New bestseller PICTURE YOU DEAD by Peter James – ‘Picture perfect at peak’

Credit: Graham Franks Photography

PICTURE YOU DEAD by Peter James has flown to Number One in the Bookseller’s weekly ‘Bookstat E-Book Top 10’ and to Number Two in the Sunday Times hardback bestseller charts, after only three days on sale. ‘Picture perfect at peak for James’, the Bookseller reported, adding that ‘Peter James’s PICTURE YOU DEAD swiped the Bookstat e-book number one in a photo finish.’

The eighteenth instalment of the bestselling Detective Superintendent Roy Grace series is published by Pan Macmillan, who signed up 5 more series titles from Peter James last year.

PICTURE YOU DEAD was launched with a vigorous and inventive marketing and publicity campaign including a much-anticipated return to the traditional annual Roy Grace launch party – held again on Brighton pier after two years without an in-person celebration, and this time with ITV’s GRACE stars, John Simm and Richie Campbell, among the crowd.

Peter went on a whirlwind book signing tour across Sussex and beyond, visiting multiple independent bookshops, the Jersey Festival of Words, and Capital Crime Festival. He also embarked on an extensive regional radio tour. As well as the trade hardback, two exclusive editions of PICTURE YOU DEAD were also published: one with extra material exclusive to WH Smith, and a special edition for indie bookshops with beautiful sprayed edges.

In PICTURE YOU DEAD, Detective Superintendent Roy Grace finds himself plunged into an unfamiliar world of fine art – and art forgery. Outwardly the fine art scene appears respectable, refined, above reproach. But beneath the veneer, he rapidly finds that greed, deception and violence walk hand-in-hand.

Harry and Freya, an ordinary couple, dreamed for years of finding something priceless buried amongst the tat in a car boot sale. It was a dream they knew in their hearts would never come true – until the day it did… They buy a drab portrait for a few pounds, for its beautiful frame, planning to cut the painting out. Then studying it back at home there seems to be another picture beneath, of a stunning landscape. Could it be a long-lost masterpiece from 1770? If genuine, it could be worth millions. One collector is certain that the painting is genuine. Someone who will use any method he can to get what he wants and will stop at nothing.

And Harry and Freya are about to discover that their dream is turning into their worst nightmare…

Filming of the ITV series based on the Roy Grace novels continues in Brighton, with more of the thrilling stories to be broadcast in 2023. Peter is now writing the nineteenth instalment of the Roy Grace series which Pan Macmillan will publish next year.

Praise for Peter James:

‘Superior plotting and edge-of-the-seat suspense.’ – The Guardian

‘Peter James is one of the best crime writers in the business’ – Karin Slaughter

‘A master plotter who cunningly tunes into contemporary concerns. Peter James cannot fail to thrill.’  – Daily Mail

‘Memorable characters and nail-biting tension.’ –  Kathy Reichs

‘Peter James creates a world we can smell, touch and feel for his Brighton detective Inspector Roy Grace.’ – The Times

‘With echoes of Thomas Harris, the closer analogue is to Jeffrey Deaver’s clock-racing thrillers… James delivers the goods.’ — Kirkus Reviews

‘James just gets better and better and deserves the success he has achieved with this first-class series.’ — Independent on Sunday

About Peter James:

Peter James is the international bestselling author of many award-winning novels, repeatedly occupying the Number One slot on the Sunday Times bestseller charts in both hardback and paperback. Peter writes both thriller standalones and the hugely popular Brighton-set Roy Grace series, now adapted for ITV.

Peter’s books have been translated into thirty-eight languages, with worldwide sales of over twenty-one million copies and his Detective Superintendent Roy Grace series, set in Brighton, has given him 19 consecutive Sunday Times Number Ones. In 2015 WH Smith customers voted him the Greatest Crime Author of All Time and in 2016 he was awarded the coveted CWA Diamond Dagger, a lifetime achievement award for sustained excellence. In 2018 he received a Specsavers Honorary Platinum Bestseller Award. Peter James has also written two books based on true crime stories, with former senior detective Graham Bartlett.

The 16th Roy Grace, FIND THEM DEAD, was a UK Number 1 in both hardback and paperback, spending four consecutive weeks at Number 1 in paperback, and reaching Number 5 in Australia and Canada too. In 2021 Peter James repeated the hardback and paperback Top Ten double with LEFT YOU DEAD and standalone thriller I FOLLOW YOU.

