The latest from Bloody Scotland: 18 - 20 September 2026

Our Closing Event is Revealed 

Our 2026 programme was already a banger - but we couldn't resist bringing you one last event to close the festival in style. The legends that are Val McDermid and Denise Mina will now be closing the show at the Albert Halls at 6pm on Sunday the 20th September. This is sure to be a popular event, so get your tickets will you can.

You the Jury - Extra Session Added

Calling all armchair detectives! Due to popular demand, our You the Jury events, sponsored by The Faculty of Advocates, sold out very quickly. That's why we've added an extra session to the programme on Saturday the 19th of September at 13:15pm.

This enthralling courtroom drama, written by Douglas Skelton and based on a vintage case (but updated) stars real-life lawyers Laura Thomson KC and Frances McMenamin KC, forensic experts Professors Lorna Dawson and Dr James Grieve, and chartered psychologist Professor Lara Frumkin, along with court staff.

Forget the histrionics and cries of objection. Forget a tetchy judge banging a gavel. This is a compelling, true to life theatrical experience which takes place in a working court room.

And you could be on the jury!

We know that many of you were disappointed when our Lee Child tickets sold out. Thankfully, there is an alternative way to watch the Reacher novelist's appearance at Bloody Scotland. Digital tickets for his event, which will be streamed live on Friday the 18th of September at 6.45pm and available on catch up, cost just £6.75. Alternatively, you can also purchase a digital pass for £60.75 which gives you access to all 15 streaming events.

Bloody Scotland: The Podcast 

We were absolutely cock-a-hoop to find out that Bloody Scotland: The Podcast had been shortlisted for not one, but two awards at the Scottish Podcast Awards. A few of the team went along to the awards ceremony at the Old Fruitmarket last night to celebrate alongside the other nominees. Sadly, we didn't win this time around, but we had a terrific time celebrating anyway! Huge congratulations to all the winners.

Bob McDevitt, Caron Macpherson, Dawn Geddes

 and Denise Mina representing team Bloody Scotland at the awards. 

Pitch Perfect & Crime in the Spotlight Opens

Emerging Crime Writers - have we got an opportunity for you! Well, two opportunities to be exact. We're delighted to tell you that applications for both Pitch Perfect and Crime in the Spotlight are now officially open!

Pitch Perfect is our annual opportunity for unpublished writers to pitch their work to a panel of industry experts. Many of our former pitchers have gone on to bag book deals including: Kate Foster, D.V. Bishop, Matt Wesolowski, Alison Belsham and Joseph Knox. This year’s judging panel are Literary Agent, Diana Beaumont, Journalist and author Lisa Howells
(Crime  Monthly), and Stephen Cameron, Creative Director of Into Books.

The deadline for entering is: Friday the 17th of July.

Our Crime in the Spotlight scheme shines a spotlight on new crime writing talent during the festival. Every year we invite new and emerging published crime writers to apply for a slot to read out a short sample of their work before one of our big Albert Halls sessions in Stirling in September.

You are eligible to apply for Crime in the Spotlight if you, have never appeared on the programme at Bloody Scotland before and are early in your crime writing career (your first or second published book, but no more).

If you are successful, you'll appear as the opener for one of our author events and will also be invited to sign books alongside them. It's an exciting opportunity that will get your work in front of a large crime writing loving audience. 

The deadline for entering Crime in the Spotlight is:
Friday the 10th of July.

Bloody Scotland | International Crime Writing Festival

CWA Bursary

Fancy joining us at Bloody Scotland this year, but not sure if you'll manage? The Crime Writers’ Association is currently offering a £500 grant towards the cost of tickets, travel and accommodation to attend Bloody Scotland in 2026. This bursary is open to CWA full members, provisional members, and emerging author members.

For further information and apply, visit:
https://thecwa.co.uk/member-benefits/bursaries/

‘The Apples of Sodom’ by Carol Westron

Published by Pentangle Press,
19 June 2026.
ISBN: 978-1-91755502-9 (PB) 

The Apples of Sodom is set in England during the deadly heatwave that defined the summer of 1976.  The novel is narrated by twenty-two-year-old Mel Blume who is attending a book launch with her father Gabe, himself a celebrated author.  Mel’s mother died when she was quite young and Gabe brought up his only child alone, so it’s not surprising that he can be protective, sometimes overprotective, of her.  Gabe recently split from his American publisher, and this prompted the Blumes to return to England after living in the USA for twelve years.  British literary agents are keen to sign the best-selling author and Mel notices that her father is attracting more attention than the unfortunate writer whose book is being promoted.  When she is approached by a pushy guest, Daphne Undershaw, who requests a personal introduction to her father, we get a glimpse of Mel’s integrity and composure as she politely, but firmly, declines.  Her confidence quickly evaporates, though, when she realises that she is being watched by an attractive stranger who is walking towards her.  When she discovers that he is Ben Undershaw, Daphne’s son, it doesn’t stop Mel falling for him and it seems that the feeling is mutual.  

