Latest Posts

• #ViennaWritingInspiration

  You want to write a story. What will it be about?  Where do you get your ideas from? As the author of eight novels and…

• Short story technique from the master: 3 quotations

  Every writer wants to write better. Some of my most popular blogs set out tips on how to do this.  That is why I have…

• Jeeves in the Offing: review and quotes

  Attentive readers – if any are reading this* – will be aware of my slow-burn devotion to the works of P G Wodehouse, including  How to…

• The best thing to do in Vienna on 1 November

  “As night falls on All Hallows, the Zentralfriedhof is transformed into an ethereal wonderland. It seems every visitor throughout the day has lit a candle…

• Carols, the perfect martini, and love: three quotations

  What is the perfect martini? A couple of years ago in Istanbul I was taken out for dinner by two top cardiac specialists. In between…

• Two-and-a-half literary quotes

  At my reading this week from my Berlin thriller Blood Summit, someone asked when I found time to write. I wrote a blog on “Where I write”…

• In Defence of Fifty Shades of Grey

  Originally posted on Inconsistent Pacing: With the new film just released, Fifty Shades of Grey is being savaged everywhere again – everyone seems to have an…

• The Russians: Vladivostok

  Josef had long dark curly hair and a roguish smile.  He stood aside from the tiller.  ‘Fancy a go?’ he said.  We were speaking Russian.…

• Thursday 18 October! My live reading from “Blood Summit”

  What does reclusive author Robert Pimm look like in the flesh?  Great news.  You can find out when I read from my Berlin thriller Blood Summit on…

• Smoking in cafes: a Viennese speciality

  Back in the 1970s I used to ride on the top deck of a double-decker red Routemaster bus to school in Manchester, an hour each…

• The 3 greatest Vienna cafes???

  ‘Hey,’ your friend says in Vienna.  ‘Let’s meet up for a coffee’. ‘How about a cup of tea?  Or a beer?  Or a glass of…

• Where to write

  So. The rather awesome J K Rowling wrote swathes of the “Harry Potter” series in cafes in Edinburgh. Can other writers do this? With iPad…

• The Americans: Avenue of the Heroes

  In 1979 I hitch-hiked for seven weeks around the United States. What did I learn about the US of 1979, and what does that tell…

• The Americans: leaving New York

  In 1979 I hitch-hiked for seven weeks around the United States.  What became of the carefree, relaxed young 21 year-old of these pages?  Can I…

• Blood Summit: Reading group questions

  People have asked if my Berlin Thriller Blood Summit is suitable for reading groups or book clubs. Blood Summit is ideal for reading groups and book…

• Vienna and Istanbul: the best cities on earth?

  People often ask me: ‘What is the best city you have lived in, apart obviously from Manchester?  Is it London?  Berlin?  Moscow? Istanbul?  Kyiv?  Or…

• “Prep”: is this how women think? 7/10

  Many years ago I worked alongside a young woman who, long before in another city, had had a relationship with a man who now worked…

• How to be understood: 7 tips

  The influential gallery director sits down with the visiting guest in a museum cafe.  Both are speaking English but only the guest is a native…

• The Third Man Museum: a Vienna gem 10/10

  The woman at the entrance seems delighted to see me.  Having sold me a ticket, she rises from her seat and accompanies me to the…

• Hard boiled: Chandler, Spillane and Hammett

  All I saw was the dame standing there in the glare of the headlights waving her arms like a huge puppet and the curse I…

• Stiff Upper Lip, Jeeves: review and quotes

  Those who know the code of the Pimms will know that the blogs on this site are consistently honest.  No fake news here, or indeed…

• A new blog every week? Views welcome

  It has been a good run. Since 12 August 2017 I have written a blog every week, usually published on a Saturday afternoon, in addition…

• Making fun of the English? The great George Mikes 10/10

  If you have not read How to be an Alien by George Mikes, please go and buy a copy instantly.  You will not regret it. George…

• Lady Anna: cruelty, feminism and power 7/10

  How much cruelty can you squeeze into a 150,000 word novel? A huge amount, if that book is Lady Anna, written by Anthony Trollope at the…

• Thank you!

  ‘How many people are you expecting at your reading?’ ‘Well, it’s impossible to know.  Maybe five, maybe 20.’ ‘But how many people will you will…

• This Friday 15 June! My live reading from “Blood Summit”

  What does reclusive author Robert Pimm look like in the flesh? You can find out on Friday 15 June at the wonderful Shakespeare & Co bookshop…

• Lee Child’s Jack Reacher novels – 8/10

  Burly, yet brilliant.  Violent, yet sensitive to the needs of women.  Loyal to friends, yet indifferent to relationships. Meet Jack Reacher, U.S. hero of British…

• Trollope vs Black Panther: life lessons

  I am on a four-stage plane journey, from Vienna to Sharm-el-Sheikh and back via Istanbul.  On the first leg, from Vienna to Istanbul, my Turkish…

• Seven Hotel Stories. Yes, seven

  Someone pointed out recently that I hadn’t written about the Hotel Stories for some time. In fact, I recently rebranded The Hotel Stories – Complete Collection as Seven Hotel…

• “Jeeves and the Feudal Spirit”: 20 delicious quotations

  I have written several times in these chronicles of my slow-burn devotion to the works of P G Wodehouse, including my induction (How to read…

• The Simpsons: Trash of the Titans 8/10

  My blog The Simpsons – existential, circular fantasy 9/10 argued that that “The Simpsons” was the most sophisticated show on TV. Do you agree? Back…

• Save the date! Live reading by Robert Pimm in Vienna 15 June (& video)

  Franz Schubert steps to one side. The lights go down. Robert Pimm looks up at the packed crowd. ‘My name is Robert Pimm,’ he says.…

• Bitcoin, Bart Simpson, beards, whales and the vomiting camel

  The pattern is unmistakeable. A graph shows a financial trend-line (the price of gold) going up and down a couple of times, then declining more…

• Zum Schwarzen Kameel: Review

  No seats.  Outrageous spectacles.  An enigmatic, four hundred-year-old name.  What is it that makes “Zum Schwarzen Kameel” stand out? Zum Schwarzen Kameel (Bognergasse 5, 1st…

• The Death of Stalin (Review)

  Originally posted on Inconsistent Pacing: Do you remember the first time you watched Jaws, and you were really hyped up, but it was kind of…

• Aunts Aren’t Gentlemen – 10 Quotations

  Attentive readers will know that, Wodehouse-wise, I am a slow-burn fanatic. Since 2017 I have been relishing a mouth-watering shelf-full of Wodehouse in a hand-tooled…

• How to read “Blood Summit”

  Many people come to this site in order to read my thriller Blood Summit. Welcome! You can get hold of a copy of Blood Summit thus: (i) go…

• Stairway to Klimt 10/10

  The Klimt masterpieces have been seen only twice in the last 127 years. Yet they have been on show all the time. It makes some…

• When kissing in cafes is forbidden

  My famous Vienna Cafe Reviews note the alleged “no kissing” rule in the Cafe Malipop; and promise a story from 1986. Here it is.  It concerns…

• Robert Pimm: my first public reading – 16 March in Vienna

  Have you ever wondered what Robert Pimm looks like in person? Now you can find out. I will be performing my first public reading at…