It’s taken a while but I’ve learnt a lesson.
The penny finally dropped when I read a description of the winning entries in a competition for would-be crime novelists. The competition is run by the Crime Writers' Association and it’s called the Debut Dagger award. (Of course, the CWA are better known for the Silver and Golden Daggers that they hand out to established crime writers.)
The judging panel is made up of literary agents and crime fiction editors from major publishers. This year’s Debut Dagger went to What Hidden Lies by Michele Rowe. The judges described it as “fluid and descriptive writing with an attractive setting.” That ‘attractive setting’ is the South African coast near Cape Town.
In second place was a story with “an appealing lead character and a fresh and interesting setting” - Graham Brack’s The Outrageous Behaviour of Left-Handed Dwarves. This time the ‘fresh and interesting setting’ was Prague.
I was reminded too of a previous winner, a book by Simon Levack that’s set in Aztec Mexico - definitely an original choice for a crime novel.
Memo to self: Darkly comic crime novels set in present-day Edinburgh won’t strike agents or publishers as ‘fresh and interesting’. Try something else!
The judging panel is made up of literary agents and crime fiction editors from major publishers. This year’s Debut Dagger went to What Hidden Lies by Michele Rowe. The judges described it as “fluid and descriptive writing with an attractive setting.” That ‘attractive setting’ is the South African coast near Cape Town.
In second place was a story with “an appealing lead character and a fresh and interesting setting” - Graham Brack’s The Outrageous Behaviour of Left-Handed Dwarves. This time the ‘fresh and interesting setting’ was Prague.
I was reminded too of a previous winner, a book by Simon Levack that’s set in Aztec Mexico - definitely an original choice for a crime novel.
Memo to self: Darkly comic crime novels set in present-day Edinburgh won’t strike agents or publishers as ‘fresh and interesting’. Try something else!