 

They leave the literary crowd to attend a nearby open-air concert where they discover that they have a good deal in common.  Both were brought up by single parents, both want to break free from their current situations and feel stifled by their respective families, and both share a love of art and creativity.  Then Mel discovers something about Ben that leaves her feeling exploited and betrayed.  It’s the first of several happenings that spell danger not only to their nascent relationship, but to Mel herself.  When Ben goes missing Mel is determined to discover the truth, whatever dark secrets she may uncover and despite the risk to herself.

 

Mel’s first-person present tense narrative speaks directly to the reader, and she proves to be a witty, endearing and trustworthy storyteller.  Seeing events unfold through Mel’s perspective enhances a superb plot that has both pace and tension.  The action takes place during a memorable period of extreme weather which perfectly complements the pressure that builds up as the story unfolds.  It captures that dangerous, crucial period during which a young person develops into a fully-fledged adult.  It is fascinating to see how Mel navigates this and the impact events have on her.  The characters Mel meets during the novel are all interesting, though not all as likeable as the narrator.

 

In The Apples of Sodom Carol Westron has produced a captivating novel that explores complexities in relationships between friends, families and lovers.  She exposes the power of relationships to harm and heal, dishearten and encourage, confine and release.   

A moving, mysterious and thoroughly enjoyable tale that I highly recommend.
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Reviewer: Dot Marshall-Gent

Carol Westron is a Golden Age expert who has written many articles on the subject and given papers at several conferences. She is the author of several series: contemporary detective stories and police procedurals, comedy crime and Victorian Murder Mysteries. Her most recent publications are Paddling in the Dead Sea and Delivering Lazarus, books 2 and 3 of the Galmouth Mysteries, the series which began with
The Fragility of Poppies.

 www.carolwestron.com  

Dot Marshall-Gent worked in the emergency services for twenty years first as a police officer, then as a paramedic and finally as a fire control officer before graduating from King’s College, London as a teacher of English in her mid-forties.  She completed a M.A. in Special and Inclusive Education at the Institute of Education, London and now teaches part-time and writes mainly about educational issues.  Dot sings jazz and country music and plays guitar, banjo and piano as well as being addicted to reading mystery and crime fiction.  

‘A Body Floats’ by Jayne Chard

Published by Chapters Crime Press,
7 May 2026.
ISBN: 978-1-06832502-1 (PB)

Julia and her estranged half-sister, Frankie, could not be more different. Conventional, ex-headteacher, Julia is looking forward to a peaceful retirement, but the wild, free-spirited Frankie thinks that rules are there to be broken. Their aunt has left them her cottage, but the two sisters must live there together for a year to inherit their half share. After a few months of adjustment punctuated by frequent spats, the two are ready to take a holiday to a pretty seaside village in Cornwall.   

Early one morning, they go down to the beach for a swim. Frankie spots a body floating next to the pontoon and brings it back to the shore. The police arrive and immediately assume that the death is the result of an accident and look no further. Julia and Frankie are not convinced and begin their own investigation. The wealthy local businessman who died was far from the village’s most popular resident. It’s not long before they discover that the village has a great many secrets that they had not anticipated, including a long history of smuggling gangs whose modern members are determined to protect at gunpoint even kidnap. 

Julia and Frankie are a real joy. Their dialogue is laugh-out-loud witty. All the characters are well drawn and despite the large cast, are easily identifiable. Jayne Chard’s descriptive talents are not limited to her characters. Every one of the senses is roused as the action takes the reader through a variety of locations from the beach and the empty dunes to busy village centre where preparations for the elaborate parade that marks the highlight of the village fair are taking place. 

In true Agatha Christie style, this modern-day whodunit is full of plot twists and turns that keep the reader turning the page until the final, unpredictable ending. 

