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Sneak Preview! Not Dead Enough front cover

posted by Peter James @ 4:04 AM   24 Comments

Readers of this blog get the first sneak preview of the jacket for Not Dead Enough, the next Roy Grace novel due out in June. I've just been going back through the proofs one final time and I can't wait for it to arrive on the shelves! It's a pretty atmospheric cover, I think - what do you reckon?

Oh, The Embarrassment

posted by Peter James @ 4:52 AM   7 Comments

We all have those moments when we really would like the ground to open up and disappear us whole! Well, I do, at any rate, with alarming frequency...

My latest was earlier this month in Paris, where I had gone to receive my award, Le Prix Coeur Noir. I was staying at the Plaza Athénée - one of the very best hotels I've ever stayed in. I liked it even more than the equally eye-wateringly expensive George V Four Seasons, because it feels more French, more Parisienne, whereas the Four Seasons, although wonderful, and very, very sharp, feels quite international.

Helen had given me a hand-held GPRS for Christmas, for use on my bike in London, and when in unfamiliar cities. So I decided to try it out in Paris, setting the hotel as my "home", I went off for my morning jog. When I was about two miles away, I pressed the "home" button, to see if it would guide me back OK. Because of the heavy morning rush hour traffic I turned the volume on the machine up to max, then zipped it into my tracksuit pocket.

It worked brilliantly, shouting instructions to me every few minutes and delivered me back to the hotel's front door. I entered the lobby and then the incredibly smart "salon" - a long, beautifully ornate room, lined with tables on either side, at which equally beautiful, ornate Parisiennes were having their breakfasts. I was halfway down the room when a voice from my pocket shouted out, loud enough to silence the entire salon: "MAKE A U-TURN"

As I desperately fumbled with the zip, which, typically, had now jammed, the infernal machine bellowed out: "IN ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YARDS TURN LEFT."

I now know what the French for "wanker" is. They don't even speak it, they just say it with their eyes...

The Blogs That Bind

posted by Peter James @ 6:00 AM   12 Comments

A couple of blog mentions of winning Le Prix Coeur Noir - Macmillan CEO Richard Charkin chips in with Vive Le Anglais! while Mark Farley, of my favourite London bookstore, Waterstones in Notting Hill Gate, very kindly says Congrats Crime Master.

If you've seen - or write! - a blog that's mentioned me or my work, do let me know in the comments below - it's always fun to see what other people think!

Prix Coeur Noir Winner!

posted by Peter James @ 12:09 PM   4 Comments

I'm absolutely thrilled to have won the French prize Le Prix Coeur Noir. Here's some pics from the awards ceremony and the slighty cheeky press release!







French beaten on home turf for major literary prize by plucky Brit

Crime novelist Peter James wins prestigious Prix Coeur Noir

British Author Peter James has been awarded the coveted Prix Coeur Noir for his novel Dead Simple (Comme une Tombe). The prize-giving took place at 8pm on Thursday 1st February at Le Prisme in Saint-Quentin, to coincide with the opening of the Saint-Quentin Festival.

The win is the latest in a succession of foreign accolades for Peter's writing, firmly rooting him as one of the UK's most internationally successful crime writers. Last year, Peter received the 2005 Krimi-Blitz award for Crime Novelist of the Year in Germany, and he also won Le Prix Polar International 2006, France, for Best Crime Novel - Dead Simple.

On receiving the prize, Peter James said: "France is a country known for its patriotism; when I heard I was shortlisted against two French authors and the award is voted for by the public, I didn't think I had a chance. I am very proud and very thrilled. To have won one French award was an incredible feeling. Now to have won two, I'm just amazed! And very, very honoured."

Le Prix Coeur Noir is organized by librarians, readers of Les Amis des Mediatheques and booksellers of Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines. The public were able to vote from October 2006 January 2007 from shortlist of three crime novels.

The shortlist comprised of: Le Chien Tchechene by Michel Maisonneuve, Comme une Tombe by Peter James and La Lune de Glace by Jan Costin Wagner. Peter James was the clear winner with more than 50 % of the votes.

Dead Simple was 9th biggest selling fiction title in the UK for the whole of spring 2006; it also reached No 9 on the French bestseller list in August, and the German paperback edition is going straight into the bestseller lists at No 16 next week, its first week of publication there.

Looking Good Dead, Peter's most recent novel, reached No 2 on the Sunday Times Bestseller list in paperback and has remained in the Top 10 for seven consecutive weeks. It also was No 1 in Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury and in WH Smith for three weeks.

The Roy Grace novels have been sold to publishers in 26 languages.

Peter James's new title, Not Dead Enough is out in June from Macmillan.

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