C.L. Taylor's Blog, page 3

Index cards, pretending to be Greg Davies, and something to help you hit your Goodreads target!

I do tend to waffle on in these blog posts but I’m going to try and make this one quick(ish).

I don’t have many events left this year but there are three corkers lined up over the next couple of months.

First up…LONDON – Capital Crime – 9am – Friday 1st September with Kat Diamond Olivia Kiernan Author and Susi Holliday Tickets available here: https://www.capitalcrime.org/product-page/home-is-where-the-crime-is

STIRLING – Bloody Scotland – 10.30pm – 16th October – a night of mayhem as ...

I’m coming to Oswestry!

Who lives in or near #Oswestry?

Do come along on 24th May when Mark Billingham will perform a solo tango as I clap along (or maybe we’ll attempt to entertain you with words instead!).

You can buy The Guilty Couple & I’m happy to sign any backlist books you bring along too.

Mark’s new book – The Last Dance – is the first in a new series. It’s set in Blackpool, the detective likes ballroom dancing, I’m reading it now and it’s brilliant fun.

Also, did you know Mark used to b...

The one where I stalk my book on the London Underground…

Oh, okay, that’s a really clickbaity title but, ‘it’s paperback publication day for The Guilty Couple!’ doesn’t have quite the same ring to it.

But I did stalk the POSTER of my book The Guilty Couple on the Underground when I went into the capital yesterday for a meeting with my agent and publisher…

I had to miss a lot of trains to make sure the platforms were clear (and only a few people stared at me like I was a complete weirdo).

Totally playing it cool in that second photo…...

Why I won’t be publishing a new book in 2023

I sent this to my newsletter subscribers yesterday and, while I promise them ‘exclusive’ news, this is something I need to share with all my readers because I know there will be a lot of you wondering:

Why aren’t you bringing out a new book in 2023? 

The fact is there will be a book out in 2023 – the paperback of The Guilty Couple, but there won’t be a new hardback/ebook/audiobook next year.

Basically it’s because I was feeling burnt out at the start of this year. Over the last ten ...

Film and TV soundtracks to write psychological thrillers and suspense novels to…

One of the questions I’m often asked in interviews is how I get myself into the right mood to write a particularly tense or harrowing scene and my answer is always the same – I listen to a TV or film soundtrack (without lyrics) that matches the mood of the scene (and then I put myself in my main character’s shoes and feel every emotion they feel).

Whenever I start a new book I try and find an album that matches the mood of that book. It’s wonderful procrastination, logging onto iTunes and li...

Bookshops, trains, a career first and a bargain!

The last few months have been a whirlwind and this news page is well overdue an update.

Since The Guilty Couple was published on 23rd June I’ve been here, there and everywhere – Glasgow, Edinburgh, London, Cardiff, Liverpool and Harrogate – doing events, chatting to readers, meeting booksellers, signing books and travelling on a LOT of trains!

Here’s a selection of photos:

Glasgow with MW Craven, being interviewed by Sharon Bairden.

Zipping around Edinburgh with Neil Lancas...

US Readers! Her Last Holiday is $0.99!

If you haven’t read Her Last Holiday yet and you have an Amazon.com account you can buy the ebook for just 99 cents, but only until 1st August!

Get your copy now https://tinyurl.com/3wm88cae

Her Last Holiday is my eighth standalone psychological thriller mystery. It’s about a wellness retreat that goes horribly wrong when two people die and one woman disappears. Years later the missing woman’s sister joins a new retreat to try and discover what happened – but is her life at risk too? ...

US/Canada/Aus publication day for The Guilty Couple

Happy US/Canadian/Australian publication day for The Guilty Couple. Copies should be found in:

USA – Barnes & Noble, Amazon (https://amzn.to/39VKt2e)

Canada – Indigo, Walmart, Amazon (https://amzn.to/3OKYjU2)

Australia – Dymocks, Indies, Big W, Amazon (https://amzn.to/3QPtYFA)

Wonderful event in Glasgow with MW Craven last night. Here’s my favourite photo (thanks Suzy A)

Off to Edinburgh now to sign copies of The Guilty Couple in all the bookshops we can find (sadly our event was cancelle...

The Guilty Couple is published today!

Yesterday I had the loveliest day in London, celebrating the publication of The Guilty Couple with my publishing team.

Me outside the News Building that houses HarperCollins.

I went in, stood at the reception desk and then suddenly noticed that the enormous screen at the top of the escalator was welcoming me to HarperCollins, and then it showed me the book trailer for The Guilty Couple! A real wow moment for sure!

Here’s a closer look:

We went up to the offices and toa...

How do you turn an idea into a novel?

For the last five years or so I’ve started each new book the same way – with a Papier notebook with a design that somehow reflects the theme or plot of the book, and a customised working title and my name on the front. Here’s the notebook I chose for the book that would become The Guilty Couple.

The idea

The Guilty Couple started life with a single thought – ‘I want to write a heist novel.’

This is where I admit that I’ve never actually read a heist novel but I have watched a L...