One of the things I love about writing stories for a living is discovering new places, attending book festivals and events in parts of the UK I’ve never visited before.

I was thinking that at the weekend as my wife Sally and I travelled to Bute Noir, a brilliant crime fiction festival on a Scottish island. It was a full house in terms of transport – first we went by car, then plane, train and finally a ferry across to the beautiful island of Bute itself. The festival is held in the Victorian grandeur of the Glenburn Hotel overlooking the Firth of Clyde, and I was lucky enough to be on a panel with brilliant fellow authors Abigail Dean and Luca Veste.

Seated (l-r) TM Logan, Abigail Dean, Luca Veste; standing: Craig Silverton

The Glenburn Hotel, Rothesay - venue for the Bute Noir Festival

It came only a couple of weeks after the excitement of the Harrogate festival and the thrill of seeing The Daughter hit the paperback bestsellers list before climbing to no.1 on Kindle. Thanks again to everyone who helped it reach those heady heights! It still hasn’t really sunk in.

My diary for the rest of 2025 is already filling up: I’ll be chatting to Tom Hindle about his latest novel in Nottingham in early September then hitting the road again for the Bloody Scotland festival in Stirling, followed by events in Maidstone, Basingstoke and Manchester.

But before that, I’m spending most of August at home, working on the structural edit of my next book – The Weekend – which comes out in March 2026.

And of course I’ll also be aiming to fit in plenty of reading in a shady spot in the garden, which has always been one of my favourite things about summer😊

In case you’re looking for a good holiday book, here are a few thrillers that I’ve really enjoyed recently:

A Neighbour’s Guide to Murder by Louise Candlish
Deadly Animals by Marie Tierney
Hunted by Abir Mukherjee
Dear Future Me by Deborah O’Connor
The Wasp Trap by Mark Edwards

Whatever you’re doing this summer – and whatever you’re reading – I hope you have a good one!

Festivals, events, bestsellers and bargains!

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