THE HOUSE ON COLD HILL by Peter James published in paperback tomorrow by Macmillan

Peter James’ standalone ghost story THE HOUSE ON COLD HILL is published in paperback tomorrow by Macmillan. Originally published in hardback last October, it went straight to number 9 on the bestseller chart in the first half-week on sale. 

Moving from the heart of the city of Brighton and Hove to the Sussex countryside is a big undertaking for the Harcourts. But when they view Cold Hill House they are filled with excitement.  Within days of moving in, it soon becomes apparent that the Harcourt family aren't the only residents in the house. At first it is a friend of their daughter Jade, talking to her on Facetime, who sees a spectral woman standing behind her. Then there are more sightings, as well as increasingly disturbing occurrences in the house. Two weeks after moving in, Caro, out in the garden, is startled to see faces staring out of an upstairs window of the house. The window of a room which holds the secret to the house's dark history... a room which does not appear to exist...

Peter James’ 12th Roy Grace novel LOVE YOU DEAD was published last month and went straight to Number 1 in the bestseller charts, where it remained for several weeks. His 30 year old novel, BILLIONAIRE, was republished in January 2016 and went straight into the chart at number 8.

Peter James has been twice Chair of the Crime Writers’ Association and has won many literary awards: as popular internationally as in the UK, he is published in more than 3 dozen languages. Last year he was voted by WH Smith readers as The Best Crime Author Of All Time.  He is currently writing three more Roy Grace novels and two standalones for Macmillan.

 A non fiction book, DEATH COMES KNOCKING: POLICING ROY GRACE’S BRIGHTON by Graham Bartlett and Peter James will be published in July. Graham Bartlett was a Police Commander in the city once described as Britain's 'crime capital'. Together with Peter James, he has written a gripping account of the city's most challenging cases, taking the reader from crime scenes and incident rooms to the morgue, and introducing some of the real-life cases that  inspired Peter James’ Roy Grace novels.

Praise for Peter James:

'Peter James is one of the best crime writers in the business.' – Karin Slaughter

'Exceptional, knock-your-socks-off.' – Washington Post

 ‘Sinister and riveting… Peter James is one of the best British crime writers, and therefore one of the best in the world.’ – Lee Child

Find out more about Peter James at Blake Friedmann's, Pan Macmillan's and Peter’s websites and follow him on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

THE LAST PILOT WINS THE AUTHORS CLUB BEST FIRST NOVEL AWARD

Benjamin Johncock’s compelling debut THE LAST PILOT has won The Authors' Club Best First Novel Award. The prize is for the debut novel of a British, Irish or UK-based author, first published in the UK. This is the 62nd year of the prize, and  past winners include Jack Wolf, Ros Barber and Carys Bray. 

Anthony Quinn, head judge and a former winner of the prize for The Rescue Man (Vintage) in 2009, said: “The Last Pilot is a memorable achievement, and a hugely deserving winner of this prize.” He further commended the novel for “its disciplined craftsmanship, its immersion in an historical era, and its profound engagement with human loss”.

THE LAST PILOT was published in July 2015 both in the UK (Myriad Books) and in the US (Picador), assembling an enthusiastic following with a rave review in The Washington Post, who say ‘the effect is supercharged Hemingway at 70,000 feet’; People magazine call it ‘ingeniously plotted, deftly written and engrossing,’ and Jane Ciabattari from BBC Culture says ‘Johncock is superb at crafting suspenseful scenes’. Mail on Sunday also praised THE LAST PILOT, ‘a remarkably accomplished debut'. It has been selected as Amazon’s Best Book of July 2015, shortlisted for the East Anglian Book Awards 2015, chosen as a Barnes & Noble’s 2015 Discover Great New Writers Pick and one of SJ Watson’s Best Summer Reads for The Independent. There's a full list of his many and incredible reviews on Ben's blog. The paperback was published in the US on 3rd May 2016.

Early October, 1947, Jim Harrison is a test pilot in the United States Air Force, flying flimsy aircraft high above the Mojave desert. When a terrible tragedy befalls his young family, Harrison's life grinds to a halt - so when he's offered a ticket to the moon, he takes it, and joins NASA's new training programme. Set against the backdrop of one of the most emotionally-charged periods in modern history, THE LAST PILOT is a mesmerising story of loss and finding courage in the face of it.

Benjamin Johncock was born in England in 1978. His short stories have been published by The Fiction Desk and The Junket. He is the recipient of an Arts Council England grant and the American Literary Merit Award, and is a winner of Comma Press's National Short Story Day competition. He also writes for the Guardian. He lives in Norwich, England, with his wife, his daughter, and his son.

