Mac Maguire and Aston Villa – A Love Story

Holte endThey say that authors often put a lot of themselves into their main characters but I’m not so sure that’s the case with Mac Maguire. I’ve given him my love of puzzles but I’ve not done him any favours by also saddling him with my disabilities and a love of Aston Villa Football Club. Otherwise I think we’re quite different.

Mac’s conversations about his favourite football club with his best friend Tim are a feature of virtually every book to date. So how did Mac get to be such a fervent Aston Villa fan? Continue reading

The Harrogate Crime Writing Festival 2017

Harrogate festival logoI’ve only started writing crime novels with any seriousness in the last three years or so and in that time I’ve never attended any sort of literary festival. So when I heard about the line-up for this year’s Harrogate Crime Writing Festival I decided that it was about time I made the effort.

I had no idea what it might be like and it did indeed turn out to be somewhat different to my expectations. So below I’ll briefly talk about what were the highlights for me and whether I’d attend again. Continue reading