canadian and Australian sites, and funnily enough on a Lebanese site. How on earth does distribution manage to find its way around.

July 2009

Harrogate Crime Festival is now a memory, but a very good memory. Met loads of lovely people there. Christine, Bren and Sonya, thanks for your company. Not forgetting Caro Ramsay who is excellent company as well as being a damned good writer. Plus we came fourth in the quiz which wasn't bad going. The highlights - well that's difficult to decide because we had so many good authors there. George Pelicanos, Lee Child, Denise Mina, Zoe Sharp, as well as loads of others. And, of course, no festival would be complete without Val McDermid and Mark Billingham. Ah well, that's it for another year - can't wait.

June 2009

At last, at long, long last, I've hit the jackpot. All those years struggling to find a publisher for my novels is over, because - wait for it - I've just won the Dundee International Book Prize, and part of the prize is publication by Polygon. I don't think I've come down to earth yet because the Dundee prize is such a prestigious award and I never really believed I could win it. You see, I had assumed that it would be a literary novel that would walk off with the prize. You know the kind I mean, the sort of story where you need a university degree to understand it. I don't write that kind of stuff. I write the kind of story that most folks would enjoy, if you like dark crime, that is. I prefer folks to enjoy my stories without having to struggle to understand them. Page turners, that's what I aim for, and the feedback from the readers of 'Dead Wood' is that is exactly what this novel is. So here's hoping that it sells and sells and sells. Because if it does, then the publisher might just possibly publish my other novels.

March 2008

The SAW conference has come and gone yet again and a good time was had by all. Six of us from Angus Circle attended and most of us won prizes or commendations for the competitions we entered. I won the Pitlochry Award for the second time and came second for the Constable Trophy. Considering I only entered these two competitions I reckon that wasn't bad going. As usual I took oodles of photos and if you want to see them Click here

July 2007

Harrogate Crime Festival was excellent as usual. There were too many good speakers to go
into details but the highlights were - Simon Brett's murder mystery play (I almost died laughing) - Harlan Coben who has a super sense of humour and was very entertaining - and Mark Billingham who was excruciatingly funny. Frederick Forsyth didn't make it, he was flooded in, so a panel was set up to debate US crime v UK crime fiction. Lee Child and Harlan Coben defended the US and Mark
Billingham and Val McDermid defended the UK with various crime writers putting in their tuppence worth either for or against. It was hilarious. I also met up with quite a few old friends and had a lovely time with Alex Gray, Caro Ramsay and Aline Templeton.

14th May 2007

The Society of Authors visit to Lothian and Borders Police Headquarters was an unqualified success. Demonstrations were laid on by the police dog handling team, the mounted police team, the transport section and the armed response unit . This is me in the photo, all tooled up and getting ready to shoot. Maybe I should label it 'Wha daur meddle wi me'.

2nd May 2007

I have spent years avoiding election to Angus Writers' Circle committee because it took me 8 years to wriggle my way out of being the club secretary. But last night I succumbed to the blandishments (read thumbscrews and other modes of torture) of the newly appointed president, and much to my disgust (only kidding Wilma) became vice president. I am convinced the club will live to regret my appointment because I am one of nature's control freaks. I am never convinced a job is well done unless I do it myself. I think that signifies a lack of trust which, being one of the stages of childhood development, I must have missed out on when I was growing up. The club may have created a monster.

April 2007

My new novel is finally finished. I wrote the last chapter on 23rd April. Now for the hard slog of editing and final revisions.

March 2007

I had a super weekend at the SAW conference at Erskine Bridge. My knees had been quaking a bit before I did my adjudication speech on Saturday morning (I was first on) but it all went well. I awarded a first, second and third prize and recommended three other stories for the Unpublished Authors competition. The first prize (the Eastwood Trophy) went to Victoria Gemmell from Erskine, second prize went to Cathie Devitt, Erskine, and third prize to Christine Campbell, Edinburgh. Have a decco at the three prizewinners. Angus Writers also did well at the conference. Liz Strachan won the General Article competition (the Alastair Walker Trophy), and the Children's Short Story ( the Writers' News Trophy), and was commended for the Scholarship and the Book Review. Eleanor Fordyce came third in the Woman's Short Story competition and was commended for the Humorous Article. Gillian Blackmore came third in the Writers' News Mini Story . Joan Christie was commended for the Book Review and the Mini Story competitions. So between my adjudication and the Angus Writers' achievements it was a great success for Angus, and being in the company of all those who attended the conference made it a super weekend. Click link for More Photos