Praise for THE LAST PILOT

‘The dense layering of real events, seriously technical language and sustained US vernacular makes for a big, muscular novel, but this is tenderly undercut by the quite different theme of a marriage and a family under unbearable stress... A cowboy in a silver suit he may be, but Jim Harrison’s descent into hell is convincing and moving.’ – Jane Housham, Guardian

‘Jim’s story is fascinating, and the author writes with a strong ear for dialogue, which rattles the pages with intensity. A marvellous, emotionally powerful novel.’ – Publishers Weekly

‘Benjamin Johncock has written one of the most American novels of the year … With remarkable accuracy, capturing the emotional weight of a time in history … The story is well paced and chock full of an array of inspirational characters … exuberant life beaming from the gorgeous prose. Johncock follows in the footsteps of the impressive list of writers that have been capable of creating lifelike dialogue by eliminating quotation marks and a large amount of tags in what is often pages of back forth between its characters. … reminiscent of the great Cormac McCarthy … The exposition is packed with detail, word choices and sentence structures that add up to equal a distinct and unique new voice in fiction … shows the careful and precise guidance of the authorial voice that can be trusted fully and wholeheartedly. Johncock writes paragraphs that are often only seen by master craftsman with many books already to their name … This debut novel is undoubtedly one of the most authentic pieces of fiction set in America in years.’ – Steven Petite, The Huffington Post

Visit Benjamin’s website and follow him on Twitter.

Jack Urwin’s MAN UP published today by Icon Books

Out from Icon Books today is Jack Urwin’s smart, funny and friendly book on masculinity, MAN UP. You can read an extract from the book about the events which prompted Jack to write about masculinity in The Telegraph.

Urwin’s article in VICE in 2014 – A Stiff Upper Lip is Killing British Men – went viral on publication and was praised by Irvine Welsh as ‘fabulous’, and by feminist journalist and author Laurie Penny as 'the brilliant, personal, not-actually-sexist writing by millennials about masculinity and politics that the world has been waiting for'.

MAN UP explores why masculinity – for all of its positive achievements – is currently in crisis, and what it means to be a man now. There’s no doubt about that crisis, either: suicide is currently the main cause of death among men between the ages of 18-49 in the UK, according to the Office for National Statistics.

Inspired in part by his own father’s premature death when Jack was nine, and his subsequent struggles with depression in his teens and early twenties - to which his inability to communicate emotionally was a major contributing factor - MAN UP expands on Urwin’s personal experiences, and delves further into the historical causes of toxic male behaviour in both biological and sociological contexts.

In the book, Jack traces crises of masculinity from our grandfathers’ inability to verbalise the horrors of war and the decline of the working class in the latter part of the 20th century, to the mob mentality displayed on the football terraces, and the disturbing rise of mental health problems among men today. He also looks at the wider impact wrought by reinforcement of such rigid definitions of masculinity, harming not only heterosexual men but also the women and LGBT people around them. 

MAN UP is the start of an essential conversation for men, exploring why we have perpetuated various myths of masculinity – and how we can challenge it, and change it.

The book will launch tomorrow in an event at Waterstone’s Piccadilly. Jack will be at Cheltenham Science Festival on the 8th and 9th June discussing The Myth of Masculinity and Bringing Up Boys. Jack was interviewed in the Evening Standard about What It Means to be a Man in 2016, and also wrote five tips for men for AskMen. He was featured discussing masculinity on BBC Woman’s Hour and his book has already featured in several pieces in The Telegraph.

Jack Urwin was born in Loughborough in 1992 and moved to London at 18 to study journalism, a degree which would do its best to turn him off becoming a journalist. He spent several years working as a music publicist on campaigns for a variety of major and independent labels, leading to Enrique Iglesias labelling him — quite unfairly, he feels — a ‘drill sergeant'. 

Jack contributes to a number of music publications, humour sites and magazines including McSweeney's and VICE. His work has covered a range of issues such as politics, mental health and gender and has drawn praise from the likes of Irvine Welsh. He's spoken at UCL and been interviewed on US radio by Judith Regan, although unlike OJ Simpson didn't confess to any murders in the process.

Follow Jack on Twitter.

THE INVISIBLE WOMAN out in paperback tomorrow

Helen Walmsley-Johnson’s THE INVISIBLE WOMAN is published in paperback in the UK tomorrow by Icon Books.

THE INVISIBLE WOMAN is a funny, frank and essential book on ageing. Helen discusses what it is to reach your fifties, look both backwards and forwards, and how to continue pursuing adventures in later life even when it seems your brain and body are against you.

To give you a flavour of the book, here are some of our favourite quotes:

“The 'age 55 to 64' box is the God's waiting room of my form-filling life.”

“The older I become the more I feel deeply and symbiotically attached to my pyjamas.”

“Polyester is to menopausal women as garlic is to a vampire.”

“Ageism has sexism running through the middle like a stick of Blackpool rock.”

“As a middle-aged person I steadfastly refuse to be rushed into anything.”

“Keeping your mind open and curious is one of the most vital things you will ever do.”

