CrimeFest: Historical Fiction: War and Peace

 Sunday, 18 May 2025

09:30 - 10:20

The panel are N.R. Daws, Helena Dixon,
Dolores Gordon Smith,  S.W. Williams, 
and the participating Moderator is Martin Edwards.

N.R. Daws spent 30 years in the civil service, 20 in security and counter-terrorism, and now lives a quieter life in Kent, writing historical crime. Murder at the Palace, set in the ‘grace & favour’ apartments of Hampton Court Palace 1891, is his first book featuring housekeeper sleuth Mrs Lydia Bramble. He is the author of three Kember & Hayes crime mysteries set in WW2 and contributed to the CWA anthology Music of the Night.

neildaws.csom  

Helena Dixon is the author of the Miss Underhay and The Secret Detective Agency golden age style mystery series and lives in Devon. Married to the same man for forty years she has three daughters, two grandsons, and a crazy cockapoo. She is allergic to adhesives, apples, tinsel and housework. She was winner of The Romance Prize in 2007 and Love Story of the Year 2010 as Nell Dixon. 

 nelldixon.com 

Dolores Gordon-Smith is the author of the Jack Haldean murder mystery series set in 1920’s England, the latest of which is The Chapel in the Woods, published by Severn House, and two WW1 spy thrillers, Frankie’s Letter and The price of Silence. Married with five daughters, a growing number of grandchildren and various dogs and cats, Dolores has been a teacher, a civil servant and a shaker-out of Christmas puddings in a jam factory. Website:

doloresgordon-smith.co.uk 

Sarah ‘S.W.’ Williams has been a professional writer all her life. As Sarah Matthews she published over eighty books, mainly non-fiction books for children and school textbooks. Then, about fifteen years ago, she decided to turn to crime, editing Crime Fiction Fix, a digital magazine. She was commissioned to write How to Write Crime Fiction - a revised edition is appearing in June 2025. A historical thriller, A Time to Reap, is also on the stocks. 

Martin Edwards’ novels include the Lake District Mysteries and the Rachel Savernake books, most recently Hemlock Bay. His non-fiction includes a multi-award-winning history of Golden Age fiction, The Golden Age of Murder, the expanded second edition of which has just been published. He has received three Daggers, including the CWA Diamond Dagger, two Edgars, three CrimeFest Keating awards, and four lifetime achievement awards. He is consultant to the British Library’s Crime Classics and President of the Detection Club.

martinedwardsbooks.com