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Authors Margaret Murphy and Cath Staincliffe have both been
shortlisted for the 2006 Crime Writers Association’s Dagger in the Library
award. The award is nominated by UK libraries, judged by librarians and goes
to the author whose work has given most pleasure to readers.
With a prize of £1,500 and an ornamental dagger, Staincliffe and Murphy,
both members of the infamous Murder Squad writers’ collective, have
strenuously denied rumours of a bitter feud over the nomination.
“Talk of back-stabbing and threatening e-mails have been grossly exaggerated,”
claims Staincliffe. “We’re victims of our own success,”
Murphy says, adding darkly, “or one of us will be, if I don’t
win…”
Murder Squad was formed to promote the work of its members through events,
workshops and talks. An instant hit with libraries and festivals, they had
90 bookings in the first year. Since then, Murder Squad has published an anthology,
produced a CD of readings and continues to tour the country.
Another member of the squad (whose name is being withheld for his own protection)
reveals “Behind the scenes the atmosphere is very tense – blood
will out – either that or tears.”
Murphy’s writing has received accolades from the British broadsheets,
and rave reviews from the New York Times, Publishers’ Weekly and The
Booklist in the USA. After a string of stand-alone thrillers, she recently
began her first series, featuring DCI Rickman & DS Foster. With Liverpool’s
superb cityscape as its backdrop, these fast-paced, character-driven novels
are tightly written with sharp dialogue, strong plotting and splashes of well-judged
humour, together with Murphy’s trademark interest in and compassion
for victims.
Staincliffe writes the Sal Kilkenny private eye series and the Blue Murder
novels (developed from her acclaimed TV series starring Caroline Quentin).
Both strands are set in Manchester and have at their centre a woman detective
juggling the demands of work and family. In the Literary Review, Philip Oakes
rated Staincliffe’s work as; ‘writing that gives Britcrime its
heart, mind and soul … accept no substitute; this is the real thing.’
Murphy and Staincliffe have issued the following joint statement: “Libraries
are the literary life-blood for readers and writers alike and we’d like
to thank the many library staff and readers who have done us the great honour
of nominating us for this very special award.”
The winners of the CWA Duncan Lawrie Daggers Awards will be announced on June
29th at a ceremony at The Waldorf Hilton, attended by the glitterati of the
crime writing world. Rumour has it that Murphy and Staincliffe have each recruited
the services of a bodyguard for the duration.
ANN CLEEVES SHORTLISTED FOR DUNCAN LAWRIE DAGGER
The Duncan Lawrie Dagger, presented by the Crime Writers' Association for the best novel of the year, brings with it the largest purse for any crime fiction award, worldwide – a sum of £20, 000 plus an ornamental dagger.
It replaces the CWA Gold Dagger, which was already the most prestigious award in crime writing. Previous winners include Val McDermid, Ian Rankin, Ruth Rendell, Reginald Hill...
The shortlist for this, the inaugural year of the Duncan Lawrie Dagger, has just been announced - and we, Murder Squad, simply can't resist pointing out that our own Ann Cleeves is on that list, with her extraordinary new novel Raven Black.
Raven Black is set in the isolated, enclosed community of Shetland; more, it's set in a Shetland winter, where dark and snow together serve to emphasise both the isolation and the enclosure. A teenage girl is found strangled, and the islanders stubbornly focus their gaze on one simple-minded loner. As the investigation proceeds, though, a veil of suspicion and fear is thrown across the whole community. This murder mystery sits at the core of a novel that examines both the sense of place and the sense of belonging, the freedoms and constrictions of island life, the friction between traditional cultures and the modern world. Raven Black is the first volume in the Shetland Quartet.
Ann Cleeves is a founder member of Murder Squad. She was working as a cook at the bird observatory on Fair Isle - the most remote of the Shetland Islands - when she met her husband; not finding this sufficiently isolated, they moved on to Hilbre, an uninhabited speck in the Dee estuary. Not being greatly interested in the birds with whom they shared the islet, Ann took to writing. Since then - despite moving back to the mainland - she's published close on twenty novels, plus a number of acclaimed short stories. Ann has previously been short-listed for both the Dagger in the Library Award and the Short Story Dagger.
The winner will be announced at the prestigious awards evening
on Thursday June 29th at the Waldorf Hitlon, Aldwych, London. AND IT WAS WON
BY ANN CLEEVES.
PICTURES FROM LCC
John Baker and his own image - the puppet who represented him at LCC
Margaret Murphy & Cath Staincliffe
Big John - the puppet
Murder Squad at LCC - this photograph was take by Zoe Sharp
And . . .
