Euromonkeys and Criminal Tendencies

For the first evening of Crimefest, it was off to the pub, for a meal, plenty of wine, and a crime quiz. I met Len Tyler for the first time – he wrote that excellent novel The Herring-Seller’s Apprentice – and it was also good to have a chat with fellow blogger Rafe McGregor. I wangled my way into a good quiz team – the Euromonkeys! – and when we came out on top, we were given a bag of books and DVDs of our own to share around. Lots of fun, and there are even pictures of the Euromonkeys on Karen Meek’s Eurocrime blog…

Among the varied events of Friday and Saturday, I was impressed by the fluency and charm of one of the guests of honour, Hakan Nesser, about whom I’ll post more in a future blog. Suffice to say that he does not conform at all to the stereotype of the gloomy Scandinavian crime novelist. Along with a group including Barry Forshaw, Ann Cleeves (whose interview of Hakan skilfully brought out his personality, as well as much information), and Elizabeth Saccente, who was short-listed for the CWA Debut Dagger, I was on Hakan’s table for the Gala Dinner on Saturday evening, which followed immediately after a party for all Crimefest delegates given by publishers Constable & Robinson.

A highlight twenty-four hours earlier was another publishers’ party, held by Crème de la Crime to celebrate the publication of the anthology Criminal Tendencies, which I’ve talked about on this blog in the past. A raffle was held for a special signed copy, and my pact with Beelzebub resulted in my number coming up when Mark Billingham made the draw. Much credit goes to Lynn Patrick of Crème for the money she has raised for breast cancer charities.

I was glad to meet up again with Caroline Schiach, a new writer who won a competition to contribute to Criminal Tendencies. There were quite a few people at the convention who, like her and Elizabeth, are working hard on their debut novel, and it is good to see that the crime genre attracts continuing enthusiasm and commitment from those who are keen to become involved. They deserve every encouragement – it’s not always easy for them in the current market, but maybe their number includes the next Ruth Rendell and the next Reginald Hill.

Criminal Tendencies

I’ve received my author copy of an interesting new anthology, Criminal Tendencies. It’s published by Crème de la Crime, and £1 from each copy is to be donated to the National Hereditary Breast Cancer Helpline.

Mark Billingham contributes an introduction, and Lynne Patrick, the presiding genius at C de la C, has assembled a varied range of contributors – including Caroline Schiach, who won an international competition that gave her the chance to see her story in print alongside those of such notable figures in the genre as Reginald Hill, Peter Lovesey, Peter James, Sophie Hannah, Andrew Taylor, Val McDermid and Simon Brett. Chris Nickson, winner of a regional competition, also has a story in the book.

My contribution is a story called ‘Mindstalker’, which first appeared six years ago in an anthology edited by Maxim Jakubowski and M. Christian, The Mammoth Book of Future Cops. As the title of the anthology suggests, the story is very different from the rest of my work. Writing it was an interesting experiment, and I’m glad to see the story have a second outing, especially for such a good cause.

I’m looking forward to reading this book – I’ve read a handful of the stories before (in fact, two appeared in anthos I have edited) but I’ll be coming to most of them afresh. And here’s hoping that the Helpline funds are nicely boosted by the book’s sales.