Reviews

‘I opened this book with high expectations. They have been admirably fulfilled.  Here we have a stand alone thriller about two lonely people who pursue a relationship of monthly weekends together in remote spots.  Suddenly one of these two fails to get to the rendezvous-vous and the other realises how very limited her knowledge of her  companion is . . . Gradually the reader pieces together some of the facts as an atmosphere of rising tension envelops everything. The intelligent way Jay, Lisa and others plan their actions is enjoyable and the suspense of the tale is palpable.’

- MYSTERY PEOPLE

I’m a guest on The First Two Pages

Posted on Mar 8, 2022 in Art Taylor, CWA anthology, Music of the Night, The First Two Pages | No Comments

Art Taylor is an award-winning short story writer, whose work I much admire. He has a blog called The First Two Pages for which he invites writers to discuss the choices that they made in writing the first two pages of a story or novel. And today that writer is me and I am honoured […]

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Cassandra returns

Posted on Feb 24, 2022 in 'Some Other Dracula', Cassandra James novels, CWA anthology, Dracula, Flame Tree Press, Flame Tree Publishing, Martin Edwards | 6 Comments

This week sees the publication of the new CWA short story anthology, Music of the Night. It is edited by Martin Edwards and contains twenty-five stories, some by doyens of the crime-writing world, such as Peter Lovesey, Andrew Taylor, Kate Ellis, including four Diamond Dagger winners, and others by writers who haven’t had a story […]

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The Death of the Short Story?

Posted on Feb 8, 2022 in Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, CWA anthology, Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, John O'London's Weekly, Music of the Night, The Evening Standard, The People's Friend, The Strand | 6 Comments

There are so few outlets for short stories these days. It didn’t used to be the case. There was a Golden Age of the short story from the 1880s to perhaps the 1950s when there were lots of magazines like The Strand and John O’London’s Weekly that published them. The Strand, most famous for the […]

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