Linda Coles' Blog

I’ve never seen one before. It wasn’t in an open casket at a funeral, nor a close relative before the undertaker removes them – neither of the obvious ways you’d expect to see your first. No, mine was a suicide, the self-imposed death of a complete stranger who for whatever reason that made his life so unbearable, took his own. (Click the image to read on)

I recently travelled to Harrogate in the UK from sunny New Zealand in order to attend The Harrogate Crime Festival. I’m a writer, I write crime novels, and attending a conference somewhere in the world each year is all part of my continuing education. Plus I wanted to see John Grisham being interviewed live by Lee Child. (They were both awesome, by the way.) Lee asked John why he thought such a varied audience, from truck drivers to lawyers, male and female, young and old, all read his books. He put it down to this: he writes a book he would be proud and comfortable for his mother to read. No cussing, no F words, nothing to embarrass her. She was his barometer. Click the image to carry on reading.