Murder Imperfect is out!

Early, as usual. I only checked on Amazon because my friend Paul Magrs reported that his latest, The Bride That Time Forgot, due on October 28th, was there.  Never mind, at least that means it'll be available when I do the Crime and Coffee event at the Guildford Book Festival on Tuesday with Simon Brett, Suzette Hill and Linda Regan.

Also, next Saturday I have my very first proper launch/signing at the Cotswold Bookstore in Moreton-in-Marsh. A strange venue for books set in Kent, but they "discovered" me due to my similarity (!) to the Agatha Raisin books and I've sold quite well, apparently. They've done a feature window with a large copy of my lovely Steeple Martin map, specially done for me by the artist, Susan Alison. I'm going to bring it home and hang it on the wall.  I'm hopeful of seeing lots of friends at the signing, as there are many RNA members lurking in the Cotswolds. I've also been fortunate enough to secure a lift from a mad friend who doesn't mind leaving at 7 in the morning. Thank you, Peter.  This is A Good Thing as my lovely publisher, Hazel, is bringing wine and nibbles and I would have been seriously upset if I hadn't been able to partake.

The Thursday after that I am to be a guest speaker at The Write Place writing school in Dartford, on November 1st we are announcing the short list for The Green Carnation Prize and on November 11th I'm on a panel at the Folkestone Literary Festival with Thomas Emson (who happens to be married to an old friend, Marnie Summerfield Smith) and Danuta Kean, industry commentator and all round good person.  Finally, on December 1st we announce the winner of the Green Carnation, hopefully at the Cadogan Hotel. OK, who gets the connection?

So, busy, busy, busy and still trying to work on the second version of Murder to Music, which has to be with the publishers by the end of December (manic laughter) for publication on April 11th 2011. It is the first of the three book deal announced at the London Book Fair earlier this year and the cover is here:

Also, back at the London Book Fair, Hazel negotiated a deal with an Australian distributor, who reports that I'm selling quite well down under. That's nice. Also a new deal with a US distributor who is pushing me at the Americans.  All good. Why aren't I a millionaire?

Oh, and the other thing, my nice webmistress, Aimee Fry, has revamped my website for me, so if anyone reads this, could they let me know what they think? And of everything else, of course!

The Green Carnation

This week a new literary prize has emerged. It all started when the Man Booker long list was announced and a friend of mine, the writer Paul Magrs, whose review of Murder in Steeple Martin can be found through a link in a previous post, asked why there wasn't a prize for gay male fiction called (ahem) The Man Fooker Prize. Twitter took it up in a mild way, I of course, thinking it was a great idea, and then Paul said "You'll be a judge, won't you, Lesley?" And suddenly, it was real.

Over the week, Simon Savidge, London editor of Bent Magazine and a fellow judge, got together a website, Paul, Simon, I and Nick Campbell, the fourth judge, worked on getting the name out there and asking publishers and publications to back us. We began to get a cautious response, but, surprise, surprise, we uncovered a hitherto unsuspected nervousness among publishers. There were many reasons why, eventually, we were brought to accept that if we wanted the award to succeed, we needed to change the name. So we did. In a nod to the great Wilde it has been renamed ‘The Green Carnation Prize’. I am, naturally, very thrilled to be part of this, although my reading plans, especially when I'm on holiday in Turkey, will be severely compromised! Please, if you read my blog, put the word about. We will announce the winner, probably in London, on December 1st, World Aids Day. Watch this space!