2025: People

I spent time with a great many lovely people in 2025. Too many to mention in this post, for sure. There have been lots of happy times, but I've also lost a number of especially dear friends and it wouldn't be right not to start by mentioning them. The top photo shows Peter Lovesey (and his beloved wife Jax) when I visited them back in 2023. I didn't say so then, but I knew at the time that Peter had been given a terminal cancer diagnosis. He was, however, in fine form and he continued to write until the end. I saw him this year, a few days before his death, and it was an emotional occasion for both of us. A great man and a terrific writer. What a marvellous legacy he has left.

Eileen Dewhurst, as I wrote the other day, died earlier this month. She played a big part in my life, in a totally different way from Peter, and I have many fond memories of her. Ann Granger, who also died this year, was another lovely person as well as a good writer. And I heard, just before writing this post, that David Roberts, whom I saw at a Detection Club dinner as recently as last month, has also died.

Eileen lived to the age of 95, a particularly good innings, but my old friend Elizabeth Roberts (above), who was an avid reader of crime fiction, died far too young due to a very aggressive form of breast cancer. Her death came as such a shock that I haven't felt ready to write about it, but I would like to write a tribute to her and this is a project for the new year.

This year, we celebrated 25 years of Murder Squad, before agreeing that it was time for us to call it a day as a collective. But we'll be getting together on an individual basis from time to time, you can be sure of that. And that quarter-century of collaboration has yielded many fantastic memories - and quite a few really good books under the Squad banner.

Special mention for some great holiday companions. Steve and Shelly Karol were great fun to be with at Alibis in the Archive and then at Castle Skibo - we're with them in the above photo (and it has to be said that the others were all better archers than me). Kate Ellis and Roger Bullock, by no means for the first time, were also great companions on our Viking cruise - the above photo shows us celebrating a victory in a shipboard quiz...

There were several performances of my murder mysteries this year, and two of the casts are seen above. It is always interesting to see how the same script can be interpreted differently and I never tire of enjoying these performances.

Two photos from Alibis in the Archive are above (and next year's event will take place from 5-7 June, so do book early!) Each year I programme a different line-up of speakers and each year I'm delighted by how entertaining they all are.

 

Photos from three more of the year's events are above - with Mike Craven at Sedbergh, with Victoria Dowd and Lucy Rowland in a quiz at the British Library, and on a panel at Bodies from the Library (the evening before, by the way, I'd been taken to a lovely dinner by Moira Redmond and Christine Poulson, which was very generous). And I haven't even mentioned the Detection Club's get-togethers at the Garrick Club, the Langham, and St Hilda's. All part of the whirl that was 2025. To everyone who has contributed to the the past twelve months, thank you. And I hope to see you next year!

2025: Places

It's been a busy year, and one of the reasons is that, quite apart from doing a lot of writing, I've also had the chance to get around the world. In fact, in 2025 I had not one but two 'holidays of a lifetime', which were very different from each other in every way, but both exhilarating.

A long trip to New Zealand was enhanced by the decision to break the journey both in and out in Singapore. I didn't quite know what to expect of Singapore, but I thought it was terrific - everything from the cleanliness and friendliness of the local people, to the light displays at night at the marina and afternoon tea in the Raffles Hotel, sampling the cakes while a harpist played Burt Bacharach. And I did enjoy sampling a Singapore Sling.

New Zealand itself was wonderful, and it's hard to pick out highlights. The hot springs at Rotorua, a Maori feast, a trip to Milford Sound, visiting a glow worm cave and meeting an Edgar at the Ngaio Marsh House at Christchurch - I could go on and on, but I'll try not to. A great country.

Six nights in Castle Skibo, north of Inverness, made for a contrasting experience but one that will live long in the memory. This trip owed so much to the kindness of Shelly Dickson Carr and her husband Steve Karol, who proved to be great company. We flew up there in a private plane, which was a first for me, and the start of a magical break. The castle was amazing, the lifestyle there luxurious. And there were some lovely trips, for instance a pilgrimage to Anne Perry's former house at Portmahomack and another to Castle Dunrobin (above photo).

You wait ages to go back to Bordeaux, then two trips come up in the space of a few months. I sailed from there with Seabourn as a guest speaker, also visiting La Rochelle and St Helier before docking at Portsmouth. Later in the year came a wine cruise with Kate Ellis and her husband Roger, visiting some lovely little towns such as Cadillac.

Much as I enjoy foreign travel, I love exploring Britain. In addition to the Skibo trip, I spent a few days in south west Scotland staying with my old friend Stephen in Monreith and fitting in an enjoyable evening talking books in Wigtown. I've written a short story, 'The Scares', which emerged from this trip (the Scares are rocks off the coast of the Mull of Galloway) and this will appear in print next year.

