*** SHORTLISTED IN THE SPORTS WRITING CATEGORY AT THE 2024 SPORTS BOOK AWARDS *** *** LONGLISTED FOR THE WILLIAM HILL SPORTS BOOK OF THE YEAR 2023 *** *** ONE OF THE DAILY TELEGRAPH'S SPORTS BOOKS OF THE YEAR 2023 *** *** ONE OF THE TIMES' SPORTS BOOKS OF THE YEAR 2023 *** The remarkable inside story of how two Hollywood A-listers, Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds, stunned the football world by buying a non-league club in North Wales. 'astute, lovingly detailed ... so entertaining ... so charming' Victoria Segal, the Sunday Times 'A superb account of a modern-day success story, told beautifully by one of the best writers in the business. This is one of the great football stories of recent years. No matter who you support, if you love football, you will love the story of Tinseltown.' Daniel Taylor, The Athletic 'This is a compelling, multi-layered, page turner, underpinned by a real sense of both place and connection with the eclectic characters involved. It will appeal to anyone with even the slightest interest in the game's enduring place in a changing world.' Louise Taylor, Guardian '...the best sports book I've read all year for many years...It's full on factual but funny, exhaustive but not exhausting and well written and wonderful.' Paul Ross, talkSPORT 'terrific ... A richly layered and fascinating story of a club and community reborn' FourFourTwo 'This book comes from the heart. It tells the story of how Wrexham, the club I love, has always been special and achieved so much in the past, as well as the present. I really enjoyed it.' Mickey Thomas, Wrexham FC legend and 1992 FA Cup hero It was one of the most extraordinary takeovers British football has known. In February 2021, Ryan Reynolds joined with Rob McElhenney to buy Wrexham FC, a non-league team in North Wales. Wrexham, a former coal and steel town dealing with its post-industrial legacy, suddenly found itself at the centre of global attention, with broadcast networks around the world descending to discover what was going on. The club became the subject of a smash hit Disney+ docu-series, Welcome to Wrexham. Tinseltown tells the story of this extraordinary, unpredictable and often surreal football takeover and the remarkable events that followed. Written with the full cooperation of Wrexham FC, it is the inside story of what happened when Hollywood met a dot on a map. How a town was transformed when its football club, aspiring only to survive on the fifth rung of the British football ladder, was sprinkled with gold dust and found ambition again. With unique access to key figures, the book charts the club's attempts to climb up the pyramid, providing a vivid sense of what it is like to play for this 'Hollywood' team and the pressure and spotlight that comes with it. At their only press conference since buying the club, nobody laughed when Reynolds and McElhenney said the Premier League could be an aspiration. 'Couldn't we theoretically make this happen?' McElhenney asked. 'Why not dream big?' added Reynolds. 'If you don't dream big, you will never go there, so why not?' Tinseltown is the story of how they did just that.

Josh Bartlett had figured all the angles, changed his name, holed up as a small-town features writer in the seclusion of the Blue Ridge. Only a few weeks more and he'd begin anew, return to the Litchfield Hills of Connecticut and Molly (if she'd have him) and, at long last, live a normal life. After all, it was a matter of record that Zharko had been deported well over a year ago. The shadowy form John had glimpsed yesterday at the lake was only that --- a hazy shadow under the eaves of the activities building. It stood to reason his old nemesis was still ensconced overseas in Bucharest or thereabouts well out of the way. And no matter where he was, he wouldn't travel south over eight hundred miles to track Josh down. Surely that couldn't be, not now, not after all this.>/b>

Like most people, Bud Palmer felt this was just another day. Though the era was drawing to a close, he assumed his life as a sports columnist in the subtropics, in keeping with the benign fifties itself, would go on as predictable as ever. But that particular autumn morning he was thrust into a caper that was totally beyond him, forced him to leave Miami and take the train to Manhattan, and suddenly found everything in this restless "Big Apple" was up for grabs, on the brink, at a dicey turning point.

Written in the style of a classic Brtish Mystery with a contemporary young American woman as the amateur sleuth. Entertaining. Keeps you guessing until the end. From a small secluded village in Connecticut to the English Countryside, readers are taken on a roller coaster of events and quirky characters as amateur sleuth Emily Ryder tries to solve a murder that everyone thinks was an accident. For tour guide Emily Ryder, the turning point came on that fateful early morning when her beloved mentor met an untimely death. It's labeled as an accident and Trooper Dave Roberts is more interested in Emily than in any suspicions around Chris Cooper's death. For Emily, if Chris hadn't been the Village Planner and the only man standing in the way of the development of an apartment and entertainment complex in their quaint village of Lydfield, Connecticut, she might have believed it was an accident, but too many pieces didn't fit. As Emily heads across the pond for a scheduled tour of Lydfield's sister village, Lydfield-in-the-Moor . . . she discovers that the murderer may be closer than she thought.