This is the second book in the series but can be read as a standalone.
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Reviewer: Judith Cranswick  

Jayne Chard started writing plays when she was eight and wrote her first “book” at fourteen. After graduating with a degree in psychology and drama, Jayne went on to win the Royal Shakespeare Company’s Buzz Goodbody’s Director Award. Whilst continuing to write, she started working as a professional theatre director, and two of her plays were performed at the London Fringe. Attracted to the small screen, Jayne became absorbed in TV drama directing. Now a multi-award-winning film and TV drama producer, her credits include the BBC flagship brand Silent Witness. In addition to a successful film and television career, Jayne was integral in setting up a veterinary clinic on the remote island of Koh Tao in Thailand. She has also worked as a radio presenter. Jayne lives in the West Country with her partner.   

Judith Cranswick was born and brought up in Norwich. Apart from writing, Judith’s great passions are travel and history. Both have influenced her two series of mystery novels. Tour Manager, Fiona Mason takes coach parties throughout Europe, and historian Aunt Jessica is the guest lecturer accompanying tour groups visiting more exotic destinations aided by her nephew Harry. Her published novels also include several award-winning standalone psychological thrillers. She wrote her first novel (now languishing in the back of a drawer somewhere) when her two children were toddlers, but there was little time for writing when she returned to her teaching career. Now retired, she is able to indulge her love of writing and has begun a life of crime! ‘Writers are told to write what they know about, but I can assure you, I've never committed a murder. I'm an ex-convent school headmistress for goodness sake!’ Her most recent book is Passage to Greenland 

http://judithcranswick.co.uk/ 

‘Death in the New Forest’ by Linda Mather

Published by Joffe Books,
28 May 2026.
ISBN: 978-1-80573562-5 (PB)

This is the first novel in Linda Mather’s ‘New Forest Murders’ series. Detective Chief Inspector Elinor Saxby has relocated from urban Birmingham to lead the New Forest CID, a change of scene following a harrowing case involving a dead baby for which she received counselling. Her life does not become any less troubled. Almost as soon as she arrives in the New Forest Saxby receives a text from Candice Beddowes, her counsellor who lives locally, asking her to call as Beddowes wants to ask her about something. Saxby calls but there’s no answer. The next morning Beddowes is found dead in a hotel swimming pool. 

Saxby has to cope with investigating whether Beddowes’s death was an accident or murder at the same time as feeling guilt over not getting in touch with the dead woman in time. She has to admit to her superiors and investigating team that she knew Beddowes, even if much of her counselling was not in person. It is soon established that Beddowes’s death is suspicious. New links start to appear. Latif Akbhani, a worker at the hotel, was killed in a road accident on the night Beddowes died. His brother disappears immediately afterwards. Both men lived at a car wash, the owner of which is unknown. The daughter of the local MP knew Latif at school. There is a missing passport. 

Saxby doesn’t just have to deal with the investigation. Her predecessor, well-liked by his colleagues, left in circumstances that are not fully explained, and she finds that her team resents her arrival and some of its members are difficult to deal with. She is also understaffed, and this leads her to request the transfer of a former colleague in Birmingham (DI Craig Stapleton) to whom she is clearly close. Prominent in the investigation is young Detective Constable Nancy Li from the fast-track programme, and the novel follows her first steps in a murder case. She can be guilty of over-enthusiasm and going off piste on her own. A more experienced officer who has his suspicions says to her at one point: ‘I don’t want you turning into one of these maverick cops.’ 

The plot and its various strands develop rapidly. The lives of those affected by Beddowes’s death as well as her own previous lifestyle come under scrutiny. The National Crime Agency becomes involved. There is more than one potential and actual villain. Death in the New Forest is a convincing, well-written and extremely readable novel which holds the reader’s attention on every page. It is also an excellent first instalment of a series as it leaves many questions about Saxby’s personal and professional relationships unexplained. What exactly does Craig Stapleton mean to her? Will he eventually join her? And what about Stephen Farrell from the NCA? Will she manage to win over her team completely (there are signs they are softening towards her)? I’m sure these subjects will be explored further. I am very happy to recommend this novel with enthusiasm.
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Reviewer: David Whittle

Linda Mather writes a crime fiction series about an astrologer who is also a private detective. This whole idea started when Linda was sixteen and her brother bought her a book on astrology, which really grabbed her imagination. She has done a lot of other things since including working for a short time as a PI herself; she has rescued stranded whales in Scotland and set up graduate schemes in Scandinavia. Her experiences - and particularly the settings - often provide the inspiration for great stories. Apart from writing, Linda is interested in fitness and of course, astrology.

