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Text of the page (random words):
antony johnston substack subscribe sign in home notes website archive about on the road again book progress and a new round of can you solve the murder live dates aug 24 2026 share bite sized at the start of this month i turned in the dog sitter detective bites back the fifth book in the series it s springtime and gwinny is wrestling with the question of what to do with her house to take her mind off things she accepts an invitation to a beautiful country retreat near cambridge for the female century a gathering of 100 business women and influential speakers gwinny isn t one of them though instead she s been hired to look after nelly the organiser s staffordshire bull terrier who s currently part of a divorce based tug of war when the keynote speaker is found dead gwinny suspects foul play and a connection to a historical death in the same house but this weekend there ll be more than one body in the spotlight and it s up to gwinny to stop the killing spree before it s too late that cover is another fabulous illustration by david wardle by the way i feel very lucky to have david creating the dog sitter detective covers not to mention nicolette mckenzie narrating the audiobooks the dog sitter detective bites back will go on sale in january but you can of course pre order it right now meanwhile the paperback edition of the dog sitter detective s christmas tail will be published in october puzzling progress i ve also been hard at work on the third as yet un subtitled can you solve the murder interactive novel i m pretty pleased with how it s going so far especially considering i spent much of spring and summer travelling around hosting cystm live events attending literary festivals and visiting family nevertheless there s more of that to come see below and the initial draft of a can you solve the murder book is by necessity much rougher than that of something like a dog sitter detective book the interactive novel format requires a lot more rewriting and revision to ensure the puzzle part of it works smoothly before i even think about polishing the text so while i m on track to finish the rough draft in hopefully early october that will be followed by a month of revision and polishing before it s ready to hand in to my editor it s all hands on deck except mine are the only hands can you solve the murder live dates with the summer holidays fast coming to an end i ll soon be hitting the road again to host a series of can you solve the murder live events between now and the end of the year remember the live event does not spoil the books the mystery is presented in the style of the books but it s not the same and doesn t spoil anything which also means that taking part in the event won t give you an advantage when reading can you solve the murder this year it s a completely new mystery if you came to a cystm live event last year 2025 fear not you can come along again the events i m hosting this year feature an entirely new mystery which i created specially for 2026 can you solve the murder live is really fun i ve now hosted it 30 times for more than 1 000 people and everyone has had a great time it s something a bit different and engaging a fun evening out for all here s my schedule for the rest of 2026 september 3 waterstones brighton september 4 waterstones london piccadilly september 18 bloody scotland festival bloody scotland is a great festival and one i ve attended before as an audience member so i m very pleased to be appearing as a guest for the first time october 10 fatal shore festival sold out my event that is not the whole festival october 31 farsley literature festival november 28 lincoln central library as part of their hosting the touring agatha christie a world of mystery exhibition nb i ll be running the event twice on this day one matinee and one in the evening phew that ll do for this year i think i intend to take december off i do really enjoy hosting cystm live though it s a unique way to meet readers and as a game designer to watch people get stuck into an experience i designed in real time something we don t often have the opportunity to do if you want me to host can you solve the murder live at your bookstore festival or library in 2027 contact emma fairey at transworld one don t pick up the phone in addition to this newsletter you can follow me on most social media platforms either search for my username antonyjohnston or check the contact follow page of my site for links https antonyjohnston com contact share previous enter the forest of death and hope you solve the murder quickly enough to survive jul 09 2026 2 share can you solve the murder book 2 the forest of death is now on sale in this gripping interactive crime novel you are the detective at the end of every chapter you decide what to do next a village of secrets you arrive at the heart of a remote forest to investigate the murder of a young woman found dead inside an ancient stone circle she s a rock singer who was filming a music video now her bandmates are suspects along with the eccentric locals no one is telling the truth there s just one problem they all have water tight alibis and many villagers believe the singer was actually killed by the stone warden a figure from local folklore who haunts the forest only you can solve the mystery decide who to interview decode the strange symbols written on the stone circle and uncover what the villagers are hiding behind closed doors will your choices catch the killer or will they be your downfall as you d expect this book follows the same format as the first and features the same police characters returning from book 1 but the tone and mystery are quite different this time around with a little more of a folk horror slant to proceedings not to mention a bit more action you and sergeant mcadam may well find yourself running for your lives through grenholme forest pursued by a knife wielding killer the forest of death is out now in paperback and ebook from all good bookstores and probably some dodgy ones too i hope you all enjoy it and do let me know if you solve the murder nb this is a uk release overseas readers check release dates with your local bookseller cystm live on tour i m not actually at my desk today through the magic of technology and flaky wifi this newsletter is being sent while i m on a train to nottingham to host tonight s can you solve the murder live event aren t computers grand tonight s is the first of four waterstones events over the next couple of weeks to close out my appearances in july tickets are available from the venues or from these links july 9 waterstones nottingham july 10 waterstones birmingham july 14 waterstones edinburgh july 15 waterstones newcastle remember this event does not spoil the books in any way and it s a brand new mystery so if you came to a cystm live event last year you can come again and face a completely different case to solve i hope to see you there and there ll be more events later in the year of course i ll post details about those closer to the time if you want me to host can you solve the murder live at your bookstore or festival contact emma fairey at transworld i will do what i can do in addition to this newsletter you can follow me on most social media platforms either search for my username antonyjohnston or check the contact follow page of my site for links https antonyjohnston com contact 2 share previous next can you solve the murder