Rewind, recap: Weekly update w/e 22/07/18 – Part 2

So … we’ve established that I have no nails and am covered in scratches but that I did manage to talk to some people without embarrassing myself (Mark Billingham and James Oswald aside) or spontaneously combusting. But what else did we get up to this weekend? Well – not a lot really.

Thursday started well. Met up with Abbie Osborne for lunch and then we attended the Noir at the Bar at the Blues Bar. Not an official Harrogate event but still a fun way to start the festival. Twelve authors reading from their books and what a fun time it was. We heard from Danielle Ramsay, Ian Skewis, Nic Parker, Louise Mangos, Howard Linskey, Marcus Wearmouth, Claire Macleary, Dave Sivers, Roz Watkins, Robert Parker, Susi Holliday and Jackie Baldwin. Claire Macleary’s final reading was absolutely hilarious and I’m not quite sure I will ever forget it.

Afterward, it was back to the Old Swan where we attended the Crime Novel of the Year award announcement, which was won by Stav Sherez for The Instrusions. Then it was off to watch The Fun Lovin’ Crime Writers. Absolutely cracking as always and I can’t wait to see them again at Bloody Scotland. If you’ve never been to one of their sessions, you really ought to try when they are next in your area. Class. Pure class.

Back to the bar for a quick drink and then off to bed. Long day planned for Friday …

Yeah – that didn’t go to plan. We had intended to go to a few panels on Friday. We made it to the Linwood Barclay and Laura Lippman session at five o’clock which was great. In our defence we did have afternoon tea at Betty’s at twelve thirty as an early pre-birthday celebration. Absolutely lovely … right up to the point where they came out with a fondant fancy with a candle in it and played happy birthday on the old piano. Not embarrassing at all. Seeing as Mandie knew nothing about it, and I am not one to hold a grudge, I didn’t actually make her walk home yesterday in penance …

After the panel with Linwood and Laura we attended the Dead Good Reader Awards and may have picked up a few arcs etc as well as celebrating the evenings winners on various categories. Congrats to you all.

Later on in the evening we attended the session with John Grisham and Lee Child which was really entertaining. I may also have purchase a couple of books which I got signed. The Rooster Bar by John Grisham and The Midnight Line by Lee Child.

We followed this up with the Room 101 of Crime with Mark Billingham, Laura Lippman and Martyn Waites giving their pet hates to Richard Osman. Absolutely hilarious as expected with a rather rude story about Father Christmas’ appearance on Pointless from Richard Osman … Great entertainment but actually made me think about my writing too. Picked up a copy of The Killing Habit by Mark Billingham for signing. Seemed rude not to after the whole titty lip thing..

More drinks and then more bed. Not a lot of sleeping and a bit of reading instead. We did consume the leftover cake from Betty’s though …

Saturday … Yeah. That’s where it all starts to go wrong. Big plans – only one panel attended lol. We made it to the session with Val McDermid and Sue Black. Absolutely fascinating, sometimes funny, sometimes poignant session. Picked up another couple of books here – Val McDermid’s latest Karen Pirie novel, Broken Ground and Sue Black’s All That Remains: A Life in Death.

Then is was off for a lovely dinner with Mandie, Katherine Sunderland and Jacob Collins. And back to the bar. We did attend the Bonnier Zaffre party Saturday afternoon, the author/blogger meet up with Bookouture Saturday morning, and I met Rachel Abbott too so all in all a good day. A visit up to the Orion Incident Room and the ‘End of the World’ party/launch made it an interesting if not quite as expected day.

Sunday was all about the books and Betty’s (again). One last panel, this time with Ann Cleeves, Yrsa Sigurdardottir, Samuel Bjørk and chaired by Steph McGovern. A really fun and entertaining panel and a brilliant way to end the weekend.

And I may have come home with a few books. Firstly, a big thank you to Malcolm Hollingdrake for my signed copy of Crossed Out. Very much appreciated. Also to Emma Kavanagh and Orion for the copy of To Catch a Killer  and Hanna Jameson and Viking for a copy of The Last. Really excited to read them all.

