Crime is coming to the Isle of Man!
Scheduled for Saturday 24 April, Mannslaughter and Mayhem is an evening of award winning, bestselling crime fiction featuring Scottish-based authors Stuart MacBride, Allan Guthrie and Donna Moore.
The event will take place at the Erin Arts Centre in Port Erin and will feature an evening of readings and entertaining interviews with the guest authors, after which members of the audience can raise their own questions before meeting the authors in person and purchasing copies of their books to be signed. The Isle of Man winner of the CWA Young Crime Writers’ Competition will be announced during the evening, with the winner invited up on stage to be presented with their prize by the guest authors.
Doors open from 6.30pm and tickets are priced at £7 (including a glass of complimentary wine). Tickets available from the Erin Arts Centre Box Office (telephone 01624 832662, open Wednesday to Friday 12.30pm to 4.30pm) and the Lexicon Bookshop in Douglas.
The event has been made possible by the generous support of the Isle of Man Arts Council.
Information about the Authors:
Stuart MacBride was born in Dumbarton near Glasgow but grew up in Aberdeen. His first novel, Cold Granite, was shortlisted for the International Thriller Writers' best debut novel and won the Barry Award for the best first novel. Both Cold Granite, and its follow-up, Dying Light, have made the shortlist of the Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award. Stuart won the CWA Dagger In the Library Award for a body of work at the CWA Dagger Awards 2007. Dying Light, Broken Skin and Flesh House were all top ten bestsellers. Stuart won Breakthrough Author of the Year at the ITV3 Crime Thriller Awards in 2008. Blind Eye, an international bestseller, is his latest novel. www.stuartmacbride.com
Allan Guthrie writes dark (and sometimes comic) crime fiction. He was born in Orkney, but has lived in Edinburgh for most of his adult life. His first novel, Two-Way Split, was shortlisted for the CWA Debut Dagger and went on to win the 2007 Theakston's Old Peculier Crime Novel Of The Year. His second novel, Kiss Her Goodbye, was nominated for Edgar, Anthony and Gumshoe awards. He is also the author of the novels Hard Man, winner of the inaugural Spinetingler award for Best Novel — New Voice, and Savage Night, plus the novellas, Kill Clock (for emergent adult readers) and Killing Mum. His latest novel is Slammer. When he's not writing, Allan is a literary agent with Jenny Brown Associates. www.allanguthrie.co.uk
Donna Moore lives in Glasgow and is the author of Go To Helena Handbasket, which won the prestigious Lefty Award for Best Humorous Mystery, 2007. Her second novel, the hilarious screwball caper Old Dogs will be published in the UK in April 2010 and in the USA later in the year. www.bigbeatfrombadsville.blogspot.com
Suggestion From Rebecca
Suggestion from RussellI’d like to suggest The Equivoque Principle by Darren Crask. Just because I like the sound of it. It’s got a Victorian ‘penny dreadful’, Sherlock Holmesian feel to it and I think it might be quite fun. I quite like the Sherlock Holmes stuff anyway but I’m hoping this will be a modern pastiche on a Victorian theme.
I would like to suggest A Drink Before the War by American crime writer Dennis Lehane. Although i've not read this or any of Lehane's other books I have been meaning to give him a go. He wrote a couple of really good episodes of 'The Wire' and two of his other novels have been adapted into interesting films - 'Mystic River' and 'Gone Baby Gone'. 'A Drink Before the War' is the first novel in a series of five, so far, featuring private detectives Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro.
I'd like to suggest Postmortem by Patricia Cornwell. It's the first in the Scarpetta series - the 15th was published last year and Cornwell is still writing them. The characters have changed almost beyond belief and the plots have become more and more outrageous over the years but I've stuck with them and probably will until the final instalment... I think the main reason I like the Scarpetta series is because, although the books include detailed forensic explanations and are pretty graphic when it comes to the type of crimes they deal with, they are about character too and the characters are extremely well drawn.
"When the Bough Breaks" by Jonathan Kellerman is the first in the series of the Alex Delaware/Milo Sturgis novels and whilst maybe not the best is an excellent introduction.... Delaware is a high-achieving, workaholic and hence burnt-out child psychologist who is brought in by Homicide detective Sturgis in an attempt to elicit a witness statement from a terrified child. Kellerman has worked/published as a child psychologist which brings authenticity to his writing and his characters and plots develop compusively throughout the often very dark series.
The Taint of Midas by Anne Zouroudi is the second installment in the terrific Mysteries of the Greek Detective. Hermes Diaktoros, the "Fat Man", is a fascinating lead character with a mysterious background and a desire to deliver a special variety of justice. Each book is set in a different Greek Island, exploring one of the seven deadly sins. Beautifully written and brilliantly structured, I love this book.
