Photo by Peter Chrisp

So it was my book launch on Friday. And what a night!

Alison with some of the best Parmesan cheese in the world

Brighton Waterstone’s hosted the event, Headline very generously provided the wine and my sister in law, Alison Crouch, provided the food, which was a highlight of the night. She imports Parma ham, Mozzarella, Parmesan and Salume from Italy and France and sells them in Borough Market and online.  Over a hundred people turned up and, as well as getting through kilos of ham and cheese, they also bought 109 books! My signing arm had quite a workout.

I did a speech – my first, and very nerve-wracking it was too – though I enjoyed it enough to go off-piste a bit, leaving my notes behind. Then I read a passage from Cuckoo, and for me it was a magical moment  – a room full of friends and colleagues, all wishing me well, and so quiet and attentive you could hear a pin drop. It brought back the theatre days in a great rush. I guess I never stopped being a performer (or showoff, some might say…).

Thank you to Adam and all the staff at Waterstones for putting up with a shop full of shouty, slightly inebriated, Brightonians. We had to do a bit of pushing and shoving at the end to clear the place. Then we moved back to our kitchen where the drinking and shouting went on till gone 2am. Sorry neighbours.

And thank you to Sam Eades and her team at Headline for putting the event together.

The next day I went to Crawley to meet the lovely Sam Hayes, another Headline author, to sign books in a rather quiet late Saturday afternoon Waterstone’s. But we went on to a packed Crawley library to do a reading and signing session for World Book Night, which was a great success. I’m just reading Sam’s latest novel – Someone Else’s Son, and it is unputdownable.

Sam and I are going to be in Crawley again for a Meet the Crime Writers event at the Crawley Wordfest on Saturday 2nd April at 6.30pm. We’ll be in the County Mall Food Court, so do come and join us. Tickets, £3, are available on the door.