Sam Blake's Blog, page 2
February 13, 2023
Listen up! Radio, podcast and video.
I’ve been invited by some lovely podcast hosts to talk to them about The Mystery of Four, plus I enjoyed a brilliant chat with Karen at the UK Crime Book Club on Facebook. I love how each of these are so different and dip into different aspect of my books and the story development in The Mystery of Four.
Kicking off here with some radio first, and a chat with national broadcaster Pat Kenny on Newstalk – if audio is your thing, there’s lots here to keep you busy (organised in date order). Just click the title links, images or ‘listen back’ link to listen up!
Pat Kenny brings his experienced broadcasting style and incisive analysis to the day’s news and current affairs now at the new time of 9am. The show mixes strong current affairs analysis, human interest interviews with light entertainment stories and live music.
The daily arts and popular culture show on RTE One.
The Goldster Podcast with Lucinda Hawksley
Who doesn’t love a good book that excites the mind and the imagination? Join the live Goldster Book Club to discuss their Book of the Month, and put questions to well-known authors during their weekly Inside Stories. Goldster is co-hosted by the fabulous Lucinda Hawksley author, art historian, public speaker and broadcaster, who specialises in literature, art, history and social history from the 19th and early 20th centuries. She’s an award-winning travel writer with a love of the environment: cetaceans are one of her passions and she’s a volunteer speaker for the Whales & Dolphins Conservation Society. She’s also a great great great granddaughter of Charles and Catherine Dickens and an expert on her famous ancestor.
The Global Discussion podcast builds on The Global Interview brand, which has already seen over 400 written/published articles. The podcast features carefully curated guests from an exciting cross-section of creatives, leaders, and thinkers. New episodes are available on Apple, Google, and Spotify podcasts and all leading podcast platforms. You can listen to and watch the episodes on their dedicated YouTube channel and the website.
Ever wondered what goes into publishing a book? In the Write and Wrong podcast, Jamie Greenwood chats with authors, agents, editors and more, to find out what it takes for a book to go from an idea in the writer’s head, all the way through to publication.
Check out Jamie’s other podcast, The Chosen Ones and Other Tropes here.
UK Crime Book Club Interview
Thank you so much to Karen Huxtable for a brilliant chat!
With almost 30,000 members, the UK Crime Book Club is the place to go on Facebook to find new authors and talk all things crime! (I need to fix my lighting, I look like a ghost!)
And if all that isn’t enough, you can listen to The Mystery of Four in audio, read by the incredible Aoife McMahon – use your Audible credit or download via BorrowBox at your library!
January 12, 2023
Knocked off the top spot by the Prince!
Hilariously on launch day, Prince Harry’s Spare was released and knocked The Mystery of Four out of the top spot at Eason Ireland, but as the fastest selling non-fiction book EVER (400k copies in the UK at launch, a million in the US), it meant we both got onto the TV news! Thank you Harry!
It’s definitely a once in a lifetime moment and Spare will pull people into bookshops who may not buy books, which is a fabulous thing! (If they’ve any spare cash there’s this great thriller…;) )
This week The Mystery of Four has been reviewed by the Sunday Times Crime Club – I love the line about Merlin stealing every scene he’s in – he’s just like that in real life too…
AND The Mystery of Four is recommended by Apple Books as one of their best books of January!
“As the bodies pile up and village residents grow suspicious of one another, past traumas resurface. Tess fears that her own life is in danger—until she finds protectors in unlikely places. An immersive, atmospheric blend of rural family saga, am-dram satire and murder-mystery with several killer twists. You’ll never look at stately homes in quite the same way again.”
Apple Books
The Mystery of Four has hit No 2 in the Irish Times original fiction top 10 on a half week of sales, just behind Colleen Hoover who is a true force to be reckoned with (if anyone knows any Book Tokers do let me know!) It’s been a whirlwind week! Click here to see where you can pick up your copy 
You can listen back to me chatting with Pat Kenny on Newstalk here.
