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A post on fellow crime writer's blog, Martin Edwards , brought my attention to a new book which is currently being researched by Irish writer and researcher, John Curran, the author of Agatha Christie's Secret Notebooks .  John is currently researching detective fiction written in the period between 1930 to 1950 known as The Golden Age of Crime Fiction and this caught my eye because I am a huge fan of crime novels written during this period, many of which have kept me company over the years since a child and which I still re-read today. They have played a keen part in developing my love of crime fiction and hence my desire to become a crime writer. Instead of replicating them though, or the period, I have created a very contemporary hero. My DI Andy Horton   is far removed from many of the detectives of that era. He is a brave, earthy and a complex character: physically strong but emotionally vulnerable. He is driven by a deep need to belong, yet always finds himself on the...

There's good news in the midst of all the doom and gloom recession - for murder mystery writers like me that is (I hope)! According to an article in the Saturday Telegraph Review section today, 'Misery memoirs will nosedive in favour of romances and murder mysteries.' The article written by Helen Brown examines what kind of books we'll be buying through a recession. Most publishers agree we're likely to turn away from the grimmer stuff including misery memoirs and 'suicidally bleak' literary fiction and seek refuge in the covers of a romance or murder mystery. It states that the thirties gave us the golden age of crime fiction - of which I am an avid fan- with the likes of Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers and Margery Allingham, so here's hoping that the the next decade will see the growth of the murder mystery novel where the reader can immerse him or herself in an entertaining, thrilling read, and at least have the satisfaction of seeing justice done ...

The News in Portsmouth are running a very worthwhile campaign called Spread The Word , which aims to get more children and young people reading. Part of this initiative is to record well known local and national people talking about their favourite books and what reading means to them, so I was very honoured and pleased to be asked to contribute. Here I am talking about one of my favourite books from the Golden Age of Crime ( 1920s to 1940s). The Port of London Murders by Josephine Bell, who incidentally was one of the founder members of the Crime Writers' Association (CWA) of which I am a member. Published in 1938 this book is not only a great puzzle but realistically portrays what life was like in London in the 1930s and shows the sharp contrast between the rich and the poor. The reader visits a London that has long since vanished, with working barges on the River, the many wharfs and docks alongside it, the London smog and much more. It also focuses on a very modern problem, dru...