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Yes, it's the day when the short list will be announced for the TOP TEN books for World Book Day, Spread The Word 2008. Will In Cold Daylight be on that list? Have I got enough votes to take me through? All this waiting is agony, can't work for thinking of it. But I know so many of you have voted for In Cold Daylight for which I heartily thank you. And I've had e mails of support from American fire fighters who are raising money to research into fire fighter's cancer. I'll post more on that later but those of you who have read In Cold Daylight know that it is a thriller about Adam Green's quest to find out why his best friend Jack Bartholomew died. “Before fire-fighter Jack Bartholomew can reveal the cause of his own – and his colleagues cancer- he is murdered and silenced forever. But in a cryptic message he orchestrated before his untimely death, he has left a trail of clues that will lead his best friend into a labyrinth of lies, secrets and government conspi...

There's still time to vote for In Cold Daylight for World Book Day 2008 . The voting closes at mid day on 25 January, so click on the link above or to the right to register your vote. If you're not sure how to vote then I've explained the process further below. If you've been reading this blog you cannot fail to have missed the fact that my hard-hitting thriller based on the tragic true story of the mysterious deaths of fire-fighters has been selected as one of the top 100 'Books to Talk About' for World Book Day 2008. The ten books which receive the most votes will be promoted via the bookshops and across 3,500 libraries, before an overall winner is selected for World Book Day on 6 March 2008. So there is a big prize at stake and if In Cold Daylight can make it to the top ten and then wins, the £5,000 prize money will be donated to the Fire Service National Benevolent Fund in recognition of the great job our fire-fighters and all those who work within the fire...

Then all will be revealed. Has In Cold Daylight made it to the Top Ten of the World Book Day, Spread The Word Prize? Have I mustered enough votes to get through? It's nail biting time and I thought I'd reproduce here an article I wrote on how it feels as an author to be in the running for this prize. This article is published in a magazine called Book Time. It is a free publication and very professionally produced by the book wholesaler, Bertrams. You can pick up a copy in the UK from any independent book shop or from your local library. The Spread The Word article is on pages 28 and 29 where ten books are featured, including: In Cold Daylight “Before fire-fighter Jack Bartholomew can reveal the cause of his own – and his colleagues cancer- he is murdered and silenced forever. But in a cryptic message he orchestrated before his untimely death, he has left a trail of clues that will lead his best friend into a labyrinth of lies, secrets and government conspiracy.” "Have I ...

Time to dust off the new calendars and ditch the old ones, read your horoscope and wonder what 2008 will bring. For me 2007 was a very exciting and enjoyable year, one in which my Marine Mysteries gained new readers, and were featured in major promotions and my thriller, In Cold Daylight, reached the long list for World Book Day, Spread The Word 2008 Prize. So what's in store for 2008? In January the voting will continue for World Book Day Spread The Word Prize. Will In Cold Daylight make it into the Top Ten to be announced in February? Will it be up there on World Book Day on 6 March 2008? Who knows? But fingers crossed. The Marine Mystery Deadly Waters is released in paperback in March and the third DI Andy Horton Marine Mystery called The Suffocating Sea is published in hardback in April. So there will be some book signings to undertake and the chance to meet readers. And the fourth Andy Horton Marine Mystery will be finished by March. Then there's the London Book Fair i...

Yes, it's that time of year again when one is inclined to look back over the happenings of the year and set targets and goals for a new year. And it's been an interesting and exciting 2007 for me and my novels. The time has flown by, I can hardly believe it is Christmas. So, before I look forward to 2008, here is a brief summary of the just a few of the key happenings for me in 2007. January 2007 The New Year kicked off with my three marine mysteries being featured in the Paperback Preview Supplement of the The Bookseller Magazine. I was also thrilled to be chosen as the Author of the Month for Hampshire Libraries and my new thriller In For The Kill was featured in both Waterstone’s and Borders promotions in the UK. February 2007 I embarked on a tour of book signings and library talks which resulted in meeting some lovely people, new readers and existing ones, and getting some good media coverage in various magazines and newspapers. March 2007 A feature article appeared in Be...

In Cold Daylight has not only made it onto the World Book Day list, and the Shedworking site, http://www.shedworking.co.uk/ but has now reached the beautiful shores of New Zealand where Graham Beattie, who runs a very entertaining and informative book blog, http://www.beattiesbookblog.blogspot.com/ has written about it. What's more, In Cold Daylight, follows on from an interview with Ian Rankin. Eat your heart out kid, I'm coming up fast behind you! ( If only). Now if I had his sales perhaps I could afford to fly to New Zealand and say hi to the tons of relatives and friends who seem to be escaping Britain's green and pleasant land for a new life over there. But I'm forgetting that not only do I dislike flying and airports, but that after wittering on in the Sunday Times a couple of weeks ago about the environmental issues surrounding the expansion of Heathrow Airport it would be hypocritical of me to take to the air. However, a round-the-world cruise wouldn't ...

Yes, Adam Greene of IN COLD DAYLIGHT fame has made it to the headline on the wonderful site http://www.shedworking.co.uk/ . The World Book Day Spread The Word race to find THE Most Talked About Book 2008 is on and let's hope Adam, my reluctant hero in IN COLD DAYLIGHT, is in with a chance of getting into the Top Ten. If he wins then I have pledged to donate the £5,000 prize money to the Fire Service National Benevolent Fund, because In Cold Daylight is about fire-fighters and dedicated to fire-fighters and the inspiration for the thriller came from my husband, an ex fire-fighter. Thanks also to Wightlink ferries, who have agreed to get behind Adam and steer him to safe harbour. A grand crew at Wightlink, and I had a fantastic day signing books on one of their ferries in May as it traversed the Solent to and fro the Isle of Wight. Thanks also to all of you so far who have taken the time to vote and leave some lovely comments on the World Book Day spread the word web site www.worl...

The end of week one : The countdown begins to reach that final TOP TEN in Spread the Word World Book Day 2008, and already I'm chewing my nails. Goodness alone knows what I'll be like by the end of January almost ten weeks away. I probably won't have any fingers left! Had a missive from the World Book Day Spread the Word campaign today about how it's going. The first week of voting and two articles have appeared on it: Guardian Unlimited and The Bookseller, plus there's a piece on the BookTribes blog. As the Guardian article says not all the authors are actually 'hidden gems' some of them are already 'Names' so I'm up against the BIG BOYS now. Here are the links to the articles for those of you interested. http://books.guardian.co.uk/news/articles/0,,2215448,00.html http://www.thebookseller.com/news/48726-top-100-push-for-wbd.html http://www.booktribes.com/blog/2007/11/23/hidden-gems-discovered/ Next week Classic FM in partnership with National B...