I absolutely adore this book, and re-read it when I am low. It has seeped into my quite English writing, though it is so connected to Newfoundland. The eccentric paper, the distilled descriptions, the importance of connection amid solitude. Just a wonderful, life-affirming thing.

It’s awful to repost reviews of your book and I wouldn’t normally do it. But I have written thousands and thousands of words about Livia, the vet in Little Sky, and I am so pleased that an actual vet likes her and The Burial Place.

I’ve been talking (too much) about The Burial Place, but this quote I have used as the epigraph is the perfect summary of the book. The poetry of history: how the past is never quite gone forever. True of life, true of countries, always true of murder mysteries too.

We all know things are mostly 💩 on the platform formerly known as Twitter, but occasionally good things happen on there. One such good thing, was me winning this book in a giveaway by the author. Thank you for this @thestigabell.bsky.social #BookSky 💙📚

Do you like prologues to novels? They are always great to write, because you write them at the end when you know how everything turns out, so you can hint at the moods and the twists of the story to come. Here is a bit of the prologue to The Burial Place: www.amazon.co.uk/Burial-Place...

When a book is published, you very kindly get sent a whole bunch of free copies. As I have no friends to give them to, I’ll give some away to any lovely readers of the series. Just leave a comment below with your favourite character from Little Sky (and why) and I’ll pick a couple at random.

Two weeks until The Burial Place is published. My favourite of the Jake Jackson books so far. I’m really pleased Bernard Cornwell likes it, because it is about history and how the past never truly disappears. amazon.co.uk/Burial-Place-b…

This is fun: one of my favourite characters in the Jake Jackson books is Martha, the curmudgeonly ex-spy turned crime author. I wrote a short story as if BY her, which you can win here. gleam.io/gWyOk/the-bu...

Do you ever read the epigraphs of books, those quotes at the very beginning? I love them. The Burial Place starts with a beautiful line about “the poetry of history”. It’s the idea that, everywhere you walk, you are treading on ground walked upon by countless others before you.

I have my hands on the brand new Jake Jackson book, The Burial Place. Always a thrill to have the real thing in my hands. The beautiful map was drawn by my wife too. You can pre-order here: www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/0008...

Please come along to this lovely event at the top floor of the News Building. Talking detective fiction with the master Anthony Horowitz. Click here for tickets: waterstones.com/events/an-even…

Kindle sale now on for Death In A Lonely Place. Just 99p, if you like your romantic countryside crime books on a handy screen. www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B0CC...

I find myself re-reading more than ever when things feel low. Re-reading Wolf Hall is like visiting a favourite gallery: everything Mantel wrote was as clear as a picture. Cromwell one of the great hardboiled heroes of all fiction. This is almost perfect writing. #books

Those lovely folk @Waterstones are running a special pre-order offer for The Burial Place. This weekend you can get 25% off. Click here to do it: www.waterstones.com/book/the-bur.... (The review is from one of their booksellers).

Happy birthday to my lovely daughter, Nelly. Sixteen years old today and a magnificent young woman.

Publication day for the paperback of Death in a Lonely Place. Already been spotted in Waterstones and Foyles. You can order a copy here or visit a lovely bookshop. Smarturl.it/deathinalonely…

Out on Thursday in paperback! amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/000851…

Just one week until this comes out in paperback. Murder, conspiracy, romance, snow, wild swimming, some mild fireside bonking. You can get it in Waterstones, Sainsbury’s, Tesco and your local bookshop (hopefully). Or order it here. amazon.co.uk/Death-Lonely-P…

Coming up on @listentotimesradio.bsky.social Breakfast: the Trump tariff ploy - did it work, will it work again, is this sort of brinkmanship the new normal? Plus, Reform takes the lead, Dr Shoo Lee on the Letby evidence, Nottingham killer’s privacy, Ukraine tragedy, 90s food trends, obesity etc

A very big welcome to Kate McCann the new presenter of Times Radio Breakfast! Lots to cover on her first show: Brexit, NATO, Trump and Canada, private health vs NHS, Grammys, and very much more. Do come along and say hello.

A few people are asking about the ten books I got @aasmahmir.bsky.social for her leaving present. Here they are: 9 novels, and 1 work of non-fiction. I love all of them, and hope she will too.

Aasmah’s last day. The news doesn’t stop and we’ll be in DC covering that terrible plane crash, talking to the Chancellor, looking at what is moving in UK and international politics. Stephen Fry tells us the words he loves and why. But do join us to say farewell to Aasmah too.

Coming up on Breakfast on @listentotimesradio.bsky.social: it’s a big growth day, Starmer says he wants to be Margaret Thatcher - do we believe him? Plus how is the death penalty back on the agenda, calories on menus, wine saved by Brexit, dementia blood test, death of humanities, tax returns etc

Coming up on Breakfast on @listentotimesradio.bsky.social: I for one welcome our new Chinese AI overlords and wish them well. Wait, who wrote this? Plus, defining terrorism, how to address ECHR problems, women like younger men, Heathrow, Danny Care on rugby, rioting children, returning Gazans etc

Coming up on Times Radio Breakfast: our futile campaign against the clichéd term “read out” continues, as we look at how the Starmer-Trump chat avoided anything difficult. Plus, James Cleverly on assisted dying, Gen Z loves dictators, Jimmy Wales on Musk, Holocaust Memorial Day

Two months to go until this comes out. You could pre-order here if you felt like it: amzn.to/3NT3HGa

I’m not sure there’s a better opening chapter in all of fiction. Seems to have nothing at all to do with spying; everything to do with childhood and Britishness and quiet desperation. I re-read Le Carré every couple of years, always with open-mouthed admiration

Coming up on Times Radio Breakfast: why Britain has recovered more poorly from Covid than other countries - why is our social contract especially broken when it comes to work, education etc? Plus, where Covid came from, more Trump, no to NIMBY, ADHD, water, letters of the week,

Coming up on @TimesRadio Breakfast: do we need a new definition of a terrorist, and how much do we need to know when one is being prosecuted? Plus, our new feature - what did Trump say overnight, Jan 6 pardons, why HMRC is annoying, clever footballers, benefits of fizzy water etc

Look at this beautiful paperback, which is out on 13th February, a month before book three appears. A lovely Valentine’s gift if your partner likes crime/the countryside/nude swimming or whatever. You can pre-order here or demand it at your local bookshop: www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/0008...