The first festival of the year was at the Lansdowne Club in Mayfair (where I'm returning in January) and it was fun to work again with Andrew Taylor over the weekend. There were plenty of other great festivals, too many to mention here, including trips to Henley and the Isle of Wight as well as an enjoyable tour of Cumbria that I combined with three murder mystery events in libraries at Penrith, Barrow and Kendal; other library visits included Bromley House in Nottingham, Warrington, Stockton Heath, Frodsham, Halifax, and Upton. Murder Squad's 25th anniversary celebration at Stockport Guildhall was a grand occasion, and I also enjoyed launching Miss Winter in the Library with a Knife at Serenity Books in Romiley as well as a great weekend in Sedbergh, taking part in Death in the Dales, Newcastle Noir, and the very last (unfortunately) CrimeFest in Bristol.

Finally, two occasions in Wales. First, Alibis in the Archive at Gladstone's Library, where Shelly and others, including Christina Koning, Alex Pavesi, and Paul Charles, were excellent speakers. And not long after that, a special birthday-related holiday in Aberdyfi in mid-Wales that was blessed with lovely weather. All in all, I was very fortunate in 2025. 

   

2025: Publications

 

2025 has been a lovely year for me, and it's been varied and productive in terms of publications. I've enjoyed promoting my new novel, Miss Winter in the Library with a Knife, and seeing copies of the hardback in Sainsburys and Asda has been a new and very pleasing experience. The book had lovely reviews in the Daily Telegraph, Daily Mail, Sunday Post, Morning Star, Critic, and elsewhere and the reaction overseas, especially in the US and Italy, has also been gratifying. The book publishes in France and Poland next year.

The first five Rachel Savernake books have also been published as an ebook box set, while the paperback edition of Hemlock Bay also came out this year. Hemlock Bay was also shortlisted for the eDunnit award for crime novel of the year, which was delightful.

I published a second, much expanded edition of The Golden Age of Murder to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the original publication. Again, the Daily Mail's review was very kind and I believe the book has also just been covered in the Times Literary Supplement (though I haven't caught up with that as yet). This is a book I remain very proud of, but in one sense a book of this kind is never truly 'finished'. So to have the chance to develop the book even further was an offer I simply couldn't refuse, and I was happy with the result.

This year, I published four anthologies. Leading the way was Playing Dead, a Detection Club members' anthology. Then There Were More was edited on behalf of the Crime Writers' Association, while there were two British Library Crime Classic anthologies, Cyanide in the Sun (summertime mysteries) and As if by Magic (impossible crimes). 

A very pleasing development was that Joffe Books acquired the ebook rights to my Lake District Mystery series and started to republish them at regular intervals. It's been great to see new readers reacting to Hannah and Daniel.

I've written a few short stories (although most of these are due to be published next year), and intros to ten Crime Classics in addition to the anthologies, plus an intro for a book of short stories written by Tom Mead. And I've recorded a couple of features for Hammer Films Blu-Rays, one of which has yet to be released. So it's been a busy year in terms of publications of different kinds. Much more importantly, it's one that has felt truly fulfilling. 

Forgotten Book - The Corpse in the Car

John Rhode published The Corpse in the Car in 1935, at which time he was at the peak of his powers as a detective novelist, and this is one of the more entertaining Rhodes I've read. Collins reprinted the book in the early 70s, but it's quite hard to find even that edition, and I was fortunate to be bequeathed a copy by a lady called Susan Smith, whom I never met but who shared my love of classic crime and wanted her books to go to people who would enjoy them (Peter Lovesey was another recipient of her generosity).

In this story, Dr Priestley expresses the same view that you find in the Lord Peter Wimsey novels - 'when you know how, you know who' - although Rhode makes his point rather less pithily than Sayers. Accordingly, you know that the focus of the story will be on the modus operandi rather than the culprit's psychological motivation. I must say that I'll always be more interested in whodunit and whydunit than howdunit, but the scientific elements in this story are quite nicely done.

Lady Misterton, rich and irascible, goes on a drive in Windsor Great Park, before telling her chauffeur to stop and go back to her home to collect her handbag. But she insists that he walks the not inconsiderable distance rather than driving; she is happy to listen to her portable wireless while she waits. Of course, one smells a rat - what is her real motivation? Two dramatic things happen shortly afterwards. First, the chauffeur is knocked down by a motorbike. Second, her ladyship is found dead - but the cause of death is far from obvious.

Rhode maintains the pace of the story pretty well throughout the book, though I'm not sure he 'plays fair' in certain respects as regards his account of the criminal's actions. If you are bothered by such things, be warned that a cat dies in this story. And there are a lot of stuffed cats - keeping her beloved pets post-mortem was one of her ladyship's obsessions. All very odd. But a story that is worth reading by anyone who enjoys an unusual murder method.