Audible’s Prescient Crime Thriller of the Month

 

Book reviewers when congregated [even online in these weird days of Covid-19], often mutter “same old, same old” when discussing some of the latest crime thriller releases. A common wish from the literary community is the desire for something new, something fresh, something unexpected. This reminded me of an intriguing comment legendary Publisher Christopher MacLehose once said, introducing a book back in 2008 at the London Press Club, a debut novel that would breakout into the mainstream, not just circled by the wagons of genre –

He informed us that the job of the publisher is to bring books to the public that they didn’t want; books that they didn’t anticipate; and books that would nonetheless make an impression and challenge their way of thinking.

Read More from that launch HERE

I was delighted to sample a debut that is far from the ‘same old, same old’, and an extraordinary novel that this month's Audible crime and thriller selection.

It’s entitled Deadly Sacrifice by Stella Oni and like the award-winning and celebrated debut, My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite, it has comes from an author with a Nigerian heritage – BUT that’s where the similarity ends, because Deadly Sacrifice is something entirely different, and darker.

So, what’s this month’s Audible Crime Thriller of the month about?

When a childs severed hand is found, DC Toks Ade and DS Philip Dean are put on the case. Thrown into a world of Nigerian traditional customs, ritual sacrifice, and international trafficking, they must find the guilty parties before more children are lost and more limbs are found. A chilling new thriller introducing Detectives Toks Ade, Philip Dean, and investigative author Coretta Davis.

And we present an interview with Stella Oni HERE

Stella was born in Clapham, London, brought up in Nigeria and lives in the UK. She has a degree in Linguistics and African Languages from the University of Benin and a MSc in Information Systems and Technology from City University, London. Stella works as a Business Intelligence Analyst and writes on culture, food, travel, health & wellbeing. Stella believes that her experience of growing within two worlds has given her a unique perspective and she is happy to share this. She has been shortlisted for the SI Leeds Literary Prize, UK. She is a regular contributor to Thrive Global and currently runs the culture blog African Britishness-a celebration of being African and British.

Audible’s production of this startling debut is brought to life by the actress (Reanne) Weruche Opia known for her roles in I May Destroy You for BBC/HBO, Inside No.9 and Bad Education for the BBC and Top Boy for Channel 4 – as well as narrating Audible’s production of Oyinkan Braithwaite’s My Sister, The Serial Killer, among other audio books.

Deadly Sacrifice is also one of the books that celebrates diversity in the Twenty in 2020 literary promotion culminating from a year-long project from Jacaranda Books in association with Words of Colour Productions.

Following a hugely popular call-out for unpublished Black British writers, independent publisher Jacaranda has picked twenty top submissions to publish over the course of 2020. Apart from the crime and thriller genre, the Twenty in 2020 celebration also traverses literary fiction, poetry, memoir, history, romance and more, and together works to add to the diversity of literature, characters and authors available to UK readers—and to inspire a whole new generation of readers, writers and publishing professionals.

If you are not an Audible member, you can join Audible and take advantage of their £7.99 / month subscription, even taking Deadly Sacrifice as your free book, as part of their introductory offer – click HERE for more information on joining Audible.

Audible UK are to be applauded for the support they provide the crime and thriller fiction genre, especially as the importance of audiobooks increases within publishing. They commission new work such as the pseudonymous Alex Callister’s thrillers as well as supporting the genre, including sponsoring one of Crimefest’s annual awards. Previous Audible crime and thriller selections we enjoyed can be accessed HERE, HERE and HERE.

We’d like to advise our trusty Shots Readers that you are welcome to attend the launch of Deadly Sacrifice, which is occurring next week as a free online event [due to the pernicious ubiquity of this surreal COVID-19 situation].

Mark your diaries - The book launch will take place on Thurs 17 Sept from 6.30pm to 8.30pm and will include an introduction, author Q&A with editor, publisher & writer Kadija Sesay, plus readings of extracts from the book by the author.

