So last weekend—April 21st-23rd—I was delighted to find myself at the western edge of Wales, in Aberystwyth for the Gŵyl CRIME CYMRU Festival. The Festival was split between two venues in the town—both a stone’s skip from the seafront. One was the rather splendid Public Library, on Queen’s Square. The other was just along Portland Street at the Ceredigion Museum.

The museum is located in an old Edwardian theatre, with a grand staircase and intact auditorium. Because it’s actually two buildings now knocked into one, getting from one floor to another was not as straightforward as you might think. Indeed, unravelling a piece of thread as you went might have been wise until you got the hang of the layout.

(And, of course, as every good crime writer knows, the clew of thread—as given to Theseus by Ariadne to help guide him out of the labyrinth on Knossos after slaying the minotaur—gave rise to the modern word clue.)

But I digress.

I was fortunate enough to be invited to take part in the Festival, and appeared on a panel with fellow Murder Is Everywhere blogmate, Caro Ramsay. We were ably chaired by Sarah Ward, on the topic of Trade Secrets and Twisted Identities, in which Caro admitted she wrote her first crime story at about the age of four or five, which began with the words, ‘Emily was the first to die…’

Is it any wonder I really like this woman?

The Festival was packed with interesting events, from the Dragon Parade along the promenade (dragon-based paraphernalia optional) to the murder mystery play that was performed during the interval in the Gala Quiz on Friday evening. There were several panels or workshops delivered solely in the Welsh language, and others that were bilingual.

The local branch of Waterstones, run by the delightful Chloe Tilson, was in charge of the book room, where they were happy to take the indie authors’ books on consignment, and made a point of getting all the stock copies they’d brought with them signed by attendees. Such a nice touch.

 

Meanwhile, authors not yet published had an opportunity to pitch to agents, and there were online events in the run-up to the weekend. Even the local bars got into the spirit of things (pun intended.)

Altogether, it was fun, friendly, and very well organised. Who could ask for more than that?

Well, maybe a touch more sunshine…

CRIME CYMRU
Chair of the Festival was the energetic and seemingly ever-cheerful Alis Hawkins, who was one of the founder members of CRIME CYMRU.

Back in 2016, she wanted to bring the crime writers of Wales together in a mutually supportive group. After discussions with fellow scribes Rosie Claverton and Matt Johnson, CRIME CYMRU was launched the following year.

Its remit was ‘to support crime writers with a real and present relationship with Wales; to contribute to the development of new Welsh crime-writing talent; and to promote Wales, contemporary Welsh culture and Welsh crime-writing in particular, to the wider world.’

Not all of the forty-plus published authors with full membership set their work in Wales. Some were born or live and work there, or have ties to Welsh universities or other cultural institutions. Those who can’t claim such close ties may be permitted to become Associate members.

I have my application in. Whether they accept a Great Uncle from Colwyn Bay as any kind of link remains to be seen…

The weekend was fascinating, but mine didn’t end with the very interesting Self Publishing Journey panel on Sunday morning. (Featuring David Penny and Graham H Miller, kept in line by GB (Gail) Williams.)

Portmeirion
I’d planned my route back to Derbyshire as a roundabout one. As I was so far west, it made sense to me to detour up the coast to Portmeirion on Sunday, before heading home again.

Clearly, great minds think alike here, as Caro was also to be found in that locale, along with fellow author Douglas Skelton. She had come prepared with props, all the better to illustrate her Blog Number 6 on the cult TV show of 1967/68—The Prisoner.

I was not so well-prepared. In fact, I had no idea that there was a convention catering to devotees of that show, who were everywhere, in brilliant costumes. The attendees were re-enacting the game of Human Chess from the episode ‘Checkmate’ when I arrived.

One could only assume it was of their own free will…

The Architect
Portmeirion was the brainchild of architect Sir Clough Williams-Ellis, a major figure in the development of Welsh architecture during the early twentieth century.