Successful nationwide tours of the stage plays of THE PERFECT MURDER (2014), DEAD SIMPLE (2015,) NOT DEAD ENOUGH (2017) and THE HOUSE ON COLD HILL (2019) have packed theatres in dozens of British cities, and garnered magnificent reviews. The stage play of LOOKING GOOD DEAD toured the UK in 2021, and WISH YOU WERE DEAD will premiere in 2022. Several other Peter James novels are optioned for film and in further development.

Visit Peter’s website

Like him on Facebook, and follow him on Twitter and Instagram

CASE STUDY by Graeme Macrae Burnet makes 2022 Gold Crown Award longlist

Graeme Macrae Burnet’s highly acclaimed and Booker longlisted novel, CASE STUDY, has made the Historical Writers’ Association 2022 Gold Crown Award longlist.

These annual awards celebrate the best historical writing, fiction and non-fiction, published in the UK and ‘its ability to engage, illuminate, entertain and inform legions of readers.’ Other titles on this year’s Gold Crown Award longlist include: BOOTH by Karen Joy Fowler, THE WOLF DEN by Elodie Harper, ALL OF YOU EVERY SINGLE ONE by Beatrice Hitchman, SMALL THINGS LIKE THESE by Clare Keegan, THE WINTER WAR by Tim Leach, THE THIN PLACE by CD Major, THE REBEL DAUGHTER by Miranda Malins, THE FORTUNE MEN by Nadifa Mohamed, THE KINGDOMS by Natasha Pulley, THE GREAT PASSION by James Runcie and GREAT CIRCLE by Maggie Shipstead.

The shortlist will be announced on the 25th of October 2022, and the winner revealed in an awards ceremony on the 23rd of November.

CASE STUDY was published to great acclaim by Saraband Books in UK and Text in Australia, with the audio edition released by Bolinda. It has already been the recipient of numerous accolades, including being longlisted for the 2022 Booker Prize and shortlisted for the Ned Kelly Award, as well as being chosen as a Book of the year in 2021 by The Spectator, The Scotsman and Waterstones. It is shortlisted for the Gordon Burn Prize 2022 and was one of Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon’s favourite books of 2021. To date, translation rights have been sold in 16 further countries, and it will be published in North America later this year by Biblioasis, with Graeme going on tour for festivals and book signings in Canada and the US, including Vancouver, Ottawa, Chicago and New York.

Through a series of notebooks, CASE STUDY follows the story of a young woman who, convinced that the psychotherapist Arthur Collins Braithwaite is responsible for her sister's suicide, assumes a fake identity and presents herself to him as a patient so she can find out the truth about her sister. What ensues is a thrilling game of cat and mouse between therapist and patient, as well as writer and reader.

Written using Burnet’s distinctive flair for character and plot, this dazzling, dizzying novel is an extraordinary mediation on sanity, identity and truth itself.

About Graeme Macrae Burnet

Graeme Macrae Burnet was brought up Kilmarnock, Ayrshire and now lives in Glasgow. He has also lived in the Czech Republic, France, Portugal and London. He has appeared at festivals and events in Australia, New Zealand, the US, Russia, Estonia, Macau, Ireland, Germany and France, as well as in the UK. He has also been shortlisted for many European and American literary awards.

His first novel, THE DISAPPEARANCE OF ADÈLE BEDEAU (Contraband, 2014), received a New Writer’s Award from the Scottish Book Trust and was longlisted for the Waverton Good Read Award. A second Inspector Gorski novel, THE ACCIDENT ON THE A35, was published in 2017, the year he won Author of the Year for the Sunday Herald Culture Awards.

HIS BLOODY PROJECT (Contraband, 2015) won the Saltire Society Fiction Book of the Year Award, and was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize and the LA Times Book Awards. It has been published to great acclaim around the world and film rights have been optioned by Synchronicity.