David Whittle is firstly a musician (he is an organist and was Director of Music at Leicester Grammar School for over 30 years) but has always enjoyed crime fiction. This led him to write a biography of the composer Bruce Montgomery who is better known to lovers of crime fiction as Edmund Crispin, about whom he gives talks now and then.

‘Night Watcher’ by Daphne Woolsoncroft

Published by Grand Central Publishing,
30 April 2026.
ISBN-13: 978-153877091-7 (PB)

The menacing figure of the ‘Hiding Man’ stalks the pages of Woolsoncroft’s debut novel. He is a serial killer who takes as his prey lovely young women, grabbing them from behind—usually in their own homes—and slitting their throats. He’s like a caricature of the boogeyman children dream of lurking beneath their beds: clad in black clothes and gloves, his face concealed by a crude white mask with stitched holes for the eyes, ears and mouth. The sense of being watched alerts potential victims to his presence. 

Daphne Woolsoncroft prefaces her novel with these words: For those who have looked evil in the face. And anyone who has lost a loved one to a monster.’ Best known as the host and producer of the hit true crime podcast ‘Going West,’ which typically attracts around two hundred thousand listeners per episode, Woolsoncroft has recently—and energetically—ventured into crime fiction. Night Watcher is already followed by two more publications: The Season of Sinking and Made in Hollywood. 

Woolsoncroft explained in an article that appeared on 7 July 2025—one day before Night Watcher’s publication date— that her work as a podcaster and novelist is motivated by the death of her own aunt at the hands of a serial killer. Carol Woolsoncroft went missing in Florida at the age of twenty, presumably murdered by the boyfriend who would go on to kill three other individuals before he was finally apprehended and imprisoned. Daphne, born ten years after her aunt’s disappearance, admits she has always missed and grieved for her mother’s pretty sister, the aunt she would never meet. 

Although Woolsoncroft is a native of Los Angeles, she and her husband spent some years in Portland, Oregon, and the misty, gloomy weather of the Pacific Northwest features largely in Night Watcher, including some dramatic storms that heighten the tension of suspenseful episodes in the plot. There are two storylines, twenty years apart, with the action largely related by the protagonist, Nola Strate, who appears as a child of eight shocked when her babysitter is attacked and killed, and, two decades later as a young woman haunted by terrifying memories of that awful night. And yet, like the author herself, Nola is inspired by personal tragedy to forge a career which trades in tales of murder. Nola Strate has taken over ‘Night Watcher,’ a popular radio program in Portland her father, Chick, had created decades earlier. On retiring, he has invited his daughter to take his place as host, inviting listeners to call in with anecdotes of spirits and aliens and killers. 

The story has two narrators besides Nola. One is Jack De Lacey, a police detective whose long friendship with Chick Strate complicates his investigation when, after two decades of inactivity, two women are murdered and it seems the ‘Hiding Man’ has resumed his activities. Circumstances implicate Chick as a suspect. The other narrator, whose sections are entitled ‘Him,’ is the murderer himself. The action is fast paced and gripping. There are many twists and surprising revelations. Night Watcher is recommended for readers who like their crime fiction gritty and violent.
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Reviewer: Wendy Jones Nakanishi/aka Lea O’Harra.

Daphne Woolsoncroft, a Los Angeles native, is the host and producer of the hit true crime podcast Going West, with a 150K-200K listeners per episode and over two million monthly downloads. When she's not writing or researching true crime cases, you can find her traveling to gloomy destinations, catching the newest horror film in theaters, or reading on the couch with her plump English Bulldog, Dewey.

Lea O’Harra.  An American by birth, did her postgraduate work in Britain – an MA in Lancaster and a doctorate at Edinburgh – and worked full-time for 36 years at a Japanese university. Since retiring in March 2020, she has spent part of each year in Lancaster and part in Takamatsu on Shikoku Island, her second home, with occasional visits to the States to see family and friends. An avid reader of crime fiction since childhood, as a university professor she wrote academic articles on it as a literary genre and then decided to try her hand at composing such stories herself, publishing the so-called ‘Inspector Inoue mystery series’ comprising four murder mysteries set in rural, contemporary Japan. She has also published two standalone crime fiction novels.

