A Study in Scarlet

Just added to my writings page an article on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s A Study in Scarlet (1887). You can find it here.

‘Mind and Body’ Brindley Readers’ Day

On May 17th I’m going to be presenting a workshop on ‘Stories and Histories’ as part of the Readers’ Day at Runcorn’s Brindley Arts Centre. The event is part of the Halton Literature Festival and my talk is based on my experiences researching the Cain’s book and unpicking the ‘Cain myths’. Here’s the blurb:
Stories and [...]

Around the City in Eighty Pubs

Between April and September 2008 Liverpool08.com is running a celebration of Liverpool’s remarkable pub and brewing culture, which according to the 08 brochure will climax with “a two week festival of music, games, architecture, food and of course beer!” The festival includes a series of talks and lectures about beer and pubs in Liverpool at [...]

Crime Fiction Conference

And so on Friday to Newcastle for the Literary Art of Murder conference. I’m going to be talking about the way ‘new noir’ stories, written in the last twenty or so years, use 1950s imagery and mythology, and how by doing so they address the paranoias of our own time. Megan Abbott’s novel Die A [...]