The theme of the programme this year is
'Bad Apples'
The Guest of Honour is
Andrew Taylor
He has published over 45 books.
His latest novel is A Schooling in Murder.
Authors Taking Part
Jo Callagham
Jo Chowdhury
Natasha Cooper
Abigail Dean
Vaseem Khan
Remi Kone
Philip Gooden
Simon Mason
Hallie Rubenhold
Laura Shepherd Robinson
Sarah Vaughan
Martyn Waites
Committee Members: Sarah Hilary, Jean Buchanan and Mick Herron
An occasional series which looks at the work of authors whose books qualify as bestsellers,
but who still aren’t quite as famous as they deserve to be.
Thorne Moore
She's always been a writer, though her struggle to be a published one lasted into middle age. She started by writing fantasy and science fiction in her teens, and never really stopped even though she had to resort to other things to earn a living. Along the way she earned degrees in history and law, and the day jobs included library and clerical work, making miniature furniture, and running that restaurant.
When she was first published she couldn't seem to settle in one genre. She wrote well-researched historicl historical mystery, well-plotted domestic noir, and a complex science fiction trilogy – but mainly she wrote, and still writes, about characters: people having their lives turned upside down, and what happens to them afterwards, whether they are perpetrators, victims or survivors.
Domestic noir is as close as she comes to a comfort zone, and most recently she has embarked on a series featuring an ex-detective who specializes in tracking down missing persons and solving the kind of cold cases the police have given up on. There are bodies, and murderers, but mainly the series is about the protagonist who is driven by her own past, and the people she encounters in the course of her searches – in other words, about characters, whom Thorne gets to know inside out. The result is the kind of crime fiction which makes the discerning reader keep going back for more.
Her books are varied, page-turning and very well written, and there's a mystery at the centre of most of them. We all love puzzling out a mystery – but the biggest one of all is, why isn't Thorne Moore a best seller?
Books by Thorne Moore
Cold Case
Best Served Cold (2025)
Cold in the Earth (2024)
This Cold Night (2026)
Salvage (SF)
Inside Out (2021)
Making Waves (2022)
By the Book (2023)
None Series Books
A Tine For Silence
The Unravelling (2016)
The Covenant (2020)
Fatal Collision (2022)
Bethulia (2022)
The Siren Song of Research
This meme has been all over the internet recently.
I think someone has been spying on me.
Sometime around the year 1500, John Damien, a penniless adventurer of either Italian or French origin, arrived at Stirling Castle, claiming to be an alchemist on the verge of discovering the secret to turning base metals into gold. Luckily for him, King James IV was keen to possess an inexhaustible source of gold to fund his frequent military campaigns. And wealth wasn't the only blessing John Damien promised. Not only would he produce the most sought-after object of the day, the Philosopher's Stone—that mythical and magical substance needed to transform lead into gold—but he also offered the king an even more precious prize because the Philosopher's Stone, when mixed with wine, was said to produce the Elixir of Life, curing all illnesses and granting the drinker eternal life and eternal youth. Might as well go big, right?
Lured by these tantalizing possibilities, King James IV provided John Damien with a hidden laboratory in the castle and all the equipment—flasks, cauldrons, glass beakers, and ingredients—he would need to conduct his
experiments.
When years passed by and no gold was produced (surprise, surprise), court gossips’ began to accuse Damian of fraud. Sensing that a spectacular demonstration of his powers was called for, Damien announced that although he hadn’t quite gotten the hang of the gold thing, he had discovered the secret of mechanical flight and would fly
under his own power from the castle to France. On September 27, 1507, he strapped on a pair of bird-like wings and leapt off the towering ramparts of Stirling Castle. He dropped like a stone. Lucky for him, he landed (so the story goes) on a soft dung heap, breaking only a thigh bone. Damien blamed the failure on the fact that hen feathers had been mixed in with the eagle feathers he'd called for—and as we all know, hens can't fly.
Was he taken right to the dungeon? No. King James, a remarkably tolerant sovereign, continued to fund Damien’s research until his own death at the Battle of Flodden in 1513. Hope springs eternal.
What piece of useless but fascinating research have you uncovered in the writing of a book? Here’s my real question: how do you discipline yourself so you don’t waste time searching for the straw that will become gold in your plot? Asking for a friend.
