Robin Stevens's Blog, page 8

2022 – year in review!

Hello Detectives,

I hope you’ve enjoyed the holiday season, and taken a chance to rest after a very busy and strange year. It’s felt as though the world has tried to push us all back into ‘normal’ life even though we’re not quite ready, and things are not quite normal. It’s been lovely and hard, in equal measures, at least for me.

Time has felt very strange for me this year – I started off the year with a very bad draft of a book, The Ministry of Unladylike Activity, and ended the year with that book being published. I still don’t really know how I did it. I don’t think I slept much. I also very dramatically got Covid on the last afternoon I worked on the final draft of Ministry, and sweated through the last pages of edits before pressing send and then basically not getting out of bed apart from to eat and look after the baby for the next three months. I would not recommend it, personally!

But now the book is out, and people seem to like it, and I’m halfway through the first draft (really the 0th draft, my first drafts never count because they are so dramatically bad) of Ministry 2. We have a title for it (I can’t tell you what it is yet), and a plot (I can tell you a bit about that – basically it’s the Blitz in London, and there’s a dead body in a bombed-out house that should definitely not be there …) and I’m really enjoying working on it. Last time I was still working out who Eric and Nuala were, and how I wanted to write about them, but now I’m a lot clearer about my main characters, so I can focus on the plot. And I’m excited about the plot!

Ministry 2 will be out either at the end of 2023 or at the beginning of 2024, depending on how well this draft goes and what my editor thinks of it. But I can tell you for definite that the UK/Irish paperback of Ministry 1 will be out in May – and the German, Italian and Polish translations will be out at some point in 2023 as well!

I’m going to have lots more events, both in-person and online, next year, so look out for those announcements in early 2023. And I really, really hope that 2023 will be the year that I finally get to tell you something about MMU TV …

So stick around – I’ll update here when I can, although of course my first priority is always going to be writing.

More adventures on the way very soon …

Happy Mistletoe and Murder season!

Hello Detectives – today’s a big day in the MMU calendar! There are just two days to go until Christmas – and today (in 1935) is the day that Hazel begins writing Mistletoe and Murder! So if you’re looking for a festive readalong, now is the perfect time to begin Daisy and Hazel’s fifth adventure!

Whether you’re currently celebrating Christmas or Hannukah, or whether you’re just happy to enjoy the lights and food (like George in this book!), I hope you’re having a wonderful festive season. Happy reading!

The Very Merry Murder Club meets Mr Dilly!

For anyone out there looking to get into the festive spirit, I have something perfect for you: the Very Merry Murder Club and I took part in Mr Dilly’s bumper Christmas special yesterday!

Sharna Jackson, Maisie Chan, Patrice Lawrence and I all appeared to talk about our work on the Very Merry Murder Club anthology of short stories – which I’ve talked about on here before, and which I think would make the perfect Christmas present for a young detective this year!

You can watch the video below – and I’d recommend watching the whole thing, there are so many great authors featured, and all of their books sound fantastic! Thanks so much to Mr Dilly for having us on the show!

Ministry made it onto four books of the year lists!

It’s been a bumper week for The Ministry of Unladylike Activity – it was picked as a children’s book of the year in FOUR different places!

Sara Keating in the Irish Times Magazine called it ‘A brilliant murder mystery’!

Sara Keating for the Irish Times

Sally Morris in the Daily Mail called it ‘Rip-roaring stuff’!

Sally Morris for the Daily Mail

Kitty Empire in the Guardian called me ‘indefatigable'(!)

Kitty Empire for the Guardian

And Ministry even made it into the Waterstones Children’s Books of 2022 list.

Two Christmas signings for Ministry of Unladylike Activity!

I won’t start announcing my 2023 spring/summer tour (in the planning stages at the moment, with lots of exciting events!) until early next year, but if you want to meet me and get copies of my books signed for you and your loved ones this Christmas, there are two ways to do it!

First, I’ll be at Hatchards Cheltenham on Thursday the 1st December from 5pm for their Christmas evening.

And second, I’ll be at Waterstones Piccadilly Christmas Evening on Thursday the 8th December from 6-8pm.

