Linwood Barclay. Please switch on images
October 2016 Newsletter
North America, The Twenty-Three is here.
Let the binge begin .
Well, just about. The conclusion to the Promise Falls trilogy will be released this coming Tuesday, November 1st in Canada and the United States, just in time to take your mind off the U.S. presidential election (as if that were possible). My box full of finished copies arrived just the other day. It was like an early Christmas present. 

The Twenty-Three has already been out for several weeks in the UK and Ireland, and the reaction from fans has been wonderful. They're not just thrilled by the story,  but by the fact that all of the questions raised from the first two books - Broken Promise and Far From True , both of which are now in paperback everywhere - have all been answered.

I know that many readers have been waiting until all three books were available before diving in, so the opportunity to binge-read has now arrived.

Here are my instructions:
  1. Turn off phone.
  2. Make popcorn.
  3. Head to couch with three books.
  4. Begin.

Linwood reads from The TwentyThree


A quick "23" tour
The Twenty-Three
I'll be hitting the road soon to promote The Twenty-Three. Here are my stops:

Sunday 30 October, Toronto, 4:30 p.m.
Peter Robinson and I will be talking crime with Toronto Star Book Editor Deborah Dundas at the International Festival of Authors.
>> Full details here

Friday 4 November, Charleston, S.C., 11:30 a.m.
I'll be speaking at The Post and Courier Fall Book and Author event.
>> Ticket information here

Sunday 6 November, Scottsdale, AZ, 2 p.m.
I'm back at one of the best bookstores anywhere, The Poisoned Pen Bookstore, doing an event alongside the wonderful Hank Phillippi Ryan.
>> View calendar here
 
Monday 7 November, Burbank, CA, 7 p.m.
This will be my third visit to the Buena Vista Branch of the Burbank Public Library.
>> Full details here

Sunday 13 November, Uxbridge, Ontario, 11:00 a.m.
I'll be speaking at Uxbridge Books and Brunch with Ami McKay. 
 
A peek at L'Accident
A six-part TV series based on my novel,  The Accident, called L'Accident, is all shot, edited and ready to go. Now we're waiting to see when it will actually air on television in France (it's to be broadcast on France 3). It was originally to run between now and the end of the year, but it now looks as though it will debut in the spring.

Whenever it airs, I think it's going to be great. I've had a chance to see the first two, subtitled, episodes, and while the locale and character names and a few other details are different from the novel, the series is following the original storyline very closely. And the acting and directing are superb.

Even if you don't understand French, the trailer for L'Accident looks great. 

Fingers crossed that Netflix, or another service, makes the series available in other countries soon after its French debut.  

L_Accident trailer


How I do what I do
A year or two ago I was asked to be part of a project called The Biology of Story, in which a number of authors were interviewed about how they write. Here's a clip from the project where I talk about how I need a great hook, which is a way to grab the reader, before I start a new novel.

Linwood talks about his inspiration

Now that The Night Of is over...
That HBO crime series was so fantastic that we've been hunting for anything else that's even half as good.

We've only had a chance to see the first two episodes of the new HBO series,  Westworld, a remake of the 1970s film by Michael Crichton, but it's promising.

And we were grazing through Netflix the other night, trying to find something that might be interesting, and decided to give a subtitled French series The Returned ( Les Revenants) a try. It's about a small French town where long-dead loved ones return. Far more thoughtful and absorbing than standard zombie fare. I think there was an attempt at a U.S. version that died before anyone knew it was on, and it's not likely to be revived.

Talking to Carl Hiaasen
I've been a fan of Carl's zany, satirical thrillers since I read them to keep me awake on the overnight city desk shift at The Toronto Star back in the 1980s. His latest, Razor Girl, is one of his best, and I was lucky enough to interview him - for the second time - when he came through Toronto on his book tour.

Interviewing Carl Hiaasen


And I'm reading . . .
I read so many novels in August, when I took a break from writing, that I pretty much eliminated that pile of books next to the bed. Now, I'm afraid to say it's taller than ever.

Books waiting to be read include:
  • The Nix by Nathan Hill
  • The Jealous Kind by James Lee Burke
  • Natchez Burning by Greg Isles
  • A Truck Full of Money by Tracy Kidder (a non-fiction book by a fantastic journalist)
  • A Twist of the Knife by Becky Masterman (an advance copy; the book comes out next year)
  • The Secret History of Twin Peaks by Mark Frost.
But what I may dive into first is The Interestings by Meg Wolitzer. I did a book event in Toronto with her recently, and her presentation to the crowd was the funniest and best-delivered I have ever heard any author give. She was hilarious. Just because someone is a great author does not mean he or she is going to be dynamite before an audience. Unless, of course, by dynamite I mean a total bomb. Meg was the exception. I could have listened to her tell stories all night.

I've also started reading The Dark Tower books by Stephen King. I've been a King fan for nearly forty years, but have never picked up his multi-book other-worldly series. I decided it was time. I've finished The Gunslinger, and am now into book two, The Drawing of the Three. I am intrigued.

Ross Macdonald Archives
There's another book I want to give a shout-out to, and that is It's All One Case: The Illustrated Ross Macdonald Archives by Paul Nelson and Kevin Avery. If you were a fan of Macdonald, and his private eye character Lew Archer, this book is a must (I'm even in it, but that's another story). The book features transcriptions of hours of interviews with the author, photos, book covers, and correspondence.  Seriously, a must read.


What's next?
While the Promise Falls trilogy is now out there, I'm not quite done with that town. There will be one more Promise Falls novel, tentatively called Curtain Falls, next year. While the plot deals slightly with the fallout of what happened in the trilogy, it is not really connected. It does, however, feature two stars from the trilogy: Cal Weaver and Barry Duckworth.

Next year also brings Chase, my first novel for younger readers. More on that as details become available.

These days, I'm working like crazy on the book that will come out in 2018. It's called The Typewriter, and all I'll tell you is this: it will scare you silly.

All for now!
You'll hear from me again before the holidays. We know the holidays are all about lists, and I will have some to share with you. Each of them will have 23 items, my homage to The Twenty-Three and the entire Promise Falls trilogy.

As always, thanks for all your support. You can keep tabs on me at:
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