Connie Berry is the author of the Amazon and USA Today best-selling Kate Hamilton Mysteries, set in the UK and featuring an American antiques dealer with a gift for solving crimes. Like her protagonist, Connie was raised by antiques dealers who instilled in her a passion for history, fine art, and travel. Besides reading and writing mysteries, Connie loves history, foreign travel, cute animals, and all things British. She lives in Delaware, Ohio, and northern Wisconsin with her husband and adorable Shih Tzu, Emmie.
Books by Connie Berry
A Dream of Death (2019)
A Legacy of Murder (2019)
The Art of Betrayal (2021)
The Shadow of Memory (2022)
Mistletoe and Murder (2023)
A Collection of Lies (2024)
A Grave Deception (2025)
Lizzie: You have just published your twelfth book in the Honeychurch Hall series. Can you tell us about this latest book and how Honeychurch Hall came about. Is it completely out of your head or based on somewhere?
Hannah: Honeychurch Hall itself is fictional—a mash-up of two grand houses I know very well (although there is a real Honeychurch in North Devon which I only discovered after the first book was published). The idea really came from my own recently-widowed mother, who rather alarmingly bought the wing of a country house in her seventies, which led me to create Iris, the romance writer–and my protagonist, Kat Stanford, who quit her TV job in London, to move 200 miles to the West Country to keep an eye on her.
As for book 12, Deadly Derailment has all the elements of a juicy mystery—a 50-year old heist at nearby Honeychurch Halt, missing diamonds, collectible “railwayama” and, naturally, the discovery of a body or two.
Lizzie: Your main character in the Honeychurch Hall series is Kat Stanford, a dealer in antiques. Is that something that you are particularly knowledgeable about, or you are interested in?
Hannah: In my early twenties, I was lucky enough to work for an antique dealer who had a beautiful shop in The Pantiles, Tunbridge Wells. I’ve always been fascinated by antiques—the idea that objects carry stories and history with them. Kat’s profession gives me a chance to do just that. Each book features an antique in some shape or form.
Lizzie: In 1993 you moved to the Los Angeles in the US. Can you tell us what prompted that move, the chance of becoming a better writer, a better climate or … ?
Hannah: I had been studying screenwriting—taking classes (I still take writing classes—I love learning). I was accepted into Bournemouth University to do a degree, but a director friend of mine insisted that if I was truly serious about my craft, I should move to Los Angeles. Yes. Just like that. A series of lucky breaks made that happen. I got a job working for a studio and read a lot of other people’s screenplays (called ‘doing coverage’) and wrote a gazillion of my own. Some of which got very close to being made but never quite did. As for the weather—the American work ethic is brutal. I enjoyed looking at the sunshine from my window.
Lizzie: I read that you missed the UK countryside, the pubs, Christmas and Easter, and everything British, especially their sense of humour. Did you consider writing a series set in the US?
Hannah: You’re right about how much I missed the UK. Writing my series set there eased the homesickness a lot. I think I have a manuscript in my bottom drawer about a British assistant who moves to
Lizzie: Do you have the whole book planned out when you settle down to write, or does it change during the writing process, or does it pan out exactly as you had originally planned?
Hannah: I wish! A story is usually sparked by an idea or perhaps a conversation overheard in a restaurant (writers are terrible eavesdroppers). I already have my foundations—my characters and setting—so I write around that kernel of an idea. For example, the train idea in Deadly Derailment came from talking to a handful of train fanatics (and I mean that literally) who were restoring an old railway carriage from the 1950s. I just thought – hmm there’s a story around that. As always, it provided the spark, but the final product was quite different. I know the ending, but it’s a case of freefalling to get there. I trust the process and my characters to show me the way.
Lizzie: Why did you choose to write crime novels?
Hannah: Believe it or not, it’s not the crime that interests me. I think crime is such a natural way to explore people and relationships—what makes someone ‘cross to the dark side’? A mystery gives you structure, but within that you can look at all sorts of human behaviour. And of course, I do enjoy the puzzle—although it gives me sleepless nights when I worry I can’t make the pieces fit.
Lizzie: Do you have a favourite part of the writing process?
Hannah: The early stages, definitely—when the idea is fresh and anything feels possible. And the moment when everything clicks into place and you think—it works! Hurrah!