In 1925, he purchased the estate of Aber lâ, meaning ice estuary, as the site of his proposed ideal village, having been inspired by Portofino in Italy. Geographically, the estate at the mouth of the River Dwyryd had everything he was after. Steep cliffs overlooking a wide sandy estuary, old buildings surviving from the estate’s previous incarnation as a late 18^th-century foundry and boatyard, woods, and streams.

Williams-Ellis changed the name to Portmeirion. Port– from its location on the coast, just below the outstretched arm of Wales, and –meirion from the county of Meirionydd in which it lay.

His first task was to convert the house on the shore to a hotel, which opened for the Easter weekend in April 1926. The construction of the village was done in two stages. The most distinctive buildings, mostly influenced by the Arts & Crafts movement, were erected between 1925 and 1939. During this time, Williams-Ellis also bought the adjacent Victorian crenellated mansion, Castell Deudraeth, from the estate of his uncle.

Work was paused during the war years, then phase two began from 1954 to 1976, filling in the remaining structures in a more Palladian style. Williams-Ellis was noted for salvaging parts of other buildings for his project, and referred to Portmeirion as, “a home for fallen buildings.”

The last cottage to be built was The Tollgate, which was finished when Williams-Ellis was 93, in 1977. He died the following year, and the village was subsequently taken over by a charitable trust. It has always been a tourist destination. As well as the hotel, there are 13 cottages available to let on a self-catering basis.

Famous Visitors
Noël Coward wrote Blithe Spirit while staying in the Upper Fountain suite. HG Wells and George Bernard Shaw also visited, as did the Beatles. In fact, George Harrison spent his fiftieth birthday in Portmeirion.

Actors Gregory Peck and Ingrid Bergman stayed there, as did Frank Lloyd Wright. Numerous films, documentaries, and music videos have been filmed there—in addition to The Prisoner, of course.

Fun Facts
In no particular order:

Portmeirion Pottery was begun in 1961 by the daughter of Williams-Ellis, Susan, and her husband.

Williams-Ellis purchased and converted an old Porthmadog trading ketch which he moored alongside the quay—the Amis Reunis, which means Friends Reunited. It was used as a houseboat until it broke loose and became stranded on a shoal. After attempts to salvage the vessel failed, any parts that could be rescued were brought ashore and a stone boat was built into part of the quay instead.

The outdoor giant chess board was part of the set dressing for The Prisoner. A permanent one was added only in 2016.

In accordance with his wishes, twenty years after Williams-Ellis died and was cremated, some of his ashes were placed in a rocket and fired over the estuary at Portmeirion during a New Year’s Eve firework display.

What a way to go!

This week’s Word of the Week is hiraeth, a Welsh word that means longing for home. It’s similar to the English words homesickness or nostalgia and, like them, can be applied not just to home but also to an earlier time or a person. Hiraeth contains an extra dimension that what is missed may no longer exist and is therefore forever out of reach.

You can read this blog and comment at https://murderiseverywhere.blogspot.com/2023/04/adventures-in-wales.html

The post Adventure in Wales appeared first on Zoë Sharp: Author of the Charlie Fox series and the Lakes Thriller series..

The Crime
PC Sharon Beshenivsky was still a probationary constable with West Yorkshire Police when she was shot dead by armed robbers on the afternoon of November 18 2005. A former childminder, she had completed her police training only in February of that year.

PC Beshenivsky, along with her more experienced colleague, PC Teresa Milburn, had been just about to finish their shift when they responded to an attack alarm activated at a travel agency on Morley Street in Bradford.

There, they encountered a gang of three men—armed with a knife, a 9mm handgun, and a Mac 10 submachine gun. One of the robbers immediately shot both officers in the chest. PC Beshenivsky’s wound was fatal. PC Milburn, although severely injured, managed to press the panic button on her radio and remained conscious to give responding officers a description of the gunman.

PC Beshenivsky, who was 38 at the time of her death, left behind a husband, two stepchildren and three children. That day was her youngest daughter’s fourth birthday.