From 70 of the most successful mystery writers in the business, an invaluable guide to crafting mysteries—from character development and plot to procedurals and thrillers—“this is a writing guide that readers and writers will turn to again and again” (Booklist, starred review). Mystery Writers of America (MWA) is known for providing unparalleled resources on the craft, art, and business of storytelling, helping writers of all levels improve their skills for nearly a century. Now, this handbook helps authors navigate the ever-shifting publishing landscape—from pacing, plotting, the business side of publishing, to the current demand for diversity and inclusivity across all genres, and more. Featuring essays by a new generation of bestselling experts on various elements of the craft and shorter pieces of crowd-sourced wisdom from the MWA membership as a whole, the topics covered can be categorized as follows: —Before Writing (rules; genres; setting; character; research; etc.) —While Writing (outlining; the plot; dialogue; mood; etc.) —After Writing (agents; editors; self-pub; etc.) —Other than Novels (short stories; true crime; etc.) —Other Considerations (diverse characters; legal questions; criticism) Also included is a collection of essays from MWA published authors—including Jeffery Deaver, Tess Gerritsen, and Charlaine Harris—selected by bestselling authors Lee Child and Laurie King and arranged thematically answering, “What piece of writing advice do you wish you’d had at the beginning of your career?” “Everything you wanted to know about how to plan, draft, write, revise, publish, and market a mystery” (Kirkus Reviews), this inclusive manual provides practical, current, easily digestible advice for new and established authors alike.

A wealthy woman’s death in a picturesque corner of Connecticut pulls her down-on-his-luck handyman into a sprawling criminal underworld . . . Awakened in the night by a mysterious and alarming call, handyman Jed Cooper rushes to the stately home of his employer, an emotionally fragile choreographer who has secluded herself in Connecticut’s Litchfield Hills. But it’s too late. She’s dead and a shadowy figure has bolted into the darkness. Just in time for the cops to show up and find Jed standing over her body. Jed may be innocent but he can’t help feeling some haunting stirrings of guilt—after all, she’d been acting even more skittish than usual in recent days. Thanks to his sketchy past he prefers to stay as far from trouble as he can get. But he’s already entangled in this murder case, and as the fallout mounts, this twisty tale moves from Manhattan’s Little Italy to Miami and beyond as the truth slowly comes to light . . . Praise for the writing of Shelly Frome “Complex and eventful . . . an intelligently conceived mystery and an entertaining one as well.” —Kirkus Reviews “Suspenseful . . . The plot takes numerous satisfying twists.” —Publishers Weekly

Following in the footsteps of the late great Lester Bangs -- the most revered and irreverent of rock 'n' roll critics -- twenty-four celebrated writers have penned stories inspired by great songs. Just as Bangs cast new light on a Rod Stewart classic with his story "Maggie May," about a wholly unexpected connection between an impressionable young man and an aging, alcoholic hooker, the diverse, electrifying stories here use songs as a springboard for a form dubbed the lit riff. Alongside Bangs's classic work, you'll find stories by J.T. LeRoy, who puts a recovering teenage drug abuser in a dentist's chair with nothing but the Foo Fighters's "Everlong" -- blaring through the P.A. -- to fight the pain; Jonathan Lethem, whose narrator looks back on his lost innocence just as an extramarital affair careens to an end -- this to the tune "Speeding Motorcycle" as recorded by Yo La Tengo; and Jennifer Belle, who envisions a prequel to Paul Simon's "Graceland" -- one that takes place at a children's birthday party replete with a real live kangaroo. With original contributions from Tom Perrotta, Nelson George, Amanda Davis, Lisa Tucker, Aimee Bender, Darin Strauss, and many more -- riffing on everyone from Tom Waits and Bruce Springsteen to the White Stripes, Cat Power, and Bob Marley -- this is both an astounding collection of short stories and an extraordinary experiment in words and music. Soundtrack available from Saturation Acres Music & Recording Co.

Lucas dreams it every night: the rockshow, flashy, ear-pounding, chaotic. The frothed-up mob that storms the stage. The death of his daughter Kristen, trampled in a sudden surge of tribal frenzy. In Lucas Ellington’s eyes, the audience is blameless. His child was murdered by the main event — Whip Hand, the ultimate party band. The arena disaster in which Kristen was killed causes Whip Hand to disband, but the individual musicians are still out there, alive and kicking. Not for long. Whip Hand’s lead singer, Gabriel Stannard, has established a successful solo career, but knows how fickle his public is. He has to do something — and soon — to retain his position as the baddest, meanest, most dangerous rockstar of all time. And he knows that Lucas is saving him for last in his campaign of revenge. Each man targets the other in a vendetta of honor versus glory. The Kill Riff traffics not only in the dark side of rock music and media exploitation, but explores what vengeance does to the avenger, in hard-ass 4/4 time.

Tinseltown Riff is a novel of suspense, crime, and Hollywood. Shelly Frome is a professor of dramatic arts emeritus, a former professional actor, a writer of mystery novels and articles and books on theatre and film. He also writes profiles of leading figures in the arts for a regional magazine covering the Berkshires, Hudson Valley and the Litchfield Hills

Provide your mystery fans with background information on their favorite writers and series characters, and use this as a guide for adding contemporary titles to your collections. This book examines 100 of today's top mystery novels and mystery authors hailing from countries such as the United States, Great Britain, France, Italy, South Africa, and Australia. Equally valuable to students writing research papers, readers craving new authors or more information about their favorite authors, and teachers seeking specific types of fiction to support curricula, 100 Most Popular Contemporary Mystery Authors: Biographical Sketches and Bibliographies provides revealing information about today's best mysteries and authors—without any "spoilers." Each of the accomplished writers included in this guide has established a broad audience and is recognized for work that is imaginative and innovative. The rising stars of 21st century mystery will also be included, as will authors who have won the Mystery Writers of America Grand Master Award.