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Edinburgh Book Festival Part Deux



I went through to Edinburgh this evening to see Allan Guthrie and Stuart MacBride in an event at the Edinburgh Book Festival - and very good fun it was too. I wish I had taken notes because there were loads of funny lines, but here's flavour of the event.

The moderator, Alan Morrison, was almost not needed because Al and Stuart interacted very well together and asked each other… Continue

Added by Donna Moore on August 28, 2007 at 8:00am — 5 Comments

Edinburgh Book Festival

Fellow Crimespacer Jools and I went through to Edinburgh today to see Ray Banks and Campbell Armstrong at an event at the Edinburgh Book Festival. Incidentally, we also went through to eat copious amounts of food, but that is beside the point.



The event was excellent, although members of the audience did not quite grasp the "Does anyone have a question?" concept. Instead, they decided to grasp the "Talk random shite" concept. Ray and Campbell managed to field this random shite very… Continue

Added by Donna Moore on August 25, 2007 at 11:32am — 3 Comments

July Reads

A small but perfect list of reads for July.

WHO IS CONRAD HIRST? - KEVIN WIGNALL

Protagonist: Conrad Hirst, Hitman

Series?: Standalone

Setting: Various European countries

The short answer is that Conrad Hirst is a hitman who wants out of the business, the long answer is so much more involved, so much more poignant, so much more human. In the first couple of pages of the book the reader learns that Conrad has decided to kill his way out of the business, by doing what he…

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Added by Donna Moore on August 9, 2007 at 1:30am — 5 Comments

Transports of Delight

Trains



Christmas 2002 I spent in the soft and comfortable bosom of my family near Peterborough. After a wonderful vacation we set off on what was to be the journey from hell. Christmas Day I got the flu and I was feeling pretty ill. I wasn't really looking forward to travelling anyway, but it was made all the worse by the fact that British Rail, in their infinite wisdom, had ripped up the railway tracks between York and Darlington, at the busiest time of year, so… Continue

Added by Donna Moore on August 8, 2007 at 4:41pm — 1 Comment

The Perils of DIY

There's currently a man in my bathroom lying on the floor (and there's no blood covered spanner lying next to him I hasten to add). Pardon me for being excited, but it's been a long time since there's been a man lying on my premises.



He's actually fitting a new bathroom, so I've taken the week off while this feta of modern engineering is carried out (and so I can keep nipping in and annoying him). I thought I would do something useful while he is here, so I am assembling two… Continue

Added by Donna Moore on July 31, 2007 at 12:01am — 10 Comments

Harrogate - A Few Random Thoughts

Well, I'm home after a wonderful few days in Harrogate. The Festival was excellent, the panels were great, the evening events were fun...but most of all, the company was top class and I had much much fun and many laughs. Some random brief highlights, thoughts and comments:



I was SO chuffed to see Al win the Theakstons. It was a really strong field and any one of them deserved the prize, but, man, I was so thrilled for Al. And he was the only one that I would (and did) shed a few tears… Continue

Added by Donna Moore on July 23, 2007 at 7:48am — 16 Comments

I Bet You I CAN...

Someone bet me after one of my most recent forum posts that I couldn't write a story using the elements I had mentioned in my post (an amateur sleuth with an aardvark called Samuel who's actually the ghost of Joan of Arc, a serial killer whose signature is a chess piece made of brie wrapped in a piece of Amazonian love poetry). Well, since I had a spare hour at lunchtime, I thought I would give it a whirl. There was nothing to say it actually had to be good, so it's…

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Added by Donna Moore on July 11, 2007 at 1:07am — 4 Comments

Lions and Tigers and Bears, oh my

I'm going to Bouchercon in Alaska in September and, as part of the trip, I am doing the Authors To Schools programme. They send you out into the Bush (or, as I know it The Middle Of Nowhere) for a few days to a local school.



I'm going to a small town in south west Alaska with about 600 residents and which you can only reach by small plane or boat. Except in winter, when you can drive on the river.







I'm really really looking forward to it. My mum, however, thinks I… Continue

Added by Donna Moore on July 9, 2007 at 7:16am — 4 Comments

June Reads

A TASTE FOR SIN - GIL BREWER

Protagonist: Jim Phalen, Liquor store worker

Series?: Standalone (written in 1959)

Setting: Smalltown America

Jim Phalen has a dead end job,lives in a dead end rooming house,and has a dead end life. And he's in lust with Felice, the dangerous young wife of the local bank manager. She's one of the most dangerous femmes fatales I've ever read. This is a nasty nasty book, filled with nasty nasty people. Here's one of my favurite lines:

'She was… Continue

Added by Donna Moore on June 30, 2007 at 5:57am — No Comments

Wicked Women - Hell Cat Maggie

A Well Manicured Lady

Hell Cat Maggie – New York – mid 1800s



During the 1800s a number of gangs in New York fought for control of areas such as The Bowery and Hell’s Kitchen. It was not uncommon for soldiers and the National Guard to be brought in to stop the gang fights. The gangs revelled in names such as The Bowery Boys, The Plug Uglies, The Dead Rabbits, The Gophers, The Shirt Tails, The Roach Guards, as well as the innocently named Little Doggies, or The Pansies. Just as today… Continue

Added by Donna Moore on June 24, 2007 at 1:01am — 7 Comments

Wicked Women - Freydis Eiriksdottir

Viking Warrior Princess

Freydis Eiriksdottir – Greenland – c975-?