The Gang
The robbers had arrived at the scene in a convoy of three cars, and fled the same way. Unfortunately for them, Bradford City Centre had recently installed automatic number plate recognition technology, which played a major part in identifying the vehicles involved, and their owners.

A week later, police named Somali brothers, Yusaf Jama – only nineteen at the time – and Mustaf Jama as prime suspects, along with Muzzaker Imtiaz Shah. Shah and Yusaf Jama were arrested within days. Mustaf Jama managed to flee the country on fake documents. It was rumoured at the time that he might have made his escape disguised in a burka. (Something he later denied.)

The gang was based in London, but had been lured up to Yorkshire by possibly false information that the travel agency had as much as £100,000 in cash on the premises. In the event, it was reported that they actually got away with little over £5000.

The Trial
In December 2006, Shah – identified by PC Milburn as the actual shooter – was convicted of murder, robbery, and firearms offences. He was sentenced to Life imprisonment with a minimum term of 35 years. Despite not actually pulling the trigger, Yusaf Jama was also convicted of the same offences, and received the same sentence.

Both men later had additional time added to their sentences for other crimes which came to light – firearms offences and conspiracy to rape. They were also involved in an incident in prison in which another prisoner was stabbed.

Cleared of murder, but found guilty of a range of crimes, including manslaughter, robbery, and firearms offences, were three men who served as getaway drivers and lookouts. For these crimes, they received sentences anywhere from eight years to Life.

The Fugitives
Mustaf Jama fled to Somalia, where his father was allegedly a local warlord. This might be considered ironic, as Mustaf Jama had avoided being deported to the African country only six months earlier, after finishing a sentence for driving offences, robbery, and affray.

Somalia had no diplomatic ties to the UK. Nevertheless, when Mustaf Jama was given ‘most wanted’ status, a deal was struck between the Somali government and the British Foreign Office and Home Office. Mustaf Jama’s vehicle was ambushed in the desert by local militiamen. He was snatched, flown to Dubai via private plane, and then on to the UK. The day after his arrival, he was taken into custody at a police station in Leeds, and charged with the murder of PC Beshenivsky.

It took a further two years to bring him to trial, in July 2009. He was found guilty and sentenced, like his co-conspirators, to Life with a minimum term of 35 years.

By this time, the police were also looking for another man, Piran Ditta Khan. Khan was thought to be the mastermind behind the robbery, but had fled to Pakistan. A lengthy battle followed to force his return to the UK to stand trial.

In January 2020, Khan was arrested by the Pakistan police. And last week he was flown back to the UK and formally charged with the murder of PC Beshenivsky. Other charges included robbery and firearms offences.

The Aftermath
When she died in 2005, PC Sharon Beshenivsky became the seventh female UK police officer killed in service, and the first since PC Yvonne Fletcher in 1984. PC Fletcher died after a shot was fired from the Libyan Embassy while she was stationed outside monitoring a demonstration against then-Libyan leader, Muammar Gaddafi.

Efforts were made by a right-wing organisation to classify the murder of PC Beshenivsky as a racially motivated crime. Opponents pointed out that there was no obvious racial motive, and that the robbers were as likely to have fired upon any responding police officers, regardless of their ethnicity.

In January 2020, PC Sharon Beshenivsky’s daughter, Lydia – by then eighteen, told an interview with the Daily Mail that she intended to join the mounted section of the police service. I have not been able to verify whether in fact she has done this or not.

(For once, Mrs Google has failed me!)

This week’s Word of the Week is quincunx, meaning an arrangement of five objects, with four of them forming the corners of a square or rectangle, and the fifth in the centre, as in the spots on a dice or a playing card.

April 22 2023: Zoë Sharp will be appearing with Caro Ramsay and Sarah Ward at Ceredigion Museum in Aberystwyth as part of the Gŵyl Crime Cymru Festival. Their panel will be Event 6: Trade Secrets, 10:15 – 11:15 on Saturday, April 22 2023. “Writing a long series has its own difficulties, as does writing under two names in two different directions. How do you keep track? What are the things you know from your other lives that you bring to your writing? Learn a few trade secrets from three of the best. Panellists: Caro Ramsay, Zoë Sharp. Chair: Sarah Ward. Close Up Reader: Nigel Williams.”

