The Puzzle Doctor 💙

Reform-led Durham council cut off funding to the annual Pride celebrations. So trade unions launched a fundraiser to save it, eventually raising more money than was cut. Which means this year's Pride will be bigger than ever. In the 1980s, the LGBT+ community raised thousands of pounds to help striking miners and their families. When we stick up for each other, we can achieve anything.

🚨NEW: Kerry Kennedy has announced Late Show Host Stephen Colbert is the recipient of the 2025 Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award for his advocacy for free speech and speaking truth to power. RETWEET to congratulate Colbert on this honor!

Shoutout to Volodymyr Zelenskyy for surviving actual assassination attempts and never demanding a ballroom once.

Arrest the Bishop? by Winifred Peck #FreetillFriday on Kindle this week! 😊 The author came from the brilliant Knox family. Her brothers included a Punch editor, an Enigma codebreaker, and a mystery writer. Intro by Martin Edwards @medwardsbooks Links below 👇

And here's one from John Dickson Carr, an overlooked gem that is one of my favourite books in my collection

No sign of these two v rare 1955 books yet for today's #MurderEveryMonday so better rectify that... @DeanStPress

Have you seen crime writers Simon McCleave and Tim Sullivan 🔎 ? We will during the free event on Sat 27 June 2-3pm in Central Library. To book, email central.library@coventry.gov.uk or call 024 7683 2314 @simon_mccleave @TimJRSullivan @The_CWA @readingagency @coventrycc

Found the first (but doubtless not the last) illegal download of The Drowning Place being offered online; a deeply depressing fact of life for many authors, breaching our copyright and threatening our ability to make a living from our work. 1/2

Out early next month - Murder By Design by Lee Goldberg #BookTwitter #Mystery classicmystery.blog/2026/05/11/mur…

@MichaelJecks Here's my latest...

Okay, @PuzzleDoctor, you got AI slop because you reviewed a book. My latest today is from someone writing to my main character rather than me!

@MichaelJecks Sorry, is "Long Perk" the surname of this not-made-up person?

And another for you, @puzzledoctor. Another book I've never heard of, let alone written - yet more #AISlop

It’s not just established authors like @MWCravenUK or @MichaelJecks who get targeted with spam emails… #Mystery #BookTwitter #AIslop classicmystery.blog/2026/05/10/a-c…

TV presenter to Farage "You promised local council tax cuts" "I never said that" "Here is a film of you saying it" "I never said that" "The film clearly shows you saying it" "Can we move on now?" "Here is one of your leaflets where you say it" "Next question"

Second one of these in a month - the last one thought I was @MJTrowCrime who I last reviewed in 2016. Obviously I'm not going to reply to the email but what does the scammer hope to get out of this? And why do they keep thinking I'm someone else?#Mystery

... despite it being very out of print. Also this "book curator" can't use punctuation. At all. Oh, and the email address is the very non-suspicious beautifulmichelle@...

More AI spam in the blog inbox. This one thinks that I'm Jonathan Stagge (two different authors under one name in fact) and wants to promote Death's Old Sweet Song for me... [cont]

Book Four in the Holmes On The Range series by Steve Hockensmith - the fabulous The Crack aint The Lens #Mystery #SherlockHolmes #BookTwitter classicmystery.blog/2026/05/04/the…

Farage and the dodgy £5m donation finally gets a mention on the BBC but still not a single word on a single front page.

@DeanStPress @ArmchairSleuth One more - also available from your good selves but the original cover didn't fit...

Spotting the sleuth! 🕵️‍♂️ This week for #MurderEveryMonday, we’re spotlighting our Brian Flynn reissues where the gentleman detective himself, Anthony Bathurst, takes centre stage on the cover. #MurderEveryMonday @ArmchairSleuth