Praise for CASE STUDY

‘A novel of mind-bending brilliance. Graeme Macrae Burnet is a master of muddying the waters, of troubling ideas of truth and identity, fiction and documentary, and CASE STUDY shows him at the height of his powers.’ – Hannah Kent

‘Burnet’s triumph is that it’s a page-turning blast, funny, sinister and perfectly plotted so as to reveal – or withhold – its secrets in a consistently satisfying way. It also does a fine job of keeping our sympathies shifting, and of conjuring up a lost cultural era. Rarely has being constantly wrong-footed been so much fun.’ – James Walton, The Times

‘A thrilling investigation into sanity and identity.’ – Alice O’Keeffe, The Bookseller
‘It’s a book that is enormous fun to read, a mystery and a psychological drama wrapped up in one. Buoyed by the evident pleasure Macrae Burnet takes in spinning such a tightly knit tale – the author’s note at the end is magnificent – CASE STUDY is a triumph, and ought to give Saraband another success story.’ – Alex Preston, Guardian, ‘Book of the Day’

‘Graeme Macrae Burnet’s CASE STUDY is a novel about a 1960s psychologist where the blurring between fact and fiction constantly wrong-foots its readers while still keeping us lavishly entertained.’ – James Walton, The Spectator, ‘Books of the Year’

‘Fun and funny, sly and serious, a beguiling literary game that manages to say more about the nature of the self than any number of more self-consciously solemn works.’ – David Szalay

‘What’s real and what’s not is beside the point in this skilful portrait of a disturbed woman and her encounters with an experimental 1960s psychotherapist… Both strands quickly become compelling… I was hooked like a fish.’ – Leyla Sanai, The Spectator

‘This is a novel which, like Macrae Burnet’s previous ones, holds the attention, develops an insidious narrative interest, and poses questions about the nature of the self and the authenticity of identity… As in his other novels, Macrae Burnet writes with an admirable lucidity, at the same time being able to probe and shed light on the dark places of the mind. Writing in a prose that is spare, deadpan and yet alive, he poses questions about the nature and perception of what we choose to call reality. He is an uncommonly interesting and satisfying novelist.’ – Allan Massie, The Scotsman

Visit Graeme’s website

Follow Graeme on Twitter and Instagram

Laurence King to publish THE EDIBLE FLOWER by Erin Bunting and Jo Facer

Laurence King will publish the first cookery book by Erin Bunting and Jo Facer, founders of Northern Ireland’s popular farm-to-fork supper club and organic small-holding, The Edible Flower. Laurence King acquired world rights from Juliet Pickering at Blake Friedmann. The title will publish in March 2023, and can be pre-ordered here.

In THE EDIBLE FLOWER, readers will learn how to grow, cook and eat edible flowers. From gardening tips to helpful how-to’s, THE EDIBLE FLOWER is all about making this largely untapped culinary delight more accessible. Illustrated with over 200 stunning photographs, it features more than 50 delicious recipes for small plates, mains, desserts, baking, snacks and drinks, proving that edible flowers are not only a garnish, but an incredibly versatile ingredient. THE EDIBLE FLOWER is not just a cookbook but a guide to connecting to the earth, the seasons, and to a more sustainable way of living.

Ballymaloe trained chef Erin Bunting and organic gardener Jo Facer founded The Edible Flower, a farm-to-fork supper club and organic small-holding based at their farm in Saintfield, County Down, in 2016. As well as supper clubs, they run a CSA (community supported agriculture) scheme, cooking, brewing and growing workshops, classes and demos. Their mission is to enrich their lives and the lives of their family and community through the joy of sharing delicious, inspiring, surprising and sustainable food.

 Katherine Pitt, Senior Editor, Laurence King, says ‘Erin and Jo have been a joy to work with because they are both so passionate about edible flowers and care deeply about communicating their rich gardening and cooking knowledge to readers. THE EDIBLE FLOWER is more than a cookery book, it’s a snapshot of a way of life to which we’ll all aspire!’

Erin and Jo, say, 'For us, growing and cooking with edible flowers is about so much more than making beautiful food, though that is a delightful benefit.  Edible flowers bring beauty and colour into your garden, provide habitat for pollinating insects, and add unique and surprising flavours to your plate. Through THE EDIBLE FLOWER you can join us on a journey to live within the rhythm of the seasons, to create a gorgeous, sustainable and edible garden, and to make floral dishes that are both delicious and beautiful.’

Photo: Carrie Davenport

 About Erin Bunting

 Erin is a cook, teacher, recipe developer and edible flower enthusiast. She trained at Ballymaloe Cookery School and is now the head cook at The Edible Flower. Her food is fresh, unpretentious, beautiful, vegetable-focused and inspired by the seasonal produce that Jo grows in their kitchen garden.