Hot Off the Press
May 02 2023: A quick plug for John Lawton’s latest Joe Wilderness espionage thriller, Moscow Exile. Lawton will be launching the fourth novel with his thief-turned-reluctant spy in the lead role, at The Mysterious Bookshop, 58 Warren Street, New York, NY 10007. Lawton will be in conversation with fellow author Mark Ellis, who is celebrating the upcoming publication of his latest DCI Frank Merlin wartime thriller, Dead In The Water.

Moscow Exile
‘Charlotte is a British expatriate who has recently settled in Washington, D.C. with her second husband, but enviable dinner parties aren’t the only thing she is planning. Meanwhile, Charlie Leigh-Hunt has been posted to Washington as a replacement for Guy Burgess, last seen disappearing around the corner and into the Soviet Union. Charlie is surprised to cross paths with Charlotte, an old flame of his, who, thanks to her gossipy parties, has a packed pocketbook full of secrets she is eager to share.

‘Two decades later, in 1969, Joe Wilderness is stuck on the wrong side of the Iron Curtain, held captive by the KGB, a chip in a game way above his pay grade – but his old friends Frank and Eddie are going to try to spring him out of the toughest prison in the world. All roads lead back to Berlin, and to the famous Bridge of Spies…

‘Featuring crackling dialogue and brilliantly plotted Cold War intrigue, Moscow Exile is a gripping thriller populated by larger-than-life personalities in a Cold War plot that feels strangely in tune with our present.’

You can read this blog and comment at https://murderiseverywhere.blogspot.com/2023/04/the-murder-of-pc-sharon-beshenivsky.html

The post The Murder of PC Sharon Beshenivsky appeared first on Zoë Sharp: Author of the Charlie Fox series and the Lakes Thriller series..

Shakespeare was arguably the greatest writer in the English language. Next month sees the anniversary both of Shakespeare’s approximate birth, and his death. Both of these events are thought to have taken place on the same date in April – the 23^rd, although exact birth dates were often not recorded at that time.

By the time he died, in Stratford-upon-Avon, he had written 38 plays and 154 sonnets, as well as a number of other works. He was only 52, although that was considered quite a good run in Elizabethan times, when the life expectancy of the average Londoner was 35.

Shakespeare’s work has been translated into every major living language, and his plays are constantly re-imagined for each generation, bringing new meaning each time. It could easily be said that the themes and schemes and tribulations of his characters are just as relevant today as they were 400 years ago.

His characters, words, and phrases have seeped into everyday life to such an extent that they are everywhere you look. And nowhere more than in the chosen book titles of other authors.

BRAVE NEW WORLD, Aldous Huxley

The title of Huxley’s 1932 science fiction classic is taken from lines spoken by Miranda to Ferdinand and his companions in The Tempest:

“O wonder!
How many goodly creatures are there here!
How beauteous mankind is!
O brave new world
That hath such people in it”

Macbeth has provided inspiration for many other writers when it comes to naming their work.

THE WAY TO DUSTY DEATH, Alistair MacLean

The title of MacLean’s 1973 novel comes from Macbeth’s soliloquy when he hears of the death of Lady Macbeth:

“She should have died hereafter;
There would have been a time for such a word.
— To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,
To the last syllable of recorded time;
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury
Signifying nothing.”

WALKING SHADOW was the title of Robert B Parker’s 1994 Spenser outing, while THE SOUND AND THE FURY was used by William Faulkner for his 1929 novel.

DOUBLE, DOUBLE, Ellery Queen
The title of this 1950 novel comes again from the witches in Macbeth:

1 WITCH
“Round about the caldron go;
In the poison’d entrails throw.—
Toad, that under cold stone,
Days and nights has thirty-one;
Swelter’d venom sleeping got,
Boil thou first i’ the charmed pot!”

