In June Random House brought out, as a William Heinemann hardback and an Arrow paperback, A Darker Shade of Blue, which collects together all of the short stories I’ve written since 2002’s Now’s the Time. All eighteen of them. Great covers, too - see below.

Meanwhile, last year’s novel, Far Cry, has now been published in hardcover in the States by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, and has received a stunningly good review from Marilyn Stasio in The New York Times Review of Books. Read it here. And there's another from the Pittsburg Post-Gazette here.

My blog continues to occupy rather more of my time than probably it should, with recent posts on subjects as various as Wynton Marsalis, Agnès Varda, England's Eorld Cup debacle and Violence towards Women. (What d'you mean, you didn't know about my blog?) link here.

When not blogging - and hiding from the current near-heat wave, I'm pressing on with the novel in hand, Good Bait.

And, in July, being interviewed about a life in writing as part of the Ham & High Literary Festival in north London. Details on the Events Page and on my blog - link here.