Lizzie: Do you write for a certain number of hours each day or set yourself a target of x number of words.
Hannah: I tend to work more by time than word count—usually two to four hours a day, more when I am on deadline. I admire fellow writers who can produce a thousand words a day—or even two thousand—but if I focus on that, I seem to lose the creative momentum. Sometimes I could spend three days working on one page. Often in that case, I realise —wait, that scene isn’t important anyway. That’s why I can’t get past it. So I cut it. You have to learn to kill your babies, as they say.
Lizzie: What triggers the idea for a new book? Something that you see or read about, or a personal experience ….?
Hannah: All of the above. I’m always amused when someone asks me if I ever run out of ideas. The answer is— never. I don’t think I’ll be alive long enough to write everything I want to write.
Lizzie: Who are the authors whose work you enjoy and why?
Hannah: I’ve always loved authors who create strong worlds and memorable characters—writers like Barbara Pym and Jane Austen for their observation of people. I enjoy Daphne du Maurier, Mary Stewart, M.M. Kaye, authors I read as a much younger woman, that have stood the test of time. I hope, one day, my books will too!
Thanks for chatting with us Hannah.
Books by Hannah Dennison
Vicky Hill Mysteries
Exclusive
Scoop
Exposed
Thieves
Accused
Trapped
Honeychurch Hall Mysteries.
Murder At Honeychurch Hall
Deadly Desires at Honeychurch Hall
A Killer Ball At Honeychurch Hall
Murderous Mayhem at Honeychurch Hall
Dangerous Deceptions at Honeychurch Hall
Tidings of Death at Honeychurch Hall
Death of A Diva At Honeychurch Hall
Murder in Miniature at Honeychurch Hall
A Killer Christmas at Honeychurch Hall
Dagger of Death at Honeychurch Hall
A Fatal Feast at Honeychurch Hall
Deadly Derailment at Honeychurch Hall
Island Sisters Mysteries
Death at High Tide
Danger At The Cove
Published
by Joffe Books
25 June 2026
The 8th book in the Coroner Martha Gunn series
The latest episode in the long-running TV series featuring amateur sleuth, Lydia Marchant, played by actress, Rina Martin, is being filmed on location at Septon Hall. Rina’s co-star, Grace Sweeting, is playing the murderer. The production is not going well, and constant delays are causing tension among actors and crew alike, which is not helped by Grace’s difficult behaviour, constantly finding fault.
A poison pen letter addressed to Grace arrives at Septon Hall, witnessed by the show’s leading man, Phil Perry. Things come to a head between the two of them, when an unpleasant scene breaks out onset. Phil misses his cue resulting in Grace storming back to her dressing room. The next morning Phil’s body is discovered on the floor of the wardrobe room with a brooch stuck in his neck. The brooch was last seen on the lapel of the Victorian costume coat worn by Grace during the previous day’s filming.
Grace immediately becomes the prime suspect. Afterall, as all his colleagues are keen to tell the police, Phil was a pleasant guy who got on with everybody. No one else would have cause to harm him. Only Rina has doubts about Grace’s culpability. If justice is to be done, it’s up to Rina to track down the real culprit.
This is book 11 in Jane Adams’s series
featuring Rina Martin. New readers will soon get to grips with the large cast
of characters and there is plenty of action to keep them turning the page. Murder
at the Folly ticks all the boxes for those who like a cozy whodunit –
interesting, well-drawn characters; lots of suspects; a fast-moving plot with
plenty of twists and turns and red herrings; interesting remote location; all written
in an easy, straightforward style.
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Reviewer: Judith Cranswick
http://www.judithcranswick.co.uk
Rachel Wolf’s latest thriller ticks all the boxes for an enjoyable summer beach or poolside read. Location: the glamorous side of Greece familiar to the rich and famous—a sun-drenched landscape of sea, sand and islands replete with yachts and expensive clothes and exclusive restaurants. Characters: a diverse cast of wealthy or high-profile individuals fond of using drink, drugs and sex to obviate the suffering inseparable from the human experience no matter our net worth. Plot: as twisty and fast-paced as they come in current crime fiction, of the variety inevitably termed addictive.
