When it came to stocking his novels, author Peter Sarda didn’t take ‘no’ for an answer from Waterstones Piccadilly, London. After getting nowhere with the formal online approvals process, he made a pitch in-person, with a well-thought-out marketing proposal for why the prestigious store should stock his atmospheric series of three crime novels, all set in Hamburg. It did the trick; that branch of Waterstones has accepted his novels – and the postcards he designed to promote it, too.

Other Waterstones branches are following their lead, and Foyles at Waterloo Station have also agreed to take the first book.

We are told that our editing made a difference – together with the feel-good matt covers and, of course, the deliciously noir stories. The final one, Edda Green, is my particular favourite.