| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
|  |
|
|
|  |
CRIMEFEST
May 2010 saw me in Bristol for Crimefest (http://www.crimefest.com), spending a couple of days in the company of NJ Cooper, Colin Dexter, Peter Gutteridge, Alison Bruce, Zoe Sharp, Caro Ramsay, and many more. I also enjoyed being part of the 'Mystery Women' Quiz Team (www.mysterywomen.co.uk)
SOLDIERING ON
February 2010 found me indulging my other passion - the amateur stage - as Chris and I joined the chorus of Aylesbury Opera Group's production of Donizetti's 'The Elixir of Love'. We enjoyed doing this rustic comedy, and I kidded myself I looked dashing as a red-coated soldier (far left below). I also found time to handle the publicity for the production, and we were delighted by the local press coverage.
ZOE SHARP AT WENDOVER
On Thursday 9 July 2009, I chaired Chiltern Writers' meeting at Wendover Library featuring thriller queen Zoe Sharp, author of the Charlie Fox series of thrillers. As well as talking about her work, Zoe (pictured with me below) provided a masterclass on plotting.
2009 has seen the publication of my series of articles on True Crime In Buckinghamshire for The Four Shires magazine. With its genteel collection of old market towns and rural villages, Bucks is the last place you might associate with dark deeds, but just beneath the surface lie some pretty gruesome crimes - right up my street, so to speak! You can visit the magazine's website at http://www.fourshires.co.uk/
ELENA FORBES IN WENDOVER
January 2009 saw me at Wendover Library, where the excellent Elena Forbes (pictured with me below) was reading from her latest novel, Our Lady of Pain, and answering questions from the audience. Elena gave us an entertaining evening. If you haven't yet discovered her books, featuring DI Mark Tartaglia, check them out!
SCHOOL BOOK CHALLENGE
I was honoured in March 2008 to be invited, as a local writer and school governor, to judge a book-writing challenge at my local primary school, Brookmead. The class, Year 6, had been divided into six groups of five and challenged by teacher Jessica Avery to produce a five-chapter book outline, written in the style of Roald Dahl and illustrated in the style of Quentin Blake. It proved an extremely difficult decision, with little to choose between the contenders, but I visited the class on 18 March to announce the winners and present certificates to the runners up. In the end, the honours went to All in One by Charlotte Fuff, James Nairn, Betsy Ashburner, Phoebe Tebbut and Charlie Deeley.
The ‘Dahl Challenge’ Winners
The runner up was Ratz in Rome by Jake Rogers, Morgan Churchouse-Cook, Rosie Mills, William Hollands and Deanna Kalis.
The runners-up
I was impressed with the overall standard of the storytelling and artwork. There is a lot of talent in Year 6 at Brookmead and I look forward to seeing some of their names on the bookshelves at some time in the future.
WRITERS’ NEWS ARTICLE
The November 2007 issue of Writers’ News includes an article about the collaborative crime novel I am working on with six other writers. It gives all the lowdown on the challenges this sort of project presents and how we’ve been tackling them. I’ll keep you posted on how it’s going.
LEIGHTON BUZZARD OBSERVER FEATURE
There’s a feature on me in the 11 September 2007 issue of Leighton Buzzard Observer. Check it out at http://www.leightonbuzzardonline.co.uk/village-news/Our-man-at-Pitstone-has.3190924.jp
CAROLE MATTHEWS BOOK LAUNCH 12 September 2007 saw me at Waterstone’s in Milton Keynes for the launch of my good friend Carole Matthews’ latest two novels, The Chocolate Lovers’ Club and The Chocolate Lovers’ Diet. That’s me and Carole above. In keeping with the chocolate theme, the centrepiece of the party was a large chocolate fountain - I was assured that it was calorie-free! If you like to read romantic comedy, no one does it better than Carole.
|
