Long time, no blog, as the year has ended in a flurry of travelling. Just like most of 2025, in fact. I spent around 120 nights away from home, splitting the year more or less into equal thirds of writing, archaeology and travel. January was mostly spent recovering from the flu, but following the successful... Continue Reading →
Crime Reading Month
June is National Crime Reading Month, with events being held at libraries and bookshops all over the country. I'll be appearing at three events. The first is a free all-day event at Wakefield Library with a host of other authors - I'm on the 'Murder Mystery' panel. It will be a popular day so booking... Continue Reading →
Life on the Dig
Archaeological digs often feature in novels, or are portrayed on films or documentaries such as Digging for Britain. But if you imagine your own job portrayed in a seven minute TV slot, or serving as part of the backdrop of fiction you'll realise how much more there must be to the real experience of volunteering... Continue Reading →
Happy Old Year
2024 has whizzed past and I finished it at home with a particularly nasty flu that dodged around the jab, so those Old Langs had to Sine themselves. The year was packed with writing, travel, archaeology and new experiences, so no wonder it felt hectic. Tucked under a Game of Thrones fleece (known as 'Game... Continue Reading →
Pen Name…or Not?
Whether to adopt a pen name is one of those questions that often comes up in writers’ discussion groups. For some aspiring authors, having a pen name cements their identity as a novelist, for others it’s a functional choice. Changing genre can make picking a pen name a sound commercial decision - publishers and agents... Continue Reading →
The Donna Morfett Interview
The day Blackshirt Rebellion was launched, I had the pleasure of being interviewed by crime blogger Donna Morfett. We ranged far and wide from my origin story to the Jeffrey Flint novels, then on to the Blackshirts. Then as interviews do we went off down side alleys to talk crime writing in general. The whole... Continue Reading →
Digging Crime Writing at UKCBC Live
It was a pleasure to be invited to the UK Crime Book Club Live event in Leeds this weekend. The convention was a consistently jolly affair, with plenty of laughs considering the grim topics under discussion. In thirty years of writing I've only spoken on five panels, so it was a double pleasure to be... Continue Reading →
Digging & Writing & Writing about Digging
It's quiet...too quiet. Yes this blog has been silent for the last month because I've been away from home and didn't want any of the cat burglars or nervous insurance underwriters who follow it to know. On the first of May, Dig Alderney's team of volunteers started to excavate a large Roman building. We'd explored... Continue Reading →
Flint Digs Again!
Flint is back – and with extra content. Lume Books have re-issued the e-book box set of the five Jeffrey Flint archaeology mysteries with new covers, but that’s not all. One feature of my historical thrillers that readers have said they enjoy is the author’s note at the end, so notes have now been added... Continue Reading →
Newsletter Launched!
The time has come to launch a newsletter. It will be roughly monthly depending where I am in the world, what I'm writing and whether I'm digging. The title is inspired by Edgar Allen Poe, reflecting that I'll be posting pieces on my whole range of books from historical thrillers to archaeology mysteries plus the... Continue Reading →