The Ponderings of a Heretic…Part 1

In an errant moment of boastfulness I recently revealed in conversation that I had ‘read’ Foxe’s Book of Martyrs, which, as a vital component of S.J. Parris’s novel Heresy, earmarked me as the perfect candidate to write a blog relating to the Inquisition [at least in the eyes of my betters and superiors]. Not that I have any problem with the actual writing of the blog. The difficulty lies more in the realization that assailed me when I first sat down to write; that a book that I had read briefly for a teenage history project had seeped from my memory.
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Crime Film of the Month

Brand new to Killer Reads is the cleverly titled, ‘Crime Film of the Month, which very surprisingly presents you with a classic crime film every month. As the self-styled film buff of the team I was nominated to select the titles so I’m very pleased that the inaugural ’Crime Film of the Month’ for March is the legendary Brighton Rock….

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True Crime is the New Crime Fiction

“The future of crime fiction lies not in inventing ever more colourful crimes but in focusing on real-life wrongdoing”

This is the opinion of David Peace bestselling author of The Red Riding Quartet and The Damned United featured in the Guardian today. It’s obvious that this formula is something which works for him- The Red Riding Quartet is based on the Yorkshire Ripper murders.

Peace comments that there “isn’t much point making up new crimes” but isn’t that the point of crime fiction, to escape into a frighteningly real -’unreal’ world were you feel comforted by the fact that it is simple no more than a work of fiction or is the shock and fear that that these crimes really have taken place that fascinates us readers.

Whatever side you choose to take it’s a very interesting debate…

Alibi’s Search for a New Crime Writer

The hunt for a new crime writing talent is on! Fancy yourself as the next Stuart MacBride then keep reading.

HarperCollins have teamed up with crime drama channel Alibi, the infamous Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival and TV Times to uncover the UK’s hidden crime writing talent.

The ‘Search for a New Crime Writer’ competition asks budding writers to submit a short crime fiction story via the Alibi website the competition opens on Monday 25th January 2010 and closes at midday on Sunday 16th May 2010.

Our very own Stuart MacBride, author of the bestsellers Blind Eye, Cold Granite and Flesh House has lent his support to the competition by providing entrants with the story’s opening line…

‘In my experience, those who beg for mercy seldom deserve it’.

There will be one winner with two runners up who are in line to win some rather special prizes.
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Announcing the ‘Lost Man Booker Prize’

Today saw the announcement of The Lost Man Booker Prize longlist - confused? This>is a one-off prize to honour books published in 1970 which missed out on the opportunity to win the Booker Prize.

In 1971, just two years after it began, the Booker Prize ceased to be awarded retrospectively and became, as it is today, a prize for the best novel in the year of publication. At the same time, the date on which the award was given moved from April to November. As a result of these changes, there was a whole year’s gap when a wealth of fiction, published in 1970 fell through the net. These books were simple never considered for the prize…until now.

The shortlist will be announced in March but, as with the Best of the Booker in 2008, the international reading public will decide the winner by voting via the Man Booker Prize website with the overall winner being announced in May.
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Camilla Läckberg - 6th biggest seller in Europe!

It’s all about Camilla Läckberg!

The Killer Reads team are all rather excited to hear that our very own Camilla Läckberg, has come 6th in the chart of Europe’s bestselling authors of 2009. Steig Larsson heads up the list with Twilight author Stephanie Meyer in second place and Dan Brown in third.

The paperback of Camilla’s number 1 bestseller, The Preacher is available at the beginning of March. To find out why she is so successful you can read an extract of The Preacher here and watch a video of Camilla talking about her previous novel The Ice Princess.

Andrew Gross Exclusive!

A slightly belated Happy New Year to you all, things have been a little hectic in the Killer Reads camp what with the snow and getting back into the work routine.

We’re kicking off this year with an exclusive video from bestseller Andrew Gross, author of thrillers The Blue Zone and Dark Tide. This March he publishes his 4th novel Reckless which Lee Child has described as ‘his best yet’.

Andrew has recorded an exclusive video for us reading the first chapter from the much anticipated Reckless. Enjoy!

December Newsletter Round-up

For those of you not signed up for the Killer Reads newsletter - all you need to do is go to Win and enter the your details to receive our montly catch-up and you might also be lucky enough to win the selection of top titles we’re currently giving away.

So if you missed December’s update here’s a quick round-up….

The Gumshoe Trail - a fleeting history of the American hardboiled crime novel from Raymond Chandler to Tony Hillerman. Read it here.

Thriller School - Calling all budding crime writers. Learn from the experts at the inaugrual Thriller Read and benefit from an exclusive Killer Reads discount. Click here for more information.

Avon Authors - The fanastic David Kessler and James Steel chat to Killer Reads. Click here for James Steel and here for David Kessler

2010 Sneak Peek - Take a look at what’s in store for 2010.

Desmond Bagley - Read about the father of action thrillers

Thriller School - Killer Reads Exclusive Offer

In this month’s newsletter there was a special offer for all those on the Killer Reads mailing list to book their place on crime writing course Thriller School for a discounted rate.

We managed to catch up with founder Sarah Williams before she launches the inaugural event in January to see what she hopes to achieve with the course and why specialise in crime fiction…

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