live dates gallivanting around the country again jun 21 2026 share hello everyone this is just a short newsletter with the final details of where i ll be hosting can you solve the murder live over the next few weeks the second book in the series the forest of death will be released in paperback and ebook on july 9 so i m hosting a number of live interactive murder mystery events to promote it two important points about these events the event does not spoil the books the mystery you have to solve is in the style of the books naturally but it s not the same and doesn t spoil anything which also means that taking part in the event won t give you an advantage when reading the books this year it s a completely new mystery if you came to a cystm live event last year 2025 fear not you can come along again the events i m hosting this year feature an entirely new mystery which i created specially for 2026 can you solve the murder live is really fun i ve now hosted it around 25 times for more than 1 000 people and everyone had a great time it s something a bit different and engaging a fun evening out for all previously this year i ve hosted cystm live at a number of places already including the agatha christie festival and the cheltenham science festival and just this weekend it was the closing event of the murder in the library festival at keighley library now here are the remaining dates through the end of the july june 24 barnoldswick library this event is fully booked but the library is holding a waiting list in case any spaces free up july 5 bradford literature festival july 9 waterstones nottingham july 10 waterstones birmingham july 14 waterstones edinburgh july 15 waterstones newcastle it s all rather northern i know if you live further south don t worry i ll be coming down your neck of the woods later in the year in addition to going back up to stirling for bloody scotland in september as always i ll announce those future events both here and on my social media closer to the time if you want me to host can you solve the murder live at your bookstore or festival contact emma fairey at transworld i don t know who i am today in addition to this newsletter you can follow me on most social media platforms either search for my username antonyjohnston or check the contact follow page of my site for links https antonyjohnston com contact share previous next alpha spies and beta dogs half a dozen sales and half a million live events or is it the other way around may 26 2026 share fifth beta last week i finished the rough draft of the fifth dog sitter detective book and sent it to my beta readers i realised after sending it that i haven t talked about using beta readers for a while in fact i last wrote about it seven years ago after i sent the tempus project the second brigitte sharp thriller off to my readers some of them are people i still use today anyway pretty much everything i wrote in 2019 as evidenced by that instagram post above remains true i always find sending a rough draft which i know isn t finished or polished to beta readers stressful more so even than sending the polished version off to my editor even with this my counts on fingers and toes eleventh novel the nerves are still there that s a good thing as longtime readers have heard me say before with every book every project of any kind i m always trying to improve as a writer and try new things every dog sitter detective novel for example deals with a different kind of mystery and this one is no different the nerves that come with constantly trying to better myself to do things i m not 100 confident i can pull off help to keep me sharp and make sure i couldn t rest on my laurels even if i wanted to or had any to rest on riding to half a million my most recent royalty statement from walker books publishers of the alex rider graphic novels was something of a revelation the series has now passed half a million sales the alex rider gns continue to be popular with young readers and are particularly successful with reluctant readers mostly young boys who don t want or find it difficult to read prose novels ever since the first gn was published i regularly hear from teachers parents and librarians who tell me about another child who s devoured the whole series and wants to know when more are coming the answer is always we re making them as fast as we can the gns are also popular in libraries my public lending right statement for 2025 brought the total official loans from uk libraries for the series to almost half a million so following this latest statement i m expecting the 2026 plr statement will bump us over one million total combined reads amazing can you solve the murder live events as i mentioned in the previous newsletter i have a bunch of cystm live events booked in already so now it s time to share some dates first next week on june 4 i ll be hosting it at the cheltenham science festival an unusual venue for a murder mystery you might say but the festival is hosting some crime themed events to coincide with the anniversary of 50 years since agatha christie s death and i was only too happy to take part june is national crime reading month as part of which i m hosting two library events local to me june 20 keighley library as part of the murder in the library festival june 24 barnoldswick library i m also one of the many authors appearing at this year s ncrm launch party in york this saturday may 30 at all saints church pavement see here for details then throughout july i m going on tour again hosting cystm live events at bookstores so far we have four booked in july 9 waterstones nottingham july 10 waterstones birmingham july 14 waterstones edinburgh july 15 waterstones newcastle we re in the process of planning more possibly including bradford literature festival in early july and naturally i ll let you know when anything is confirmed i m also confirmed to run the event at this year s bloody scotland festival in stirling and at the fatal shore festival in shoreham both in september more details on those closer to the time if you want me to host can you solve the murder live at your bookstore or festival contact emma fairey at transworld you re running at a different speed in addition to this newsletter you can follow me on most social media platforms either search for my username antonyjohnston or check the contact follow page of my site for links https antonyjohnston com contact share previous next can you solve the murder on a train cystm book 3 announced plus thoughts on ai and trust apr 26 2026 1 share blood on the rails i was on vacation last week when the news broke in the bookseller so apologies for getting to this a bit late it is my great pleasure to announce that transworld have acquired a third can you solve the murder book transworld acquires third can you solve the murder novel from antony johnston transworld has acquired can you solve the murder the deadly train the third book in antony johnston s interactive mystery series finn cotton acting publishing director bought world english language rights from sarah such at sarah such literary agency the book will publish in trade paperback e book and audio in july 2027 the series described as half gamebook and half crime novel sees the reader play the detective and make choices at the end of every chapter that lead to multiple different endings the can you solve the murder series has sold 23 foreign rights deals in 15 territories been a top 10 amazon uk kindle bestseller and won wat...