Robin Stevens's Blog, page 5

Cream Buns and Crime has a Kirkus review!

If you’re in America and Canada, you’ll (hopefully) have noticed the gorgeous US editions of my books hitting shelves. We’ve now published the nine murder mystery novels in the Murder Most Unladylike series, and this year it’s the turn of my two companion books, Cream Buns and Crime and Once Upon a Crime.

Cream Buns and Crime will publish on April 23 from Simon Kids, and ahead of that we’ve had the most wonderful review from Kirkus, the most trusted book review body in the US.

Stevens’ nine-book series is a satisfying and highly successful combination of English boarding-school tales and traditional detective stories, all set in the 1930s. This entertaining companion title includes an invitation to would-be detectives; suggested reading, mostly from the adult world, for mystery aficionados; and four new, interconnected short stories … Fans will be thrilled and encouraged to go on exploring the worlds of mystery reading—and solving.

Kirkus, March 1 2024

I’m delighted – and delighted by the way the US edition looks. Elizabeth Baddeley, my US illustrator, always creates such lovely covers. Pre-order now and get your beautiful hardback edition on the 23rd of April!

Murder Most Unladylike has arrived in Spain!

Ten years after Murder Most Unladylike first published in the UK, it’s amazing to see that it’s still arriving in new territories – and the latest addition is one I’m particularly pleased about, Spanish!

El Crimen es Cosa de Damas has just published from Editorial Alma, translated by Andrea Montero Cusset. It’s out now, available in all good bookstores and online, and the sequel is on the way soon!

I’m so thrilled to have Spanish readers introduced to my world and my detectives. It’s always so amazing to see my words travelling further and reaching more people than I ever could. It’s a special kind of writing magic!

By the way, I do get fairly regular questions about translations. I try to keep this website as up to date as possible, so if you want to know which languages a book has been published into, check its page – I put up the translated editions as soon as I get my author copies. If you can’t see your language, it may be on the way, or we may just not have found a publisher for my series in that language yet.

And if you want my books to be published in your language, my very best suggestion is to get in contact with a publisher in your country, that publishes books similar to mine, and suggest they take a look at the series. This is genuinely why my books are published in Norwegian – the woman who became my translator got in touch with a publisher she liked and persuaded them to buy the series and let her translate it!

Celebrating WBD 2024 with Oxford Westgate Library

My first event of 2024 has been announced: I’m coming to Oxford Central Library on the 9th of March for a free event in partnership with Daunt’s Summertown to celebrate World Book Day 2024.

Tickets are limited as it’s a small space, so sign up now! And if you miss out, don’t worry. I’ll be back in May and June for a full programme of events to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Murder Most Unladylike, as well as the launch of our new crime fiction anthology, The Super Sunny Murder Club.

The Super Sunny Murder Club

I’m delighted to be bringing you my first announcement (and first post!) of 2024: the team that created 2021’s The Very Merry Murder Club is back with a brand new mystery anthology!

My partner in crime Serena Patel and I are proud to present thirteen new and extremely puzzling short stories by thirteen of our favourite middle-grade authors: Abiola Bello, Annabelle Sami, Benjamin Dean, E.L. Norry, Elle McNicoll, Dominique Valente, Maisie Chan, Nizrana Farook, Patrice Lawrence, Roopa Farooki, Serena Patel, Sharna Jackson – and me!

I’m really excited to be able to contribute a short story this time around, and I had so much fun writing it. It’s a murder mystery in a second-hand bookstore, and it introduces you to my detectives Gracie and Why. Why (wearing their trademark dark glasses and trench coat) even features on Harry Woodgate’s brilliant cover, which I love.

I can’t wait for you all to read this wonderful book – it’s out on the 6th of June from Farshore, and you can pre-order it now from Amazon, Waterstones, Blackwell’s and of course your local indie!

And yes, I’ll be doing events for it too – keep an eye on my website calendar for details!

Happy holidays from the Detective Society!

It’s the 23rd of December – which means that it’s officially Mistletoe and Murder season! I always make a post on this day each year to remind you all that if you want to start your festive read, or reread, today is the perfect time to do it.

I’m now away for the holidays for the rest of the year, so this is the last post you’ll get from me in 2023. But I will be back in January, with a lot of exciting things – several really fun announcements to share with you, plans for the 10th anniversary of Murder Most Unladylike, and news about my 2024 tour dates.

I hope you have a restful and peaceful holiday season, however and whatever you celebrate (or if you don’t celebrate at all!). It’s been a hard year, and the world feels very sad and frightening right now in a lot of ways. It’s hard to write an end of year message that seems relevant or sufficient.

But there are always stories and poems that help express and make sense of what we are all going through – I think that’s the miraculous thing about stories and words, that they can reach across time and space and speak to people far beyond their writer. We all contain so many stories within us, and that makes us all so incredibly precious and worth protecting. War is always wrong, no matter who wages it, no matter the cause, and I believe that more firmly the more I read and write about it.

So take care of yourself, and the people who you love, and find stories that can give you courage and hope.

Detective Society forever and I’ll see you all in 2024!

The Body in the Blitz tour is over!

It’s true – my tour for The Body in the Blitz is done! Thank you to everyone who came along and made it so special. I had a wonderful time and I hope you did too!

I’m now resting from events until 2024 – I have to start planning Ministry 3, and then I’ll be mostly working on writing it in the spring of 2024. But in late spring/summer of 2024 I’ll be back out on the road for the 10th anniversary of Murder Most Unladylike! Please be patient until my tour dates are announced – I always try to get to as many parts of the UK and Ireland as possible, but of course I can’t always visit your town or city.

