Hooray! the shout went up!!

You must have heard it, in fact the whole world must have heard it!!

That would be my husband, shouting for joy, that two of my vast mountain of books were leaving the house forever, to take up residence with his mother, who I know, will treasure them almost as much as I have.

Mother-in-law, was indeed more than pleased to offer them a new home, as she had resisted the temptation to visit the bookstore on her last trip into town.

She did however confess that, on going to a local market, there had been a store selling surplus stock, new paperbacks for £1.00 each, and she had not been able to resist buying, just a few!!!

With that, she produced three books, that she had read and enjoyed, for me to bring home with me. Read more →

The CWA Dagger Awards are the longest established literary awards in the UK and celebrate the best in crime writing.

The CWA was founded in 1953, by John Creasey MBE, a prolific crime writer, who passed away in 1973.

In 2010, the CWA, is currently chaired by Tom Harper, a successful author, best known for his historical novels

Only British publishers can submit entries for the awards, although it is possible for a single entry to win an award in more than one category, as the same book can be submitted in any and all relevant categories. Any submissions must have been published in English and in the UK, within a defined period of time.

THE CWA – DEBUT DAGGER AWARD 2010

Winner:    Patrick Eden:  ‘A Place Of Dying’

The Debut Dagger is a new-writing competition open to anyone writing in the English language who has not yet had a novel published commercially.

The award carries £500 individual prize money, and is awarded based on the merits of the opening section, of an as yet uncompleted work.

Patrick Eden:

Lives in Newcastle-upon-Tyne and earned his BA in Information Management from Queen Margaret University College, Edinburgh. Descended from a mix of Yorkshire, Irish and Russian ancestry, Patrick knew from an early age that he wanted to be a writer, as he had grown up in a home where storytelling held a fundamental place in family life.

Although he does not watch television, Patrick is a devoted listener of Radios 4 and 7. His interests include theatre, cinema, history, mythology, psychology and science. His favourite author is James Herbert.

Patrick was one of the 4 UK writers, in the final shortlist of 12, for this award, with the judges describing his entry as:-

“Compelling and emotive with strong characterisation.”

“In a small American town, a boy’s murder rips away the mask of civilised behaviour from the population revealing the ugly face of prejudice and simmering hate. Deep seated grudges and a violent power struggle are behind the rapid social breakdown threatening to leave behind it only death and lawlessness.”