Books for Christmas (and any other time of year...)

If you're anything like me, you still won't have finished your Christmas shopping. So today let me highlight a few books you might like to seek out. Naturally, I can't resist reminding you about my own titles. Not only Gallows Court, but also the Macavity-winning The Story of Classic Crime in 100 Books, available in paperback as well as hardback. Then there's The Christmas Card Crime and other stories, a British Library anthology that's been in the small publishers' charts for weeks, and has dodged around and about the number one spot in the Amazon anthology bestseller lists for as long. To say nothing of Ten Year Stretch (the CrimeFest anthology), Blood on the Tracks....no, no, I must stop!

And one reason I must stop is because there are loads of other books I'd like to mention. And if I may, I'll begin with a few titles that may not be on your radar from authors of talent who don't have massive publicity budgets behind them, but who are certainly worthy of serious consideration by crime fans. End of Term by A.C. Koning, for instance, is definitely worth a look. It features a blind detective, Fred Rowlands, and is set in Cambridge in the 30s. I met the author at a crime event in Cambridge a year ago, and I think her work deserves to be better known.

Someone I first met a couple of years back, at the Essex Book Festival in Southend, is Leye Adenie. He's a really talented writer, and I was delighted that a short story of his featured in last year's CWA Short Story Dagger shortlist. His latest novel is When Trouble Sleeps. Again, he's a writer who will in my opinion become increasingly well-known.

Guy Fraser-Sampson is an experienced author, someone else I met at the festival in Southend. Guy is one of that increasing band of novelists making very good use, in a variety of ways, of the settings, characters, or conventions of Golden Age detective fiction (Alison Joseph and Andrew Wilson are among the others). Guy's latest is The House on Downshire Hill.

Now for books for which I've given blurbs during the course of this year. It's impossible, of course, to respond to every such request - life is simply far too short, and from time to time I have to go into blurb purdah. (As now, when I really need to get on with the next novel....) But here are three of the books I managed to read, and with enjoyment.

Abi Silver, a fellow lawyer, is responsible for The Aladdin Trial, which I described as "An enjoyably elaborate and distinctive variation on the courtroom thriller." Of Gigi Pandian's The Cambodian Curse and other stories, I said: "Mysteries about seemingly impossible crimes have a long and distinguished pedigree and in this collection Gigi Pandian keeps the tradition going with verve and ingenuity." Another collection of short stories comes from Teresa Solana, who comes from Spain but now lives in the UK. The First Prehistoric Serial Killer and other stories is a collection of which I said: "Teresa Solana's distinctive writing is humorous yet thought-provoking, and her short fiction is as entertaining as her novels."

If you're not already spoiled for choice, I could go on and on, mentioning books by splendid authors whom so many of you love such as Ann Cleeves, whose latest Shetland novel I reviewed recently; Kate Ellis, who has just published The Boy Who Lived with the Dead (I'm also desperate to get round to The Mechanical Devil, which has been high on my TBR list for a while) Sarah Ward, author of The Shrouded Path, and...well, it's getting late, and time's running out on me. Happy gift-buying!

The Essex Book Festival

I've just returned from the Essex Book Festival. A long way to go - I set off from snowy Lymm on Friday morning and finished up admiring a rather magical sunset over the water at Southend-on-Sea. But it was a good trip, and I was glad to play a small part in a huge county-wide event that is a credit to those in charge: Seona Ford, Camilla Shestopal, Ros Green, and their various colleagues.

I had the great pleasure of meeting John Simenon, son of the legendary Georges, at a dinner on Friday evening. John has co-produced the imminent new version of Maigret, and was full of admiration for the performance of Rowan Atkinson. Definitely one to look out for. The following morning, I made the short journey to Westcliff to admire the truly fantastic book collection of John Cooper, who co-wrote two of my favourite books about the genre with Barry Pike. One or two items - inscribed books by Georgette Heyer and Henry Wade - stand out in my memory; the former is among the most interesting Golden Age items I've ever seen.

Then it was back to Southend, in time for lunch and then a session moderated by journalist Jake Kerridge in which John Simenon and I enjoyed talking about Golden Age fiction from our different perspectives. An hour and a half sped by. After that, I moderated a panel about international crime fiction. Prior to the Festival, I'd worried about whether I'd be able to do a satisfactory job, given that,the focus of the panellists' books are very different from mine. But one of the great things about crime fiction, I believe, is that the connections between crime novelists, however diverse their writing, are highly positive,and so it proved.

So special thanks to the four people who made up a really excellent panel - see Lucy Dauman's phot above - from which I learned a lot. Leye Adenie is a first time novelist from Nigeria, the grandson of a Nigerian king and -  I discovered over a glass or two of his favourite red wine that evening - also an IT expert and creator of patented inventions. We had a fascinating discussion. Robert Karjel is Swedish, and was until recently a Lieutenant Colonel in the Swedish air force. He's written four novels over the past fifteen years or so, and the success of My Name Is N, a thriller with a memorable protagonist, Ernst Grip, has enabled him to concentrate on writing full-time. Robert and I had a chip supper together on the seafront late on Saturday evening in weather conditions that can best be described as "bracing". Zgymunt Miloszeweski is a Polish writer whose books about another interesting central character, called Szacki, have made a big hit. And last but certainly not least was Anya Lipska, a Brit married to Pole whose books about an East End Polish fixer who teams up with a female cop have already won a substantial and enthusiastic following.  It was a real pleasure to get to know this quartet of writers, and to be part of a terrific Festival.