I’m thrilled to announce that my short story, titled Alys, has won a prize in this year’s Scarlet Stiletto competition, run by Sisters in Crime Australia. You can read it, and the other winning entries, as an e-book, The Fourteenth Cut, on Kindle and elsewhere.
There’s a new ‘books-to-read’ site called Shepherd and they asked me to pick a subject and nominate five favourite books on that subject. I chose crime novels with flawed detectives. Here are my favourites…I’d love to hear about yours. You can find my reasons for choosing these books at https://shepherd.com/best-books/crime-featuring-flawed-detectives
Have a look at this anthology of crime short stories by some of Australia’s top writers. The stories are set in Australia and feature some of these writers’ best-loved characters. I must admit to a selfish reason for posting news of this anthology: ;it’s the first of three volumes and my story, featuring Sydney-based Jackie Rose, features in Volume 2.
Dark Deeds Down Under is edited by Craig Sisterton and published by Clan Destine Press. Available from Booktopia. https://www.clandestinepress.net/products/dark-deeds-down-under
I’m so excited, and proud, that The Séance won this prize. The story will feature in The Thirteenth Cut, an anthology of this year’s Scarlet Stiletto winners. I’ll let you know when it’s out and where you can get it.
I’m delighted to announce that Penguin Random House is going to publish Present Tense in South Africa. South Africans haven’t been able to get hold of the book yet, and I’m glad that it will soon be read in its ‘home country’.
The Crime Fiction Review Site, Murder, Mayhem and Long Dogs
The round-up of May reading in the Crime fiction site Murder, Mayhem and Long Dogs gives Present Tense a great rap and a four-star review, and puts it in great company. Read the review here: https://murdermayhemandlongdogs.com/may-mayhem-recent-crime-and-thriller-reading/
The Only One in the World is an anthology of stories imagining Sherlock Holmes and his off-sider, John Watson, in different places and times, even as different genders. My story, The Adventure of the Disappearing Village, is set in the world of folk-tale Chelm, in the nineteenth century. It presents Sherlock Holmes as a Jewish savant, a chochem. Sound crazy? Well…yes. But perhaps this interview with editor Narelle Harris will explain things a bit more….and here’s what Narelle has to say about the story.
Last year I was invited to submit a story for a new Sherlock Holmes anthology. The brief was to imagine Sherlock in another time, another gender, or another place. The wait is nearly over – the book is coming out in April. It’s titled The Only One in the World, and here’s its cover.
What if Sherlock Holmes were Polish? What if he or John Watson were Indian or Irish or Australian or Japanese? How would their worlds look if one or both was from a completely different background?
In The Only One in the World, we asked a baker’s dozen of writers to answer these questions, and the marvellous results are adventures in Ancient Egypt, Viking Iceland, and 17th century England; in 19th century Ireland, Germany, and Poland; in South Africa of the 1970s and New Orleans of the 1920s; and in contemporary Australia, USA, Russia, India and Portugal.
My story is set in 19th Century Poland, and features a Jewish Sherlock…you can learn more about the book, and pre-order it, HERE
ENJOY!
Last month, I was interviewed by South African journalist and author Joanne Hichens. The interview’s in this months edition of The Big Thrill, journal of The International Thriller Writers. It’s a great piece – thank you very much, Joanne!
Robyn Walton, crime critic of The Australian, has chosen Present Tense as one of her best reads of 2020. The article’s in today’s Weekend Australian (12-13 December, 2020). There’s a paywall so I can’t insert a link, but here are her international and local book choices: