Everyday, it's a-gettin' closer...

Just got back from London where I attended the annual Orion author party. It was a terrific evening in an absolutely beautiful venue: the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden.

Look: pretty.

There were something like seven hundred guests, including Orion staff and authors, various publishers, agents, reviewers and bloggers. It was a fantastic evening, great to catch up with my editor Jemima and to meet lots of other cool and interesting people, many of whom had not only read The Killing Season, but had really nice things to say about it.

Lots of other things seem to be happening as publication day gets closer and closer.

CrimeFest has unveiled its full programme at last, and I'm confirmed for three slots over the weekend: a debut authors panel on Friday, a discussion on hired guns and mercenaries on Saturday, and (most intimidating) the Criminal Mastermind quiz on Sunday. My specialist subject is Lee Child, so I'm going to need to spend some time cramming the Reacher Rules. You can find out more on the events page.

The second Carter Blake book has been through its (hopefully) final round of edits, and is going to be gradually released into the wider world, starting with some in-house people at Orion. Coincidentally, Waterstones has just listed a release date for this one of April 30, 2015, which seems impossibly far away. You can read the blurb for a sneak preview at the Waterstones listing page. It feels good to have the second book in the can before the first is released.

I'm still reviewing True Detective every week over at the Murder Room. The episode 4 review has just gone up, with the bonus of a video clip of the action-packed single-take finale.

Finally, I got a really exciting email on Friday to let me know that The Killing Season is going to be available as an audiobook, downloadable through Audible. Even better, it's going to be read by one of the best talents in the business: Eric Meyers, who's narrated a lot of Harlan Coben books, as well as the recent Wolf of Wall Street audio edition. As a huge fan of audiobooks, I can't wait to get a copy on my phone.

As someone said to me at the Orion party, you always have three books in your head: the one that's being published now, the one you're editing, and the one you're going to write next. Book three is already taking shape in my head. Then again, books four and five are also gnawing away at the outer reaches of my brain as well...