I will be masking up, but masks aren’t required for you, and there will be no restrictions on the number of books you can get signed. I hope you buy a lot of copies!

I’ll see as many of you as possible there, and if you can’t make it, don’t worry. We’re already thinking about how to make sure I visit lots of places that fans want me to next year, and I’ve booked in three festivals already that I can’t wait to share with you. So there will be lots of opportunities to see me!

November update – Ministry of Unladylike Activity Book 2!

Hello Detectives! I’ve been posting quite a few updates this month now that I’m back from the Ministry tour. I’ve been going through my author inbox and replying to all of the people who sent me messages while I was away – so if you’re waiting for a reply, you shouldn’t be waiting much longer!

I also have a big pile of letters to go through – everything from February this year until October, as well as the messages that people gave me in my signing queues. I’ll start working on those soon, so don’t worry if you are waiting for a reply – I’ll get to it, but it just might take a little while!

My main priority at the moment, though, is The Ministry of Unladylike Activity Book 2. I’ve just started work on it, and I’m at about 10,000 words of what will be a 65,000 word first draft. I’m quite a bit behind where I thought I’d be at this point in the year – I had long covid over the summer, and it really knocked me back. But in a funny way I’m so glad I waited – going on tour, and meeting so many fans, gave me a lot of new and interesting ideas that I know will make the book a lot better!

So don’t worry if I’m slow to reply, or if you don’t see me on social media very much. I’m back with May, Eric and Nuala, and they’ve just found a mysterious dead body in London …

I’m Children’s Author of the Day at London Book Fair 2023!

Huge news that was announced during my tour (I’m still catching up on everything!) – I’ve been asked to be one of the four headliners at the 2023 London Book Fair, a massive publishing industry event that takes place every year. It’s where rights to publish books all over the world are sold (for example, my agent might sell rights to publish my books in Spanish or Swedish!), and a huge platform to discuss the importance of books and reading.

And next year, I’ll be at that fair! I’m appearing alongside Dapo Adeola, Anne Cleeves and Colson Whitehead, three authors I hugely admire and respect. It’s such a dream come true, and I’m thrilled and honoured to have been asked. So look out for me in April next year, talking all about my books, and about children’s reading in general!

A Spoonful of Murder has arrived in the US and Canada!

Huge news for US and Canadian fans – the rest of my Murder Most Unladylike series is on the way after a long wait! The sixth book, A Spoonful of Murder, is out NOW, and Death in the Spotlight is on the way in Spring 2023. Top Marks for Murder and Death Sets Sail will follow, and then the two short story collections will publish last.

All of the books are illustrated by the brilliant Elizabeth Baddeley, whose work I have loved for years – I think her Daisy and Hazel are just wonderful, and I love the colours of her covers. Gorgeous!

Thanks to the team at S&S Books for Young Readers, especially Alexa Pastor, for finally bringing the rest of Daisy and Hazel’s adventures Stateside!

Guardian review of Ministry of Unladylike Activity!

The Guardian’s Kitty Empire (truly one of the best names in the business) has included Ministry of Unladylike Activity in her round-up of the best new children’s fiction!

I’m apparently a ‘blockbuster author’ and a ‘sensation’ (thank you!!) and Ministry has

‘much superb Agatha Christie-style whodunnitry. Portrayals of ordinary people caught in the war’s crosshairs underline the indiscriminate cruelty of xenophobia.’

You can read the whole review here, along with reviews of lots of other brilliant books!

Ministry of Unladylike Activity is Blackwell’s Children’s Book of the Year 2022!

Some really amazing news for Ministry today – it has been selected by Blackwell’s as their Children’s Book of the Year 2022!

This is the most incredible thing for a number of reasons – first, I used to work for Blackwell’s, and wrote the earliest draft of Murder Most Unladylike there back in 2010. So it’s a very special bookstore for me, and it always means a lot when booksellers today support my books. And second, Top Marks for Murder was also chosen as Children’s Book of the Year in 2019, so this is my second time getting this honour!

I am so proud and delighted, and so grateful to Blackwell’s booksellers for choosing it. What a lovely start for May, Eric and Nuala!