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Strange looking characters in Toronto
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Question: What is a recent philosophy Ph.D.'s usual question in his or her
first job?
Answer: "Would you like french fries with that, sir?"
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Murder Squad - Crime Fiction to Die For Congratulations to Martin Edwards who has been long-listed for the Theakston Old Peculier prize for best crime novel of the year, an award that features as part of The Harrogate International Crime Writing Festival. See Martin’s news for details of how you can join in and vote. You will see below that our work spans many different media from books and blogs, to radio and television and when we do get time away from the computer or the notepad it’s usually to travel to an event with a library or a readers group or a bookshop. If you haven’t met us in the flesh yet do come along to a gig – we don’t bite (well, not hard) and it is always enjoyable to meet readers and talk about books and crime. There’s a list of up and coming events at the end of this newsletter. Do have a look at our new improved website: http://www.murdersquad.co.uk and check out our new photo (big thanks to Zoe Sharp). If you follow the link at the site to our latest news you can see some photos of us all at Left Coast Crime – and some of John with his puppet… Later this month the Crime Writers Association will announce their Dagger Awards shortlists. You may have read in the press of big changes to the daggers – Duncan Lawrie are now sponsoring the awards and the Duncan Lawrie Dagger for the best novel commands a hefty prize of £20,000. You can find out more and keep an eye on news at: http://www.thecwa.co.uk
Seems like the landlord doesn't want to keep hearing the same story over and over again. So he's joined up with the grocer and the butcher and the guy who did the plumbing. And the 'muscular' agency. Nice people but they look pretty scary all together. Oh, well. Back to the drawing board. Another great success is John Baker's Blog. You have to head on over there to see what all the fuss is about. Click this link: http://johnbakersblog.co.uk http://www.johnbakeronline.co.uk
Meanwhile, his most recent crime novel, SHELTER, is to be published in the States by the new Bloody Brits imprint; and he is continuing to work on his Taipei underworld sequence, CONFIDENCE: A BARBERSHOP QUARTET. Half done is well begun. http://www.chazbrenchley.co.uk Ann Cleeves GAMES FOR WINTER, a short story first published in the CWA anthology, is being adapted into a feature film by Company Pictures - famous among other projects for the TV show Shameless. Of course there's still a long way to go, but they do now have a script writer and director. And the BBC has commissioned a new short story, which will be broadcast on Radio 4 in October. The new Vera Stanhope book HIDDEN DEPTHS will come out in the spring.
By that time Ann and her husband Tim will be back in Tyneside.
They can't wait. Martin Edwards The second Lakes book, THE CIPHER GARDEN, is due to be published in paperback in June. The hardback received great reviews in publications as diverse as 'The New York Times', 'The Chicago Tribune' and 'The Morning Star'. Both novels have been bought by German publishers. Martin is currently working on the next entry in the series, THE ARSENIC LABYRINTH. Meanwhile his CWA Dagger shortlisted story TEST DRIVE will appear in 'Best British Mysteries' later this year. Finally, he has been profiled by 'The Times' as 'Lawyer of the Week'.
Something that has so far eluded Harry Devlin, but you never know... Margaret Murphy My short story, FALSE LIGHT, which featured in BEST BRITISH MYSTERIES 2006, will appear in Ellery Queen magazine in July. And for those of you who like to surf, my article on the best of British crime fiction, commissioned by the British Council for their newsletter, LITERATURE MATTERS, should go live online any day now. Website address: http://www.britishcouncil.org/arts-literature-matters-newsletter-3.htm The German translation of NOW YOU SEE ME is now available from Goldmann publishers, and DARKNESS FALLS was recently released in paperback by Leisure Books in the USA. WEAVING SHADOWS will follow, like the swallow, in the summer. The hardbacks received great reviews from The New York Times, Booklist (Starred review) and Publishing News (Starred review). http://www.margaretmurphy.co.uk Stuart Pawson Cath Staincliffe Blue Murder, my ITV crime drama series starring Caroline Quentin, is currently in post-production for a third series which will be broadcast this autumn. My script MAKE BELIEVE will be the final episode of four. I’m really pleased with the story and the performances and I think the series is going from strength to strength. I’ve been commissioned to write a short story for the BITCHLIT anthology and another one for radio for a series called Manchester Crimewave, along with Ann and other writers. I’m one of the judges for the Commonword North West Novel Competition. Winning this was how I started out so it’s lovely to be part of the process of discovering and publishing a new writer. More on our website: http://www.murdersquad.co.uk
To enquire about booking us contact: ann.cleeves@murdersquad.co.uk |