From my Desk to Yours

Over the Christmas holidays, I’d reached a bit of a rut in my personal free-time reading, with so many novels feeling a bit generic, but as soon as I picked up The Long Weekend by Gilly Macmillan, I was hooked and I could barely put it down. Despite the fact that I read psychological thrillers by the bookcase-load, the latest novel by the Sunday Times bestselling author feels fresh and the characters and voice so authentic! (Her best, yet, perhaps!?!)

Set in a holiday home on the wilds of a Northumberland moor, this is a tense and gripping exploration of the toxicity and fragility of friendships and the secrets that people hide from each other. Longtime fans of Gilly’s writing are going to love this novel – this one certainly does! – but also I’m sure it’s going to inspire many more readers to pick up Gilly’s books.

I’ve had the pleasure of working with Gilly on one her previous books, The Nanny, so I was delighted to be part of the blog tour for The Long Weekend. Despite being super busy preparing for publication day, Gilly was lovely enough to answer some of my burning questions on how the novel came to be, but also how she always gets her legendary twists so right!

One of the best parts of working with authors is seeing their work get better and better with every manuscript, and A J Wills is one such superstar. I’ve worked with Wills on two books so far, and each time he’s brought an even more thrilling concept to the table – earning himself a Selfie Award nomination in the process. With a flair for creating complex characters and hooks that you just can’t resist, you can’t go far wrong with an A J Wills thriller.

It was an utter joy to work with A J Wills on his latest novel, NOTHING LEFT TO LOSE, an electrifying psychological thriller that poses questions about how one careless action can snowball into tragedy. And revenge.

I was delighted to get the chance to ask A J Wills some questions ahead of publication day – today – discussing what inspired him to write thrillers, and why keeping things close to home makes the twists all the more unnerving.

Christmas time is not only a time for joy and laughter, but it’s also a time to take a step back and slow down; enjoy some time to kick back and relax after what has, quite frankly, been one heck of a year. With that in mind, I’ve curated a list of Christmas-themed crime and thriller novels to get you in the mood for the holidays and for you to indulge in with your favourite tipple and a mince pies. These reads will have you gripped to the edge of your seat from Christmas Eve all the way to New Years day!

Whether you’re looking for a read for yourself, or a present for the crime fiction lover in your life, click the images to find out more – and try to shop indie if you can! If you’re after gift ideas for your writer friends, check out my Shop Small Gift Guide for writers, or why not give the gift of editing this year?

Last month, I was delighted to be invited by the UK Crime Book Club to speak in one of their Ask the Expert slots. So far, the series has featured publishers, police specialists as well as marketing aficionados, and now it was my turn to talk all about editing!

If was a fantastic evening, and Samantha and I chatted all about editing, writing crime fiction and, strangely enough, cheese, along with much more. If you weren’t able to watch the interview live, it’s now available to view both on the UK Crime Book Club YouTube channel (see below), so do check it out. It is a great chance to find out more about what an editor does in general, how I personally help authors with their manuscripts, as well as the nuances of working in the grisly but addictive world of crime fiction, in a fun and informal format.

If you enjoyed that, don’t hesitate to get in touch if you have any questions, and follow me on social media (links at the bottom of the page) for more news, updates, and general chit chat.

And don’t forget to check out the UK Crime Book Club interviews with my authors Catherine Yaffe, Simon McCleave, Sally Rigby and Morgan Greene!

Congratulations are in order for one of my fabulous authors, Simon McCleave Author, who has just announced his publishing deal with Avon Books UK!

As an editor, one of the greatest pleasures of the job is seeing your authors go from strength to strength, and it’s been an utter privilege watching Simon’s star rise higher and higher. It seems like a lifetime ago that we started work on The Snowdonia Killings back in 2019, and now book ten in the series, The Seine River Killings comes out later this week (bookmark your diaries, folks!). All that hard work has certainly paid off! Very proud editor, indeed!

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