The action of Her Perfect Escape takes place in two different time frames—the summer of 2025 and the summer of 2026—but in the same place, with nearly the same characters gathered for the same occasion: a couple celebrating their son’s birthday at their holiday villa on a Greek island. Tash and Mark are a power couple who have parlayed their tech skills into the development of a high net-worth business and have a dearly loved son, Dom, who’s a student at Harvard.
Mark and Tash seem to have it all, but it’s a misleading façade. Their relationship is riven by tragedy. They are now living apart, and Mark even has a new girlfriend. Tash’s sister Emma disappeared at the birthday weekend in Greece in 2025, and Tash, preoccupied by the inexplicable and unbearable loss of a dearly loved sibling, has alienated her husband by spending her days in a miasma of misery. She tries to summon up good spirits for the tradition of the son’s birthday party but is only fitfully successful. When Mark appears with his new partner, grief for her missing sister is complicated by sadness at her estrangement from her husband and jealousy of his attractive new girlfriend.
A murder at the second birthday weekend, in 2026, stirs up old memories for everyone involved. The story is told through various viewpoints, with Tash’s predominating, but her recollections prove strikingly different from those of other members of the cast of this compulsively readable novel, reminding us of the adage that it is hard enough for us know ourselves let alone anyone else. Everyone harbours secrets or tells lies. Everyone struggles to look perfect and act impeccably, intent on hiding personal suffering, weakness or guilt.
The story is full of sexual intrigue and betrayal, of incidents of blackmail and violence, of individuals revealing themselves to be loathsome or lovable. Personal relations are strained to breaking point. It’s The White Lotus pattern, reassuring the general reader that the fabulously wealthy aren’t necessarily as blissfully happy as they might appear.
Highly
recommended as a pleasurably immersive holiday read that will keep you absorbed—wondering,
speculating, guessing—right up to the very last page.
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Reviewer: Lea O’Harra
The shortlist for the Crime
Writers’ Association’s prestigious
Dagger awards has been announced.
Created in 1955, the world-famous
CWA Daggers are the oldest awards in the genre and have been synonymous with
quality crime writing for over half a century.
This year’s shortlists showcase
the range and depth of the genre, from historical fiction, to thrillers and
classic whodunnits.
As well as championing
established authors of the genre, it also provides a platform for debut and
emerging talent.
Nadine Matheson, Chair of the
CWA, said: "This year’s shortlist is a fantastic reflection of the
extraordinary breadth and diversity of crime fiction today, and a celebration
of authors from debuts to established names, whose creative talents ensure that
the genre continues to grow from strength to strength.”
The coveted KAA Gold Dagger,
sponsored by Kevin Anderson & Associates, is awarded for the best crime
novel of the year.
Shortlisted novels are S.A Cosby
with King of Ashes,
Abigail Dean’s The Death of Us, Holly Jackson
with Not Quite Dead Yet, Vaseem Khan’s The Girl in Cell A, Ariel
Lawhon with The Frozen and Lara Shepherd-Robinson’s The Art of a
Lie, a novel that also makes the Historical Dagger shortlist.
S.A. Cosby is the only author to
be shortlisted for an unprecedented three Dagger awards. As well as Gold, the
American author of “Southern noir” is also in contention for the Short Story
Dagger and the Ian Fleming Steel Dagger, which honours the best thriller of the
year.
Also shortlisted for the Steel
Dagger is the standalone thriller by BookTok sensation Noelle W Ihli, Such
Quiet Girls inspired by the real-life 1976 Chowchilla kidnapping. She’s up
against the global bestselling author Karin Slaughter for We Are All
Guilty Here, Tariq Ashkanani’s The Midnight King, Robert Crais
with The Big Empty, Mark Ezra’s A Sting in her Tale and
Liam
McIlvanney’s The Good Father.
Joining Laura Shepherd-Robinson,
authors Nina Allan, Rob McInroy, Donna Moore, Alan Parks and Sally Smith make
the Historical Dagger shortlist.
The historical novels span 18th century
London to 1920s Glasgow, from stories inspired by gritty true crimes to a cosy
Christmas mystery.
The Twisted Dagger for
psychological suspense shortlist features Sarah Pinborough, the author behind
the New York Times bestselling breakout novel (and hit Netflix
show) Behind Her Eyes with a haunting Gothic novel, We Live Here
Now. She’s up against Kia Abdullah, Nicci Cloke, Fiona Cummins,
Carole Hailey and Sam Lloyd.