We had over 100 people at the launch at the Royal St George Yacht Club, there are lots of photos on my Facebook page where you can get a proper look at the amazing cake, but it was wonderful to be joined by avid readers, my Writers Ink online writing group (who travelled from all over to celebrate – from Prague, Galway, Cork and Wexford as well as Kildare and Wicklow) and so many author friends. We were missing my fabulous agent Simon Trewin and editor, Sarah Hodgson at Corvus Books (flu!) but raised a glass to them in thanks for their huge support. Massive thanks too, to Dubray Books for selling so many books on the night!
AND this week too, we’ve had two enquiries for screen rights – if that’s your area contact simon@simontrewin.co.uk!
Photos below are just a selection taken by Ger Holland Photography (please credit if reproducing).
Sam Blake at the launch of The Mystery of Four photos by Ger Holland Photography
With TVs Andrea Hayes who did the honours, I couldn’t launch a book without her!
Amazing cake from Cakes Galore by Polly
With Maria McHale my partner in Writers Ink, our online writing groupLauch night for The Mystery of Four
Andrea Mara, Amanda Cassidy and Sam Blake
Karen Perry, Sam Blake and Anya Bergman
Fiona Gartland, Rosie Hannigan, Sam Blake, Catherine Ryan Howard and Andrea Mara 
Sam Blake and Catherine Ryan Howard
Signing LOTS of books!
Barbara Scully and Sam Blake
A full house at the Royal St George Yacht Club
Just some of the Writers Inkers! 
Kocked off the top spot by the Prince!
Hilariously on launch day, Prince Harry’s Spare was released and knocked The Mystery of Four out of the top spot at Eason Ireland, but as the fastest selling non-fiction book EVER (400k copies in the UK at launch, a million in the US), it meant we both got onto the TV news! Thank you Harry!
It’s definitely a once in a lifetime moment and Spare will pull people into bookshops who may not buy books, which is a fabulous thing! (If they’ve any spare cash there’s this great thriller…;) )
This week The Mystery of Four has been reviewed by the Sunday Times Crime Club – I love the line about Merlin stealing every scene he’s in – he’s just like that in real life too…
AND The Mystery of Four is recommended by Apple Books as one of their best books of January!
“As the bodies pile up and village residents grow suspicious of one another, past traumas resurface. Tess fears that her own life is in danger—until she finds protectors in unlikely places. An immersive, atmospheric blend of rural family saga, am-dram satire and murder-mystery with several killer twists. You’ll never look at stately homes in quite the same way again.”
Apple Books
The Mystery of Four has hit No 2 in the Irish Times bestseller list on a half week of sales, just behind Colleen Hoover who is a true force to be reckoned with (if anyone knows any Book Tokers do let me know!) It’s been a whirlwind week! Click here to see where you can pick up your copy
You can listen back to me chatting with Pat Kenny on Newstalk here.
We had over 100 people at the launch at the Royal St George Yacht Club, there are lots of photos on my Facebook page where you can get a proper look at the amazing cake, but it was wonderful to be joined by avid readers, my Writers Ink online writing group (who travelled from all over to celebrate me – Prague, Galway, Cork and Wexford as well as Kildare and Wicklow) and so many author friends. We were missing my fabulous agent Simon Trewin and editor, Sarah Hodgson at Corvus Books (flu!) but raised a glass to them in thanks for their huge support. Massive thanks too, to Dubray Books for selling so many books on the night!
AND this week too, we’ve had two enquires for screen rights – if that’s your area contact simon@simontrewin.co.uk!
Photos below are just a selection taken by Ger Holland Photography (please credit if reproducing).
