No, I’m not talking about knife-wielding hoodies – I’m talking about crime fiction. There’s a lot to look out for this month so here’s a list for all you crime-fiction fans out there…

1. This Friday 10th July – Sandi Toksvig will be investigating the mysterious lure of crime fiction on BBC TV’s The One Show. Crime author Alan Taylor will be helping with the enquiries and be joined by critic Barry Forshaw, and superfans Lizzie Hayes and Ayo Onatade (who run Mystery Women), Adrian Muller (who runs CrimeFest), and Shaz Wheeler. The crime special will be broadcast between 7 and 7.30pm on BBC1.

2. 15th July – The winners of the CWA 2009 Daggers will be announced. The awards will take place at Tiger Tiger in London and we will be crossing our fingers for Zoë Sharp – nominated for the Short Story Dagger. To read the full shortlist click here.

3. 23rd – 26th July – Time for the Theakstone’s Old Peculiar Crime Writing Festival in Harrogate with its usual line-up of interesting talks, panels, workshops and other events. Look for Zoë Sharp at the X-rated panel discussion or follow her masterclass in writing convincing violence. You can also opt for Martin Edwards’ workshop on law and crime-writing or join Cath Staincliffe at a murder mystery dinner.

4. For the whole of this month – follow the trail of online reviews, competitions and interviews with Marshall Karp as he embarks on an online tour for Flipping Out. (If you’ve already missed the first few, you can track them all on Marshall’s site here.) So far he’s been spotted on Booksmonthly, The Bookbag and today it’s Chris High’s turn to give his opinion on Flipping Out, which is: ‘Boy is it entertaining…This is a quite exquisite read and filled with everything any fan of crime fiction could wish for.’ See what else he had to say about it here. Plus don’t forget to enter our special Flipping Out prize-draw.

That should keep you all busy for now…

Chiara Priorelli, Publicity Manager