TIME FOR MY CLOSE UP, MS WALTERS

They're calling it Murder Most Famous (very close to camp comic Julian Clary's mystery debut, Murder Most Fab and probably about as gritty). Yes, crime fiction is finally meeting reality TV as UK "celebrities" undergo training to become the next great crime writer.

Over six episodes, a group of celebrities will learn how to solve a crime before the winner gets the chance to write their own novel. Novelist Minette Walters will preside over the activities and have the power to oust celebrities in elimination rounds.

According to various online sources, the competitors are:

Brendan Cole, Sherrie Hewson, Angela Griffin, Matt Allwright, Diarmud Gavin and Kelvin Mackenzie.

I know that one of them probably plays rugby. Otherwise I don't know the first thing about any of them or why they are celebrities.

I have my own opinions on the idea of this show, even if it is all in a good cause (World Book Day). Goodness knows how they'll make it as gripping for an audience as the shows in whose footsteps it is clearly trying to follow. Shows like Strictly Come Dancing. Even dressed up in sequins with a bossa-nova playing in the background, writing isn't the most gripping activity to watch unfold.

VIDEO KILLED THE RADIO STAR

But the BBC have another crime fiction related project up their sleeve. With a premise very close to the American National Novel Writing Month (NANWRIMO for short, so they tell me) BBC Scotland are running an initiative called Write Here, Right Now. The idea is to get people to write a novel in a month. You sign up for an email - one a day, more at weekends - filled with advice from "Scotland's leading crime writers" and in return you're expected to write 1,000 words every day. The idea is to have fun and get those creative juices flowing. You don't even have to be from Scotland to take part. In previous years, the project has had participants from Australia, Middle East and South America.

Although they are claiming you can "write a novel in a month", you will actually end up with only 29,000 words (the average novel these days running at least 80,000 as far as I'm led to believe, usually more), but it's still a good start and excellent motivation for any would be crime writers out there.

The website and signup can be found here...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/radioscotland/programmes/writehererightnow

COMING ATTRACTIONS...

British Thriller Writer Martyn Waites has upped the stakes in the Book Trailer wars once more. While Patterson has had phenomenal TV coverage, other writers have to make do with a series of still images and suitable mood music. But Waites - an actor in his own right - has joined forces with friends in the business to create a proper trailer for his latest Joe Donavan thriller, the disturbing and gripping White Riot. The trailer is not currently available at Waites's official website - www.martynwaites.com - but he does provide a link to the Youtube version:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sANM7c__nxg

Have to say, I didn't picture Donavan with such shockingly white (or very blonde) hair, but the trailer is very well put together by Red Harvest films, the company Waites formed with Bob Horwell, an award winning actor and director who can currently be seen on long running soap, Coronation Street. Red Harvest, according to Waits's own blog are looking into other projects including further trailers for novels. It's a bold plan, and they've certainly got off to a very decent start.

PLEASE RELEASE ME...

New British releases for February:

THE POINT OF RESCUE by Sophie Hannah, 978-0340933107: the new thriller from the author of Little Face and Hurting Distance finds a woman having an affair with who is later replaced by someone entirely different. Sounds twisty in the Coben tradition.

DAMAGED GOODS by June Hampson, 978-0752874685: a London thriller in the Martina Cole tradition, Hampson's recurring protagonist deals with trials and tribulations in the London gangland of 1966.

SECOND VIOLIN By John Lawton, 0753824507: Second world war era thriller set in London against the backdrop of Jewish persecution from an acclaimed thriller writer.

UNFORGOTTEN by Clare Francis, 978-0333903506: A lawyer's life is changed forever in this darkly, psychological thriller from Francis.

A GREATER EVIL by Natasha Cooper, 978-0743495325: Trish Maguire is back on the case in the latest entry in Cooper's popular series.

NO MORE HEROES by Ray Banks, 978-1846970139: Racial tensions in Manchester in the latest Cal Innes thriller from the gritty pen of Ray Banks, author of Donkey Punch and Saturday's Child

So its time for me to return to the secret lair once more. If you feel the urge to drop me a line about anything and everything, please do so on russelmclean@thrillerwriters.org.

Until next time...

Contributing editor Russel D McLean is a Scottish bookseller working for a national chain. He has run webzines, agonized over reviews for various publications both in print and online, and written several short stories, several of which have been published in Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine as well as various other crime and noir markets.