This interview with the podcast OMG Stories explains how I became a writer of espionage fiction better than I ever thought possible. In short, it all began with All The Presidents' Men. www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZrG...

It's Friday night. I have a negroni. It's raining again. I need a song. Ah… that's better. www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4S1...

The Pouring Twenties… ☔ 🌂

I need this today. Pour the owl-woods-breeze serenity over me…

Thinking of making this my new author photo. There aren't enough authors with giant cats in books these days.

Remember the sun? Those were the days, my friends.

I wonder if the government approved the new Chinese embassy always knowing the courts would block it. It would have been an awfully clever play. www.ft.com/content/c5ca...

Those of you loving that Ian McKellan clip, might also enjoy InVerse, which brings Shakespeare beautifully to modern life. He is as relevant now as ever. www.facebook.com/inversefilms...

Another newspaper closes its books section, and lays off many talented reporters. I'm very sad about this. The Post was the first US newspaper to review my books, and did so much to bring my books – and other great books – to readers. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/04/b...

In today's espionage news: www.ft.com/content/cd08...

I'm suddenly very into the Kumoterki horse race in Poland, where they race sleighs pulled by a single horse bedecked with bells, while wearing traditional Polish clothing. It's absolutely gorgeous. Where do I get tickets?

The word translated as ‘daily’ in “give us this day our daily bread” appears nowhere in recorded writing outside of the Lord’s Prayer and no-one knows what it means

This book genuinely kept me up half the night! It's a very real imagining of what it would be like to be on a hijacked train. The tension of it! I still think about it all the time.

You will all love this book. Go buy it.

Vive la France! 🇫🇷

I just want a teapot that doesn't drip. A mobile with decent battery life. Pockets.

Short-termism. Noun. An excessive focus on immediate results or political gains at the expense of long-term security.

My next read is The Hiding Season by @avaglassbooks.bsky.social (writing as AC Glass). A remote setting. A killer on the hunt. Sounds just my kind of book. Out 26 March from @penguinukbooks.bsky.social #books #booksky #amreading #thehidingseason www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/1529...

Team dik dik here. As usual.

One of the finest plaques to be spotted in Oxford

horizontal vertigo

Good for her. Why should Richard Osman be the only TV person in crime fiction? What if all the crime authors did TV? Let's all do it.

I’ve never come across this immensely stylish WW2 information poster before. It looks almost like a frame from ‘The Third Man’.

The new cold war isn't just nuclear. It's power and internet and communications. www.thetimes.com/article/682d...

Plan for 2026 - Adopt the Ian Fleming writing method. It's like Pomodoro but with more skinnydipping and gin. Please feel free to join me.

Sitting in a coffeeshop pretending to read but mostly admiring this stout, serious fellow.

Hey everyone, it's the 18th! All of UK publishing is gone for the holidays. Down pens. Turn on the TV. And… relax.

I might do a recurring series of posts on pets in paintings starting with this devoted dog in the Metropolitan Museum. That dog ADORED that man.

I'm at the Met Museum in New York, where I came across this moment. They were laughing so hard they couldn't get the picture. 😂

So it’s NOT my imagination

Jim Jarmusch posted this on instagram and it's so pleasing. His insta is a constant source of happiness.

Advice for those of you thinking of writing a book.

It's snowing in the shires.

In today's espionage news: www.thetimes.com/uk/defence/a...

Fascinating how different the reality is from the perception.

There is not a single quote in this article nor any attribution, even to unnamed sources. Personally, I find it hard to believe that a) this was announced or b) this was leaked so I am taking it with a grain of salt and suggest you do, too. edition.cnn.com/2025/11/11/p...

Bill Nighy is a national treasure and must be protected. www.ft.com/content/4ed5...

YES.

Pull up a chair, please. I think it's time to have a talk about book jackets. Particularly modern book jackets. Especially in the UK, and particularly in the crime genre. My sense is that publishers haven't known how to jacket crime novels since the 20th century. I have evidence.

In today's espionage news, Russia is still at it. www.ft.com/content/c443...

In today's espionage news, this China case could bring everyone down. A senior Whitehall source said: “When you look at what has happened with the embassy and the espionage case, it is hard to draw any other conclusion than it is both cock-up and conspiracy.” www.thetimes.com/article/0a51...

British followers! My new novel comes out in March, and I'd love for you to read it on the cheap! This week only, you can pre-order it from Waterstones for barely more than a pumpkin spice latte! Just use the code OCTOBER25 for 25% off. Tell them Ava sent you. www.waterstones.com/book/the-hid...

If there is any better feeling than the one you get when suddenly you KNOW what your next book is going to be, I have never experienced it. This is the best part of fiction. There is nothing one moment, and in the next breath there is a book, waiting to be written. Magic. ❤️

Tom Gauld in The Guardian.

Being an adult involves far more time at the tip than I expected, however my husband took this picture of me after dropping off cardboard, and now I have a logo.

Stopped the car in the middle of the (quiet) road to take this photo because I have NEVER seen a more perfect October sky. Well done, universe. 10/10.

“The most important truths are likely to be those which society at that time least wants to hear.” W. H. Auden, who died on this day in 1973

Those of you who read my novels already know this but I'm putting it here because every writer of fiction enjoys validation of their literary speculation. www.thetimes.com/uk/defence/a...

The world is less beautiful now. www.thetimes.com/us/news-toda...