‘Wings Over Valletta’ by Tracy Cook

Published by Allison & Busby,

21 May 2026.
ISBN: 978-0-7490-3329-3 (PB)

Forced adoption is in the news at the moment: babies born to unmarried mothers and wrenched away at a few days or hours old to be given a respectable home elsewhere. Nowadays the disgrace and stigma has ceased to exist, but a century ago it was rife. Kitty Campbell, protagonist of this wartime story, has never forgotten the child she was made to give up after a love affair with a man who neglected to tell her he already had a wife.   

Now Kitty is in Malta at the height of the Second World War, and when her naval officer father is killed in an air raid, she makes discoveries that make her own 'sin' pale into insignificance. Distinguished, ultra-respectable Vice-Admiral Campbell had a Maltese mistress and a second family – and they have not only inherited half his worldly goods, they also offer a possible route to Kitty's lost daughter. 

What follows is a long way from a conventional crime novel. There are plenty of bodies, but the crime is not murder, it's man's ultimate inhumanity to man: war. There's romance a-plenty, and that does follow a conventional path – boy meets girl, they fall in love, they fall out then forgive each other. In this case girl is Kitty Campbell, boy is Bill Hamilton, a reconnaissance pilot based in Malta. 

Kitty becomes a civilian aircraft plotter, tracking planes in the savage air battles as the Allied and Axis forces vie for supremacy in the Mediterranean. She is party to vital Allied information and plans, and all too conscious of the dangers which lurk around every corner and not only in Malta. She learns that the precious daughter she lost is in hiding, following the deaths of her adoptive parents. 

This is the author's debut novel, and she has clearly learned the value of detailed research. The descriptions of bombed buildings, the sounds, sights and smells of the war-torn streets and air raid shelters, the painstaking accounts of the work of the aircraft plotters all contribute to build a level of tension that at times seems unbearable. The characters, too, are evocative of the era: the upright senior officers, the handsome pilots whose offhand black humour belies both their courage and their apprehension, the plucky young women who do their bit in their own way, of whom Kitty is pluckiest of all.   

We know the Allies won the battle for Malta and the Mediterranean, but the storyline still leaves questions which aren't answered till near the end. Is Kitty right to befriend her father's other family? Will Flying Officer Hamilton, scarred, bloodied but unbowed, survive his most dangerous mission of the war? Above all, will Kitty be reunited with her daughter? You'll race to the end as I did to find out the answers!
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Reviewer: Lynne Patrick

Tracy Cook read history at Oxford University and produced and directed a documentary series for the BBC. She moved into freelance journalism and PR, but her lifelong dream has always been to write. After graduating from the Faber Academy Writing a Novel Course, she was longlisted for the Bridport Novel Prize in 2021. Wings Over Valletta is her first published novel. She lives in Surrey with her husband. 

Lynne Patrick has been a writer ever since she could pick up a pen, and has enjoyed success with short stories, reviews and feature journalism, but never, alas, with a novel. She crossed to the dark side to become a publisher for a few years and is proud to have launched several careers which are now burgeoning. She lives in Oxfordshire in a house groaning with books, about half of them crime fiction.

THEAKSTON OLD PECULIER CRIME NOVEL OF THE YEAR 2026 revealed Festival Dates: 23 – 26 July 2026

 

Thursday 18 June 2026: Harrogate International Festivals today announced the shortlist for the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award 2026, the UK and Ireland’s most prestigious crime fiction award. The winner will be revealed on the opening night of the 
Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival, Thursday 23 July.  

The six books shortlisted for the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award 2026, now in its twenty-second year, showcase ‘original’ and ‘entertaining’ storytelling as Tariq Ashkanani, Abigail Dean, Alice Feeney, Elly Griffiths, Mick Herron and Vaseem Khan compete for the coveted award. The winner, who receives £3,000 and a handmade, engraved oak beer cask provided by T&R Theakston Ltd, will be selected by a panel of seven expert judges, with the public vote representing the eighth judge. Readers are now invited to vote for their favourite book to win at www.harrogatetheakstoncrimeaward.com

The Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year 2026 shortlist
(in alphabetical order by surname) is: 
 • The Midnight King by Tariq Ashkanani (Profile Books, Viper)
 • The Death of Us by Abigail Dean (HarperCollins, Hemlock Press)
 • Beautiful Ugly by Alice Feeney (Pan Macmillan, Pan Fiction)
 • The Frozen People by Elly Griffiths (Quercus Books)
 • Clown Town by Mick Herron (John Murray Books, Baskerville)
 • Quantum of Menace by Vaseem Khan (Bonnier Books, Zaffre) 