About Jo Facer

 Jo is an organic gardener and teacher who is passionate about encouraging others to grow their own food. She is a soil and compost fanatic and is interested in sustainable food production and regenerative agriculture. Alongside vegetable-growing and compost-making, she loves cooking with fire, brewing beer and spreadsheets. 

Follow Erin on Instagram

 Follow Jo on Instagram

 Visit their website

Alan Parks wins McIlvanney Scottish Crime Book of the Year 2022 for MAY GOD FORGIVE

Alan Parks has triumphed at Bloody Scotland’s 2022 International Crime Writing Festival, winning the much sought after McIlvanney Scottish Crime Book of the Year Prize for his latest novel, MAY GOD FORGIVE.

The McIlvanney Prize recognises excellence in Scottish crime writing and includes a prize of £1,000 and nationwide promotion in Waterstones. The other finalists for this year’s prize were: THE HERETIC by Liam McIlvanney, A CORRUPTION OF BLOOD by Ambrose Parry and THE SECOND CUT by Louise Welsh.

Alan was announced as winner on the 15th of September at the Albert Halls in Stirling after all finalists led a torchlit procession there from Stirling Castle.

Ayo Onatade, chair of the McIlvanney Prize judges, described MAY GOD FORGIVE as: ‘A terrific continuation of Alan Parks’ police procedural ‘month’ series. MAY GOD FORGIVE is every bit as entertaining, gritty, darkly humorous and steeped in the grimy underbelly of Glasgow as the previous books.

‘A fantastic book with an intriguing cast of characters that not only keeps to a tight timeframe, but is fast, hard, edgy and thought-provoking; 1970s Glasgow has never been so thoroughly invoked. A truly gripping read.’

MAY GOD FORGIVE is the fifth in Alan Parks’ highly acclaimed Harry McCoy series and sees a desperate search for two kidnapped boys in an unruly Glasgow. It was published in the UK by Canongate earlier this year, and by Europa in the United States. The series is sold in more than ten countries around the world, and Alan is currently working on the sixth instalment.

About Alan Parks

Alan Parks was Creative Director at London Records in the mid 1990’s, then at Warner Music, where he created ground-breaking campaigns for artists including All Saints, New Order, The Streets, Gnarls Barclay and Cee Lo Green. He was also Managing Director of 679 Recordings, a joint venture with Warner Music. His debut novel BLOODY JANUARY propelled him onto the international literary crime fiction scene immediately and his work has been hailed by contemporary writers and critics alike.

BLOODY JANUARY was shortlisted for the Grand Prix de Littérature Policière, FEBRUARY’S SON was nominated for an Edgar Award, BOBBY MARCH WILL LIVE FOREVER was picked as a Times Best Book of the Year, won an Edgar Award and has been shortlisted for the Macavity Award for Best Mystery novel, and THE APRIL DEAD was shortlisted for the McIlvanney Prize for Scottish Crime Book of the Year.

Alan was born in Scotland and attended The University of Glasgow where he was awarded a M.A. in Moral Philosophy. He still lives and works in the city that is so vividly depicted in the 1970s setting of his Harry McCoy thrillers.

Praise for MAY GOD FORGIVE

‘MAY GOD FORGIVE is the fifth instalment in a remarkable series that began with BLOODY JANUARY. The novels, as someone once said, can be read in any order; the important thing is to read them all.’ – Mark Sanderson, The Times, ‘The Best New Crime Fiction for May 2022’

‘MAY GOD FORGIVE is a bleak and violent book, full of grisly details not for the squeamish, but also tenderness, poignance and hard-earned wisdom.’ – Tom Nolan, The Wall Street Journal

‘Noir has long been the dominant colour in the palette of such Scottish writers as Ian Rankin and Denise Mina, but Parks manages to find a deeper shade of black, only slightly attenuated by Harry's willingness to go far off the grid to extract a wee bit of justice. A must for those who take their noir straight, no chaser; others should keep the Pepto handy.’ – Bill Ott, Booklist

‘Enjoyably readable… Parks is a gifted story-teller’ – Allan Massie, The Scotsman

‘Harry McCoy is the brightest dark star on the Tartan Noir scene for some time and in future critics of Scottish crime fiction will surely be referring to the triumvirate of Laidlaw, Rebus and McCoy … MAY GOD FORGIVE is crime fiction which pulls no punches, powerfully told and, at times, heartbreakingly poignant. One of the crime novels of 2022.’ – Mike Ripley, Getting Away With Murder

