Charlie Cochrane - Mysteries with a dash of slash, romances with just a pinch of spice

That's enough p's for the moment! Here's some snaps of the Dames (plus chevalier):



And throughout March The Romance Reviews will be hosting their sixth anniversary party; I'm one of the many authors taking part and offering prizes.



 

Our next gig is at Portsmouth Book Fest; tickets on sale 9th January.

Saturday 18^th February

2pm

£5

Third Floor, Portsmouth Central Library

Nemesis with Knitting Needles

Crime and mystery writers The Deadly Dames talk about female detectives past and present.

Join Dames Charlie Cochrane, Joan Moules, Eileen Robertson, Nicola Slade and Carol Westron and their guest chevalier L. C. Tyler (author of the popular Ethelred and Elsie comedy crime series) as they explore some of the serious issues involved in being a lady detective. These range from the problem of how to get through trapdoors while wearing a crinoline, to whether modern day CID officers would raise their success rate if they took up knitting. Come and enjoy an afternoon of wide-ranging information and discussion cunningly disguised as humour, covering the creations of both male and female authors, as we explore whether the female of the detective species is really deadlier than the male.

Do come and join us for an evening of murder, mirth and mayhem. How five respectable ladies can we quite so anarchic beats me...

It seems like such a long time ago (ten days) since we did our stuff at the RNA conference. It was a great event in an interesting venue (Queen Mary College, Mile End). They looked after us very well and we even managed to attend one of the other sessions, which was a useful one about stalled projects and 'unstalling' them.

We talked about turning to writing crime from other genres, with the theme that writing mysteries has lots in common with constructing romances!





Thanks to Liam Livings for the lovely pictures.

The Deadly Dames (and a tame chevalier) are featured in the May edition of Suspense Magazine, looking at whether the Golden Age style mystery is still viable, and how its changed over the years. Article starts on page 68.

Havant Literary Festival appearance by the Deadly Dames went well, even though the audience wasn't as large as expected. (Half those who'd bought advance tickets didn't turn up - maybe the rain daunted them?) Great fun had by all who were there, though.

Sometimes, on the face of it, Literary Festivals may not seem worthwhile. Attendance can be patchy (one participant at another Havant event had come all the way from London and only had nine in the audience) and you don't sell that many books. But they can generate publicity, both pre and post event, some of which might be getting your name into new places and in front of different people. Sometimes these things generate sales post event, rather than at the time, because people go off and think about whether they'll buy your work. This is particularly applicable if they prefer e-books.

You also make connections, get to meet new people, have your name alongside those of authors who might be significant in your genre. For me, that's one of the greatest rewards. How else would I get to be on a panel with people like Rebecca Tope, as I was at Bognor?

So roll on 2015, and the panels/Fests that may turn up - like the gay romance panel at Purbeck Literary Festival, which just needs final confirmation!

Anybody here a fan of Sergeant Cribb? I am. (I still remember the wonderful Alan Dobie TV adaptation.) Well, the author of them, Peter Lovesey, will be a guest 'Dame' at our Havant gig. Coo!

We came, we saw, we were deadly and daft. Penzance Litfest was very professional, yet very friendly, our Deadly Dames panel went well and the Bookshop Band (for which we were given free tickets) were stunningly good. We had our pictures in The Cornishman in the run up to the event so I'm now thinking of making a cuttings file, just in case we ever feature in something again. :)

I'd never been to this part of England, but I'd thoroughly recommend it to anyone. Not least for the spectacular gardens at St Michael's Mount.

Deadly dames in some classy company!

Pictures courtesy of the lovely stevie_carroll. We look very dapper.



Indeed, we're almost as stunning as the view.



Am a bit worried as to why my mother seems to be in this picture...