Last week I went to see the musical Chicago at the Cambridge Theatre (and now consequently break out into renditions of Mr Cellophane and All that Jazz when feeling bored). I’d recently rewatched the movie version so the songs were all familiar to me – except for one that is, the one about ‘class’. And it’s probably my […]
Sometimes the written word can be misread or misinterpreted. And there are some things that really shouldn’t be left open to interpretation. When my Yahoo News bulletin flashed up an article from SkyNews about a Japanese student who was arrested after driving for four miles with the body of an 80-year-old pensioner lodged in her […]
One of my friends bought me this book for Christmas and considering the snowy weather keeping us indoors all weekend, I got to reading. We had a fairly successful summer last year of growing a few of our own vegetables and tomatoes – even now some of our herbs seem to be resolutely battling through […]
As mentioned in previous blogs, I have recently moved flat. And in the process, unsubscribed to SKY Digital TV (2010 is all about saving…) which means for about two weeks I have been surviving on terrestrial televion. Which consequently means (and you’ll note it’s taken me a good five days to own up to this) […]
You may remember back a few months to when I was full of the joys of our hot-off-the-presses ebooks: five brave titles that went out into the digital world as ambassadors for the A&B list – see here. Since then we’ve been working getting other titles converted, being picky in these untested waters, of course, […]
The Hidden Dance, by debut novelist Susan Wooldridge and The Summer House, by veteran writer Mary Nichols have both been longlisted for the RNA Romantic Novel of the Year Award 2010. To view the full longlist click here.
My family are Scrabble nuts. There is nothing we like better than to finish off an evening scheming over the triple word score, agonising over too many i’s or hurling insults at each other for ‘not opening up the board!’ My Ouma is 93 years old this year and she is the Scrabble queen. She […]
Thursday 25th February, 7.00pm ST DEINIOL’S LIBRARY, HAWARDEN Martin Edwards will be celebrating the launch of his new Lake District mystery The Serpent’s Pool at St Deiniol’s Library, Church Lane, Hawarden, North Wales. For more details contact Annette Lewis at the library on 01244 532350.
Saturday 30th January 1.00-3.00pm ORMSKIRK LIBRARY Don’t miss the next Word Soup event and a chance to meet top-notch crime writers, Martin Edwards (author of the popular Lake District mystery series) and Sophie Hannah. They will be reading from and discussing their books and taking questions from the audience at Ormskirk Library, Burscough Street, Ormskirk. […]
WHOOSH! (The sound of something hurtling past) What was that? Oh yes, that would be The Christmas Holidays. Yes, we’re back! (Did you miss us?) We’re sitting here with the heating cranked up, sifting through the mass of emails in our inboxes and getting stuck into work again – in my case armed with copious […]
I moved house over the weekend and I now finally have a Christmas tree. It’s our last day in the office today and this evening will see me holding a bauble in one hand and a glass of mulled wine in the other – decorating my tree. It will be the perfect way to mark this new start […]
As we reach the end of the year, it’s inevitable that we are inundated with ‘Best of 2009’ lists. No matter what the topic – best books, best gadgets, best TV moments, best music singles, most viewed YouTube videos… you name it. So, since this year has seen the launch of our new website, and, for me, been an […]
It’s that wonderful time of year when, with a holiday on the horizon, I’m planning my reading list with care. If I was famous, and flew by private jet so had no baggage restrictions and had my luggage carted around for me, my bags would be filled to the brim with books. But as it […]
I am currently in between reads. I finished The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas and now am impatiently waiting for my sister to finish Andre Agassi’s new autobiography Open so I can read it. I’m a big tennis fan and my sister professes that it has the best opening chapter she’s ever read. So, as I was […]
It might be verging on the ludicrous, but my hubby and I were arguing the other night over whether the creature perching on the top of our Christmas tree was an angel or a fairy. Don’t get me started, but I have been subsumed into the Crooks tradition that only an angel/fairy on top of […]
A few quick thoughts if you (like me) find yourself in the midst of a last-minute panic about Xmas presents. Don’t miss the chance to win a free book, in time for you to to wrap up and put under the tree by visiting Sleuths’ Ink Blog featuring Richard Jay Parker as the guest blogger. […]
As Amanda Ross (former producer of the Richard & Judy Book Club) gets ready to launch the new TV Book Club, sans the celebrity couple, Richard and Judy have announced they will continue to recommend titles to readers with a new book club on their own website.
When I was younger I had an Italian friend who got a lump of coal on Christmas. I remember being shocked – a lump of coal? But then she started gnawing at the black lump in her hand and I realised my mistake. Her version of Father Christmas (La Befana) was not as mean as […]
We recently ran a competition to see who could come up with the best alternative definition for the word ‘Caboose’ (read our previous blog). Well, let me tell you I’ve never had so much fun getting entries in! You are a funny lot you Allison & Busby fans! Hats off to your imagination! We asked […]
I’m a sucker for a number of things at this time of year as the urge to get all Christmassey descends upon me. Firstly, beautiful stationery. Particularly gorgeous, thick pads and journals, cards and I was even drooling over be-a-utiful bookplates online the other day. Secondly, cookery books (featuring James Martin if possible…ahem…) with plenty […]
Enjoy an evening with two of Britain’s beloved actresses as they talk about and sign copies of their new books at Wanstead Library, London on Friday 11th Dec.