Visit Alan’s website

Follow Alan on Twitter

DEVIL'S PEAK by Deon Meyer commences principal photography as a 5 x 1 hour series

Benny Griessel – the hero of Deon Meyer’s South African crime series – is being brought to life on screen for the first time as filming gets underway in South Africa on the TV adaptation of DEVIL’S PEAK. Produced by Lookout Point and backed by BBC Studios, the series stars Hilton Pelser (Moffie, Glasshouse, Kissing Booth) as Benny, with Sisanda Henna (Trackers, Rogue), Tarryn Wyngaard (Raised By Wolves, Stam, The Watch), Shamilla Miller (Blood & Water, Troy: Fall of a City), and Masasa Mbangeni (The Republic, Scandal).

The 5 x 1 hour series is directed by Jozua Malherbe (Griekwastad, Justice Served), and written by Matthew Orton (Operation Finale, Moon Knight).

Deon Meyer says: “Benny Griessel started his fictitious life as a humble once-off cameo character, and never in my wildest dreams did I think he would one day be part of an international TV series. I am absolutely thrilled that this brilliant team of cast and crew will bring him and his story to life.”

DEVIL’S PEAK, the first of six novels featuring the detective, sees the talented but broken Benny Griessel tracking down a righteous vigilante killer whose crimes are capturing the imagination of the city. Meanwhile grieving father Thobela Mpayipheli seeks justice after the untimely murder of his son. Benny and Thobela are brought into the orbit of a trapped mother, Christine, who is willing to do anything to achieve a better life for herself and her daughter, and the fates of these three characters become inextricably linked. Combining gripping tension with uncompromising authenticity, DEVIL’S PEAK offers an original South African take on the investigative thriller for today.

About Deon Meyer

Deon Meyer lives in Cape Town. His books are sold in 23 countries, and have been awarded many prizes around the world: the Deutsche Krimi Prize in Germany, the ATKV Prize in South Africa, and Le Grand Prix de Littérature Policière and Le Prix Mystère de la Critique in France. COBRA was shortlisted for the 2015 CWA International Dagger, THIRTEEN HOURS was shortlisted for the 2010 CWA International Dagger, and HEART OF THE HUNTER, was longlisted for the 2005 IMPAC Prize and selected as one of Chicago Tribune’s ‘10 best mysteries and thrillers of 2004’.

Praise for the novel DEVIL’S PEAK

Winner ATKV Award (South Africa)

Shortlisted for the M-Net Prize 2005

A Peter Millar Times Christmas choice, 2007.

Winner of Svenska Oversatta Kriminalroman (Martin Beck) Award 2010

Winner of the Readers’ Award from CritiquesLibres.com in the category Crime Novel or Thriller in October 2010.

‘One of the most startling things about this crime masterwork from South African author, Deon Meyer, is that it was originally penned in Afrikaans. All the more credit, then, to translater KL Seegers for producing such a beautifully written and yet blood-pumpingly readable English language version. But it isn’t just about the action. A far, far cry from your basic ‘cops and robbers’ or blow-by-blow ‘good guys v bad guys’, DEVIL’S PEAK is a grown-up and multi-faceted tale, tough and visceral in tone, but also rich in flawed characters and deeply redolent of both urban and rural South Africa; not just the geographic landscape, but the political and social scene as well.’ – Paul Finch

‘This is one of those entertainment fictions that teaches one more than any textbook or documentary. This thriller is a fascinating portrayal of one aspect of life in post-apartheid South Africa…winding up the tension to a gripping, shocking climax. Highly recommended.’ – Literary Review

‘Deon Meyer is…one of the sharpest and most perceptive thriller writers around…Meyer paints a wonderful picture of the dark side of the rainbow nation… Against the odds Meyer leaves us with a resolution that is both poignant and supremely satisfying. In no way is this a negative book about the new South Africa. It makes the place come alive with a breathless urgency that recalls the 1940s Los Angeles of Dashiel Hammet or Raymond Chandler: a bit mad, a bit bad, a bit dangerous, but exotically vibrant, a society in adolescence. Think of Meyer in the way that you might have regarded a bottle of Cape red a dozen years ago – dark, strong with an unusual but beguilingly moreish taste. If it can produce popular literature as good as this, the new South Africa has a lot going for it.’ – Peter Millar, The Times

Visit Deon’s website

Follow Deon on Twitter