January 2017 Newsletter

Lara and I are just back from the amazing Maldives where I’ve been working on the final chapters of ‘Absolute Proof’ (more on this book below) – and I’ve managed to catch up on some reading.

One of the big ironies of being a writer is that I have less and less opportunity to read the books I actually want to because I’m constantly being sent books from other publishers asking me to read them and hoping I’ll give a quote, and a helping hand for the book. I love to read these books but the quantity can be overwhelming at times! I read 14 books while we were away including a lot of research-related ones.

I always try to read at least one or two classics every year, so this year I re-read Psycho – it’s an amazing book – every bit as readable and sinister as I remember, although I have to say the shower scene is much scarier in the movie.

Not Dead Enough

This week my third stage play – Not Dead Enough – opened at the lovely Orchard Theatre, Dartford at the start of it’s 6 month nationwide tour. We had a completely packed house – not a single empty seat – which was amazing and the audience reaction was fabulous. You never know until the curtain rises how people are going to react and what they are going to react to, and I was thrilled in equal measures by how much people laughed and screamed! The set is wonderfully creepy – a Brighton & Hove Mortuary – where nicer to spend a night?… Hopefully, for those of you in the UK, you’ll not be too far from a theatre. One late additional theatre venue is the Grand Opera House in Belfast w/c June 26^th – this will be showing on the website soon. All details here: https://www.peterjames.com/plays/not-dead-enough/

YouTube | Peter James TV

I do hope you like my Authors Studio interviews on Peter James TV – my YouTube channel. I’m really enjoying hearing all the diverse answers to the same set of questions to this stellar line up of authors. Recently we’ve interviewed Gerald Seymour, R L Stine, Steve Berry, Joan Collins, Frank Gardner, Mark Billingham, Peter Robinson and Tess Gerritsen – you can see them all here: www.peterjames.com/youtube.

2 new novels this year!

Team James are now starting the final edit of ‘Need You Dead’ in preparation for its publication on May 18^th. This is my 13th Roy Grace and it’s a little different as it’s the first time I’ve written a real whodunit, but with, of course, a somewhat modern take. You can see the cover here – I think it looks amazing! And I am just finishing the first draft of my stand alone ‘Absolute Proof’ which will be published in October this year. It is a book I have been researching for 23 years following a phone call I received out of the blue in 1993 from a gentleman claiming he had absolute proof of God’s existence and he’d been told an author called Peter James could help him get taken seriously. Absolute Proof is a thriller about what it would take to have absolute proof of God’s existence, and what would happen to someone who claimed to have it. I’m really enjoying writing it and I’m hugely excited for you all to read it.

US book promotion 2017

This week we are flying to Chicago for a day trip! We are meeting my new US publishers, publicists and distributors for a conference – and we’ll be planning the US publication of ‘Need You Dead’ which will happen a few weeks after the UK pub date (May 18^th). We’re also planning the publication of my new standalone ‘Absolute Proof’ in the Autumn, I love spending time in the US so I’m looking forward to promoting 2 books there this year.

Our menagerie…

Lara and I are getting ready for the new additions to our menagerie… 3 emus (one boy and two girls) will be joining us at the end of February. We’re getting their field ready and making sure their home is as they will like it. This cheeky one likes to wear hats! I’ll be sure to update you on them once they arrive.