The Shortlist in more detail: 2022 Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award winner and globally bestselling ‘Slow Horses’ author Mick Herron is shortlisted for Clown Town, the latest funny and fast-paced instalment in the Slough House series, which sees a gang of washed-up spooks entangled in a dangerous game of blackmail with its roots in the Irish Troubles. Highly commended for the award in 2023, crime fiction phenomenon Elly Griffiths receives an impressive eighth shortlisting for The Frozen People, the first in a new series with a time-travelling spin, as an unsolved mystery takes cold cases investigator Ali Dawson back to the frozen Victorian London of January 1850. Shortlisted for a second time, Vaseem Khan is nominated this year for Quantum of Menace, a witty James Bond spin-off mystery centring on one of Ian Fleming’s most beloved characters Q (aka Major Boothroyd) who investigates the suspicious death of a scientist friend, after being unexpectedly ousted from his job at MI6.

They face stiff competition from three hugely talented authors who are shortlisted for the Award for the first time. Scottish author Tariq Ashkanani is nominated for The Midnight King¸ a gripping dark thriller about the son of a famous author – and uncaught serial killer – who, after his father’s death, discovers an unpublished confessional manuscript – a chilling fictionalised account of his monstrous crimes. Alice Feeney’s Beautiful Ugly is a magnetic psychological thriller about marriage, grief and revenge as a once-successful writer retreats to a remote Scottish island after his wife’s disappearance, only to find himself drawn into a web of secrets and deception. Abigail Dean’s psychological thriller, The Death of Us, explores the long-term impact of a horrendous crime, as a couple’s lives are shattered when a masked intruder attacks them in their own home.

Simon Theakston, Chairman of T&R Theakston, said: “Congratulations to all of the incredible writers shortlisted for this year’s Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year. The highly entertaining books on this year’s shortlist will take readers on an unforgettable roller-coaster ride from remote Scottish islands to frozen Victorian London, the down at-heel offices of MI5 and far beyond. I’m looking forward to finding out who the public and the judges vote for and presenting the coveted beer cask trophy to the winner at the opening ceremony.”  

Sharon Canavar, Chief Executive of Harrogate International Festivals, said: “We’re delighted to reveal the shortlist for this year’s Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year. Showcasing the broad range of the world’s favourite genre - from spy thrillers to time travel mysteries, from James Bond spin-offs to twisty psychological thrillers - the six books on this year’s shortlist are hugely ambitious and innovative, but above all else, cracking great reads! We encourage all readers to get involved and vote for their favourite novel on the list to win.”

The Award is presented by Harrogate International Festivals and sponsored by T&R Theakston Ltd, in partnership with Waterstones and Daily Express, and is open to full-length crime novels published in paperback between 1 May 2025 to 30 April 2026. The public are invited to vote to help choose the winner from 8am on Thursday 18 June at www.harrogatetheakstoncrimeaward.com with voting closing on Thursday 16 July at 23:59. The winner will be revealed on the opening night of Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival, Thursday 23 July, at a special awards ceremony hosted by Steph McGovern. They will receive £3,000 and a handmade, engraved beer barrel provided by T&R Theakston Ltd. 

www.harrogatetheakstoncrimeaward.com

‘Grave Intent’ by Sarah Ward

Published by Canelo Publishing,
11 June 2026.
ISBN: 978-1-80436682-0 (PB)

The story opens in 1870 when Josiah is digging a grave for his wife Meg in their own grounds. The parson has refused burial in the cemetery.

Current day in New England, Professor Carla James is running a summer school at Jericho College, while the college is closed for the summer break. It is a week-long programme. Carla is archaeologist specialising in the study of burial. A group of 10 young enthusiasts are attending. Working with her is Professor Jack Caron. The first student to arrive is Riley Shawcross with a crate of beer and a case of wine. Carla is not too comfortable with this as two of the attending students are underage. He is quickly followed by Cai, a lawyer from Chicago, Trudy, Scott, Student’s Shawn and Lauren, clearly a couple, Ava and Tina, and Belle, grey haired with a no-nonsense manner.  Only Melissa Wilson is a no show. 

Carla checks into her room No 4 and finds on her wall a needlework in a heavy frame bearing the word, BEWARE.

On the first day Carla splits the group into three.  Shawn was unhappy that he had been placed in a different group to his girlfriend.  Carla tasks each group to find a piece of local Jericho history in the landscape they could use aa a case study for their week’s stay.