I got a few other arcs too – they were:

The Woman in the Dark – Vanessa Savage (10 Jan 2019)

The Whisper Man – Alex North (13 June 2019)

The Rumour – Lesley Kara (27 Dec 2018)

Blood Orange – Harriet Tyce (21 Feb 2019)

Our Kind of Cruelty – Araminta Hall

The Secrets You Hide – Kate Helm (4 Oct 2018)

Little Darlings – Melanie Golding (2 May 2019)

In A House of Lies – Ian Rankin (won courtesy of Orion Incident Room) (18 Oct 2018)

The Dangerous Kind – Deborah O’Connor (10 Jan 2019)

Rogue – J.B.Turner

Him – Clare Empson (23 Aug 2018)

The Liar’s Room – Simon Lelic

No Way Out – Cara Hunter (20 Dec 2018)

Jess Castle and the Eyeballs of Death – M.B. Vincent (18 Oct 2018)

Killer T – Robert Muchamore (6 Sep 2018)

The Day of the Accident – Nuala Ellwood (21 Feb 2019)

Do No Harm – Lucy V Hay

The Lingering – SJI Holliday (15 Nov 2018)

And, unbelievably, because clearly I don’t have enough books, I even ordered some from Amazon this week. The Warning by Kathryn Croft; Never Be Broken by Sarah Hilary and Death Comes Knocking by Graham Bartlett and Peter James. Just one Netgalley book and that was Murder Map by Richard Parker.

Books I have Read …

Yeah well. That went well. Not. Busy week – just not reading wise lol

The Puppet Show – M.W. Craven

Welcome to the Puppet Show . . .

A serial killer is burning people alive in the Lake District’s prehistoric stone circles. He leaves no clues and the police are helpless.

When his name is found carved into the charred remains of the third victim, disgraced detective Washington Poe is brought back from suspension and into an investigation he wants no part of.

Reluctantly partnered with the brilliant, but socially awkward, civilian analyst, Tilly Bradshaw, the mismatched pair uncover a trail that only he is meant to see. The elusive killer has a plan and for some reason Poe is part of it.

As the body count rises, Poe discovers he has far more invested in the case than he could have possibly imagined. And in a shocking finale that will shatter everything he’s ever believed about himself, Poe will learn that there are things far worse than being burned alive …

I listened to the audio on the way to Harrogate and back having had this on my shelf for a while. Absolutely loved this story and loved the characters of Poe and Tilly. A really exciting new team and I am looking forward to seeing what happens to the team moving forward. Difficult subject but covered in a non gratuitous way, although the murders were quite … inventive. Top stuff. I’ll be reviewing soon but you can order here.

…

One Little Lie – Sam Carrington

‘My name is Alice. And my son is a murderer.’

Deborah’s son was killed four years ago. Alice’s son is in prison for committing that crime.

Deborah would give anything to have her boy back, and Alice would do anything to right her son’s wrongs.

Driven by guilt and the need for redemption, Alice has started a support group for parents with troubled children. But as the network begins to grow, she soon finds out just how easy it is for one little lie to spiral out of control…

They call it mother’s intuition, but can you ever really know your own child?

Deeply psychological and suspenseful, One Little Lie is a twisty and unnerving story about the price of motherhood and the unthinkable things we do to protect our children.Perfect for fans of Cara Hunter and Laura Marshall.

I’ve loved Sam Carrington’s first two books and was really looking forward to reading this one too. Featuring characters you may realise this is a story which slowly reels you in, twisting and turning and characters who you know are not telling the whole truth. It is released today in ebook and in September in paperback and I’ll be reviewing for the tour. You can order (or preorder) a copy here.

…

And that was all I managed to finish in the end. Lots of reading to catch up on now but I’m up to the challenge. I think.

Blog wise we were quite busy – recap below.

The Killing Habit by Mark Billingham

Behind the Wire by Rachel Amphlett

Blue Murder by Mark L. Fowler

Dark Pines by Will Dean

Summer on the Little Cornish Isles by Phillipa Ashley

Pretty busy week ahead with tours for  A Cold Flame by Aidan Conway; The Lost Sister by Tracy Buchanan; The Emperor of Shoes by Spencer Wise; Abby’s Promise by Rebekah Dodson; The Language of Secrets by Ausma Zehanat Khan and The Daughter of River Valley by Victoria Cornwall.

I’m slinking off to try to recover from Harrogate now. Wish me luck. Three days sleep to catch up on.

Just one thing to show you – quite pleased with this really. A little gift from me to me … A new laptop bag.

Isn’t it great? Love it.

And now at least my shelfie doesn’t look quite so pathetic anymore …

Have a fab week all. See you when (if) I wake up.

Jen