The Whodunnit Dagger for books
with an intellectual challenge at the heart of a good mystery, sees Alexandra
Benedict, Victoria Goldman, Anna Fitzgerald Healy, Robert Holtom, Mel Pennant
and CJ Wray in the running.
The global reach of the genre is
showcased in the Crime Fiction in Translation Dagger.
International authors include two
German writers - Karsten Dusse with his bestselling dark comedy
series, Murder Mindfully and Leonie Swann with her mystery
novel, Big Bad Wool, the anticipated follow-up to her breakout
hit, Three Bags Full that follows a flock of sheep as they try to
solve a murder.
The shortlist also sees Norway’s
Jørn Lier Horst, the Croatian writer and journalist Jurica Pavicic, Finland’s
Antti Tuomainen, and Strange Pictures – a novel from the Japanese
YouTuber and writer, Uketsu.
Their translators are also
recognised in the award, which is sponsored in honour of Dolores Jakubowski.
The ALCS Gold Dagger for
Non-Fiction includes The Spy in the Archive by Gordon Corera and
Shaun Walker’s The Illegals, profiling Russia’s most audacious spies,
reflecting the enduring fascination with espionage and true crime, alongside Shadow
of The Bridge by Áine Cain and Kevin Greenlee, John Curran’s The
Murder Game, Caroline Fraser’s Murderland, and
Susannah Stapleton
with That Dark Spring.
The Short Story Dagger features
S.A. Cosby, alongside the acclaimed Scottish author Denise Mina and the
bestselling Abir Mukherjee.
The Daggers are one of the few high-profile awards
celebrating short-form storytelling.
The Dagger in the Library, voted
for by librarians, recognises authors whose bodies of work have resonated with
readers over time. On this year’s shortlist are Paula Hawkins, best known for
her huge hit, Girl on the Train alongside JD Kirk, Clare Mackintosh,
Freida McFadden, Abir Mukherjee and Tim Sullivan.
The CWA Daggers are also known
for providing a platform for emerging talent, with the much-anticipated ILP
John Creasey First Novel Dagger and the Emerging Author Dagger competition,
sponsored by Fiction Feedback; over two dozen past winners and shortlisted
debut authors have signed publishing deals to date.
The Best Crime and Mystery
Publisher category recognises the publishers behind the genre’s success, with
leading imprints including Faber & Faber, Pan Macmillan, and Simon &
Schuster shortlisted against Bitter Lemon Press, No Exit Press and Viper.
The CWA Diamond Dagger, sponsored
by Karen Baugh Menuhin, is awarded to an author whose crime-writing career has
been marked by sustained excellence, is announced in early spring and in 2026
was awarded to Mark Billingham.
The winners are announced at the
CWA gala dinner awards night in July.
The shortlists in full:
CWA KAA Gold Dagger
S. A. Cosby King of
Ashes (Headline)
Abigail Dean The Death of
Us (HarperCollins/Hemlock Press)
Holly Jackson Not Quite Dead
Yet (Penguin Random House/Michael Joseph)
Vaseem Khan The Girl in Cell
A (Hodder Fiction).
