Many Deadly Returns - the launch trip

After a very, very long wait, I've finally enjoyed an in-person book launch once again. This was a highlight of a trip to the North East last week, and involved meeting up with my colleagues in Murder Squad to celebrate the publication of our fourth anthology. Many Deadly Returns celebrates our 21st year as a writers' collective. Margaret Murphy, our founder, Ann Cleeves, Cath Staincliffe, and I have been there since the beginning. John Baker and Chaz Brenchley have retired, while Stuart Pawson sadly died, but we've been joined by Chris Simms and Kate Ellis.

Many Deadly Returns includes three stories from each of the six current members, plus one from each of the former members. I've edited the book and my three stories are: 'The Other Ones', 'Lucky Liam', and 'Bad Friday'. Of this trio, 'The Other Ones' is brand new, while 'Bad Friday' has only previously appeared in the United States. The book is published by Severn House here and in the US, and there's been a very positive early review from Kirkus, which has put us in very good heart. 

Our editor, Kate Lyall Grant from Severn House (who many moons ago published two of my Harry Devlin novels when she and I were with Hodder) was, happily, able to join us for dinner, followed by the launch, which was hosted by Forum Books in Whitley Bay. There was fizz to drink and a wonderful Murder Squad cake, all contributing to a very convivial evening in which our book flew off the shelves. How good it was to be able to take part in a live event again. Zoom is invaluable in many ways, but Zoom get-togethers, although definitely far better than nothing, are not quite the same.

I also got back into my habit of turning the visit into a sightseeing trip. Northumberland is a county I like a lot, and there are plenty of places I'd love to explore. I made a start by visiting Seaton Delaval Hall, a burnt-out husk designed on the grand scale by Vanbrugh, and with lovely grounds, and even better, taking a boat trip from Seahouses to the Farne Islands, which was really memorable: see the pictures below. Other stops included Alnwick (with its fantastic Barter Books) and Alnmouth and, on the way up to the north east, Sedbergh and Kirkby Stephen. As a  whole, the trip felt like re-entering the real world after a long, dreamy slumber.   

Blood on the Tracks

I'm delighted to announce that I have been compiling an anthology of railway mysteries for the British Library. My work is now more or less completed, and the book will be published in the first half of next year. The title? Blood on the Tracks.

Trains and rail travel make a great setting for a mystery, and there are countless examples, ranging from Murder on the Orient Express to The Girl on the Train (to say nothing of Sleeping Car to Trieste, which I reviewed here last week.) And short train mysteries are also great fun - example that have been included in previous BL anthologies include "Beware of the Trains" by Edmund Crispin, in Miraculous Mysteries, and John Oxenham's "A Mystery of the Underground" in Capital Crimes.

I've even been responsible for one train story myself - "Bad Friday", included in the recent American anthology Busted!, a collection of law enforcement mysteries published by Level Best. That one was inspired by a train journey I took in real life, and last week I sought further inspiration by taking time out for a trip on one of Britain's best preserved railways, the Severn Valley line.

Stopping overnight in Shropshire enabled us to make the most of the day, starting the journey from Bridgnorth and travelling all the way to Kidderminster, before halting on the way back for a look round Bewdley, a pleasant Worcestershire town I've never visited before, which has an excellent free museum. The line tracks the Severn, and it really did make for a pleasant day out, rounded off by another, albeit very short rail trip - on Bridgnorth's Cliff Railway (shades of John Rowland!) All great fun, and nobody got murdered, either.