It’s that time of year again when all the media outlets decide that only pretty white girls in tiny tops (and a handful of white boys on the Times site) pass their A levels. When are we going to outgrow this?

I’ve lifted this from Facebook (thank you @thriftingtreasure) because it’s so batshit and yet says everything about our unfortunate and bizarre relationship with someone who slaughtered women.

Join the ‘Author Credibility Society’, folks. Desperate times call for desperate book scams.

Are you in Cornwall next week? I am! I’ll be at Waterstones Truro on the night of Monday the 10th discussing Story of a Murder. Please come along!

This comment wins the Most-British-Comment-Of-The-Day Award.

I have huge news to share - Sea of Darkness will be my next book! The background research to write the proposal alone has taken me a year. Now the real work begins! The Bookseller goes on to say…

There are many things I often find quite surreal about being a well-known author, but few match that slightly creepy feeling when a stranger (with the help of AI) has written your ‘biography’ and is selling it online. Never mind the AI generated photo on the cover that looks nothing like you.

It’s paperback day for #StoryofaMurder ! In honour of that, let’s answer a few questions about the Crippen murder… hop aboard…

After writing #StoryofaMurder I will never again be able to take Kwells without thinking of these two.

Welcome aboard #southwesternrailways where the rolling stock is so old that the air conditioning breaks when it’s too hot outside (or so I’ve been told). Inside temp is at least 30. we’ve been given water. I’ve got a 2 hour journey ahead of me.

Anyone else looking forward to the #ChalkeHistoryFestival this week?! I’ll be there on Thursday at the Moot tent at 5:30!

Super excited to reveal the paperback cover for #StoryofaMurder ! On your shelves on July 2nd in the UK but available for preorder now. Looking forward to seeing you at #ChalkeHistoryFestival on the 25th of June and at other events throughout the summer and autumn. See Linktree for details.

The book scammers are back and this time they’re giving less than zero f**ks and just sending me AI generated blather devoid of punctuation. It goes on like this for paragraphs before I get asked if this resonates with me.

Good people, Story of a Murder has been nominated for a Fingerprint Award for True Crime Book of the Year, but it requires YOUR VOTE to win! (Please 🙏) www.capitalcrime.org/fingerprint-...

Book scammers are relentless and increasingly sloppy. In a parallel universe my name is Hallie Herold, the author of Daybreak Pink.

Congratulations to @maddypelling.bsky.social who has launched her gripping book, Hoax today! I devoured this book in one weekend. 😍

Spoiler alert 🚨

And here they are - fighting for their friend, Melinda May standing up and giving testimony at the Coroner’s Inquest, and during happier times at a fund raising ball, with the nefarious Crippen, nestled between them like a fox among the hens.

Her story, along with everyone who was involved in this epic ‘crime of the century’ - the devious American homeopath, Dr Crippen and his mistress, Ethel Le Neve, the determined Music Hall Ladies Guild, Belle’s sisters, and the intrepid (but bumbling) Inspector Dew is told in Story of a Murder.

116 years ago today Belle Elmore went missing. Her husband, Dr Crippen told her friends, the Music Hall Ladies Guild that she had gone to America to deal with a family emergency. But she hadn’t. He’d poisoned her and buried her in the cellar. They would spend the rest of 1910 bringing him to justice

Well, much to my surprise and delight, #StoryofaMurder has been nominated for an #EdgarAward!

Richard Flanagan has expressed my thoughts about Adelaide Writers Week perfectly. www.theage.com.au/national/pol...

And while I’m recommending worthy watches during this festive period, #Pluribus is fantastic - a gripping, bizarre, thought provoking (and very Vince Gilligan) exploration of what it means to be human - which is the best way of describing it without spoilers. It’s amazing.

This film is BREATHTAKING. A masterclass in how to tell a simple life story with maximum impact. #TrainDreams is cinematic poetry - and also an example of subtle and intelligent period drama.

What some people think history is… Found this at the back of a bookshelf. Should have put most historians out of business long ago.

History lovers, if you haven’t seen Netflix’s #DeathbyLightning, do watch it. Only 4 episodes about 2 men, President James Garfield and the man who killed him. What I loved about this little discussed episode in history is that it focuses on the characters of the men involved, and something else…/1

Something for your Sunday (tomorrow, Nov 2nd). I’m on James Naughtie’s Book Club on BBC Radio 4 discussing #TheFive with a live (live in September when I recorded it) audience.

It’s almost as bad as going onto Amazon and finding this…

That thing when you wake up to find that you’ve written a whole other book you never knew about.