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The answer is 25th December if you are online – 24th if you are a physical shop. That’s not a typo, if you are a bookseller or publisher then the online appetite from consumers won’t stop when the tills in the shops close on Christmas Eve. Shopping on Christmas Day is a relatively new phenomenon. In 2008 as in years before, shopping online started to slow down around the 16th December and stopped almost altogether on the 19th. In 2009 we passed a significant point in our shopping cultural evolution. Some time during 2009 shopping online became a daily activity...

Whenever a new form of recycling is heralded as a contribution to the life of the planet and a reduction in the carbon footprint, there spring up a host of 'nay-sayers' that highlight the problems with it. None more so than garden composting or recycling. It's been described as 'a dangerous folly of the middle classes' and some other even less kinder descriptions that focus on the dangers of not doing it correctly, when in reality it can be a very productive and useful tool for the avid gardener. Leading agro-scientist Bill Butterworth explains the 'why' of composting: "There is...

The time that Arthur Conan Doyle spent in Devon was critical. It was only when he wrote 'The Hound of The Baskervilles' did Sherlock Holmes become a worldwide phenomenon. It was there, on Dartmoor that Conan Doyle got the inspiration for what was to become the most famous, and most important, crime fiction mystery of all time. Two leading Holmes historians Paul R. Spiring and Brian W. Pugh have teamed up with a Devonian historian Sandru Bhanji to create the definitive guide to Sherlock Holmes and Devon. Arthur Conan Doyle, Sherlock Holmes and Devon: A Complete Tour Guide & Companion (MX Publishing,15th June) contains detailed descriptions, background and even GPS co-ordinates for thirty key Sherlock Holmes and Arthur Conan Doyle sites across Devon.

To celebrate Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's birthday on the 22nd May, one of the world's most renown Sherlock Holmes historians Alistair Duncan appeared at Waterstones Croydon from 11am to sign copies of all three of his books - but in particular his latest book  'The Norwood Author' which is very much a local book for the store. Fans were treated to a rare bookstore appearance from Duncan who lives in South London Conan Doyle wrote many of his Sherlock Holmes stories while he was a resident in Norwood and many commentators feel that some of his best work came during...

Hats off to Molly Carr whose debut novel 'The Sign Of Fear' is a wonderful book that charts the adventures of Mrs.Watson, the wife of Dr.Watson and her sidekick Emily Fanshaw. With a supporting cast of Sherlock Holmes, Dr.Watson and Moriarty it is a great story and a fresh female approach to the Holmes canon.