Robin Stevens's Blog, page 53

Arsenic for Tea will be published in French!

Good news for all French Murder Most Unladylike (aka Un Coupable Presque Parfait) fans!

The translation was published at the end of August, and I’m very pleased indeed to say that my French publishers, Flammarion Jeunesse, have now decided to buy Arsenic for Tea!

No word yet on what it will be called in French, but it will be out in 2017 and I’m sure it will be gorgeous. In the meantime, eagle-eyed readers have been spotting Un Coupable Presque Parfait in bookshops (the blue stands out in any country!) – let me know if you see it too!

In good company with superstar Clementine Beauvais’s books!

Mistletoe and Murder: it’s competition time!

Hello, Detective Society members!

Today, as promised, I have a very exciting competition for you. Mistletoe and Murder, Daisy and Hazel’s fifth adventure, is out in the UK and Ireland in just NINE DAYS. You can pre-order it on Amazon or Waterstones, or from your local independent bookshop through Hive.

But, if you just can’t wait for the 20th, you might be in luck. I have THREE beautifully red copies sitting on my desk in need of loving homes, and all you have to do to win them is tell me in a comment what your perfect Christmas present would be.

The prizes! (Illustration by Alex Paterson not included)

This competition opens NOW and closes at midnight on Sunday 16th October. It is open to UK and Irish residents only, and final decisions on winners will be mine. I will sign and personalise each copy before I send it out, to make things even more extra-special! Please don’t give your last name or address publicly – I’ll contact the winners via email to get details when I need them.

Good luck, detectives! Christmas is almost here …

Countdown to Christmas!

I’m back!

I had an incredible time in Hong Kong, researching Book 6 – I’ve got lots of exciting ideas in my notebook, and LOTS of gorgeous pictures to share with you soon (I’m not going to share the ideas, though …)

But this month is all about Cambridge, and Christmas. Today is the 10th of October, which means there are just TEN DAYS to go until Christmas for Daisy and Hazel. My fifth book, Mistletoe and Murder, is out in the UK and Ireland on Thursday 20th October, and it’s all about Daisy and Hazel’s Christmas holiday. They’re off to Cambridge to visit Daisy’s brother Bertie and their friend Alexander. But when they get there, they discover that there’s a dangerous mystery at Bertie’s college, Maudlin – a mystery that Alexander and his best friend George are already investigating …

Mistletoe and Murder is bright red and FILLED with Christmas cheer (and murder), and you can pre-order it NOW from Amazon, Waterstones and many other fine bookish establishments.

Want to meet me and hear about the new book? I’m going to be at Cheltenham Festival this Sunday (where the book is already available for festival goers!), and over the next few months I have a full programme of public events. Come see me at Waterstones Trafalgar Square, London on the 30th October, and Waterstones Cambridge on the 5th November (call the store on 01223 351688 for details). And if you can’t make those, please keep checking my calendar, where I’ll be adding more events soon!

If you’d like a special signed copy of Mistletoe and Murder, keep watching this site – I’ll be announcing a competition to win one in the next few days!

I’m very glad to be back, and very excited to celebrate a Murder Most Unladylike Christmas with all of you!

Hong Kong and Book 6

A lot of you have been asking whether there will be more adventures for Hazel and Daisy after Mistletoe and Murder (their first ever Christmas mystery) hits shelves on 20th October. And the good news is: yes! I am going to write at least TWO more books about the Detective Society.

I’m still deciding on a setting for Book 7, but Book 6 is sorted: it’s going to be set in Hong Kong, and will feature Hazel’s family. If Arsenic for Tea was Daisy’s book, this is Hazel’s – its plot is an idea that I’ve had in my head for a long time, and I can’t wait to write.

I’ve been to Hong Kong . . . once, when I was eight. But that really isn’t enough to write my book. There’s a lot that I want to get right, and a lot that I know I could get very wrong. And Hazel deserves the best! So I’m about to go on my most exciting research trip to date, to Hong Kong! I’ll be doing lots of exploring and talking and taking pictures, and I’m so excited already.

