Bookshops – F.C. MALBY

Catch up with the launch of Dead Drop – Readings and a Q&A with Linen Press

We had a wonderful evening of readings and a fascinating Q&A, with questions from the director of Linen Press, Lynn Mitchell, and some really interesting questions from the audience.

Thank you to so many of you for joining us. Do send in any questions in the comments. We enjoyed taking you on a journey through Vienna and the art underworld. Find out more about Liesl’s dangerous dead drops and the mysterious letters from Albert.

Pick up a copy from Linen Press

A fast-paced, intelligent thriller that exposes the undercover world of art heists and takes us on a roller-coaster ride through Vienna’s renowned galleries and museums as skilled art thief, Leisl, steals paintings for private collectors, until she comes up against a truth that makes her question everything she knows.

“Malby’s novel proves once and for all that thrillers can be both hugely compelling and beautifully written. This is virtuosic storytelling, as vibrant as a Klimt painting, as lyrical as a Viennese waltz, as atmospheric as a Carol Reed film. I loved it.”
– Jonathan P Taylor, author and Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing at the University of Leicester

Publication date: October 31, 2022
978-1-9196248-6-0 Paperback
Price: £7.99
978-1-9196248-7-7 Digital
Price: £5.99

Dead Drop – Book Release

Pre-order Dead Drop from Linen Press from 20 October

Malby’s novel proves once and for all that thrillers can be both hugely compelling and beautifully written. This is virtuosic storytelling, as vibrant as a Klimt painting, as lyrical as a Viennese waltz, as atmospheric as a Carol Reed film. I loved it.

– Jonathan P Taylor, author and Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing at the University of Leicester

An exquisitely written, poetic journey through the underbelly of Vienna’s artworld, Dead Drop is littered with secrets and laced with tension. F C Malby is a writer to watch!

– Jane Isaac, best-selling author of crime thrillers

Leisl is an art thief and an exceptionally good one. She steals priceless paintings from Vienna’s art galleries and delivers them to private collectors. This life of anonymous notes and meticulous planning, of adrenaline-fuelled dead drops and dramatic escapes, suits her restless spirit and desire for solitude and anonymity. But when Leisl finds a body on Stephansplatz underground steps instead of the expected note, she understands that she’s involved in a deadly game and that her own life is in danger.

A fast-paced, intelligent thriller that exposes the undercover world of art heists and takes us on a roller-coaster ride through Vienna’s renown galleries and museums as skilled art thief, Leisl, steals and returns paintings to private collectors. Until she comes up against a truth that makes her question everything she knows.

Linen Press Books

How Do You Organise Your Bookshelves?

A friend told me yesterday that their books are all arranged in alphabetical order. I smiled and said that mine are roughly arranged by type. I have a section for psychology, travel, theology, biographies and autobiographies (which are mostly political, but I also have one on Miles Davis), crime thrillers, short stories, poetry, literary fiction, commercial fiction, favourite books (mostly by J.M Coetzee, Julian Barnes, Hilary Mantel, Alice Munro, Colm Tóibín, Milan Kundera, Deborah Levy and Alison Moore).

This morning, I noticed that I have a selection of books with yellow covers, although I’m not entirely sure how the lime green snuck in! It’s the only colour I seem to have grouped together, purely because I love yellow. I don’t think I will ever match my books by colour, having seen a few well-known figures (who shall remain nameless) adding the results of this to Instagram. It feels a little too OCD for my liking, by we are all beautifully different.

How about this cascading cover colour bookshelves look from Book Bub?

As a writer and a reader, I love books, bookshelves and other people’s bookshelves. If I go to a home and there is a large book collection on the shelves, I like to scan the collection and see what the owner reads. Sometimes I find we like similar authors and there are other occasions where I find something new. Amidst the Covid pandemic over the past 15 months or so, and with life as we knew it transferred to Zoom and Teams meetings, a background of bookshelves never fails to capture my attention. Personally, I like a more mixed approach to bookshelves.

How do you arrange your bookshelves? Do you have any favourite bookshelves? Drop a link to a snap in the comments, or tell us how you organise your shelves, and share the book love.