Antony Johnston
@antonyjohnston
Atomic Blonde, Can You Solve the Murder, The Dog Sitter Detective, The Exphoria Code, The Organised Writer, Resident Evil Village, etc. I write all the things. Reps:
Looking forward to appearing at Bark!Fest again on another crime-and-dogs themed panel – this time with @samhollandbooks.bsky.social and @blakemara.bsky.social! Sep 22 @ 6pm UK time, register here: us06web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
Very sad news. As a kid I had a Budgie (pictured, 1976!) then a Tomahawk, and later a Raleigh racer. Brilliant, iconic bikes.
Pardon the pun, but this is a killer deal 😂 Can You Solve the Murder?: The Forest of Death 🔍, my new interactive crime novel in which YOU become the detective, is a Kindle Daily Deal – available for the criminal (sorry) price of 99p! www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0G3CY2GZP/
Well, it's a year late, but thanks to a truly herculean effort by @paulcornell.bsky.social my Scribe award for Best Graphic Novel is here! 🏆🎉 Just one small problem… well, two if you count both names… le sigh 🙃 (Not Paul's fault! He was just the courier)
Currently writing Can You Solve the Murder? book 3 and I’m about to tackle what is, I’m pretty sure, the most complex interactive scene I’ve ever written…! 🤯🔍🔀 (Text redacted for obvious reasons, sorry)
This morning's randomised desktop background: Carl McCoy's brief role as the Zone Tripper in Richard Stanley's cult classic sci-fi film HARDWARE. A great inspiration to me, as anyone who's read WASTELAND will probably have guessed…
At Harrogate this past weekend many people asked how on earth I write the Can You Solve the Murder? books. The truth is, once I'm past the (admittedly complex) planning stage it's much like any other book: writing every day, getting the words down and slowly making progress 👍
You know it's a misty morning when you can't see the top of the moor…
Aspiring authors, for the love of dog please believe me (and every other author who'll tell you the same): courses about improving your craft, or finding your voice, can be worthwhile ✅ Courses promising guaranteed success or 'secret' methods are straight-up bullshit ❌ Run away and DO NOT pay them!
I know scammers send thousands of these at a time using AI, and don't care beyond whether or not it fools you into giving them money… but if you're going to hinge your bullshit on a line from the book, maybe it should actually be a line that appears in the book? Crazy idea, I know!
My first appearance in a Crime Writers' Association anthology @thecwa.bsky.social! Guilty Secrets is a beautiful hardback featuring my interactive story 'Crimes You Optimistically Attempt'. Unlike the Can You Solve the Murder? books, in this story you take on the role of a budding criminal… 😮
We've had tadpoles in our tiny garden pond for a couple of months, patiently watching, occasionally feeding, waiting for them to grow… then yesterday we found this little froglet sitting on the escape plank, and as I was taking the photo a second started climbing up the pond wall 🐸😍
Can You Solve the Murder? Live dates for July end tonight at Waterstones Newcastle! Meanwhile, signed copies of The Forest of Death (and misc other books…) now available at WS Bradford, Nottingham, Birmingham, Edinburgh, Glasgow, and Carlisle 👀🔍
Received my author copies of Newton Compton’s gorgeous Italian edition of Can You Solve the Murder book 2, “Delitto Nella Foresta di Grenholme” 🔍 How gorgeous is this?! 😍
Tonight’s microphone. It’s an SM58, so of course it has not one but two dents in the grille 😂🎤
BREAKING: AI develops clairvoyant powers, "coming across" books that exist only on my hard drive. I literally spent two hours in a hotel room this morning working on the manuscript draft, not even my agent has read it yet 😂
CAN YOU SOLVE THE MURDER? BOOK 2: THE FOREST OF DEATH is on sale today! A rock singer is found dead inside an ancient stone circle, wearing strange garb… can you uncover the secrets of the mythical Stone Warden, and solve the murder? 👀🔍 @transworldbooks.bsky.social @sarahsuch.bsky.social
Great fun hosting Can You Solve the Murder? Live 🔍 at @bradfordlitfest.bsky.social this morning (thanks to everyone who made it out so early!) and then back home for a bit of the old local fauna before I head off on tour next week… 🚂📚
Most of these AI "you're so wonderful, please let us scam you for cash" emails are just bad and uninteresting, but I can't deny this one made me laugh 😂
Did some book vandalising while I’m in town 😉 Signed copies of Can You Solve the Murder? and The Dog Sitter Detective now available at @waterstones.bsky.social Piccadilly and Trafalgar!
Off to That London for tomorrow’s #CWADaggers (I’m not up for one – I help organise the awards ceremony). In 2025 it was literally the hottest day of the year, which is rarely fun in black tie 😅 fingers crossed this year won’t be quite so sweltering…
If you're looking forward to the end of this heat, good news – Bloody Scotland is back on in Stirling this September, where I'll be hosting Can You Solve the Murder? Live (Friday, 6.45pm)! Join in, test your sleuthing skills, and see how good a detective you really are…
99p OFFER: my interactive crime novel Can You Solve the Murder? is 99p TODAY ONLY, on Kindle and other ebook formats (check your preferred retailer). Book 2 goes on sale in just a couple of weeks, so get book 1 now and prepare your detective's notebook for a double sleuthing 😉
Can You Solve the Murder? Live dates through the end of July are now set, including Bradford Literature Festival in a couple of weeks' time! See below, and find more information and event links in my newsletter:
Had a great time today at Keighley Library for Murder in the Library, part of National Crime Reading Month, on a fun panel with @lizmistry.bsky.social @catyaffeauthor.bsky.social and @cazengland.bsky.social then hosting Can You Solve the Murder? Live for all. Thanks to everyone who came along!
Can You Solve the Murder? book 2, The Forest of Death, goes on sale in less than a month's time! And you know what that means… time for an unboxing video 📦📚😂 @transworldbooks.bsky.social @sarahsuch.bsky.social
Hurrah! Just arrived, been waiting for this one by @lizbethmyles.bsky.social for a while. Ironic that it's finally released now, after last week's DW news, but I'm really looking forward to reading it.