Ariel Lawhon The
Frozen (River Swift Press)
Laura Shepherd-Robinson The
Art of a Lie (Pan Macmillan/Mantle)
Ian Fleming Steel Dagger
Tariq Ashkanani The Midnight
King (Profile Books/Viper)
S. A. Cosby King of
Ashes (Headline)
Robert Crais The Big
Empty (Simon & Schuster UK)
Mark Ezra A Sting in her
Tale (Bedford Square Publishers/ No Exit Press)
Noelle W Ihli Such Quiet
Girls (Pan Macmillan/ Pan)
Liam McIlvanney The Good
Father (Bonnier Books UK/Zaffre)
Karin Slaughter We Are All
Guilty Here (HarperCollins Publishers)
ALCS Gold Dagger for Non-Fiction
Áine Cain and Kevin
Greenlee Shadow of The Bridge: The Delphi Murders and The Dark Side of The
American Heartland (Pegasus Books/Pegasus Crime)
Gordon Corera The Spy in the
Archive: How One Man Tried to Kill the KGB (HarperCollins/ William Collins)
John Curran The Murder
Game (HarperCollins/Collins Crime Club)
Caroline
Fraser Murderland (Little, Brown Book Group/Fleet)
Susannah Stapleton That Dark
Spring (Pan Macmillan/Picador)
Shaun Walker The Illegals
(Profile Books)
Historical Dagger
Nina Allan A Granite
Silence (Quercus/riverrun)
Rob McInroy Barvick
Falls (Tippermuir Books)
Donna Moore The Devil's
Draper (Fly on the Wall Press)
Alan Parks Gunner (John
Murray Press/Baskerville)
Laura Shepherd-Robinson The
Art of a Lie (Pan Macmillan/Mangle)
Sally Smith A Case of Life
and Limb (Bloomsbury Publishing/Raven Books)
Crime Fiction in Translation
Dagger
Karsten Dusse Murder
Mindfully (Faber) translated by Florian Duijsens
Jørn Lier Horst The
Lake (Penguin Random House) translated by Anne Bruce
Jurica Pavicic Red
Water (Bitter Lemon Press) translated by Matt Robinson
Leonie Swann Big Bad
Wool (Allison & Busby) translated by Amy Bojang
Antti Tuomainen The Winter
Job (Orenda Books) translated by David Hackston
Uketsu Strange
Pictures (Pushkin Press) translated by Jim Rion
Whodunnit Dagger
Alexandra Benedict The
Christmas Cracker Killer (Simon & Schuster UK)
Victoria Goldman Little
Secrets (Three Crowns Publishing UK/self-published)
Anna Fitzgerald
Healy Etiquette for Lovers & Killers (Little, Brown Book
Group/Fleet)
Robert Holtom A Queer
Case (Titan Books)
Mel Pennant A Murder for
Miss Hortense (John Murray Press/Baskerville)
CJ Wray Bad
Influence (Orion Fiction)
Twisted Dagger
Kia Abdullah What Happens in
the Dark (HarperCollins/HQ Ficiton)
Nicci Cloke Her Many
Faces (Penguin Random House UK/Harvill)
Fiona Cummins Some of Us are
Liars (Pan Macmillan/Macmillan)
Carole Hailey Scenes From A
Tragedy (Atlantic Books/Corvus)
Sam Lloyd The
Bodies (Transworld/Bantam)
Sarah Pinborough We Live
Here Now (Orion Fiction)
ILP John Creasey (First Novel)
Dagger
Sam Guthrie The
Peak (HarperCollins Publishers)
Elspeth Latimer The Lost
Detective (Story Machine)
Laura McCluskey The Wolf
Tree (HarperCollins/Hemlock Press)
Zoë Rankin The Vanishing
Place (Profile Books/Viper)
Bailey Seybolt Coram
House (Bloomsbury Publishing/Raven Books)
Henry Wise Holy
City (Bedford Square Publishers/No Exit Press)
Short Story Dagger
SA Cosby ‘Split Your Silver
Tongue’ in Birds, Strangers and Psychos (No Exit Press)
Denise Mina ‘The Karpman Drama
Triangle’ in Birds, Strangers and Psychos (No Exit Press)
Abir Mukherjee ‘Full Circle’
in Playing Dead: Short Stories by Members of the Detection
Club (Severn House)
Ambrose Perry ‘The Apple Falls
Not Far’ (Canongate)
Peter Swanson ‘Strangers on a
School Bus’ in Birds, Strangers and Psychos (No Exit Press)
Michael Wood ‘Waiting’
in Criminal Pursuits: This Is Me (Telos Publishing)
Emerging Author
Rod Cookson, Ill Met By
Murder
Sophia Georghiou, The Man
Who Fit the Case
Kate Koester, Just a Simple
Wedding
Lorna Mathew, The Fixer
Rebecca McFarland, The Madam
of Morningside
Michael Nikitin, Blind Side
of the Sun
Melisssa Smith, The Pattern
of Absence
Dagger in the Library
Paula Hawkins
JD Kirk
Clare Mackintosh
Freida McFadden
Abir Mukherjee
Tim Sullivan
Best Crime & Mystery
Publisher
Bitter Lemon Press
Faber & Faber
No Exit Press (Bedford Square)
Pan Macmillan
Simon & Schuster
Viper (Profile Books)
