News
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The Pervasive Myth of Writer’s Block
You never walk into a supermarket and hear the person on the till say, ‘Sorry, I can’t serve you today. I’ve got checkout person’s block.’ Yet every day, every minute it seems, someone somewhere in the world dashes their hands to head and shrieks that the muse has mysteriously departed them. On social media naturally.…
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Countdown to Venice Noir… Harrogate here we come
We’ve been working on the international line-up for Venice Noir 2026 for months… and I’m delighted to tell you now it’s done. Unfortunately I’m not going to tell you what we have in store. Only that it’s even bigger and better than last year, now running across four days, and we’ve added La Fenice opera…
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The Great Opening Scene Myth
There’s a hoary old chestnut you hear in writing schools sometimes. It says if you haven’t grabbed your reader by the third paragraph of your opening scene your book’s doomed. This is balderdash, and dangerous balderdash at that.
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Return of Nic Costa: A New Trilogy in Italian Crime Fiction
It’s twenty-five years since I first dreamed up a young Roman cop called Nic Costa, along with his crew, Gianni Peroni, Teresa Lupo and Leo Falcone. Over ten books they became a popular series, one that came to a halt as I travelled on to Copenhagen for The Killing trilogy, then four books with Pieter…