Four of the best for crime fiction fans

A crop of useful web resources for those who like crime fiction:

European Crime Writers 

This is a useful website that categorises authors into contemporary, groups and classic, giving a one-line intro and a website link.

The site is curated by Karen and runs competitions with books as prizes. 

Crime Fiction Lover 

A good site for news, reviews and events which bills itself as the site for die hard crime and thriller fans. The site’s 2015 April 1st interview is with Laura Lippman. 

Crime Time

This online magazine is another source of news, reviews and interviews.

Looking for a Mystery?

Billed as specifically for those who love mysteries, this site is curated by retired librarian Linda Bertland, and contains far more than a list of mystery novels.

For example, there is a fascinating page of resources for school librarians 

At time of writing not all these sites include the 

Annie Raymond mysteries or the Ahmed and Webber police procedurals 

but they’re worth visiting all the same.

Checkout staff say no to Chief Constable: Why York is fruitful ground for fictional adventure

This is the real York: A gruesome history, the longest medieval town walls in England, a pub for every day of the year. What’s not to like? Here is the merest sprinkling of York facts...

• Margaret Clitherow’s history and gruesome death in 1586 was served up to us in school. A martyr for Catholicism her severed hand is exhibited at the Bar Convent in York. She was canonised in 1970 and has a shrine in York’s famous Shambles.

• St Peter’s School in York does not take part in the traditional burning of effigies on Guy Fawkes Night on November 5th, because Guy Fawkes, born in the city, was educated at the school.

• York has many pubs, it is said that you could visit one a day and not return to the same place for a year. 

• North Yorkshire police officers have hit the headlines for unusual reasons – Chief Constable Della Cannings tried to buy wine in her local supermarket in 2004 whilst still in uniform. The checkout staff refused to serve her until she removed her hat and epaulettes. It was at the time an offence to sell alcohol to a police officer on duty.

This is where the real York morphs into fictional York: The North Yorkshire Police were established in the mid 1970s. The headquarters are at Newby Wiske near Northallerton and get a passing mention in the books. Maybe some future plotline will invade headquarters but the action in Buried Deep centres around fictional officers stationed in York.

York is irresistible as a setting for a novel ... any novel. And with its rich history it’s also a fertile ground for contemporary fictional crime which is how Buried Deep found its focus. Read a review here.

Buried Deep: ebook

Buried Deep: paperback