National Crime Reading Month by Joy Kluver

 June was National Crime Reading Month and there were lots of events up and down the country. I had three Murder In Merton events which went well - a Crime author fair at West Barnes Library, a panel at Wimbledon Library with Robert Gold, Saima Mir and Olivia Kiernan, and a crime writing workshop, which I did with Biba Pearce, at Wimbledon Library.

Crime Author Fair at West Barnes Library

It was a very hot day to come out but the library has air con! Four authors came to talk about their novels, chat to readers and sell a few books too. Amer Anwar gave a short talk on his extraordinary publishing journey. Huge thanks to Amer Anwar, Sarah Clarke, Biba Pearce and ML Rose for coming along.

We had a quiz for our audience, which I didn’t think was too hard, but apparently it was, as only one person got full marks! The winner took home a selection of books, a notebook, pen, mug and, most important of all, a bag of my triple chocolate cookies!

We had a great afternoon in the coolness of West Barnes Library and might try doing this again late autumn. 

Crime in the Library at Wimbledon Library

We had our second Murder In Merton event on Tuesday 20th June, with Crime in the Library, at Wimbledon Library, hosted by Wimbledon Bookfest and Merton Libraries. Our panellists were Olivia Kiernan, Saima Mir and Robert Gold. I wish I could remember everything they said so I could write it all down but we discussed quite a lot of things – from settings to points of view to father figures. Thanks to Wimbledon Bookfest and Merton Libraries for setting up the event, and to Wimbledon Waterstones for selling the books.

Crime Writing Workshop

Biba Pearce and I had a fabulous time teaching a group of people about crime writing. There's a limit to how much you can do in two hours but we got a fair amount in. Unfortunately, we have no photos from this event.

So, what's next for Murder In Merton? Continuing the partnership with Wimbledon Bookfest, I'll be interviewing Janice Hallett, author of The Appeal, The Twyford Code and The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels. Tickets will be available from 13th July here.