As we head into 2009, all of us are affected in some way by the financial gloom that has enveloped the world. It is a timely moment to reflect on Shakespeare’s great and wise words from King Lear: “The worst is not so long as we can say, this is the worst…” It is all…
Five years ago, when I wrote Dead Simple, I told Geoff Duffield, the Sales and Marketing supremo of Pan Macmillan, and quite one of the nicest people in the world of publishing, that if he got Roy Grace to No 1 on the bestsellers, I would take him and his wife to any restaurant in…
I get many emails every day from you, my wonderful readers here in the UK and around the world. Mostly they are really nice, occasionally they point out an error, just occasionally they are somewhat blunt, like one I received a couple of months ago: “Dear Mr James, I have just worked out that I…
I’m delighted to say that thanks to all you wonderful readers, the paperback of Dead Man’s Footsteps, which was published on November 27, went straight into the paperback fiction bestseller lists at No 2 on WH Smith and No 6 on the Nielsen Bookscan. I will give a further update next week after its first…
Last week I spent two days in The Hague with privileged behind-the-scenes access to the first international War Crimes tribunal to be established since the Nuremberg and Tokyo trials held after World War II. This is formally known as The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, and is run by the United Nations. My…
One of the joys of being a writer is my office is a moveable feast. For much of the year I like the disciplines of being rooted to my desk in either London or Sussex, but a dramatic change of scene, and escape into the tranquillity of France, has become an essential part of the…
At the beginning of 2007 I took delivery of a Bentley Continental GT. I fell in love with the looks of these cars the moment they first appeared. To me they were pure sculpture on wheels, and next to my DB7, one of the most beautiful cars ever made. But my joy of owning this…
In response to enthusiastic requests from so many of you, I’m delighted to let you know that my publisher are arranging a short Northern tour for me on Dec 1st, 2nd and 3rd. It is still in the process of being finalized, but so far, I will be doing signings in Newcastle, York, Leeds, Huddersfield,…
A number of you have written to me to say that I appear as a villain in the Jeffrey Deaver novel Sleeping Doll! I met Jeffrey Deaver a couple of years ago for the first time when we were on a panel together at Left Coast Crime, and I must say, I think he is…
Just back this morning from Baltimore, where I was attending the biggest event in the US crime fiction calendar, Bouchercon – their equivalent to our Harrogate Crime Writing Festival, with a glittering array of star attendees, including Val McDermid, John Harvey, Lee Child, Harlan Coben, Laura Lippman, Karin Slaughter, Mark Billingham, John Connelly and many…