Helen has written a variety of opinion pieces for the Guardian, is a regular contributor to Standard Issue, and has spoken out against ageism on Woman's Hour and BBC radio. Recently, she has made headlines talking about her experiences of domestic abuse in the New Statesman and The Pool, as well as helping raise over £130,000 for Refuge.

Helen is the author of the popular Guardian online fashion column, The Vintage Years, the response to which inspired THE INVISIBLE WOMAN. She moved to London in 2001 after losing patience with rampant workplace ageism in Leicestershire and Rutland where she grew up, was educated and later brought up her three daughters as a divorced single mum. She has also worked as a dancer, aerobics instructor, model, designer, artist, medical secretary and shop assistant - but not at the same time.

Praise for THE INVISIBLE WOMAN:

‘THE INVISIBLE WOMAN always speaks to me, and for me. It's about saying up yours to the cult of youth, but also about seeing the life of the 50 + as hilariously funny (not unlike the life of the 15 year old, when you come to think about it).’ – Professor Mary Beard

'THE INVISIBLE WOMAN in The Vintage Year reminds us that style and wit begin in youth but are mastered in middle-age. You can roundly stick your 20's. Hers is a voice for proper grown-ups not yet ready to come down, and I'm in.' - Alison Moyet

‘A funny look at those of a certain age who are fed up with being overlooked.’ – Good Housekeeping

TIM BAKER AND DEON MEYER LONGLISTED FOR TWO CRIME WRITERS' ASSOCIATION AWARDS

Two Blake Friedmann crime writers feature on the CWA’s Dagger prize longlists, announced at Crimefest this month. Tim Baker's FEVER CITY has been longlisted for the John Creasey (New Blood) Dagger, for the best UK-published crime novel by a debut author of any nationality. ICARUS by Deon Meyer, has been longlisted for the CWA International Dagger for crime novels, in translation, alongside his translator K.L. Seegers. This is Deon Meyer’s third appearance on the International Dagger list – THIRTEEN HOURS was shortlisted in 2011 and COBRA was shortlisted in 2015.

The winners of the prize will be announced at Theakston’s Old Peculier Crime Festival in Harrogate this July. Other longlisted authors include Otessa Moshfegh, Jax Miller and Matt Johson on the John Creasey Dagger and Hideo Yokoyama, Johann Theorin and Pierre Lemaitre on the International Dagger. The full longlist for the John Creasey is here, and the International Dagger here. 

FEVER CITY is a searing counter-factual conspiracy thriller with three intertwining narratives. Nick Alston, a Los Angeles private investigator, is hired to find the kidnapped son of America's richest and most hated man; Hastings, a gun-for-hire in search of redemption, is also linked to the case. But both men soon become ensnared by a sinister cabal that spreads from the White House all the way to Dealey Plaza and the assassination on JFK. Decades later in Dallas, Alston's son stumbles across evidence from JFK conspiracy buffs that just might link his father to the shot heard round the world. FEVER CITY is a high-octane, nightmare journey through a Mad Men-era America of dark powers, corruption and conspiracy.

ICARUS witnesses the return of Meyer’s popular police detective character Benny Griessel, struggling to stay sober, and bruised by a colleague’s terrible suicide. Yet the discovery of a body buried beneath the sand dunes north of Cape Town will test his willpower even further. Why was notorious Ernst Richter, MD of a new tech startup, Alibi targeted? How exactly is a service that creates false appointments, documents and phone calls to enable people to cheat on their partners, linked to this high profile murder? With all eyes on Benny’s pursuit to uncover the truth, he will battle not just to track down the killer, but against the siren call of the whiskey bottle as well.

Praise for FEVER CITY:

‘Dense and complicated thriller with a fictional crime at its heart delves into the JFK assassination with walk-on parts for real-life figures from Marilyn Monroe to Richard Nixon. Half a century on from Dallas, the son of a 1960s LA private detective tries to piece it all together. An inventive take on the great American conspiracy theory...’ – The Sunday Times, Crime Club Newsletter January Picks 2016

'Tim Baker paints a lurid, sinister portrait of mid-century America, skilfully layering fact and fiction in a way that will forever change the way you think about the Kennedy assassination. An impressive debut.' – Peter Swanson

Praise for ICARUS and Deon Meyer:

‘Deon Meyer is not just South Africa’s greatest crime writer, he’s up there with the best in the world.’ —Marcel Berlins, The Times

‘Excellent … The richness of the characters, especially the multifaceted Benny, elevates this above most contemporary police procedurals.’ – Publisher’s Weekly, Starred Review

Deon Meyer’s Benny Griessel series is one of the high points of contemporary crime fiction, and the fifth title, ICARUS is his best yet….an expertly engineered tale of sex, lies and fraud.’ Laura Wilson, The Guardian, Crime Fiction Roundup 2015

Follow Tim on Twitter. 

Visit Deon's website here.

Follow Deon on Twitter.