Sam Blake at the launch of The Mystery of Four photos by Ger Holland PhotographyWith TVs Andrea Hayes who did the honours, I couldn’t launch a book without her!Amazing cake from Cakes Galore by PollyWith Maria McHale my partner in Writers Ink, our online writing groupLauch night for The Mystery of FourAndrea Mara, Amanda Cassidy and Sam BlakeKaren Perry, Sam Blake and Anya BergmanFiona Gartland, Rosie Hannigan, Sam Blake, Catherine Ryan Howard and Andrea Mara Sam Blake and Catherine Ryan HowardSigning LOTS of books!Barbara Scully and Sam BlakeA full house at the Royal St George Yacht ClubJust some of the Writers Inkers!
January 5, 2023
The Mystery of Four Out Today!
It’s been in the shops for a few days, but the official release date is today! The Mystery of Four is already an Eason No 1 bestseller (yay!) and my 8th book to be published (there are currently two more in the pipeline). I loved writing this one – I try and look for contrasts each time I begin a book, I want every book to be different and to stretch me as a writer.
When I sat down to start plotting The Mystery of Four, I was really interested in Golden Age inspired stories and the concept of the ‘locked room’. In this case, the ‘locked room’ is an isolated country house in County Wicklow in Ireland – the mountains that I see outside my window make the perfect setting – they are wild and rugged and scattered with country houses and villages just like Kilfenora. Once I started writing, the characters literally arrived on the page, including my son’s cat Merlin and the fabulous retired actress, Clarissa Westmacott. The characters are all larger than life in The Mystery of Four – they continually surprised me and made it a lot of fun to write.
A stunning window in Dubray Books, Cork – thank you so much guys!For me, stories come from a series of lightbulb moments, they can be anything that sparks my imagination, paintings, articles I read, an overheard moment of conversation, or something I see on TV. These lightbulb moments form a stew of bits of ideas and bits of characters that then blend to produce a story. Often, as with Remember My Name or in fact, Little Bones, there’s a plot point that starts me thinking, but with The Mystery of Four, it was more a mixture of things that came together – starting with a TV documentary, dipping into a BRILLIANT book by Amanda Lees called The Dictionary of Crime, a series of paintings and an Agatha Christie novel, Murder is Easy – and ending with a significant cat who slipped into the shadows on the first page as I started writing.
It’s always nerve wracking sending a new book out into the world, but The Mystery of Four is already getting great reviews. Instagram reviewer @bookishcharli gave it 5 stars!
She says: Recently murder mysteries have been super addicting to me, I can’t put my finger on it but I just can’t get enough of them in my life, especially when they continuously keep you guessing right up until the final moments. Add in a whole cast of unusual characters for me to be suspicious about, a secluded country house setting, and pacing that is about as perfect as it can be for a mystery novel and I can’t fathom rating it anything other than 5 stars. Which I did. The suspense was beautifully built up to the point that I was having heart palpitations while reading it, or maybe it was the amount of caffeine in my at 2am because I needed to be alert to finish it, I don’t know. Either way if you’re a fan of a good murder mystery then DEFINITELY pick up a copy of this one.‘
Here’s the blurb:
‘A vivid cast of characters, endless intrigue and all the fun of a Golden Age mystery await you at Kilfenora House’ Catherine Ryan Howard
‘Witty, twisty and featuring my favourite antiheroine in a long time’ Alex Marwood
Murder is easy … when it doesn’t look like murder
Tess Morgan has finally made her dream of restoring beautiful Kilfenora House and Gardens into a reality.
But during rehearsals for the play that forms the opening weekend’s flagship event, her dream turns into a nightmare when a devastating accident looks set to ruin her carefully laid plans.
There are rumours that Kilfenora House is cursed, but this feels personal, and becomes increasingly terrifying when more than one body is discovered. Could someone be closing in on Tess herself?
Clarissa Westmacott, ex star of stage and screen, certainly believes so, particularly when she learns that purple-flowered aconite has been picked from the Poison Garden. And Clarissa will stop at nothing to protect the friend she has come to see as a daughter…
You can pick up your copy here at Easons (free delivery UK and Ireland) or if you are further away, Kenny’s Bookshop is an independent family run business in Galway who have excellent international shipping rates
The Eason limited edition has glorious blackberry tinted edges, order fast to get your copy! These are the (many!) copies I signed in Easons Dundrum earlier in the week
I do hope you enjoy!
