Mike Ripley's Shots column for December...

is now online. One thing he comments on is how the percentage of British crime wrtiting published each year is dropping:

"Five years ago the number of new crime titles by Brits represented 57% of the total titles published in the UK and it stayed around that figure until this year when it dropped to an estimated 52%.

It is just possible that 2007 will see the home-grown share of the market (in titles if not sales) drop below the 50% mark for the first time."