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FREE box set of short stories
Join the Readers Club to download the Mark’s FREE box set of four thrilling stories, plus all the latest news, book releases, special offers and giveaways.
Includes three short, sharp shockers:
Consenting Adults
Private investigator Edward Rooney is hired to find a missing young woman… and uncovers a shocking secret.
Guardian Angel
Laura loves reading the Missed Connections messages in her local paper. Until one of the messages is aimed at her…
Kissing Games
Two schoolboys dare each other to spend a night in an abandoned psychiatric hospital, unaware that one of the former inmates is back – and that she likes young boys…
Plus, special bonus story:
Wish You Dead
What’s the worst thing you can do when your heart’s been broken? Find out in this tribute to The Monkey’s Paw.
It’s a very Good Friday because I have a glass of wine and a brilliant book to read: Human Remains by @jocallaghankat. I’ll be in conversation with Jo at @waterstonesbirmingham this coming Thursday, April 24th, and I believe there are still a few tickets left. So if you’re in Brum and want to meet us this is your chance! We will also be doing an event together in Bridgnorth this autumn.
I’m 200 pages into Human Remains and it’s just as good as the other books in this series, where an AI detective helps solve crimes. Beautifully written, funny and clever, this is crime writing at its best.
What are you reading this Easter weekend?
Hitting refresh on Goodreads is a little like playing Russian roulette. You never know if someone is going to fire a bullet at your ego. Thankfully nearly all the advance reviews of The Wasp Trap have been positive if not glowing - and this is one of the best yet.
I’ll be revealing how to pre-order a signed, dedicated edition - with an exclusive extra - after Easter so keep an eye on my feed and if you’re not already signed up to my newsletter it’s markedwardsauthor.com/free 🐝
I spent today reorganising my office bookcases. Here it is: my life’s work… so far. Every book I’ve had published, including the translated editions on the bottom shelves. I can’t wait to get the final hardcovers of The Wasp Trap to put on that top shelf!
If you haven’t read my 50,000-copy-selling work of dark twisted psycho mayhem yet, The Psychopath Next Door is just £1 on Kindle in the UK at the moment. Just search the Kindle store and prepare to meet Fiona. She’s different, special… and better.
Ridicule is nothing to be scared of! I was considerably younger the first time I bought Prince Charming by Adam & the Ants. 43 years younger, to be precise. Adam was my first musical hero/obsession (followed by Robert Smith, Brett Anderson and Lana Del Rey) and I spent a lot of my childhood doing the dance from the video in my living room and pestering the DJ at school discos to put on Stand and Deliver. And I feel a little like I’ve encountered a dandy highwayman today because I am considerably poorer thanks to Record Store Day. I got up at 4am, reached the shop at 5am and still didn’t get everything I wanted (The Cure and Gracie Abrams were sold out). It was so much fun though. The great thing about RSD is meeting like-minded vinyl enthusiasts and chatting for hours about music. I really think we need an equivalent Book Store Day with indie-only special editions, reissues and box sets. Can someone please arrange that for me?
I finished writing The Christmas Magpie this week - working on an Xmas book in this weather was challenging but I now know how Slade must have felt when they recorded ‘Merry Christmas Everyone’ in the heat of summer – so I took a day off today. Walked Sherlock, who cooled off in the canal, then went to see Drop at the cinema (four stars; enjoyed it). Also, this week I finished the new Fiona Cummins book, Some of us are Liars, out in June, which was both nailbiting and heartbreaking. Oh, and I listened to Lana’s new single approximately 3 millions times.
Tomorrow I will be getting up at 4am for Record Store Day - yes, I’m insane - and then next week I will resume work on my 2026 novel.
No spoilers here… I adored S3 of #TheWhiteLotus, especially the finale, which was so tense and dramatic and which tied up all the narrative threads and themes satisfyingly and, for a few characters, tragically. The best 83 minutes of drama I’ve watched in a long time.
I’ve seen some carping about it being slow or some characters doing stupid things, but I was gripped for every second of the whole series. And sometimes characters, as a reflection of what we humans are like IRL, make dumb mistakes - unlike Mike White, who is a genius. Now I just need to figure out how I’m going to spend Monday nights… I know, I’ll go back and rewatch S2.
I have a few signed copies of The Psychopath Next Door and The Darkest Water available. Fifteen quid plus postage. Email mark@markedwardsauthor.com for details - but be quick because they’re nearly all gone!
A closer look at the American ARC of The Wasp Trap, front, back and title page. Plus here it is with its British counterpart. PS Canadian cover reveal coming very soon.
#TheWaspTrap is available to preorder now on both sides of the Atlantic. Just search your favourite retailer’s site or visit your local bookshop. You could ask your library to order it in too.
26 years ago, I visited America for the first time and spent half the trip browsing in book stores: Borders, Barnes and Noble, and various independent shops including Powell’s Books in Portland. At the time, I had just landed an agent and was on submission, dreaming of getting my first book deal. Of seeing my book on shelves and tables not just in the UK but in the USA.
It’s taken a very long time but it’s finally happening. The Wasp Trap is going to be published by Atria Books, part of Simon & Schuster, on September 16th. Yesterday, I received the advance reader copies, which will be going out to authors, reviewers, Bookstagrammers, etc, very soon. It’s all starting to feel real now and this is a genuinely exciting moment in my life as an author.
The Wasp Trap is about a dinner party reunion that turns into a deadly game, all related to the group’s 1999 attempts to trap a psychopath. Ruth Ware said it’s “the ultimate - literal - locked room mystery, that hits you with twist after twist”. Pre-order it now by searching your favourite (or favorite!) retailer’s site: The Wasp Trap by Mark Edwards.
The programme for this year’s Capital Crime has been revealed, and I am really excited to be appearing on a panel not just with the brilliant Erin Kelly and Claire McGowan, but with two of my writing heroes, the husband-and-wife duo of Nicci French. Their books were possibly the first psychological thrillers I ever read, back in the nineties, and I’ve been a fan ever since. They were a big influence on me and I might be slightly starstruck when I meet them.
The whole line-up for Capital Crime is incredible. Lisa Jewell, Karin Slaughter, Mark Bilingham, Michael Connelly, Claire Douglas, Linwood Barclay, Chris Carter, Ruth Ware, Dorothy Koomson, Adele Parks, Clare Mackintosh… the list goes on and on. It takes place in London on June 13 and 14 and tickets are available now.
I also believe - though this is yet to be confirmed - that early hardbacks of The Wasp Trap will be on sale there, six weeks before the official release date, and I will of course sign them.
To get your tickets, go to www.capitalcrime.org
My TBR pile is trying to kill me. Even if I didn’t have two books to finish writing, a family and the need to sleep, I wouldn’t be able to get through all these - even though every one looks amazing.
Most authors have similar stacks, which is why I’m always so grateful when any writer reads and blurbs one of mine. And yes, all those quotes you see on books are real. We don’t recommend books we didn’t read and love.
Anyway… see anything you like the look of? I’ve already decided I’m going to go with @vaseemkhanwriter’s The Girl in Cell A next.
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