Literature

Crime Writer Paul Charles is In-Conversation with best selling author Mark Billingham; To mark the launch of Paul’s latest novel “Hi Love You Just Dropped Your Glove”

Join us at the ICC for the London book launch of "Hi Love, You Just Dropped Your Glove" by Crime Writer Paul Charles. Charles will be In-Conversation with Mark Billingham.

Join us for a special evening of crime fiction at the ICC London! Celebrate the launch of the latest novel by the acclaimed crime writer Paul Charles, who will be in conversation with bestselling author Mark Billingham.

Expect an engaging discussion on the craft of crime writing, the inspirations behind the latest McCusker Mysteries instalment, and insights from two of the genre’s most respected voices. The evening will conclude with a book signing by Paul Charles.

About the Book

Hi Love, You Just Dropped Your Glove is the third novel in Paul Charles’s McCusker Mysteries series.

The story begins in Portrush, County Antrim, in 1976, when three teenage boys—Thomas Barry, Lefty Kelly and Brendy McCusker—are roaming the streets of the seaside town. After literally bumping into Isabella Scott, Thomas Barry utters the line that becomes the novel’s unforgettable title.

More than forty years later, in July 2019, Barry’s remains are discovered at the foot of the Pilgrim’s Steps in Portrush Harbour. The town is already overwhelmed with visitors as the world-famous The Open Championship returns to the area, bringing global golf stars including Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy.

Detective Brendy McCusker and DI Lily O’Carroll are drafted from the Police Service of Northern Ireland in Belfast to assist the overstretched local police. As they investigate, long-buried secrets begin to emerge involving Thomas Barry, his wife Isabella, her sister Colette, ambitious property deals, complicated family ties and a cast of colourful characters from lawyers and accountants to showband singers.

Set against the vibrant backdrop of a small seaside town hosting one of the biggest events in world golf, this gripping mystery explores ambition, loyalty and the tangled relationships that shape a community where everyone has an opinion—and isn’t afraid to share it.

Published by Level Best Books, an independent publisher specialising in award-winning mysteries and thrillers.

“Paul Charles’ Hi Love, You Just Dropped Your Glove is a page turner par excellence. Another brilliantly compelling and atmospheric effort from a master crime writer.” Hot Press.

Copies of Hi Love, You Just Dropped Your Glove will be available to purchase at the ICC on the night.

Thu 16 April 2026

Doors: 7pm; Starts: 7.30pm

Tickets: £7

Paul Charles

Paul Charles was born and raised in the Northern Irish countryside. He is the author of the critically acclaimed Detective Inspector Christy Kennedy Series which is set in North London’s Camden Town and Primrose Hill. He has also written three Inspector Starrett Mysteries set in County Donegal, Ireland. Level Best Books now publishes his latest book Hi Love, You Just Dropped Your Glove, the third title in Paul’s McCusker Mysteries, all set in modern day Belfast.

Charles is a regular contributor to Hot Press, a Dublin Magazine.

He has worked as an agent in the music business since he was a teenager  and
admits that his first business card listed the number of a local  telephone box. Paul is
now one of the leading music agents in the world. The full details of this and other
memories and stories  about either the artists he’s been lucky enough to work with,
or he’s been fans of – as in The Beatles and Bob Dylan – are included in his  recent
non-fiction book, Adventures in Wonderland.

He is also the author of: The Last Dance, The Lonesome Heart is Angry, The First of
The True Believers, and One of Our Jeans is Missing, all stand-alone novels, set in
Castlemartin – a fictitious village in rural  Northern Ireland in the 1960s.
Paul has confessed that not only was he around in the sensational sixties, he also
remembers the decade vividly.

Paul Charles photo

Mark Billingham

Mark Billingham is one of the UK’s most acclaimed and popular crime writers. A
former actor, television writer and stand-up comedian, his series of novels featuring
D.I. Tom Thorne has twice won him the Crime Novel Of The Year Award as well as
the Sherlock Award for Best British Detective and been nominated for seven CWA
Daggers. His standalone thriller In the Dark was chosen as one of the twelve best
books of the year by the Times and his debut novel, Sleepy Head was chosen by the
Sunday Times as one of the 100 books that had shaped the decade. Each of his
novels has been a Sunday Times Top Ten bestseller.

Mark Billington

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