Douglas Skelton
26Sep

Carry on Sleuthing rides again

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Despite public demand, the Crime Writers Amalgamated Players (CWAP for short) are on the road again.

Fresh from its triumph on Bute, the Carry on Sleuthing team will, to paraphrase The Monkees, take the last train to Clarkston to bring quality theatre to the city suburbs. Or something.

Yes, you lucky Clarkstonians will have the chance to revel in the mystery and fun that has had audiences both puzzled and incontinent from Sanquhar to Grantown.

A talented band of performers will be presenting a superb show filled with wit and style and elegance.

Unfortunately, that’s not this show.

Authors Caro Ramsay, Theresa Talbot, Michael J Malone and Douglas Skelton will trot out the clues that will help amateur sleuth Letitia Luvibod solve the mystery of the Murder at the Knickerage (oo-er, missus!)

Unfortunately, there will also be bad jokes and even worse accents.

Come see them in Clarkston library on Tuesday October 29. To book, contact the library.

 

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1Jan

Four Blokes and the Sleuthing gang join forces again

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Yes – it’s true!

Those Four Blokes are still searching for that plot and the trail is taking them back to Dumfries’ fabulous Theatre Royal.

Once again, they will be joined the Carry on Sleuthing team in a double bill of mirther (that’s a mixture of mirth and murder, in case you hadn’t spotted it).

 

The crime writers on offer in the show are Caro Ramsay, Lucy Cameron, Neil Broadfoot, Gordon Brown, Mark Leggatt, Michael J. Malone and Douglas Skelton.

The blokes will, as usual, create a crime story before the audience’s very eyes – and given it’s taking place on Burns Night, there may well be a Bardic flavour. Be prepared for exploding haggi, Slashy Sarks and a man’s a corpse for a’ that.

The Carry on Sleuthing epic this year will be ‘A Death on the Ocean Wave’, a cunning tale of murder and skulduggery aboard an ocean liner. Once again ace sleuth Letitia Luvibod will look up from her knitting to fathom the mystery and bring the identity of the dastardly murderer to the surface – but the audience have to spot the clues and put forward their own theories. To do so they have to wade through a sea of bad jokes and red herrings. Perhaps even a couple of turbot.

You’ll find details here. You can buy tickets singly at £8 or £12 for both shows:

https://www.evensi.uk/carry-sleuthing-66-68-shakespeare-street-dg1-2jh-dumfries/279949477

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7Nov

Carry on Sleuthing visits Troon

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The Carry on Sleuthing gang are heading for the seaside – with an ocean-based mystery!

You’d think we planned it.

But anyone who has seen Sleuthing knows that’s just not true.

We’re appearing in Troon Library on Wednesday November 14.

So come along and join Caro Ramsay, Pat Young, Michael J. Malone and Douglas Skelton for an evening of fun and mayhem.

Space is limited so booking is essential. Tickets are priced £8 and can be booked in the library on South Beach or by phoning 01292 315352.

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27Oct

A weekend of murder and mayhem

Posted by: douglasskelton3
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It’s an attractive little town, like many in the highlands. Neat streets. Solid stone buildings. Stunning views to the mountains.

But for one weekend a year it becomes the focal point of murder and mayhem. A centre of dark acts and despicable deeds.

And that’s just the jokes in Carry on Sleuthing!

Yes, it’s time for the Wee Crime Festival in lovely Grantown-on-Spey (November 2-4).

This will mark the fourth year I’ve trekked northwards for this absolutely terrific event and one of these years they’ll find me out.

Once again the Crime Writers Associated Players (CWAP) will be debuting a brand new Carry on Sleuthing. There will be drama, horror and tears. And that’s just when Michael J. Malone can’t find his sporran.

Caro Ramsay will once again be taking the leading role. Spinster sleuth Letitia Luvibod is becoming very much her alter ego, I think.

But that’s just one event in the weekend of fun and fear.

There are top names attending this year.

Stuart McBride!

Alex Gray!

Craig Robertson!

Alex Sokoloff!

Neil Broadfoot!

Sandra Ireland!

Thomas Enger!

Margaret Kirk!

Helen Forbes!

Hugh Pugh, Barney McGrew!

Well, okay perhaps not the last two.

The events mostly take place in the Pagoda, a terrific venue in the town, while the Saturday night dinner takes over the Garth Hotel restaurant and the Sunday session will be found in Grantown Golf Club.

Come along and make a weekend of it. It is a truly great festival – Marjorie in the Bookmark and her willing band of volunteers really do a great job in pulling all this together.

 

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5Oct

A packed autumn!

Posted by: douglasskelton3 Categories: blog entry
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Things have suddenly turned busier than ever here at Hole-In-The-Wall.

First, THE JANUS RUN is now out there and ready, willing and (hopefully) able to give readers a thrill ride in words.

I’m also as busy ever on social media – well, as busy as I can be given I really don’t understand it at all!

I’m writing a new Carry on Sleuthing (more later) and awaiting edits on a new book to be published next March. I’ve already seen the cover and it’s so good it would make me want to read the book! And I know what happens.