For more information from The Arts Council on registering for this free event, click HERE. We hope to see many of you there next week, but behind the safety of a PC or Smart-Phone screen.

Stella Oni can be found on Twitter > @SOnithewriter with more information HERE and HERE and actress Weruche Opia’s Twitter > @WerucheOpia can be found HERE

Photo credits: Audible UK, Stella Oni, Weruche Opia, Jacaranda Books, Foyles Charing Cross Rd, Words of Colour Productions, Amazon UK, BBC, HBO, The Arts Council and MIDAS.

Shots Magazine would like to thank Ben McCluskey of Midas Public Relations, for his help with this feature, as well as the team from Audible original productions [UK].

Harvill Secker and Bloody Scotland launch competition to discover a new crime writer from a BAME background

Harvill Secker and Bloody Scotland have joined forces to launch a competition to find a debut crime writer from a BAME (Black Asian Minority Ethnic) background. The prize will be judged by award-winning Harvill Secker author and Bloody Scotland committee member Abir Mukherjee; creator of the bestselling Shetland and Vera series, Ann Cleeves; journalist and co-founder of BAME in Publishing, Sarah Shaffi; and Harvill Secker Editorial Director Jade Chandler.

Abir Mukherjee, an accountant-turned winner of Harvill Secker’s previous crime writing competition, is the author of an award-winning, critically-acclaimed series of historical crime novels set in 1920s Calcutta. Abir’s debut, A Rising Man, won the CWA Endeavour Historical Dagger 2017 and was picked as one of Waterstones best books of 2017.

Anne Cleeves, the Sunday Times bestselling author of 32 novels in 32 years and 2017’s recipient of the CWA Diamond Dagger, is a passionate supporter of new writers, especially within the crime writing community. Shaffi, a freelance journalist and editor-at-large at Little Tiger Group, writes for Stylist online, is books editor at Phoenix and co-hosts the pop culture podcast Eat, Read, Stream, Repeat.

Entrants to the competition will be asked to submit the first 5,000 words of their crime novel, along with a full plot outline. Entries will open on the 9th of July 2018 and will run until the 9th of September 2018, with the winner announced in November 2018.

The winner will have their book published, under the Harvill Secker imprint, in a publishing deal with an advance of £5,000. The winner will also receive perks alongside their publishing contract, including a panel appearance at the Bloody Scotland festival in 2019 (this year’s dates are 21st-23rd September) and a series of three one-to-one mentoring sessions with Abir Mukherjee. The Arvon Foundation – now in their 50th year – also joins the competition as a sponsor and is offering the winner the chance to attend any one of their creative writing courses or writing retreats in 2019, with all expenses paid.

Jade Chandler said: ‘While the crime writing community is diverse in many ways, it lacks authors from BAME backgrounds. With crime fiction’s increasing popularity, it seems more important than ever that its creators should be more representative of those who may enjoy reading within the genre. We want to do something pro-active to address this and I am delighted that we’re teaming up with Abir Mukherjee and such brilliant sponsors and judges to do so. I can’t wait to find an exciting new writer to publish on the Harvill Secker crime list.’

Abir Mukherjee said: ‘I’m excited to be part of this new initiative being launched by Harvill Secker and Bloody Scotland. At this time of great change, it’s more important than ever that the experiences and viewpoints of writers from across the spectrum of our society are published. Different viewpoints mean different stories, which in turn lead to a wider, richer literary atmosphere, hopefully reaching out to communities who feel marginalised or who have traditionally lacked a voice.’

Bloody Scotland’s Bob McDevitt said:  ‘Bloody Scotland is 100% behind this important new prize and it fits in perfectly with the work we have been doing recently with the British Council to bring crime writers from India to Scotland. We think that breaking down barriers in terms of access to authors from different cultural and social backgrounds will only improve the richness of the crime writing genre.’