November 3, 2022
Remember My Name out in paperback – with sprayed edges!
Remember My Name is officially out in paperback TODAY!! I’m VERY excited about this edition with its glorious new colourway and *sprayed edges*! Find it in your local bookshop, and the purple edged edition is in Eason stores
It was a No 1 bestseller when it came out in the bigger format in January – this is the handy paperback size that fits in your bag – and it’s also shortlisted for Crime Novel of the Year – if you have a moment, I’d love your vote 
https://www.irishbookawards.ie/vote/ 
Here’s the blurb:
** A NO. 1 IRISH TIMES BESTSELLER **
If she’d turned off her phone, instead of listening in, perhaps no one would have died…
When Cressida Howard catches her entrepreneur husband playing away from home, she hires security expert Brioni O’Brien to get the evidence she needs for a speedy and financially rewarding divorce. But what Brioni uncovers goes beyond simple infidelity. Because Laurence Howard is also in bed with some very dangerous people. Bribery and blackmail are the least of his worries as someone comes after the women in his life – someone who is out to destroy Laurence and his empire, whatever the cost. And Cressida and her teenage daughter could soon be collateral damage, if she and Brioni don’t act fast.
Pick up a copy in your local bookshop or order this snazzy one from
I really enjoyed writing this one, I hope you love it too!
And it’ll make a gorgeous gift (just a thought 
) *hums Christmas tunes*
October 24, 2022
Remember My Name Shortlisted for Crime Novel of the Year!
I’m absolutely thrilled that Remember My Name has been shortlisted for Irish Independent Crime Novel of the Year 2022 at the An Post Irish Book Awards!!! I still can’t quite believe it, we have some suberb crime writers in this country and I’ve been in awe of their books.
Now it’s down to the public vote to decide the winner. It’s an incredibly strong shortlist but I would love your vote – you can cast it here: https://www.irishbookawards.ie/vote/
Remember My Name is out in paperback in just a few weeks in a fabulous new colourway, and the has the magnificent purple sprayed edges that you can see below – it’ll make a gorgeous gift (just a thought ) *hums Christmas tunes*
Photo: Patrick Bolger
Here’s the blurb:
** A NO. 1 IRISH TIMES BESTSELLER **
If she’d turned off her phone, instead of listening in, perhaps no one would have died…
When Cressida Howard catches her entrepreneur husband playing away from home, she hires security expert Brioni O’Brien to get the evidence she needs for a speedy and financially rewarding divorce.
But what Brioni uncovers goes beyond simple infidelity.
Because Laurence Howard is also in bed with some very dangerous people. Bribery and blackmail are the least of his worries as someone comes after the women in his life – someone who is out to destroy Laurence and his empire, whatever the cost.
And Cressida and her teenage daughter could soon be collateral damage, if she and Brioni don’t act fast.
You can vote here: https://www.irishbookawards.ie/vote/
Thank you!!! 
Read about all the shortlisted authors here:
and about the Awards themselves at RTE Culture here:
https://www.rte.ie/culture/2022/1019/1330131-bird-bono-rooney-lead-irish-book-awards-shortlist/
September 29, 2022
Join Sam Blake’s Readers’ Club!
Join my Readers’ Club and get a free e-copy of my addictive thriller High Pressure!
Sam Blake Readers’ Club is a very special group dedicated to lovers of crime fiction. Social media can be a bit toxic at the moment, and although I’ll still be posting on Facebook and Instagram about day-to-day stuff, I want to create a place where I can give you an exclusive look behind the scenes, previews of what’s coming and a chance to chat to me directly at special Readers’ Club events – both on and off-line. Wherever you are in the world, the Readers’ Club will have something for you.