With still no sign of Melissa, Carla telephones the number on Melissa’s admission form. It transpires that she had left a few days ago to do a bit of sightseeing before she got to the college. Adele who shares her apartment with her said she was excited about the course, as she was fascinated by New England Folklore. 

Keen to get involved with local history, the students become fixated on the century-old grave of Meg Woodthorpe. Killed for being a witch. A single stone sits on the burial site supposedly to prevent her rising again. And excavations reveal she may have. Although a body is discovered it is not Meg’s. She has been replaced by a modern victim. With no one missing, Carla must work out who this is and where is Meg. 

The description of the body found in Meg’s grave is not for the faint hearted. Carla’s former mentor, pathologist Dr Erin Collins shows her the body that has been decimated by a claw hammer, which bears the words, ‘Anthology Department, Jericho College’.  Oops, a bit too close for comfort. 

Detective Baros is called to investigate, usually not someone Carla took to when she first met him, but he seems a lot nicer than she remembered. 

Apart from the mystery of the missing body of Meg Woodthorpe, there is still no sign of Melissa.

This is a tantalising mystery with many twists as more of the past is revealed. Complex and clever this intriguing mystery will keep you turning the pages. Highly recommended.
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Reviewer: Lizzie Sirett

Sarah Ward the author of four DC Childs novels set in the Derbyshire Peak District where she lives. The Birthday Girl is the first book in her series featuring Mallory Dawson. There are now five books in the series. She has also written Doctor Who audio dramas. She also writes gothic historical thrillers as Rhiannon Ward. Her most recent series features Carla James an archaeologist. There are three books in the series.  

www.crimepieces.com

‘Murder At Canterbury Cathedral’ by Jim Eldridge

Published by Allison & Busby,
18 June 2026.
ISBN: 978-0-74903291-3 (HB)

This is the second novel in Eldridge’s ‘Cathedral Mysteries Series’. Set during World War II, it features the same detective pairing (the aristocratic Detective Chief Inspector Edgar Saxe-Coburg and Sergeant Ted Lampson) as those I have previously reviewed in the author’s ‘London Underground Station Mysteries Series’. 

It is May 1941. London and the south east are taking a hammering from German bombing raids. In Canterbury a canon of the cathedral, Walter de la Coeur, is found battered to death on the spot where Thomas Becket had been murdered almost 800 years previously. The influence of the Archbishop and his vicar general (the latter went to school with Coburg) ensures that Coburg is dragged reluctantly into leading the investigation. In Canterbury Coburg and Lampson come across a network of mostly unappealing characters. Henry Duckworth, a young man with a history of pilfering from his employers, has been found a job at the cathedral by his uncle, a canon like de la Coeur, in an attempt to curb his tendencies. It is a failure. Duckworth becomes associated with Percy Abernathy, an apparently dodgy solicitor who seems well acquainted with the local low life, including two potentially violent young tearaways. Abernathy is also related by marriage to Gerald Evans who has managed to extract money from the cathedral after he accused de la Coeur of molesting his son. Duckworth’s widowed mother is found to be carrying on with a married local shopkeeper. The scope for blackmail and extortion is everywhere. 

Becket and his history hangs over the whole investigation. Some people have a genuine interest in the saint and being close to where he died. Others see his martyrdom as a path to making money and are not too concerned how they do it (‘Becket is big business’ is one comment). Scams including pilgrimages, indulgences and the provenance of relics are central to this. Working out exactly who is behind criminal activity is just one of the problems facing Coburg whilst he tries to identify de la Coeur’s murderer. Another is that there are three further deaths which wipe out one or two suspects in the process. 

There is an ultimately heart-warming subplot. Lampson’s young son, Terry, is very badly injured when a previously unexploded bomb goes off in London. This brings Coburg’s brother, the Earl of Dawlish, into the story. His influence (via Churchill, a friendship we know from earlier novels) leads to Terry being treated by Sir Harold Gillies, a ground-breaking plastic surgeon (he is another person who actually existed that Eldridge brings into his fiction). Coburg is married to Rosa Weeks, a well-known jazz singer who works as an ambulance driver and who we have also met in previous stories. She and her friends provide a positive ending to the novel. 