You’ll hear a LOT more from me on this new one in the coming months.

However, I’m also out and about a great deal over the next few weeks.

DENZIL MEYRICK

Fans of Denzil Meyrick are snapping up his new book THE RELENTLESS TIDE.

I’ve been lucky enough to chair Denzil at two bookstore events for its release – Edinburgh and Glasgow.

I say chair but really you just start him off and watch him entertain the crowd with a string of one liners and stories.

I have two more with him coming up:

Thursday October 11 – Falkirk Library 3pm (in association with Waterstones)

https://www.waterstones.com/events/an-afternoon-with-denzil-meyrick/falkirk

Thursday November 8 – Waterstones, Oban, 6.30pm.

https://www.facebook.com/events/464645690694642/

If you’ve never seen Denzil then come along if you can – he gives right good chat. and if you’ve never read his books, then you really are missing something!

CARRY ON SLEUTHING

You can’t keep a good show down. The same can be said for Carry on Sleuthing.

The gang is heading to Giffnock Library on Friday October 12 with MURDER AT THE KNICKERAGE.

https://www.eastwoodparktheatre.co.uk/article/9764/Carry-On-Sleuthing

The very first Letitia Luvibod headscratcher, A DEATH ON THE OCEAN WAVE, will descend upon Troon Library on Wednesday November 14.

THE JANUS RUN

On Thursday October 18 I’ll be back in my old haunt of Waterstones Argyle Street for the Glasgow launch of the new book.

https://www.waterstones.com/events/douglas-skelton-launches-the-janus-run/glasgow-argyle-street

FOUR BLOKES IN SEARCH OF A PLOT

The four blokes – Neil Broadfoot, Gordon Brown, Mark Leggatt and myself – are crossing the water to Bute on Friday October 19. It’s already a near sell-out so if you want a ticket, be quick!

MEL SHERRATT

On Thursday November 25 I’ll be in Waterstones Argyle Street once again, this time to natter to bestselling author Mel Sherratt about her new book HUSH HUSH

https://www.waterstones.com/events/mel-sherratt-launches-hush-hush/glasgow-argyle-street

THE WEE CRIME FESTIVAL

The crime festival in Grantown-on-Spey is an absolutely cracking event and I hope I’m invited every year! So far, I’ve been lucky.

The event takes place from Friday November 2 to Sunday November 4 and is jam-packed with great authors.

And we’ll be debuting the brand new CARRY ON SLEUTHING: THE MYSTERIOUS AFFAIR AT PYLES.

BOOK WEEK SCOTLAND

Once again, I’m all over the place like a cheap suit during Book Week Scotland.

Monday November 19 – Greenock Library

https://bookweekscotlandevents.com/events/rebels-and-rogues-with-crime-writer-douglas-skelton

Tuesday November 20 – Mitchell Library, Glasgow, in conversation with Denise Mina and Liam McIlvanney

https://bookweekscotlandevents.com/events/a-conversation-with-denise-mina-and-liam-mcllvanney

Wednesday November 21 – Lochgilphead Library

https://bookweekscotlandevents.com/events/the-rebel-in-crime

Thursday November 22 – Tobermory Library, Isle of Mull

https://bookweekscotlandevents.com/events/the-rebel-in-crime-1abe316f-73e2-44c3-bcfd-23b2fee5c80a

 

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24Aug

What’s happening in the next month

Posted by: douglasskelton3 Categories: blog entry
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I’ve got a busy few months ahead of me, which is never something to complain about. It keeps me on the streets, as it were.

The Four Blokes in search of a Plot tour is already underway with a session in Glasgow’s Sauchiehall Street Waterstones that really rocked. I even sang. After a fashion.

Picture by Ellie Petrie

 

The tour, with Gordon Brown, Neil Broadfoot and Mark Leggatt, continues as follows:

Thursday August 30 – Blackwells, Edinburgh

Thursday September 13 – Waterstones Stirling

Friday October 19 – Bute Museum, Isle of Bute (as part of Bute Noir’s ongoing calendar of events)

The Tour coincides with all four of us having new books hitting the shelves. Funny how things work out.

Neil Broadfoot’s newie is NO MAN’S LAND, the start of a thrilling new series featuring two-fisted Connor Fraser centred in Stirling.

Gordon Brown’s is DEEPEST WOUNDS, the latest in his Exciting Craig McIntyre series.

Mark Leggatt’s latest is THE SILK ROAD, another suspenseful tale featuring Connor Montrose.

Mine, as you all know, is THE JANUS RUN, which I describe as Jason Bourne meets the Sopranos.

From September 21 to September 23, I’ll be attending Bloody Scotland in Stirling, one of the premier crime fiction festivals in the world!

I’m chairing a couple of panels during the festival – one with Quintin Jardine and Denzil Meyrick, the other with Nick Triplow, Cathi Unsworth and Harry Brett – but I’ll also be joining the Carry on Sleuthing crowd to present Murder at the Knickerage.

