Reviews

‘Invisible is a great thriller. I can’t say too much more about the plot because the twists and turns are the whole point of reading a book that wrong foots the reader at every turn . . . Christine Poulson kept me reading by giving out just enough information to intrigue and puzzle so that I had to read just one more chapter. That’s why, in the end, I just dropped everything else and read the last half of Invisible in one sitting.’

- I PREFER READING BLOG

Scary stories

Posted on Oct 9, 2020 in Algernon Blackwood, Conan Doyle, E. Nesbit, Edith Wharton, ghost stories, L. P. Hartley, The Adventure of the Speckled Band | 10 Comments

I’ve recently written a horror story for an anthology, The New Abject, that will be published by Comma Press on 29th October and it has set me thinking about my favourite scary stories. It is the measure of a good one that it lingers in the mind for years after you have read it. I […]

Read More

Getting out of the house

Posted on Apr 26, 2017 in Burke and Hare, Conan Doyle, Crime Writers' Association, Edinburgh, Leigh Russell, Sir Walter Scott, Waverley | 4 Comments

Writing a novel is of necessity a solitary occupation. It is important to get out of the house sometimes. So it was that last Friday I headed off to Edinburgh to the Crime Writers Association conference. I was born and grew up on the north-east coast and am always happy to find myself heading north […]

Read More

The Seven per Cent Solution

Posted on Dec 6, 2013 in Conan Doyle, Nicholas Meyer, The Seven per Cent Solution | No Comments

Or to give its full title, The Seven Per Cent Solution Being a Reprint from the Reminiscences of John H. Watson, M.D., as edited by Nicholas Meyer (published 1975). It is of course a Sherlock Holmes pastiche and a clever and enjoyable one. Given recent news headlines, this is a somewhat timely blog for the […]

Read More