ALL
“Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and caldron bubble.”

SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES, Ray Bradbury

Ray Bradbury’s 1962 dark fantasy takes its title from the second witch in Macbeth:

“By the pricking of my thumbs,
Something wicked this way comes. [Knocking] Open locks,
Whoever knocks!
[Enter Macbeth]

Agatha Christie used a several Shakespeare quotes and references as titles of her novels, including from that same speech in Macbeth:

BY THE PRICKING OF MY THUMBS, 1968
SAD CYPRESS, 1940, from “Come away, death” a song in Twelfth Night
ABSENT IN THE SPRING, 1944, from sonnet 98
THERE IS A TIDE, 1948, (later renamed TAKEN AT THE FLOOD) from Brutus’ speech in Julius Caesar

And the title of her famous play The Mousetrap, 1952, is apparently taken from Hamlet’s answer to Claudius regarding the play the court had just watched.

THE CASE OF THE GILDED LILY, Erle Stanley Gardner
Gardner took the title of his 1956 Perry Mason novel from a speech made by Salisbury in King John:

“Therefore, to be possess’d with double pomp,
To guard a title that was rich before,
To gild refined gold, to paint the lily,
To throw perfume on the violet,
To smooth the ice, or add another hue
Unto the rainbow, or with taper-light
To seek the beauteous eye of heaven to garnish,
Is wasteful and ridiculous excess.”

THE DOGS OF WAR, Frederick Forsyth

Forsyth took the title of his 1974 thriller from a speech by Marcus Antonius in Julius Caesar:

“And Caesar’s spirit, raging for revenge,
With Ate by his side come hot from hell,
Shall in these confines with a monarch’s voice
Cry ‘Havoc!’ and let slip the dogs of war,
That this foul deed shall smell above the earth
With carrion men, groaning for burial.”

Currently, my work-in-progress novel has the working title NOTHING WE CAN CALL OUR OWN, taken from the monologue in Shakespeare’s Richard II, Act III, Scene II):

“Let’s choose executors and talk of wills.
And yet not so – for what can we bequeath
Save our deposed bodies to the ground?
Our lands, our lives, and all, are Bolingbroke’s,
And nothing can we call our own but death;
And that small model of the barren earth
Which serves as paste and cover to our bones.
For God’s sake let us sit upon the ground
And tell sad stories of the death of kings”

I’m sure there are plenty more I haven’t listed here. What are your favourite crime or thriller titles taken from Shakespeare quotes, or do you have a quote for which you have yet to find the right story to fit it?

My own favourite is actually a stage direction from Act III of The Winter’s Tale: EXIT, PURSUED BY A BEAR. I’m sure someone’s beaten me to it, but it’s a great title.

This week’s Word of the Week comes from Shakespeare, appropriately enough, and is Anthropophaginian, meaning one who eats human flesh, used in humorous context in The Merry Wives of Windsor:

HOST
“What wouldst thou have, boor? what: thick-skin?
speak, breathe, discuss; brief, short, quick, snap.”

SIMPLE
“Marry, sir, I come to speak with Sir John Falstaff
from Master Slender.”

HOST
“There’s his chamber, his house, his castle, his
standing-bed and truckle-bed; ’tis painted about
with the story of the Prodigal, fresh and new. Go
knock and call; hell speak like an Anthropophaginian
unto thee: knock, I say.”

Events
In March, Zoë Sharp will be one of the Derbyshire authors taking part in Authors Assemble. “This is a literary event, showcasing the work of authors who are local to the High Peak or who have supported and worked with the Buxton Crescent Heritage Trust. The aim is to bring writers from a variety of genres together under one roof, to shine a light on the former use of the Assembly Rooms as Buxton’s town library from 1972 to 1992—a time which many local residents remember fondly. We aim to give authors the opportunity to share their work with new audiences, give talks about their writing and of course sell their products. Attendees will also be introduced to the work of the Buxton Crescent Heritage Trust and enjoy some time inside the splendour of the Crescent’s Assembly Rooms.” Time and date: Friday, March 17 2023, 10:00 – 17:00 at The Assembly Rooms, The Crescent, Buxton, SK17 6BH. Speakers, signing, and stalls. More details to follow.