Speaking of The Janus Run and Carry on Sleuthing, I’ll be launching the book officially at the Tidelines Festival in Irvine’s Harbour Arts Centre on Sunday September 30 – and later that day we’ll be back with Knickerage.

 

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13Dec

Murder Most Fun in the Queen of the South

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Sleuthing poster

They called it a triumph in Grantown-on-Spey (or some kind of clapped out old banger, anyway).

And in January, Carry on Sleuthing 2: Murder at the Knickerage is heading for Dumfries – and the oldest working theatre in Scotland.

And if that wasn’t enough to get the funny bone tingling, the Theatre Royal will also host Four Crime Writers in Search of a Plot.

ALL IN THE SAME NIGHT!

Let Joy be unbound (she’s a lovely girl)!

Carry on sleuthing composote (2017_11_10 11_48_18 UTC)

Yes, indeedy – Gordon ‘GJ’ Brown, Mark Leggatt, Neil Broadfoot and Douglas Skelton will be dusting off the old Tea Cosy of Inspiration (TCOI) and getting their little grey cells in gear to create a crime story before the audience’s very eyes live on stage (well, almost live. A couple of them don’t look too healthy).

Here’s the drill – the audience is invited to suggest a protagonist and a murder weapon and then choose which author will write the next section of the story. While the chosen one is sporting the TCOI and churning out some fantastic prose (it could happen), the others will field question about crime writing from the audience.

It’s fast, it’s fun and it could well be folly.

four blokes byres road 2 (2017_10_12 09_40_46 UTC)

Then the Carry on Sleuthing team – Caro Ramsay, Lucy Cameron, Michael J. Malone and Douglas Skelton – will take over the stage to present a mystifying mystery filled with suspense, danger and, well, mystifying mystery.

Either that or they’ll just do Murder at the Knickerage.

With script in hand, because they’re incapable of remembering lines and you wouldn’t want some of these stuck in your head anyway, they will invite you to listen to the witnesses, find the clues and decide who the murderer was.

However, budding sleuths have to wade their way through a barrage of jokes and sight gags to find the clues!

Don’t miss this tittersome evening of murder, mystery and mirth.

Tickets can be booked now, priced £8 for an individual show, or £12 for the two.

 

Find out how to book here:

https://www.ents24.com/dumfries-events/theatre-royal

 

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3Oct

Grantown on Spey – the crime (fiction) capital of the Highlands

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Douglas is heading back to Grantown-on-Spey in November for this year’s Wee Crime Festival.

It all kicks off on Friday November 3 with the gala premiere of the new Carry on Sleuthing extravaganza, Murder at the Knickerage, with Caro Ramsay, Michael J. Malone and some guest performers.

Douglas with Caro Ramsay in Carry on Sleuthing. A brand new mystery will make its debut in Grantown

Douglas with Caro Ramsay in Carry on Sleuthing. A brand new mystery will make its debut in Grantown

Caro with Michael J, Malone in Carry on Sleuthing

Caro with Michael J, Malone in Carry on Sleuthing

Then on Saturday and Sunday he joins fellow authors Caro Ramsay, Lin Anderson, James Oswald, Yrsa Siguroardottir, Mason Cross, Michael J. Malone and Daniel Shand in a number of events.

Detail here:

21641114_308758179527886_2235620742385044383_o

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16Jul

Clarkston Library: Carry on Sleuthing

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Fresh from its triumph at Tidelines, the Carry on Sleuthing team will, to paraphrase The Monkees, take the last train to Clarkston to bring quality theatre to the city suburbs. Or something.

Yes, you lucky Clarkstonians will have the chance to revel in the mystery and fun that has had audiences both puzzled and incontinent from Sanquhar to Grantown.

We’ll be in the library on Thursday October 5.

Details Here:

Clarkston Library

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15Jul

Tidelines Book Festival: Carry on Sleuthing

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Yes!

We’re back on stage with the play that will give you the most fun you’ll ever have out of brutal murder.

Carry on Sleuthing will bring this year’s superb Tidelines Festival to a dramatic close.

If you haven’t seen it before, then this is a laugh a minute murder mystery with some wonderful performances from some top crime writers.

If you HAVE seen it before then you’ll know there was at least one lie in the statement above.

This is an extended version of the show that has played Glasgow, Paisley, Grantown, Ayr and Sanquhar.

So come along and help our ace sleuth Letitia Luvibod solve the mystery of who killed odious lawyer Hiram Grabbitt on board the SS Naughty Nigel.

SIFT the evidence!

HEAR the suspects give their version of events!

GASP at the incredible performances!

GROAN at the jokes!

Join our star, bestselling author Caro Ramsay, ably supported by Michael J. Malone, Douglas Skelton, Neil Broadfoot and, in a change to the programme, Pat Young, in Irvine’s Harbour Arts Centre for the theatrical event of the season.

Book here:

Carry on Sleuthing at Tidelines

Or phone 01294 274 059.

 

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