Coming up on Times Radio Breakfast: the Trump bunting is still up, what is emerging as the party ends, for the US and the world? Has he killed the idea of net zero? Plus, questions around Southport, Heathrow expansion is back, the future of Gaza, Jonathan Lynn on AI Humphrey etc

Coming up on @TimesRadio Breakfast: a momentous day in world history. The first 24 hours of ceasefire in Gaza. The first 24 hours of Donald Trump. We’ll be in Gaza and Israel and Washington. How does the world change, and will the change last? Plus, Dylan, astrology, prisons etc

Coming up on @TimesRadio Breakfast: ceasefire, scenes of joy. But is it more like Tacitus: “Ubi solitudinem faciunt, pacem appellant”; “they make a desert and call it peace”? Plus, dying in hospital corridors, and a special feature: “Truss on trial” - did she crash the economy?

Coming up on @TimesRadio Breakfast: where is the toughest place to work at the moment: it’s the Treasury, stupid. Do we need an emergency budget? We’ll talk, among others, to Paul Johnson. Plus, SEND crisis, potholes, portion size, compensating Gerry Adams, Musk and TikTok etc

Coming up on @TimesRadio Breakfast: lots of politics - can Starmer be clear on Reeves, will Trump impose tariffs, do we trust polling? Plus, Ben Macintyre on Cambridge spies, has vaccine scepticism become mainstream, Middle East deal, Byron’s statue, hooray for Hawaiian pizza etc

Coming up on @TimesRadio Breakfast: we can be good at AI, but we need to give data to American tech; we can be good at renewables, but we need to give control to China. Are we ok with that? Plus wildfires latest, expensive school uniforms, can’t change lightbulb, tired women etc?

People sometime ask: “where do you write your books?”, thinking of a quiet study, mahogany desk, crackling fire, inspirational sea view. Here I am in a school carpark while my son does cricket nets. It is dark, freezing, I’m not running the car so the heater’s off and I’ve forgotten to put on socks.

Coming up on @TimesRadio Breakfast: wildfires in America and cold snaps in Britain, meanwhile the politics of tackling abuse continues to dominate. Is Starmer going to cave on having inquiry? Plus, how to calm the bond markets, does Trump want Begum back in Britain, boredom etc

Coming up on @TimesRadio Breakfast: health and education in focus: our annual winter crisis in hospitals, with A&E waits of up to two days; a new schools bill that treats academies like state schools. Plus, Trump on manoeuvres, ketamine being reclassified, Facebook factcheck etc

Very excited about this: Jake Jackson is back, a tale of murder, romance and archaeology. You can pre-order here and I would love it if you did: smarturl.it/TheBurialPlace…

Coming up on @TimesRadio Breakfast: the argument over the need for public inquiry into child grooming gangs, with victims minister and Robert Jenrick. It’s not far right to discuss it: Plus, goodbye Justin Trudeau, Nepo Babies, it’s cold in winter, 50s fitness, EV chargers etc

Coming up on Times Radio Breakfast: Aasmah and I are back, Happy New Year! Lots of politics, most of it influenced by a South African billionaire who probably doesn’t care that much about it. Plus, NHS reform plans (again), goodbye Welby, Starmer’s slow speech, Golden Globes etc

Just heard that David Lodge has died. This is my battered copy of his academic trilogy, which I first read as a teenager. It made me want to study English at university, but as fiction it is just clever, funny, sexually frank, brilliant. One of the great comic achievements.

In my Little Sky novels, I use little references to other books, to pay tribute to all the authors that brought me here. Can you identify where these names were taken from? Most are crime-related. I’ll pick the person who gets most right and send them a proof of The Burial Place, out in March!

Pride and Prejudice: one of my favourite novels. (Livia Bennet in my books named after Elizabeth). PD James: one of my favourite crime writers. How have I taken so long to discover this? It’s really good.

In January, I start writing the fifth Jake Jackson book, so this holiday I am reading the previous four, which is odd but necessary to remember who everyone is. Here they are: the fourth is at final editing stage. Order or pre-order the other three here: amzn.to/3BBuQeg

That’s me done on Times Radio until the New Year. My fifth and final Christmas with Aasmah. What a year of news it has been, and - in between the serious things - what fun we have had on the radio. Back in the New Year.

The very first preview of The Burial Place is in, and thankfully it is good. Also, it picks up many of the things I wanted a reader to get, which is always nice. The third Jake Jackson novel - about murder on a deserted archaeological dig - is out in March. I can’t wait for more folk to read it.

I have a complicated relationship with late Ellroy. The middle period stuff (ending in Cold Six Thousand) is the greatest example of sustained genre writing ever. Then it gets convoluted and repetitive. I’m giving it another go, and there’s magic but not quite enough. We’ll see if I can find more.

My never-fail muffins, add whatever flavour you like. 220g flour 1tsp Bicarb and Baking Powder 100g caster 50g brown sugar 120g butter 120g yoghurt 70ml milk Vanilla extract 2 eggs Pinch of salt 2 handfuls of oats Mix, cook at 220 for 5 mins, 165 for 15. Adapted from Sally’s Baking Addiction.