In April, Zoë Sharp will be appearing with Caro Ramsay and Sarah Ward at Ceredigion Museum in Aberystwyth as part of the Gŵyl Crime Cymru Festival. Their panel will be Event 6: Trade Secrets, 10:15 – 11:15 on Saturday, April 22 2023. “Writing a long series, has its own difficulties, as does writing under two names in two different directions. How do you keep track? What are the things you know from your other lives that you bring to your writing? Learn a few trade secrets from three of the best. Panellists: Caro Ramsay, Zoë Sharp. Chair: Sarah Ward. Close Up Reader: Nigel Williams.”

You can read this blog and comment at https://murderiseverywhere.blogspot.com/2023/03/borrowed-from-bard-redux.html.

The post Borrowing From The Bard appeared first on Zoë Sharp: Author of the Charlie Fox series and the Lakes Thriller series..

And, having written these tips down, it seemed a shame not to share them here. Your own pearls of wisdom gratefully received!

Write the jacket copy first
When I am putting together the idea for a crime thriller or mystery, the first thing I usually do is write my own jacket copy. Sometimes also called the flap copy, this is the brief outline of the type you’d find on the back of a paperback, or the inside flap of a hardback. (Occasionally, people refer to this as the blurb, but to me those are the quotes on the cover.)

Writing your own jacket copy forces you to focus on the theme of the book, and the conflict at its heart. The stronger the idea, generally, the more simply it can be expressed. I try to hone and modify the jacket copy as I go along. It helps to remind me what I set out to achieve in the beginning.

It may well not make it onto the finished cover, but it’s more for your own benefit than anyone else’s. It also comes in very handy during the writing process, when somebody asks, “So, what’s your latest book about?” if you have a short, snappy and intriguing bit of copy to quote from. Always leave ’em wanting more.

Keep a summary as you go
Regardless of whether you plot carefully before you begin, or you write by the seat of your pants, I’d always advise keeping a summary as you go along. When I’ve finished a chapter or scene, I jot down the main points and the gist of the dialogue, together with any story threads I’ve laid in that I’ll need to remember to tie up later. After once managing to include a nine-day week in an early book, I also mark time changes—Day 3, late morning, rain, for example. And I keep a note of how closely the opening of this scene follows the end of the last one.

Doing all this not only allows me to keep track of the timescale of my book, but also when I need to interweave different things happening in different places at the same time without my head exploding. In the latest book, I have time jumps as well as quick location changes. This leads to lots of opportunities for things to go Horribly Wrong.

But the biggest help in having a summary comes at the editing stage. In the case of the last book, the editor and I could work out most of the structural alterations on the 33-page summary, without having to wade through 300 pages of typescript. It made everyone’s life so much easier.

What’s in a name?
I have always found names hugely important in establishing character in the shortest time with the least effort. A William is a different person to a Will, or a Billy. Just as an Elizabeth is a different person to a Liz, or a Betty. In my last book, I had two women called Virginia and Pauline. One was the local lady of the manor, while the other was the cleaner at the pub. It probably would have worked to reverse the names, but not without some kind of explanation, I feel.

When I start to make notes for a new book, I usually jot an alphabet across the page, with a mark above a letter for a character with a first name beginning with that letter, and a mark below for last names beginning with that letter.

This lets me see, at a glance, if I’ve accidentally given characters names that are too similar, and which letters of the alphabet are free to use for new or minor characters. I also keep a cast list in my notes, which I add to as new people arrive. An added bonus is that, when I’m in contact with the producer of the audiobook, I already have a complete character list to hand, which I can go through to make notes for accents, etc.

