Tom Palmer's  new Football Detective series was launched at the Penguin offices on Thursday 1st March. Bridget Carrington attended for Write Away and sent this report:

Penguin’s 10th floor suite in its Strand HQ cannot often have housed a five-a-side football goal, nor witnessed several dozen adults frenziedly swapping football cards in an effort to be the first to form a team! The launch of Tom Palmer’s Football Detective series witnessed both these marvels, and revealed the serious underlying intent that the author has for his writing. Tom, who admitted that at school he was a reluctant reader and only started to enjoy reading for pleasure at 17, is passionate about encouraging reading as a fun activity, particularly for boys.

Foul Play is the first in the series whose hero is Danny Harte, a boy who is equally obsessed with football and detecting crimes. He stumbles on the kidnap of England's leading scorer and takes on the foulest corruption in the beautiful game yet. Foul Play will be followed up with Dead Ball in May 2009. Tom revealed that he is also currently writing a series of six books for younger readers called Boys United. The series, which will appear throughout 2009, will follow the fortunes of a professional football club's under-twelve team.

Tom told us that to promote Foul Play, he will be making a UK wide tour of book festivals, libraries and bookshops. He has devised a Football Family Fun Day to encourage families to get into reading through football and will visit most parts of the country delivering 60 Fun Days. He undertakes something like a hundred events a year in libraries, schools, bookshops, football stadiums, festivals and other venues to workshops and activities to encourage young people to enjoy reading and writing.

Since 1998 Tom has made his career in library reader development, starting at Bradford Library, and then freelancing for The Reading Agency (for whom he has written material), the National Literacy Trust, Booktrust, and the British Council. This was a great evening which demonstrated not only Tom’s potential as a writer, but also the modesty and commitment with which he undertakes his crusade to involve boy readers/writers with books and libraries and the wealth of exciting reading they contain. Nice one Tom!