It’s summer in the city, and that means only one thing . . . First Class Murder is almost here. It’ll be steaming into shops on the 30th July, and I’ve been preparing for its release by getting out and about all over the country to talk about Daisy & Hazel’s adventures.
On the 21st, I visited the beautiful St-Annes-on-Sea to be part of wonderful indie bookstore Storytellers Inc‘s first ever Midsummer Mystery festival. Five of the Mystery Girls, the most cunning and crime-obsessed MG authors in the business – Katherine Woodfine, Helen Moss, Kate Pankhurst, Elen Caldecott and myself – came to give presentations about our detective books, eat bunbreak, and take part in an absolutely baffling mystery. As well as being authors, we were all suspects in the Case of the Missing Manuscript, the theft of the latest crime novel manuscript from noted local author Davinia Carruthers-Henley.
I really do think that the future of detection in England is bright – I met a lot of really brilliant sleuths who were extremely keen to solve the mystery, and uncomfortably close to the truth very quickly. Suspicion fell on Elen and Kate in the beginning, but those were just red herrings. I’m dreadfully ashamed to say that at the end of the day I was revealed to be the dastardly thief. I’m terribly sorry – as always, I just wanted to read the book before anyone else . . .
On the Monday after the festival, I went with my detective pal and partner in crime Katherine Woodfine, author of The Mystery of the Clockwork Sparrow, to visit Heyhouses Endowed Church of England School. We had a great time telling the kids about our books, and I have to say, doing events with other authors might be my new favourite thing. I love being part of a team, and I love hearing about how other authors create their books.
On the 28th June, I travelled to Bedford to be part of the Bedford Bookfest. I managed to sneak into the event before mine, by a certain new children’s laureate, and I now know that Chris Riddell’s commute is way quicker than mine. While I spend every morning sitting on a train floor, wedged between a seat and a bin, he . . . walks down his garden to his writing studio. I’m extremely jealous, though I do wonder if I’d ever write anything in such comfort.
Chris was a hard act to follow, but all the same I think my event went well, and I hope I inspired the audience to write their own detective stories, as well as read mine!
And finally, about First Class Murder . . . On Wednesday this week I got a very special delivery: the first advance copy! I keep expecting that this moment will mean less to me, the more books I write – but meeting my third book for the first time turned out to be just as fantastic a moment as seeing my first.
I love this book – it might be my favourite of the ones I’ve written so far – and I am delighted with how it looks. Huge thanks to my illustrator, Nina Tara, and my designer Laura Bird (with help from Janene Spencer). It’s going to look incredible on shelves – you won’t be able to miss its orange glow! Only three weeks left . . .
