SPEAKERS FROM THE CWA

FEMMES FATALES

Femmes Fatales are three Scottish women crime writers ready to talk about the darker aspects of their work:

Alanna Knight

Lin Anderson

Alex Gray

Lethal Ladies & Co is a crime writers' performance group headed by Maureen Carter and Sarah Rayne. The lethal ladies provide tailor-made evenings for writers' groups, libraries, bookshops - anyone who loves reading, writing or simply talking about books. Sarah and Maureen offer talks with audience participation, readings, a panel, or a double-whammy of a story-telling evening, complete with sound effects. Whatever you're looking for, Lethal Ladies & Co can work out a programme.

The " & Co" is a coterie of writer friends who'll join Maureen and Sarah when they perform in their area. Strolling players who won't have to stroll too far.

Sarah Rayne has been a published writer for nearly twenty years, and is the author of a number of acclaimed psychological thrillers, including Ghost Song, House of the Lost, and the 2005 Theakston-nominated Tower of Silence.

Maureen Carter is a former BBC TV journalist and producer whose background includes a presenting stint on Newsnight. She is the creator of the gritty detective series featuring Bev Morriss, who made her debut in Working Girls.

For more information, email: or .

THE MEDIEVAL MURDERERS

The Medieval Murderers are a group of authors available for speaking events. The members are: Bernard Knight, Ian Morson, Michael Jecks, Karen Maitland, Susanna Gregory, Philip Gooden and CJ Sansom, and regularly attend literary events together or in smaller, more manageable groups.

Promising medieval mayhem, murder and magic, the Medieval Murderers are a very popular performance group whose aim is to leave the audience laughing. Sometimes not at the Murderers themselves. With a wealth of anecdotes and jokes about writers, writing, publishers and Merrie, Murderous England, the Medieval Murderers are now one of the top speaking groups of writers in the country.

Medieval Murderers now offer a range of talks, with two to four Murderers speaking together, or can provide a full workshop event to last a whole day for writing groups, creative writing courses and libraries.

to contact Medieval Murderers and find out more.

MURDER SQUAD

Murder Squad was the first grouping of British crime writers. It consists of Chaz Brenchley, Ann Cleeves, Martin Edwards, Margaret Murphy, Stuart Pawson, and Cath Staincliffe.

Although these writers are the authors of very different novels within the crime genre, they are all located in the North of England, and cover an area from Manchester up to Newcastle. They offer, singly or in combination, talks, workshops, festivals, book-signings, readings, panel-discussions, entertainments, or after-dinner speakers.

OXBLOOD

Oxblood is a group of successful crime novelists based in and around Oxford.

Inspector Morse clones then? Not quite. Some find mystery close to home while others venture as far as New York, Ireland, France, and Northern England for settings and characters in a range of crime stories to conjure with. We are:

• Patricia Hall – Former Guardian journalist whose latest book, Sins of the Fathers, featuring Yorkshire detective Michael Thackaray and his lover, reporter Laura Ackroyd, was published in September 2005.
• Jane Jakeman – who is winning critical acclaim for The Kingdom of Mists set in Monet's London, a world of wealth and appalling poverty.
• Simon Kernick – a rising crime fiction star whose latest book, A Good Day to Die, reintroduces his rogue policeman and hitman Dennis Milne.
• Gemma O'Connor – author of six best-selling novels. Following the Wave, the latest, is set in Oxford and the south-west of Ireland.

REALITY BITES

Reality Bites is the collective identity of writers of true crime; it is too new to have a group website or central contact point - potential bookers should get in touch with individual speakers. We are:

• Martin Baggoley's books include Foul Deeds and Suspicious Deaths in Manchester and Lake District and Derbyshire Murders. He has a master’s degree in criminology and has worked as a probation officer in Manchester for more than thirty years. He gives talks on Victorian crime to local history societies, in schools and to other organisations.
• Steve Fielding (www.stevefielding.com) has produced over 20 investigative non-fiction books, mainly dealing with hangmen and executions. Hanged at Winchester, the seventh in the ‘Hanged at..’ series he created for The History Press, is due this summer. He lives in Bolton and, when not writing, teaches literacy and numeracy at a local college.
• Brian Innes has been writing about criminal matters for more than 40 years. He contributed regularly on forensic science to the weekly publication Real Life Crimes, and has more than 40 books to his credit, in 16 foreign languages, his most recent being Body in Question (Sterling). Brian was chairman of judges for the CWA Gold Dagger for Non-Fiction in 2009. He lives in France.
• Diane Janes (www.dianejanes.50webs.com) writes both novels and investigative non-fiction, including Edwardian Murder: Ightham & the Morpeth Train Robbery and Poisonous Lies: The Croydon Arsenic Mystery. She is currently working on a second novel for Constable & Robinson, and researching a series of unsolved twentieth century murders for The History Press. Diane lives in Cumbria, and travels extensively when lecturing.
• Mark Mower (www.markmower.co.uk) began writing scripted murder mystery plays for a corporate entertainment company before turning to non-fiction crime writing. His books include Foul Deeds & Suspicious Deaths in Suffolk (2008) and Suffolk Tales of Mystery & Murder (2006). He is based in the East of England and is currently working on Suffolk Murders for The History Press and a book about American counterfeiters.
• Ian Pepper has a range of published work including the book Crime Scene Investigation: Methods and Procedures. He is the Principal Lecturer in Policing at the University of Teesside and a police crime scene investigator (CSI) and fingerprint officer. He has designed and delivered training to Crime Scene Investigators and Police Officers both internationally and across the UK. Ian lives in County Durham with his wife Helen, herself a former crime scene investigator (CSI) and forensic scientist, and their son Thomas.
• Linda Stratmann (www.lindastratmann.com) has written about subjects as diverse as murder, chloroform, the life and murder of William Whiteley, fraud and Colonel Francis Charteris the Hanoverian rake. Linda is based in East London and gives a variety of talks based on her books.

THE SECRETS OF CRIME WRITING

Whether cosy or hard-boiled, historical or modern, crime fiction in all of its many forms exerts a fascination for readers of all tastes and ages. Now some of Britain's leading professional crime writers have joined together to spill the beans about their work and to share unique insights into the mysterious and intriguing world of fictional crime.

Take three writers selected from Russell James, Gillian Linscott, Priscilla Masters, Iain McDowall, Phil Rickman, Betty Rowlands and Rebecca Tope. Mix in lively debate - humorous, thought-provoking and controversial by turns. Stir with an audience-friendly attitude. Result: the Secrets of Crime Writing, increasingly in demand at literary festivals, bookshops, writing groups, libraries and other venues throughout the UK.