If you want more from me in the meantime, here are a couple of articles that have been recently published – one on my autism diagnosis and what it’s made me realise about the books I write, and one on the challenges of writing The Body in the Blitz. And I’m over on Instagram, TikTok and Tumblr if you want to ask me anything or see what I’m up to.

And if you haven’t read The Body in the Blitz yet – might I suggest that it makes a great Christmas present? There are still some signed copies over at WH Smith online, and I also left plenty of signed copies behind at all the stores and towns I visited.

Keep reading, keep detecting, and Detective Society Forever!

Hello! Magazine article

I was interviewed in Hello! Magazine last week! I spoke to Matthew Moore about the importance of bookshops, why queer representation is so important in children’s books and about why I decided to write the Ministry of Unladylike Activity series after the end of the Murder Most Unladylike books.

“It’s important to educate adults on what the stakes are here, it’s important to keep pointing out what it means to be queer, why queer role models need to be visible, and we need to be telling stories about queer people, because that is how we change minds. We need to have the courage of our convictions about why this matters and it matters to keep getting books into children’s hands and keep sharing stories, showing the diversity of the real world through stories. The most important thing is not to give up and to understand that ultimately we have to keep pushing because it really does matter. Childhood affects the rest of your life and if kids don’t access those stories they’ll turn into sadder adults.”

Me! In Hello! Magazine!

You can read the whole story at the link – I hope you enjoy it!

Lancashire Post review of The Body in the Blitz

A lovely review for The Body in the Blitz in the Lancashire Post!

Who knew spying could be dead funny? Robin Stevens, multi-award-winning author of the Murder Most Unladylike series, gathers up her murder-mystery loving fans and sweeps them back to wartime and into the lives of a feisty group of children who are hell-bent on saving the world.

The Body in the Blitz is the second sleuthing adventures in this action-packed series which delivers spills, thrills and laughter from first page to last, and is proving to be an all-round, hands-down, dead-cert winner.

… California-born Stevens is the best thing since Agatha Christie when it comes to murder mysteries for young readers. Packed with a dazzling cast of goodies and baddies, rich in seductive period detail and exciting backdrops, and with a plotline that includes bags of intrigue, some deft detective work and a gang of the canniest kids in town, this series is another Robin Stevens classic.

Pam Norfolk, Lancashire Post

Happy publication day to The Body in the Blitz!

The big day is here! The Body in the Blitz is out NOW in all bookstores in the UK and Ireland! It’s also out now in India, and if you’re in Australia and New Zealand, your only have a week to wait – your publication date is the 17th of October (pre-order from Dymocks!). Usually South Africa, Hong Kong and other countries and territories follow by the end of the month – so wherever you are, hopefully you’ll be able to get your hands on a copy soon!

I’m so glad that Eric, May and Nuala’s second adventure is here at last – it’s a book that took a lot of work, and one I’m very proud of. And I’m hearing from early readers that they like it – so hopefully you will too! If you do enjoy it, please let me know on social media. I’d love to hear what you think (unless you hate Eric, in which case, please keep it to yourself). I’m particularly excited to hear your thoughts on the return of some beloved characters from Murder Most Unladylike …

If you’d like to meet me, check here and on my calendar for the latest event details. Please note that we’ll be putting up timings and event links for a Belfast signing, a Dublin signing and a Witney signing next week – I’ll share those on my social media as soon as they’re ready. I’ll also be doing an Instagram Live event on the 18th at 7:30pm UK time for everyone who can’t meet me in person!

Happy reading, Detectives!

The Body in the Blitz tour 2023!

The time has come! I’m going on tour across the UK and Ireland for The Body in the Blitz, and you’re all invited to come along.

Below is the latest schedule – it’s not final, as I know we’re still working on a few dates (they’re noted in here as TBC, and I’ll update them when I can), but most things are now set. So here goes!

Bath Children’s Literature Festival – Saturday 30th September, 2:30pm. This is a talk followed by a signing. We have special PRE-RELEASE for the book, so it will be on sale that day!

Ilkley Literature Festival – Sunday 8th October, 10:30am. This is a talk followed by a signing. We have special PRE-RELEASE for the book, so it will be on sale that day!

Abingdon Mostly Books Event – Thursday 12th October, 6pm. This is the book’s launch event! This will be a talk followed by a signing. The cost of the ticket includes the price of the book and a £5 voucher.

Reading Waterstones Signing – Saturday 14th October, 11am. This is a signing event – the cost is the cost of the book! You can also bring along old books for me to sign if you want!

Birmingham Waterstones Signing – Sunday 15th October, 11:30am. This is a signing event – the cost is the cost of the book! You can also bring along old books for me to sign if you want!

Lincoln New Theatre Royal – Monday 23rd October, 10:30am. This is a talk followed by a signing, in partnership with Lincoln Waterstones.

Witney signing event TBC – 25th October.

London St James Church – Friday 27th October, 2pm. This is a talk followed by a signing, in partnership with Piccadilly Waterstones.

Manchester Arndale Waterstones Signing – 4th November, 2pm. This is a signing event – the cost is the cost of the book! You can also bring along old books for me to sign if you want!

Belfast signing event TBC – 11th November.

Dublin Book Festival event – 12th November, 10am. This is a talk followed by a signing – please note that there may be another Dublin event added on this day, since this event has already sold out once!

Newcastle Books On Tyne event – 18th November, 2pm. This is a talk followed by a signing.