It’s that time of the year again. By next weekend the cows – as well as Charles and Camilla – will have vacated Harrogate and the Great Yorkshire Show will give way to the annual crime writing festival, now in its ninth year. We’ve had, and are still having, plenty of lottery rollovers so it’s time to offer up a competition taking inspiration from both. Thanks to those lovely people at both Faber & Faber and Pan Macmillan I have two sets of prizes to offer you from two outstanding crime authors and you can enter for both. I am particularly pleased with these prizes as both authors have pushed boundaries with their work.
R N Morris shocked the literary world when he took Dostoevsky’s Porfiry Petrovich from Crime and Punishment and moved him on to new cases. He’s done it superbly well in fact and we have the full quartet on offer in paperback: A Gentle Axe, A Vengeful Longing, A Razor Wrapped in Silk, The Cleansing Flames. Cheeky? Yes. Worth it? Oh yes. This is not tribute writing, it’s work that stands on its own two feet with the reliability of Doc Martens, and with a certain flair and attention to detail from Roger.
In L C Tyler we have an exponent yielding scalpel-driven proficiency to intelligent comic crime whilst delivering warm pastiches of Golden Age crime novels. You won’t find another author doing what LCT does so well: he’s unique. And on offer we have three sets of his novels: The Herring Seller's Apprentice, Ten Little Herrings, The Herring in the Library, and Herring on the Nile (all in PB apart from the last which is in HB).
So what do you have to do to win one or both sets? Simply leave a blog comment stating your option ‘Please enter me for (the) RNM/LCT/both set(s) of novels’ and add a further sentence or more telling me why you enjoy crime fiction. Please pick your option RNM or LCT or 'both'. (These prizes must go to fans/readers and not to someone with an active eBay account. You get the drift…)
You have until midnight (British summer time), Sunday 24 July to leave your comment to be included in the draw. The draw will then take place during the next days of the working week. (Exact date to be confirmed early next week and pics of the adjudication will follow. Update 25 July: the draw will take place on Wednesday 27 July.) Usual rules apply, see below.
Good luck and get reading this summer!
Administration rules: Open to UK entrants only. Comments must be left leaving an email address. (Not by Typepad log in, which does not give the email address.) Any entries with insufficient contact details will be ignored. When the winners are contacted they will need to reply with an email supplying their address details within 3 days. These will then be passed on to the publisher for despatch of the novels. If there is no timely reply, the novels will then be subject to a new draw. The winners will be announced when all winners’ details have been sent to the publisher.
Please enter me for both sets of novels.
I love crime novels because they are all about uncovering secrets and in the process you increase your understanding of people and society. What's even better is historical crime because history is essentially about uncovering secrets!
Posted by: sakura | 18 July 2011 at 21:28
Please enter me for both sets of novels.
I like crime novels because I like the cat and mouse of seeing the cops trying to find out who did it before they do it again.
Posted by: William | 18 July 2011 at 13:41
Please enter me for LCT.
I love crime fiction because it explores the way that human nature resorts to an animal state when threatened and also, in my favourite ones, it has a good puzzle to solve.
Posted by: Lynda | 18 July 2011 at 08:50
Hello, I would like to be entered to win both sets of novels. I especially love reading crime fiction because I love complex puzzles and gritty characters, I also love reading about new settings and countries (recent reads involve Cuba, South Africa, Iceland). My email address is cerievans1 at gmail dot com. Thanks.
Posted by: Ceri Kay | 17 July 2011 at 15:47
Please enter me for both sets of novels!
I love crime novels and although I tend to prefer female leads (Temperence Brennan, VI Warshawski) I'll give anything a go! I've really enjoyed Roger's Twitter 'Twisteries' and would love to read his novels too.
Posted by: Stacey | 16 July 2011 at 18:47
Please enter me for both sets of novels
I love reading crime novels because A) I like to work out who dunnit and B) I love to see how authors' minds work in that they come up with complicated scenarios which the normal brain wouldn't dream of!
Posted by: Sue Smith | 16 July 2011 at 18:33
Please enter me for the RNM set of novels (I've read all but the most recent Herring).
Ooh! difficult ... probably because the ones I tend to read are character-centred, psychologically interesting, maybe deal with issues, but only requiring as much deep thought as you're willing to put in :)
Posted by: Tim | 16 July 2011 at 14:40
I am a newbie to crime novels but my daughter devours them. Wouldn't be nice to give her a full set of both RNM AND LCT for her 25th birthday? Please, please let me win so she can thank me for the best birthday pressie ever!
Posted by: Leela Soma | 16 July 2011 at 14:28
Please enter me for (the) RNM/LCT/both set(s) of novels’ and add a further sentence or more telling me why you enjoy crime fiction.
It is fiction which balances plot with characterisation and a decent amount of setting - when done well.
Posted by: Whyjay99 | 15 July 2011 at 20:33
Please enter me for (the) RNM/LCT/both set(s) of novels
I love Crime Novels because I love working out who dunnit. Simple as that. Not going to win the competition but that's the truth. And the truth is what is at the end of the novel.
Posted by: Mary Clarke | 15 July 2011 at 20:08