Ostara Publishing

Denise Danks was one of the ‘Fresh Blood’ wave of young, British crime writers which burst on the scene in the years 1988 and 1989 and included Ian Rankin, Michael Dibdin and Philip Kerr. Her first novel, The Pizza House Crash, introduced a new heroine, Georgina Powers, an ambitious young journalist whose specialist field is computer technology as she investigates the grotesque and very suspicious death of her cousin Julian only days before was to take up a dream job in California’s Silicon Valley. Published at a time when computing had only just started to be introduced into work places and homes, Danks’ debut novel is thought to be the first crime novel to deal with computers and predict the widespread usage they have today.  On first publication, the Sunday Times called it “A sophisticated thriller…The financial and technical background is plausible and well-presented. The plot loops through some highly inventive turns. In fact, the whole book is a refreshing development in sensible, intelligent, contemporary crime writing.” In 2009 the Encyclopaedia of British Crime Writing concluded that: “From the very first pages of Crash, it is evident that a considerable talent has arrived.”