I’ll be back in October, for the launch of Mistletoe and Murder – so if you’ve sent me a letter or an email, I’ll respond to it then. Check out my calendar for the list of where I’ll be (more dates in November and December will be added when I’m back).

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And if you’re wondering what I’ll be releasing when, here’s a handy list of my upcoming books in the UK and Ireland!

20 October 2016: Mistletoe and Murder is released.

April 2017: The anthology Cream Buns and Crime is released.

August 2017: The Guggenheim Mystery is released.

November 2017: Murder Most Unladylike Book 6 is released.

2018: Murder Most Unladylike Book 7 is released.

Happy birthday Deepdean Vampire!

There’s still just over a month to go until Mistletoe and Murder is released in the UK and Ireland – but if you just can’t wait to read more about Hazel and Daisy, the wait is over. My ebook short story, The Case of the Deepdean Vampire, is available to download from today!

Like The Case of the Blue Violet, this story is narrated by Daisy Wells and set at Deepdean School, just after the end of Jolly Foul Play (though I promise I do not spoil who the murderer is!). It’s not a murder – but strange things are most definitely afoot. As Daisy explains …

Of all the mysteries that Hazel and I have investigated, the Case of the Deepdean Vampire was one of the strangest. It was not a murder, which was a pity – but I did solve it very cleverly, and so I decided it ought to be written down, so that other people could read it and be impressed.

Camilla Badescu is in the fifth form, and has pale skin, dark hair and red lips. She comes from Romania (which is practically Transylvania). She doesn’t eat at meals. And she seemed to have an unhealthy influence over another pupil, Amy Jessop. Now, I do not believe in vampires – I am the Honourable Daisy Wells, after all. But when I heard the rumour that Camilla was seen climbing head-first down a wall, I knew it was time to investigate…

At the moment, this story is only available to download wherever the UK editions of my books are sold (this is because my US publishers hold the distribution rights for all of my titles in the US). It is also only available as an ebook. BUT, if you don’t have an e-reader, or if you get your books from libraries, you are in luck!

This morning I signed the contract for the upcoming Cream Buns and Crime anthology. This will be a real book, and it will be full of puzzles and codes and recipes, the three short stories I have written so far (Lavinia’s Missing Tie, Blue Violet and Deepdean Vampire) AND two BRAND NEW short stories featuring characters from Hazel and Daisy’s world.

Cream Buns and Crime will publish in April 2017. A cover is on the way, and you’ll be able to pre-order the book soon – I’m very excited at the thought of seeing my short stories in physical form!

In the meantime, I hope you enjoy The Case of the Deepdean Vampire. When I’m not reading murder mysteries, I really like stories about vampires and werewolves. One of my favourite books of all time is Dracula. So when my publishers suggested that I write a short story with a Halloween theme … I knew exactly what I wanted to do.

First Class Murder: US cover reveal!

Poison is Not Polite (the US edition of Arsenic For Tea) came out in April this year, and since then I’ve been hearing from lots of American and Canadian readers who love Daisy and Hazel.

If you’re one of them, I have great news for you: my third book will be out in the USA in summer 2017, and it will KEEP its British title!

First Class Murder‘s US edition will be called … First Class Murder, and it will have the most BEAUTIFUL cover from the super talented Elizabeth Baddeley.

I think it’s my favourite so far! There’s still a while to wait, but you can pre-order now at Amazon.com. Roll on 2017!

Arsenic for Tea has a Taiwanese cover!

I’ve had a really wonderful week of foreign edition news. The German edition of Arsenic for Tea is on its way, I’m about to reveal the cover of the American edition First Class Murder (stay tuned!) … and the Taiwanese cover of Arsenic for Tea just arrived in my inbox.

I adored the Taiwanese Murder Most Unladylike cover – it’s totally unlike the British edition, and totally brilliant – and its follow-up does not disappoint. In fact, I think I love it even more.

Look at it! The watch! The broken teacup! The perfect scone (the artist must be from Cornwall). I am a very happy author, and I can’t wait to see the finished book.

Fan letters – Spring 2016

Being an author is a wonderful job – I get to spend all day in my own made-up worlds – but I think my favourite thing about it is hearing from my readers.

