Regular readers may recall my ramblings about supporting local bookshops – time for an update. For anyone living in the North-West, particularly in Merseyside, I can heartily recommend Formby Books. Tucked into the back of the card shop Derbyshires, it could be easy to miss if you didn’t know it was there, but its crime fiction shows an applaudable range of titles – despite being only two sets of shelves, there is more variety here than in many a chain bookshop.

Also, I should point out to you, especially if you’re local, that on March 15^th, Kate Ellis and Martin Edwards will both be making an appearance at Formby Books to talk about their work. Why should that interest you? Well, read on.

Kate Ellis is the author of the Wesley Peterson books, a series of (to date) sixteen Wesley Peterson books, best described as police-procedural crossed with archaeology – this may seem like an odd fit, but it works very well. You can read my reviews of An Unhallowed Grave and The Jackal Man elsewhere on my website. She has also written three books with a spooky side to them featuring DI Joe Plantagenet and an historical mystery, The Devil’s Priest.

Martin Edwards is the author of, amongst other things, nine books in the Harry Devlin series concerning a Liverpool lawyer and five books in the Lake District Mysteries series – you can read my review of The Cipher Garden on this site. Martin is also involved in the Crime Writers’ Association and has an excellent blog Do You Write Under Your Own Name?

Entry will by £3 on the door and tickets are selling fast, so for more info, email the shop at info@formbybooks.co.uk

As a way of building to this event – and, to be honest, filling some holes in my knowledge so I don’t seem a complete idiot – I’ll be reviewing at least two books from each author between now and the event. This ties in nicely with my current skew of my blog – to concentrate (but not exclusively) on current authors of proper mysteries.

Oh, and if you needed any more persuading, there’s going to be a magician there as well… A brave man in a room of armchair detectives!