Freydis was the illegitimate daughter of Erik The Red, and half sister of Leif Eriksson. Married very young to a wealthy but apparently weak man called Thorvard she became a brave, if brutal, warrior and would accompany her husband on his sailing expeditions. No pleasant cruise around the Med, however; these were expeditions to trade goods and take land.



In 1004 she and her husband set off on a three year… Continue

Added by Donna Moore on June 23, 2007 at 4:42am — 3 Comments

Having One's Particulars Taken Down

Well, my excitement for the day was the police turning up at my door. Now, I don't know about you, but whenever a policeman turns up at my door and says "Are you Donna Moore?" I always start to panic. Of course, it's to be hoped that a policeman isn't going to turn up at your door and say "Are you Donna Moore?" That's an altogether different problem. My immediate response is to think a) Oh my God what's happened to everyone I love, followed swiftly by b) What the… Continue

Added by Donna Moore on June 22, 2007 at 1:31am — 5 Comments

Wicked Women - Elizabeth Bathory

The Blood Countess of Transylvania



Elizabeth (Erzsebet) Bathory – 1560-1614





Elizabeth Bathory was born in Hungary in 1560, the daughter of one of the richest and most influential families of the period. However, at a time when Hungary’s nobility was shrinking, decades of intermarriage had had an unfortunate effect on the family’s lineage and not only could the Bathorys boast warlords, kings, great statesmen and cardinals; but the branches of the family tree were also… Continue

Added by Donna Moore on June 21, 2007 at 12:19am — 6 Comments

Wicked Women - Lola Montez

La Belle Horizontale

Lola Montez – Ireland – 1821-1861



Lola Montez claimed to be either the daughter of Lord Byron or a matador, depending on how she was feeling. The more prosaic truth is that she was born Eliza Rosanna Gilbert in County Sligo, Ireland, the daughter of an army officer and a chorus girl. She spent her early years in India where her love of dancing was born when one of the family’s servants taught her how to belly dance. However, when her mother remarried after her… Continue

Added by Donna Moore on June 19, 2007 at 8:33pm — 3 Comments

Wicked Women

I love larger than life characters, whether fictional or real, and I have a very soft spot for those outrageous women throughout history who have had an impact on the times in which they lived. Women who were queens, murderesses, courtesans, adventurers, pirates, witches, highway robbers. Exceptionally, deliciously wicked women.



Women such as the Egyptian queen Nitocris (c2175BC) who avenged the death of her brother in an impressive and original way by inviting all those who had a… Continue

Added by Donna Moore on June 19, 2007 at 8:27pm — 3 Comments

Ah, How Times Change

A while ago, a friend sent me an extract from a 1960s Home Economics Textbook about what to do when hubby comes home from work. All the men I showed it to looked wistful, all the women just laughed. So I updated it for the 21st century, so here's the original and my updated version.



THE ORIGINAL



Have dinner ready. Plan ahead, even the night before, to have a delicious meal ready on time for his return home from work. This is a way of letting him know that you have been… Continue

Added by Donna Moore on June 18, 2007 at 10:53pm — 1 Comment

What I Read In May

Here are my small, but perfectly formed, May reads.



DONKEY PUNCH - RAY BANKS

Protagonist: Cal Innes

Series?: Second

Setting: Manchester and LA

After a very brief (and extremely unsuccessful) stint as a PI, Cal Innes is helping out at his mate Paulo's gym in Manchester and reluctantly

agrees to chaperone a teenage boxer to an important amateur boxing

tournament in LA. Liam is a talented boxer, but also a bad tempered

obstreperous teenager, who's not… Continue

Added by Donna Moore on June 5, 2007 at 12:08am — 1 Comment

A Book Offer You Shouldn't Refuse Part Deux

Hello All,



This week, some nice publisher people (whose lists I am obviously on by mistake, but shhhhhhhhhh, I won't tell them if you won't!) have sent me some of my favourite books. Since I already own multiple copies of all these books, and keeping them would just be greedy, I thought I would offer them here. If you would like one, please send me a little message thingy and let me know which one (it's a tough choice, you can claim multiple ones if you like) I only have one copy of… Continue

Added by Donna Moore on June 3, 2007 at 2:34am — 4 Comments

Life of PI

A few years ago I managed to persuade a real life UK Private Eye to answer some questions for me, and the result appeared in the wonderful Crimespree Magazine. Here it is:



Life of PI



Picture the scene - the backstreet office building looks unloved and dejected. You walk up the dimly lit staircase and inhale the scents which hint at bodily functions you'd rather not dwell on too closely. Actually, it's more than a hint - the smells take you by the throat and assault your nose… Continue

Added by Donna Moore on May 28, 2007 at 10:59pm — No Comments

Budgie Noir

"Oh my lord," tweeted Miss Sassy, turning round from the mirror in which she had been preening herself, "Whatever has happened to Peeve?"



"What do you mean?" asked Dimwit, taking a break from pulling out his feathers with his beak.



Miss Sassy pointed a perfectly manicured claw towards the bottom of the cage. A small green budgie lay stiff as a piece of cuttlefish on his back at the bottom of the cage, his little legs turned skywards, his beady eyes made beadier by…

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Added by Donna Moore on May 17, 2007 at 2:32am — 2 Comments

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