After the RJ Ellory story, Northern Ireland crime writer Neville said it was time to speak out about his own experience.

BBC: NI crime writers Stuart Neville and Sam Millar clash

"This has been building up for some time but the tipping point was on Friday when the Ellory controversy broke, " he said.

BBC: NI crime writers Stuart Neville and Sam Millar clash

Ellory was the winner of the Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year 2010 for his novel, A Simple Act of Violence.

FORBES: Amazon Reviews: RJ Ellory Apologises for Fakery

And Millar also tripped up, like Ellory, by signing messages from his sockpuppet account, in this case Cormac Mac, with his own name.

FORBES: Amazon Reviews: RJ Ellory Apologises for Fakery

In response to Ellory, best-selling authors including Ian Rankin, Val McDermid and Lee Child condemned "fraudulent" writers caught praising their own work on Amazon.

BBC: NI crime writers Stuart Neville and Sam Millar clash

In his fake posts, many of which appeared to have been deleted, Ellory used the names Nicodemus Jones and Jelly Bean to heap praise on his works.

BBC: NI crime writers Stuart Neville and Sam Millar clash

At the weekend, best-selling crimewriter R J Ellory admitted using pseudonyms to write glowing reviews on the Amazon book website while criticising his rivals with bad reviews.

BBC: NI crime writers Stuart Neville and Sam Millar clash

When contacted by the Mail yesterday, Ellory issued an apology.

FORBES: Amazon Reviews: RJ Ellory Apologises for Fakery

Best-selling crime writer RJ Ellory has turned out to be the latest author exposed in the ongoing saga of fake Amazon reviews, a can of worm that just keeps on wriggling.

FORBES: Amazon Reviews: RJ Ellory Apologises for Fakery