Robin Stevens's Blog, page 12

Murder Most Unladylike and ‘Memorials of the Future’

Hello Detectives,

I’ve got a lot of updates coming your way soon – but for now, please enjoy this fun mention of me and Murder Most Unladylike that I came across today.

Westminster Abbey in London (a place where many famous British people are given memorials after they die) asked some KS2 pupils to nominate people they think should have a memorial there in future. Obviously this isn’t binding, and obviously it doesn’t mean any of the people nominated are going to die any time soon – but I was very honoured to see that Nishka chose me to be memorialised!

‘Memorials of the Future’ is a really great idea for a project – I love thinking about who we choose to remember, and why, and I’m always fascinated to see lists like this!

Murder Most Unladylike and the First Words in Dalston Project

I’m completely honoured and delighted to find out that Murder Most Unladylike‘s first line has been chosen as part of the First Words in Dalston project, an initiative by two local artists to connect Dalston residents to their library while it’s closed due to the pandemic.

I think this is a wonderful idea, and I’m amazed that my book was one of the titles chosen – if you’d like to take part and suggest your own favourite first line, you can submit your ideas on their website. And of course if you live near Dalston you can go visit the installation and see how many first lines you recognise!

National Share-a-Story month writing prompt!

May is National Share-a-Story month, an initiative run by the FCBG (Federation of Children’s Book Groups) in the UK.

2021’s theme is Myth, Magic and Mayhem, and I’m delighted that I’ve been asked to write one of the three prompts for this year’s FCBG’s Story Starter competition!

I know a lot of you have been asking me to bring back my website prompts, which I stopped at the end of last year when my father became ill. I think this is a great way to do that, and also give a lot of you the opportunity to enter an official writing competition. So, May’s prompt is my FCBG story starter! It goes like this:

Mysteries always happen when you least expect them. And that morning, which might have seemed to anyone not a detective like the most ordinary, boring morning in the world, was in fact the beginning of the most exciting mystery ever …

The rules for this month are a bit different than usual! You need to use my prompt as the beginning of your story. Your story can’t be more than 750 words long, and it has to be finished within that word count. When you’re done you can post it as a comment here, as usual, and if you want you can also email it to the FCBG’s competition before the 15th of June 2021 (more details on their website). Because the FCBG is a national organisation based in the UK, you can only enter if you live in the UK – but of course you can post your story here wherever in the world you are!

Good luck, Detectives – thank you for being patient this year, the writing prompts are back!

April 2021 Update Video

My new update video is here – my first this year! I talk about Once Upon a Crime, Ministry of Unladylike Activity, the sprayed-edge editions of the MMU books and also the beautiful international editions that have been published recently.

Enjoy! I’ll be back soon …

Top Marks for Murder has won the 2021 Bucks Book Award!

I’m delighted to say that Daisy and Hazel’s eighth adventure, Top Marks for Murder, won an award today!

Huge thanks to Buckinghamshire KS3 pupils, who voted it their very favourite book of the year. I’m so honoured, and delighted that the book has been enjoyed so much.

This is particularly lovely since in 2019, A Spoonful of Murder won the same award. I can tell I have a lot of fans in Buckinghamshire!

More Detective Societies in the news!

Detective Societies have really been making waves lately!

This time it’s the turn of the Ape Agency Detective Society, four Cork detectives who are really causing a stir in their home town of Ballinlough. They’ve already solved one mystery and they’re well on their way to solving several others. They’ve got posters, a logo and spy gadgets, and you can hire them for only €4!

The full article on the Cork Beo website is here – congratulations to the Ape Agency, I’m so proud that my books have helped to inspire you!

Once Upon a Crime – the full final cover is here!

Hello Detectives! You’ve been guessing colours and cover styles all week, but now the wait is finally over. Today I can reveal the FULL finished cover of my book of short stories, Once Upon a Crime!

Cover illustrated by Nina Tara and designed by Jan Bielecki at Puffin

As you can see it’s a bright, beautiful blue colour, with gold foil accents. It’s going to have blue sprayed edges, too, and gold on its spine – it’ll look so beautiful!

As usual, we have Daisy (with the curly hair) and Hazel (with the plait) on the cover – but for the first time ever they’re joined by another character, Hazel’s little sister May Wong! She’s the star of one of the short stories, ‘May Wong and the Deadly Flat’, and she’s going to be one of the three main characters of my new series The Ministry of Unladylike Activity (out next year!) so we thought now was the perfect time to introduce her properly.

Once Upon a Crime will publish on the 5th of August 2021 in the UK and Ireland, the 3rd of August in Australia and New Zealand, and a little later in the year in all the other places the Puffin edition is sold, including India, South Africa and Hong Kong.

You can pre-order NOW from Amazon.co.uk, Blackwell’s, Bookshop.org, Dymocks, Easons, Waterstones, WH Smith and your local independent bookstore – some retailers are currently offering a signed edition, but if you’d like to have one you should definitely order ASAP. I’ll only be signing a limited number of books, so we’ll have to close the signed pre-order pages soon!

If you’d like to get a copy of Once Upon a Crime that’s signed and personalised (with your name written in it), there’s only one way to do that, since I won’t be doing any in-person events this summer. You need to head to the Round Table Books website and pre-order their exclusive signed and personalised edition, which can be shipped to any country in the world! If you don’t see your country in the drop-down menu, don’t despair – just email the store and they’ll fix it for you. This offer will also be closing before the publication date, to make sure that everyone gets their copies in time, so again, don’t delay!

Detective Societies in real life!

One of my favourite things to hear about are fans who’ve decided to create their own versions of the Detective Society – and I’m particularly delighted to find out that one enterprising society has made it all the way to the pages of The Week Junior!

Naureen and her society, the BFFs (the Brilliant Fearless Four), have been featured in a recent edition of the magazine – they’ve learned shorthand, Pig Latin and Morse Code, they have their own detective kits and they meet regularly, on Zoom and (soon) in person!

Congratulations to Naureen and the rest of the BFFs – I’m so proud to inspire you!

I love hearing what fans are getting up to, so if you’ve got a story to tell me you can always send me an email about it. Please remember to tell a safe adult what you’re up to before you do – ideally, copy them in to the email or send it from their address!

Once Upon a Crime – cover colour clue!

Once Upon a Crime, my book of Murder Most Unladylike short stories, is publishing in August this year … and on Friday 16th April the wait to reveal its cover will finally be over.

You’ve all been guessing what it’ll look like, and some of your guesses have been very smart! I promised you a hint, and today I’m able to share it with you. Once Upon a Crime‘s cover will be one of the colours of this rainbow – but which will it be?

Find out on Friday, Detectives …

Once Upon a Crime – full cover on the way!

Hello Detectives,

As I hope you know, Once Upon a Crime, my book of Murder Most Unladylike short stories, is publishing in the UK, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand in August this year! It’ll also be out in all the other territories where the Puffin edition is sold, including South Africa and Hong Kong – but I know that it sometimes takes slightly longer for stock to reach those places!

We announced the book in November with its beautiful black-and-white holding cover – and a lot of you assumed that was what the finished book would look like. But … you guessed wrong.

I have the gorgeous finished cover, illustrated by Nina Tara, all ready to share with you on Friday the 16th of April – but what will it look like? What colour, or colours, will it be? Who and what will be on it? Now’s your chance to guess – put all of your thoughts in the comments, and I’ll be back early next week to share the top colour picks with you as we get ready for the big reveal next Friday.

I hope you’re excited – I certainly am! See you next week, Detectives, for a very exciting announcement!