I don’t want to clog your inbox, so I’ll be keeping in touch via newsletters (approximately 6 a year unless a special event is planned, or there’s *news* – which you’ll be the first to hear). There will be giveaways and event news, background on how I develop the characters who drive my stories, and the locations that have inspired them, plus access to bonus and deleted scenes that you won’t find anywhere else.
As a thank you from me, when you join my Readers’ Club, you’ll get a free copy of my ‘absolute page-turner’ High Pressure, published exclusively as an ebook, which links the Cat Connolly Detective Trilogy with my thrillers. It’s a standalone in its own right, so you don’t need to have read any Sam Blake books to enjoy it, but it’s a high octane thrill ride that will introduce you to the Sam Blake world – if you have read any of the other books, you’ll spot connections!
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Readers’ Club Newsletter Giveaway!
With fantastic early review quotes coming in (yay and phew!) for The Mystery of Four, I’ve got an advance copy to give away to new subscribers to my Readers’ Club newsletter. It’s not out until January 2023 but uncorrected proof copies are circulating to reviewers now, and if you win, you can read it ahead of everyone else!
And not only that – I’m giving away a pile of books I’ve *loved* with it (UK & Ireland only, apologies folks further abroad). The Mystery of Four was inspired by Agatha Christie’s Murder is Easy so I’m starting with that…
Murder is Easy by Agatha Christie
Run Time by Catherine Ryan Howard
The Belladonna Maze by Sinead Crowley Author
The Empty Room by Brian McGilloway
and They All Lied by Louise Phillips
All you have to do to enter is sign up for my Readers’ Club newsletter here by 1pm 19/09/22 at www.samblakebooks.com. The newsletter gives you an inside track on my writing process and an insight into what I’m reading and watching – you can read the most recent one here. I’ve got some exciting giveaways coming exclusively for newsletter subscribers, plus you’ll find exclusive content that’s just for my Reader’s Club.
The Mystery of Four isn’t out until January but here’s the blurb:
Murder is easy … when it doesn’t look like murder.
Tess Morgan has finally made her dream of restoring beautiful Kilfenora House and Gardens into a reality. But the week before the grand opening, her dream turns into a nightmare when a devastating accident looks set to ruin her carefully laid plans. There are rumours that Kilfenora House is cursed, but this feels personal, and increasingly terrifying, as people begin to die in a pattern that mirrors past events.
Could Tess herself be in danger? Clarissa Westmacott, ex star of stage and screen, certainly believes so, particularly when she discovers that someone has been picking purple-flowered aconite in the Poison Garden. And Clarissa will stop at nothing to save the friend she has come to see as a daughter..
And you can preorder here easons.com/Mystery-Of-Four-TPB-9781838952983
Pop over to www.samblakebooks.com to join my Readers’ Club and you could be reading that VERY early copy.
Clickety click 
Join the Sam Blake Readers’ Club and be in with a chance to win all of these brilliant books!
August 10, 2022
The Mystery of Four: Coming January 2023
I’m very excited that early copies of my new thriller THE MYSTERY OF FOUR, which will be hitting bookshops in January 2023, are arriving with readers and reviewers! This one is a little different to my previous books – it gives a nod to golden age fiction and was influenced by Agatha Christie’s Murder is Easy.
It’s set in Kilfenora House, a country house estate high in the Wicklow Mountains, during a very hot summer, and features a very grumpy black cat called Merlin who some of you will recognise from my social media – he’s my son Sam’s rescue cat, and plays himself, right down to his hissing and spitting and ability to open doors…
THE MYSTERY OF FOUR was originally inspired by Amanda Lees brilliant book The Dictionary of Crime:
Here’s the blurb:
Murder is easy … when it doesn’t look like murder.