I read my emails fairly regularly – if you’ve sent me an email, I will usually reply to it in a week or two – but I only get author letters sent to me from my publisher about once every three months.

Opening that bundle of post is basically AUTHOR CHRISTMAS for me (see how lucky I am? I get Christmas FIVE times a year, counting actual Christmas), and each time it happens I am more impressed than ever at how clever, thoughtful and talented you are. I know how much time you put into what you send me, and that’s why I take time to reply to each one of you. I also keep each one of your letters (there’s a big folder in my filing cabinet called FAN LETTERS).

Below is just a selection of my favourite things from this batch – from now on, I’ve decided to share a selection of your fan creations on this website, to thank you properly for what you sent me! Please note that I’ll never share your last names or addresses here – Detective Society policy is to keep the identities of its members secret!

I am so proud to have inspired you to write your own books, and to create your own detective societies. Please keep the letters coming! I never feel any less honoured and delighted to hear from you.

Murder Most Unladylike covers by Ruby

Four Detective Society Members by Sylvia

Envelope by Arya

Murder Most Unladylike Lettering by Sarah

Magnifying glass by Erin

Owl by Emma

Selfie by Daisy

Lovely wax stamp from best friends Edie and Harper

Erin drew me characters from a new, original story she is planning!

Ruby and Imogen both drew pictures of Watson!

 

The London Eye Mystery – my introduction!

As you may have already heard, I’m currently writing the sequel to Siobhan Dowd’s wonderful The London Eye Mystery. I’m about half way through the first draft of The Guggenheim Mystery (more on that below), and the book will publish in August 2017. We’re currently working on a cover, as well, so keep watching this site for more information in the coming months!

As part of the celebrations for The London Eye Mystery‘s ten year anniversary, Puffin are releasing a new edition of the paperback. It’s absolutely the same story in every way – but it has a brand-new introduction written by me!

Some introductions to books spoil their plots, which I think is an extremely un-detectivelike thing to do, so I can promise you now that I give nothing away – it’s just my recommendation of an excellent book that I think you should all read. I’m so proud to have been asked to do this (I got a little teary when I saw my name on the back cover of a book that I love so much), and I hope you like what I’ve written!

The new edition will be out on 1st September 2016 in book stores, but you can pre-order now from Waterstones, Amazon and Blackwell’s.

And about that sequel … as I said above, I’m about halfway through the first draft of The Guggenheim Mystery, at the bothersome place where the story feels a lot like a large knot that I’ve been asked to untie with my teeth. I’m not telling you this to cause you (or my editor) anxiety – from previous experience, I know that as I keep working, the knot will untie – but because I get quite a few emails from people telling me that they’ve run out of inspiration half way through a story, and worrying that means they don’t have what it takes.

I am here to tell you not to worry. If you have this problem, it means that you are a writer.

What you need to do (and what I am currently doing) is re-plan, re-read and work out the moment in your story where the thing went wrong; where someone found something out at the wrong time, or met the wrong person, or went to the wrong place. Change it. Then you can knock those changes forward, until you reach the part of your story where you had to stop before – and this time, miraculously, you’ll be able to keep going. The key is not to give up, no matter how much you may want to.

So good luck unknotting your story knots. If you’ll excuse me, I’ve got one of my own to untie …

Hazel and Daisy arrive in Germany!

Today is Murder Most Unladylike‘s German book birthday!

It’s been titled Mord ist nicht für junge Damen, which translates as Murder is Not For Young Ladies (which I love). The series title is Ein Fall für Wells & Wong (A Case for Wells & Wong), and it’s translated by Nadine Mannchen.

It’s being published by Knesebeck Verlag, who have been absolutely fantastic supporters of the series. They’ve made incredible promotional material (I’ve never had Murder Most Unladylike post-its before!), and they’ve given it a gorgeous double-page spread in their catalogue. I can’t thank them enough for bringing my book to Germany in such style!

If you’d like to buy it, you can do that here.

I hope that German readers will enjoy Daisy and Hazel’s adventures just as much as British readers do. I’m so proud of how far this book is spreading – my Murder Most Unladylike family keeps on growing!