Make every character count
Unlike writing for TV, where scripted dialogue for minor characters ups the production cost, in the pages of a book everyone has a chance to speak. I try to make every character into a real person rather than a cipher for the plot. Several characters in my latest book have only one scene, but I try to make it count, and to make them memorable—a female truck driver called Big Frankie; a housebound elderly Russian émigré who uses the BBC Radio 3 classical playlist to pinpoint times and dates; an expert witness cheerfully discussing murder over lunch. They all deserve the best I can give them.

Dressing and driving
Likewise, the clothes your character wears can say a lot about them very quickly. Are they cheap or expensive? Are they too tight, or hanging off, and what does that tell you about that person’s recent circumstances? Are they suitable for the occasion, or hopelessly under or over-dressed? Raymond Chandler opened The Big Sleep by describing PI Philip Marlowe down to the motif on his socks. Normally, I don’t feel the urge to go quite that far.

Likewise, the kind of car the character drives—and the way they drive it—is indicative of who they are, or who they want to be perceived to be. A particular character in the last book appeared in one scene trying to keep a low profile, so he arrived in a battered old Japanese saloon car. Later, when he was aiming to intimidate, he turned up in a Bentley. This raised immediate questions about how he earned enough money to afford it. (Or, these days, to afford to fill it with fuel.)

Use all your senses
We tend to describe what we can see and hear when we write, but not always what we can feel or smell. I had one of my main protagonists wake sweating in the early hours of the morning because he was plagued by nightmares, for example, not because it’s high summer. Indeed, that book took place in winter, with cold temperatures to match. In another scene, a handful of bay leaves scattered onto a wood-burning stove released the scent of their perfumed oil into a room to create a warm and comforting air.

Get into a scene late, get out of it early
My final tip for writing a crime novel would be to get into a scene as late as you can, and get out of it early. Sometimes it’s tempting to work your way into a scene by showing your characters travelling and arriving. Unless that journey serves a purpose, it’s almost always better to begin with them already in a location, talking to someone they need information from—sometimes even in mid-conversation. I love to hit the ground running with my stories, and grab the reader right from the start.

This week’s Word of the Week is bystanderism, which is the phenomenon where we do not help someone we’ve come across who apparently needs help. We may be less likely to help when there are other people present—passive bystanders—who we may feel should do so. We may tell ourselves, If they’re not helping, perhaps we’re mistaken and nothing is wrong. So, the more people around who could help, the less likely that any will help.

Events
In March, Zoë Sharp will be one of the Derbyshire authors taking part in Author Assemble. “This is a literary event, showcasing the work of authors who are local to the High Peak or who have supported and worked with the Buxton Crescent Heritage Trust. The aim is to bring writers from a variety of genres together under one roof, to shine a light on the former use of the Assembly Rooms as Buxton’s town library from 1972 to 1992—a time which many local residents remember fondly. We aim to give authors the opportunity to share their work with new audiences, gives talks about their writing and of course sell their products. Attendees will also be introduced to the work of the Buxton Crescent Heritage Trust and enjoy some time inside the splendour of the Crescent’s Assembly Rooms.” Time and date: Friday, March 17 2023, 10:00 – 17:00 at The Assembly Rooms, The Crescent, Buxton, SK17 6BH. Speakers, signing, and stalls. More details to follow.

In April, Zoë Sharp will be appearing with Caro Ramsay and Sarah Ward at Ceredigion Museum in Aberystwyth as part of the Gŵyl Crime Cymru Festival. Their panel will be Event 6: Trade Secrets, 10:15 – 11:15 on Saturday, April 22 2023. “Writing a long series, has its own difficulties, as does writing under two names in two different directions. How do you keep track? What are the things you know from your other lives that you bring to your writing? Learn a few trade secrets from three of the best. Panellists: Caro Ramsay, Zoë Sharp. Chair: Sarah Ward. Close Up Reader: Nigel Williams.”

You can read this blog and comment at https://murderiseverywhere.blogspot.com/2023/02/on-edge-of-your-seat.html

The post On the Edge of Your Seat appeared first on Zoë Sharp: Author of the Charlie Fox series and the Lakes Thriller series..