win – Life of Cri.me

Criminal Lines is back for 2015

Posted on April 6, 2015April 6, 2015 by J

Literary Agents A M Heath have re-launched their crime-writing prize for 2015, with the winner receiving entry to The Writers’ Workshop Festival of Writing 2015, along with £500 plus the opportunity to discuss their works with two of AM Heath’s agents, Euan Thorneycroft and Oli Munson

Last year AM Heath in association with The Writers’ Workshop launched Criminal Lines, a crime-writing prize open to unagented, debut authors, born or resident in the UK and Ireland. We had lots of brilliant entries – from grisly historical murders and psychological suspense to alien abductions and Alaskan thrillers – and had a great (though difficult!) time reading and choosing the shortlist.

With debut crime writers already hitting the bestseller lists this year, we know the next big thing in crime is out there. Is it you? Only one way to find out – enter your novel for Criminal Lines 2015…

To enter, send the first 15,000 words and a synopsis (max 800 words) of your novel as word documents to: criminallines@amheath.com

You can enter any kind of crime, suspense or thriller novel for the prize, although anything previously submitted to AM Heath is ineligible. Please remember that you must be unagented, debut, and born or resident in the UK and Ireland in order to enter. Your novel doesn’t have to be finished but the synopsis does need to show you have a clear vision for the book. Self-published authors are welcome to enter.

Submissions are open from 17th February 2015, and the deadline is midnight on 4th May.

Further details on prizes, results, and opportunities open to entrants can be found on the AM Heath Criminal Lines website

Blogging

CWA Dagger in the Library 2015 – Nominations Open

Posted on March 14, 2015 by J

Crime fans everywhere can nominate their favourite authors online and the ten authors with the most votes will make up the longlist. The response received last year was staggering, with 1,384 crime fans voting for 636 different authors, highlighting the extraordinary quality and variety in crime writing.

Unlike most other literary prizes, the Dagger in the Library is awarded not for an individual book but for an author’s entire body of work and is one of six highly prized CWA Dagger Awards awarded to crime writers since 1955. This year’s shortlist and winner will decided by a panel of judges including previous winner Sharon Bolton, CWA Director Lucy Santos and a panel of UK librarians.

Anyone nominating an author (or three) via the Dead Good Books website will also be entered into a prize draw to win £200 worth of crime fiction from Penguin Random House.

Nominations close on Monday 14th April and the 2015 winner will be announced at the CWA Awards Dinner on the 30th June.

Blogging, Festivals

Closing Soon – Deal Noir Flash Fiction Competition

Posted on March 12, 2015March 12, 2015 by J

Create a crime novel in just 100 words for the chance to win a signed copy of the latest novel from one of the distinguished authors appearing at Deal Noir.

The winner will be announced at the Deal Noir Conference on 28th March 2015.

The Rules

The closing date for entries is 20th March 2015. Only one entry per person. Submissions must be publishable and written in English. The decision of the judges is final.

Submit your entries on the Deal Noir website.

Deal Noir takes place at The Landmark Centre, Deal on 28th March. Tickets are available here.

Blogging

Flash Bang

Posted on November 8, 2014November 8, 2014 by J

Not quite up to the debut dagger but still enjoy writing and fancy trying out a competition? then look no further than the Flash Bang competition set by CrimeFest Bristol.

Can you commit a crime story in just 150 words?

‘A shot rang out’ is four words, but it packs a hell of a punch. Flash fiction is the art of surprise, illumination, punch.

Think short fuse, short-arm, Get Shorty. Did you know ‘flash in the pan’ originated with the priming of guns? And flashnotes are counterfeit notes… We could go on, but we won’t, because we’re big on brevity. Surprise us. Burn us. Write us. Whatever you do, do it in a flash.

Bang bang, you’re read.

It costs just £2 per entry and the first prize is a PAIR (yes a pair) of weekend passes to CrimeFest 2016 (access to all interviews, panels and receptions, exc. accommodation, dinner, travel) with runner up prizes of a single weekend pass to CrimeFest 2016, followed by a CrimeFest goodie bag. On top of all that, those on the shortlist will be invited to attend the Crime Writing Day on Friday 15 May 2015, when the winners will be announced.

Think you’re up for it? Why not give it a go, after all 150 words…… how hard can it be? 😉

Full details of prizes and how to enter can be found here

Have fun and Good Luck!

