Crime Writers' Association - Margery Allingham Short Mystery Prize

Couldn't be happier at winning the Margery Allingham Short Mystery Prize for my story Heartbridge Homicides. Click here and here for more details. Here's how the judges described it: "A delightful, beautifully written story set in TV soapland. The breezy narration never falters as the charm of solving a crime creeps over the soap's fan. The judges felt Margery would have loved this story." It will be published on the CWA website later in the year. 

Fish Publishing Short Story Prize

Thrilled that my story No Alternative is a winner in the Fish Short Story Prize, and has been published in their 2019 Anthology.  No Alternative was described by judge Mia Gallagher as: "A subtle tale which appears to start simply enough, bleakness suffusing every line of its spare, unshowy prose in  the opening section. Everything seems straightforward. Okay, you'll think, I've got it, I know where this is going. But then a single line - a man's heart unpredictably skipping - snares you, and you're hooked, following the chilly, relentless inevitability of Paul's journey as he, you and the story sink deeper into a profound Mephistophelian darkness. This subject matter, if handled with less integrity, could result in something horribly schlocky. In this writer's hands it is perfect. Faust for the FundMe generation."

You can buy the anthology here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Fish-Anthology-2019-Richard-Lambert/dp/0995620024

Wundor Short Fiction Prize

Pleased to report that my novella The Inaugural Iraq Garden Tour has won second prize in the Wundor Short Fiction Prize! http://www.wundoreditions.com/wundor-short-fiction-contest-2018-results.html

Brieven uit Londen - Dutch translation

I am really pleased that the Dutch translation of Pictures at an Exhibition, Brieven uit Londen (Letters from London) is now out! It has a great cover, as I'm sure you'll all agree.  If you know anyone Dutch - let them know!

Clan Macpherson: Catch not a cat....

Many thanks to the Clan Macpherson Association for its loyal support of Pictures at an Exhibition. There was a wonderful turn-out of Macphersons at my book launch last year at Waterstone's Leadenhall Market, and the annual magazine, Creag Dubh, contains a photo of me signing copies as well as a review.

Living the letters for real

I met up with Carly Butler today, a Canadian in London researching her grandmother's war-time story through the letters she sent during that time and planning a book about the experience. I read about her adventure in the paper and couldn't believe someone was following just the kind of war-time/letter journey for real that I imagined when I wrote Pictures at an Exhibition! What a brilliant adventure she is having. Here is a picture of us at the National Gallery in the shop where I was also pleased to discover that the copy of Pictures at an Exhibition that Carly bought was my third sale of the day. 

Waterstone's Islington

Do come to my Q&A on 29 November at Waterstone's on Islington Green (nearest tube Angel), from 6.15!