As always with Eldridge, this is an intricately plotted, convincing and fast paced mystery. The wartime setting is thoroughly researched (a conscientious objector in the police force provides an added dimension, for example) as are the medieval connections, and the author gives us plenty of background, something he further develops in his acknowledgements at the end. I don’t imagine any reader will be disappointed.
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Reviewer: David Whittle

Jim Eldridge was born in the Kings Cross/Euston area of north London in November 1944. He left school at 16 and did a variety of jobs, before training as a teacher. He taught during the 1970s in disadvantaged areas of Luton, while at the same time writing. He became a full-time writer in 1978. He has had 80 books published which have sold over two million copies. He has had over 250 TV and 250 radio scripts broadcast in the UK and across the world. He lives with his wife in Cumbria; and is an associate lecturer at the University of Cumbria.

http://www.jimeldridge.com/

 

David Whittle is firstly a musician (he is an organist and was Director of Music at Leicester Grammar School for over 30 years) but has always enjoyed crime fiction. This led him to write a biography of the composer Bruce Montgomery who is better known to lovers of crime fiction as Edmund Crispin, about whom he gives talks now and then.

‘Murder at St. Alfred’s’ by Julie Wassmer

Published by Constable,
18 June 2026.
ISBN: 978-0-34900088-6 (PB)

Pearl Nolan runs a successful seafood restaurant in Whitstable, called The Whitstable Pearl. Her original idea when she was young was to become a police detective, but the arrival of her son Charlie scuppered that idea. But now that Charlie has left for university, Pearl has set up Nolan’s Detective Agency. 

In her role of Private Detective, she has come into contact with former Met Police Officer, Mike McGuire, which after a tricky start has developed into a loving relationship. And they are now about to marry. But currently Mike has been in London for a trial at the Old Bailey on an important corruption case. Everything is now set for the wedding except for the bridegroom. 

Pearl lives at Sea Spray cottage, and while pondering her impending marriage she is contacted by Reverend Prudence Lawson known locally as Rev Pru. Who says she needs to talk with Pearl as soon as possible.  Her problem is a young man in his twenties who has been sleeping in the church as he is homeless. He name is Ryan Stacey, and he has helped a lot in the church and seems a nice young man. With the church Sacristan recuperating after a knee replacement in the Happy Valley Nursing Home, his duties have been split between several church members.  And now a silver chalice has disappeared. 

Pearl visits Reggie Runcorn, a loveable Rogue, with a grey beard, shoulder length hair, sporting a plum-coloured smoking jacket, and a paisley cravat that has seen better days, and asks him to look at the photograph of the silver chalice to see if he can identify it. All he says is that it looks ecclesiastical.   

The story is rich in characters; there is the artist Judith Beckett who is putting Ryan up in her spare room. Judith according to Pearl’s mother Dolly is an old Cougar! Ruby, the waitress who Pearl looks upon as a daughter, and seems to have something on her mind, and Pearl’s son Charlie who is acting secretive, almost as though he is avoiding her. Charlie has tried several times to fly the nest, but it isn’t easy for this generation. Whitstable has become a popular location for ex-Londoners, known as DFL’s (short for Down from Londoners, as they are called by the locals). And they have money to buy holiday property, not too far from London. 

As plans for her coming wedding Pearl arranges to meet with Jade Jackson, St. A’s Musical director to finalise her choices on the church organ.  She was fascinated by the two mirrors above the keyboards on the organ, that enable Jade to keep an eye on the choir. But looking in the small square mirror Pearl can see a body lying with a gaping wound, eyes wide open. Dead.  The church is now a crime scene.  

This is the 11^th book in the series and with their wedding imminent they both individually look back into their past. Mike to the loss of Donna whom he was to marry, but who was killed in a hit-and-run car accident and Pearl who had never spoke of her relationship with Carl, Charlie’s father. 

This is a very layered story. Whilst Pearl has gone her own way, in bringing up Charlie, the past, as she discovers, has a way of turning up.  

Intriguing, and ingeniously plotted this episode in Pearls life is a compelling read and kept me guessing to the end. Whose body is it in the church? Will there be a wedding?  Highly Recommended.
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Reviewer: Lizzie Sirett

Julie Wassmer is a television drama writer who contributed for almost twenty years to the popular BBC series EastEnders. She published her autobiography More Than Just Coincidence in 2010, in which she describes finding her long-lost daughter after an astonishing twist of fate. It was voted Mumsnet book of the year. The Whitstable Pearl Mystery is the first in her series of crime novels, involving multi-tasking private detective-come-restauranteur, Pearl Nolan. Julie lives in Whitstable and is well known for her environmental campaigning.

https://www.juliewassmer.com/