Tess Morgan has finally made her dream of restoring beautiful Kilfenora House and Gardens into a reality. But the week before the grand opening, her dream turns into a nightmare when a devastating accident looks set to ruin her carefully laid plans. There are rumours that Kilfenora House is cursed, but this feels personal, and increasingly terrifying, as people begin to die in a pattern that mirrors past events.
Could Tess herself be in danger? Clarissa Westmacott, ex star of stage and screen, certainly believes so, particularly when she discovers that someone has been picking purple-flowered aconite in the Poison Garden. And Clarissa will stop at nothing to protect the friend she has come to see as a daughter…
I hope you enjoy this one!
Available to pre-order now, it’ll be sure to banish the January chills when it lands in your letter box!
Can you unravel the Mystery of Four? Grab your copy here: https://www.easons.com/Mystery-Of-Four-TPB-9781838952983
Rights enquiries to simon@simontrewin.co.uk
Huge thanks to author Roz Watkins for sharing this perfect photo of the proof copy arriving in Cornwall!
July 1, 2022
Crime Pays in National Crime Reading Month
I love it when a plan comes togther!
National Crime Reading Month (NCRM), developed by author Sam Blake has been hailed by the Crime Writers’ Association as the biggest campaign to date, with over 100 crime fiction events hosted across the UK and Ireland this June.
Ambassadors of NCRM include giants of the genre Ian Rankin, Anthony Horowitz and L J Ross, who helped amplify the campaign in the media reaching an online audience of over 80 million; features ran in the Telegraph and across BBC radio, with a Twitter campaign #PickUpAPageTurner.
National Crime Reading Month in The Telegraph with details of the books that inspired a host of big names to become writers.The successful month coincides with the news that the genre dominates Amazon book sales.
Amazon announced Lee Child’s Jack Reacher titles are the bestselling book series of all time, followed by self-published author L J Ross, the Roy Grace books by Peter James, and the Detective Kim Stone Crime thrillers by Angela Marsons. Harry Potter books came in fifth.
The major initiative by the Crime Writers’ Association (CWA), ran in partnership with the charity, The Reading Agency, to get the nation reading. NCRM culminated in the prestigious CWA Dagger Awards, announced on 29 June.
The campaign was led by CWA board member and NCRM director, the bestselling crime writer, Sam Blake.
Sam said: “After flagship launch events in London, Dublin and Cork, NCRM was embraced online and off by libraries, bookshops, bloggers, writers and readers. It shows the incredible appetite for this genre, and the positive role it can play in encouraging reading. Ensuring accessibility and inclusivity was a touchstone of the project, and online events, podcasts and interviews are still available on the NCRM website.”
One in six adults in the UK struggle with reading and one in three adults do not regularly read for pleasure. England ranks 23rd out of 23 OECD nations for literacy level amongst 16–19-year-olds, and studies have shown that those who do read for pleasure have higher levels of self-esteem and a greater ability to cope with difficult situations.
A number of crime authors feature in The Reading Agency’s Quick Reads series, including NCRM ambassadors, the authors MW Craven and Vaseem Khan.
Maxim Jakubowski, Chair of the CWA, said: “National Crime Reading Month is all about bringing new books to readers and new readers to pacy exciting books that will keep them reading.”
Appointing regional ambassadors across the UK, to support the CWA’s own bookshop and library ambassadors, ensured that events ran from Cornwall to Scotland, as well as in Ireland, north and south.
Ambassadors include authors Steve Cavanagh, MW Craven, Elly Griffiths, Alis Hawkins, Anthony Horowitz, Vaseem Khan, Nadine Matheson, Louise Phillips, Ian Rankin, LJ Ross, Robin Stevens and Sarah Ward.
Sam added: “As our ambassador Anthony Horowitz, who has written over 40 books including the bestselling Alex Rider teen spy series, said: ‘National Crime Reading Month is a great idea. Really there should be twelve of them a year.’”
To catch up on any NCRM interviews, podcasts and content, go to www.crimereading.com
Check out the coverage in The Bookseller here:
