Events
Want to know where these and other Crime Writers are appearing? Then consult our Events page.
Members' web sites
Want to know more about individual Crime Writers? There's a full list of CWA members' web sites on our Links page.
Want to know where these and other Crime Writers are appearing? Then consult our Events page.
Want to know more about individual Crime Writers? There's a full list of CWA members' web sites on our Links page.
Do you need a speaker or speakers for your organization, club, library, writers' group?
Across the country there are crime writers who have joined together into groups who would be delighted to come and speak to you. These groups are:
Femmes Fatales
Ladykillers
Lethal Ladies
The Medieval Murderers
Murder Squad
Oxblood
Reality Bites
The Secrets of Crime Writing
The Unusual Suspects
Click on any of the names above to learn more about them.
Femmes Fatales are ~ three Scottish women crime writers ready to talk about the darker aspects of their work:
Alanna Knight
Lin Anderson
Alex Gray
They say the female of the species is deadlier than the male. Well, now the LadyKillers are out to prove it.
LadyKillers is the collective name of four up-and-coming British women crime writers. Between them they've committed upwards of sixty murders - all purely in print, of course. Their victims have been shot, stabbed, strangled, garrotted, and disposed of in many more gruesome and ingenious ways. On the odd rare occasion, people have even died of natural causes, but they don't wish to encourage that kind of thing. The LadyKillers are:
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. "Ladies" is flexible - lethal gentlemen are included! Among the coterie are writers such as Georgie Hale, Sally Spedding, Russell James, and Patrick Redmond.
Sarah Rayne has been a published writer for nearly twenty years, and is the author of a number of acclaimed psychological thrillers, including A Dark Dividing, Spider Light, 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. Bev made her debut in Working Girls. The latest title in the series is Baby Love.
Five historically challenged individuals who today are responsible for most of the medieval mayhem straining crime readers around the world.
That is who we are. What do we do? We don't do readings (none of us are very good) but we sit and chat together about why we write, what we write, why we picked our characters, why we chose our eras, why we wanted to cover that piece of land, where our ideas come from, and much, much more. We are not only historically challenged, we're geographically challenged too, since we live in Wales, Cambridge, Devon, Somerset and Cornwall, but so far our travels have taken us almost the length - and certainly the breadth - of Britain. We are busy, though, so we prefer some warning.
The Medieval Murderers. Dealing death with humour!
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.
What is 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.
Who are we talking about?
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.
The members of this very new-born collective identity are all writers of true crime. At present they have no group website or central contact point and potential bookers should get in touch with individual speakers. they are:
Martin Baggoley has written several books including Foul Deeds and Suspicious Deaths in Manchester, Crime & Murder; 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. Recent titles have included Pierrepoint: A Family of Executioners, (John Blake) and More Murderous Bolton (Amberely). 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 is chairman of judges for the CWA Gold Dagger for Non-Fiction. 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, (Second Edition 2010) and the co-authored Keywords in Policing (2009). 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 chloroform, the life and murder of William Whiteley, fraud and Colonel Francis Charteris the Hanoverian rake. She has contributed four books to the County Murders series published by The History Press as well as Greater London Murders (2010), writing about a case for every borough of London, and is currently working on a book about The Illustrated Police News to be published by the British Library in 2010. Linda is based in East London and gives talks on ‘The Horrible History of Chloroform’ ‘Essex Murders’ and ‘Frauds Hoaxers and Nasty Low-Down Cheats’, and is developing new talks based on her writings.
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.
A diverse group of award-winning crime novelists who can write and talk on everything from anaesthesiology to zealotry (taking in chaos theory, prostitution, prisons, and the water metaphors in Shakespeare) and place those subjects within the context of the modern crime novel. Reviewers have called their books 'topical, witty, thrilling, brainy, devilish' and more...
Natasha Cooper - former Chairman of the Crime Writers' Association, author of many novels of detection and psychological suspense; reviews and broadcasts widely.
Manda Scott - a former vet, shortlisted for the Orange Prize, who has written four thrillers and is now winning great acclaim with her tetralogy about Queen Boudicca.
Michelle Spring - creator of Cambridge based PI Laura Principal; author of crime novels which explore the darker corners of modern society.
Andrew Taylor - winner of the John Creasey Award and the Ellis Peters Historical Dagger; author of the Roth Trilogy and the Dougal and Lydmouth Series.
Laura Wilson - former publisher whose critically acclaimed psychological crime novels are set in the mysterious terrain of the recent past.
The Unusual Suspects can provide:
See our website for further information: www.unusualsuspects.co.uk
Alternatively, you may contact us by fax on 0870 051 3061