I had a long conversation with Ruth Rendell about the joys, woes and compulsion of writing, and also about supernatural thrillers. She told me a curious phenomenon - that although she resolutely does not believe in ghosts, she gets scared witless by ghost stories!

RT @BucksWriter: New on my blog: P.D. James talks to Ruth Rendell

Taking for example a little-known joint piece written for the Couterblasts series in 1989, Undermining The Central Line. Jointly written by Ward and his close friend of the time, Ruth Rendell (yes the Baroness Rendell of crime fiction fame, in a former life she used to sell anarchist literature outside Debenham library I'm told) it's a 64-page warning note against the destruction of autonomy in local councils.

US websites documenting the stories of homeless people are attracting millions of viewers

Policeman's 'perfect' blog wins Orwell prize.

Murder One has finally closed its doors after nearly 21 years in business

Fiction for the criminally inclined