Blogging

The Debut Dagger is now open…

Posted on November 8, 2014November 8, 2014 by J

Yes it’s that time of year again. The Crime Writers Association 2015 Debut Dagger competition opened on the first of the month and runs through until Midnight on January 31st 2015. Not sure what to do with your NaNoWriMo manuscript when you’re done? Well now you’ve got another eight weeks to polish it up, send off your synopsis, and you never know….

For 15 years the CWA has been encouraging new writing with its Debut Dagger competition for unpublished writers. The submissions are judged by a panel of top crime editors and agents, and the short listed entries are sent to publishers and agents.

The Debut Dagger is open to anyone who has not yet had a novel published commercially. All shortlisted entrants will receive a professional assessment of their entries. Winning the Debut Dagger doesn’t guarantee you’ll get published. But it does mean your work will be seen leading agents and top editors, who have signed up over two dozen winners and shortlisted Debut Dagger competitors.

But entering the Debut Dagger is more than just entering a competition. You can also join our community, via the Facebook Group giving you the opportunity to ask questions, share your experiences and helping out your fellow writers.

Entry to the competition costs £25 and submissions can be made here

Manuscripts should be 12pt, double spaced, in an easily readable font such as Times, Arial or Helvetica. They must fall within the prescribed word limits. Manuscripts must not include the author’s name or contact details, only the title of the work which will be allocated a unique CWA reference number.

Full Terms & Conditions of entry can be found here. Good Luck to all of you who enter!

Blog Touring, Reading, Reviews

Race To Death – Leigh Russell

Posted on October 23, 2014June 15, 2015 by J

When a man plummets to his death from a balcony at York races, his wife and brother become suspects in a murder enquiry. Meanwhile Richard is being stalked by a killer issuing death threats. Richard is reluctant to go to the police, for fear his own dark secret will be exposed. Newly promoted Detective Inspector Ian Peterson is investigating the death at the races when a woman’s body is discovered. Shortly after that, Richard is killed. With the body count increasing, the pressure mounts for his team to solve the crimes quickly. But the killer is following the investigation far more keenly than Ian realises and time is running out as the case suddenly gets a lot closer to home…

Race To Death is the second outing as a main lead for DI Ian Peterson, a character that appeared originally in the first three Geraldine Steel books by the same author. In Race To Death he has recently accepted a promotion from DS to DI which involves moving hundreds of miles from his current home to the city of York. This move is just one of the things I enjoyed about Race To Death, as a new location and new colleagues means the chance to get to know a whole host of new characters making this a new start for the reader as well as the protagonist.

With a wife already unhappy with the demands of ‘the job’ on his time and as yet unsettled in their new home, under pressure from a boss he is struggling to find common ground with and a murder case leading to nothing but dead ends, DI Peterson has his work cut out. Out to impress he is determined to do what it takes to find the killer. Russell has written these new relationships well so it is easy to identify with the characters as they settle into their new routines.

The plot has more than enough false leads to keep you guessing to the very end. It throws you straight into the action, and the tempo continues at a steady beat throughout ensuring you won’t want to put it down until you know whodunit.

All in all it’s a riveting read and I’m really looking forward to finding out what’s next for DI Peterson.

For your chance to win a copy of Race To Death, tweet this post and follow @LOCrime, or leave a comment below.

Blogging

Bloody Scotland Short Story Competition

Posted on April 24, 2014April 24, 2014 by J

Today Bloody Scotland has announced the launch of this years short story competition.

The winner will receive £1,000, a bottle of Deanston Distillery Malt whisky and a weekend pass to this years festival, to be held in Stirling from September 19th – 21st.

The winning story will also be published as an ebook short by Bloody Scotland.

We invite writers to from anywhere in the world to demonstrate their skill in short-story writing by entering a story, for a chance to win a brilliant prize and be recognised as an exciting emerging talent in the crime genre.

We’re seeking exceptional crime short stories based on the theme of ‘ESCAPE’.

Stories should be a maximum of 3,000 words and must be submitted by midnight on 31st July 2014. There is an entry fee of £10 to cover the administration of the competition.

A prestigious judging panel comprising representatives from the University of Stirling and crime writers Alex Gray, Craig Robertson and Gordon Brown, will judge the entries and announce a shortlist. This shortlist will then be open for a public vote on the Bloody Scotland website

Further information on entering, including additional details for non UK entries can be found here