Caroline England

Known as the ‘Duchess of Dark Domestic Noir’, Caroline England is the author of eight psychological suspense thrillers, and her latest thriller, Behind Her Smile. She also writes gothic-tinged psychological thrillers as CE Rose. Drawing on her career as a criminal and divorce lawyer, she creates characters who get caught up in extraordinary situations, moral dilemmas and crime.

Sam Holland

Sam Holland is the award-winning author of the Major Crimes series, following detectives as they investigate murders committed by brutal serial killers in the south of England. She also writes as Louisa Scarr, most recently publishing the PC Lucy Halliday series, following a police dog handler.

Robert Rutherford

Rob Scragg, now writing as Robert Rutherford, is North East born and bred. He is the author of the Porter & Styles series, book one of which was a Read Regional pick for 2019, and most recently, the fourth instalment, End Of The Line, was chosen as book of the week in the Sun.

Guy Hale - Moderator

Guy Hale is the author of two series. The Comeback Trail trilogy, set in the music industry of the USA, where we follow the down-on-his-luck singer Jimmy Wayne. His other series is The Stratford Murders, set in 1970’s Stratford-upon Avon featuring detectives Toby Marlowe and Fred Williams. Darkly comic and revolving around the tragedies of Shakespeare and a serial killing actor bent on revenge.

G.J. Williams

GJ Williams writes The Tudor Rose Murders Series – taking real Tudor events and people, then throwing in a plot and bodies. She has been compared to CJ Sansom. The Conjuror’s Apprentice, The Wolf’s Shadow, and The Cygnet Prince are on the shelves. The Assassin’s Mark is scheduled for 2026.

Carolyn Kirby

Carolyn is an award-winning historical novelist. Her debut The Conviction of Cora Burns was listed for prizes from the Historical Writers’ Association and the Crimefest/Specsavers Crime Fiction Award. When We Fall was chosen by the Times and Sunday Times as one of the Best Novels of 2020. Her most recent novel Ravenglass was published this autumn by Northodox Press.

D.V. Bishop

D. V. Bishop writes the Cesare Aldo historical thrillers, set in Renaissance Italy. These have won the Crime Writers’ Association Historical Dagger, the Ngaio Marsh Award, the NZ Booklovers Prize, and been shortlisted for the CWA Gold Dagger, the McIlvanney Prize and the Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing Prize.

Clare Nally - Moderator

Claire is a Professor in Modern and Contemporary Literature at Northumbria University, UK. She is the author of three books, three edited collections, and numerous journal articles and book chapters. Her latest research addresses how contemporary culture engages with death and mourning in memoir.

Morgan Cry

Under his real name, Gordon Brown, Morgan Cry has twelve crime and thriller books published to date, along with a novella and a number of short stories. Morgan’s latest book, ‘The Cost’, is the start of a new crime series starring Blake Glover and is set in and around Blake’s childhood home town of Fraserburgh. The sequel, ‘The Fracture’, will be released on November 4th.

Heather Critchlow

Heather is the author of the McIlvanny prize-longlisted Cal Lovett series. Her debut Unsolved was shortlisted for the Bloody Scotland debut in 2023 and the fourth book in the series was published in August 2025. She is also the author of speculative thriller The Tomorrow Project.

Nina Bhadreshwar

Nina worked as a journalist on her local paper, The Barnsley Chronicle, before setting up her own magazine when she was twenty-three. She’s also worked in music journalism, and as a high school teacher in England, Scotland and California. She is a graduate of the University of East Anglia’s MA Crime Fiction. The Day of the Roaring is her first crime fiction novel.        

Frances Walker - Moderator

Fran Walker joined Newcastle Libraries European Crime Book Club in 2014 and has never looked back.  Credits include Producer and co-host of Crime Fiction Addiction, a book show on the NE’s Spice FM radio, and more commonly playing Dr Noir’s core festival coordinator for Newcastle Noir. She’s thrilled to be back for another year moderating an exciting panel.

May Rinaldi

May is a crime writer from the South-West of Scotland where she lives with her Norwegian husband, and two decrepit cats. Her debut psychological suspense novel, Liar Thief, is due for publication on 15 th November 2025 from Black Spring Press Group, Amazon, Waterstones and all good booksellers.

Rupa Mahadevan

Rupa is the author of the award-winning psychological thriller, Nine Dolls, published by Joffe Books and Audible. She was one of the crime spotlights of Bloody Scotland in 2025 and was also featured in the first thriller panel of Edinburgh Women’s fiction festival. She grew up on the south-eastern coast of India and has lived on the south-eastern coast of Scotland for over 15 years.

Claire Wilson

Claire spent 25 years in prison without ever committing a crime. She used her experience as an Intelligence Analyst in a Scottish prison to write her debut novel, Five by Five, which won the Penguin Michael Joseph undiscovered writers prize and was subsequently shortlisted for several debut awards.

Ingrid Hall

Kind-hearted, but fierce, is how Ingrid would describe herself. Starlight: The Matryoshka is her debut crime noir. She is also a social entrepreneur. When she is not writing, she can usually be found serving customers at Dreamshine Café in Wallsend Library.

Caroline Green - Moderator

An award-winning, Sunday Times/ USA Today bestselling author for both adults and young people, Caroline has published thirteen books; under her own name, as Cass Green and as CS Green. Her latest is the supernatural thriller DOWN AMONG THE DEAD. Caroline is the Writer in Residence at East Barnet School and Thameside Prison.

Julie Anderson

Julie is a CWA Dagger listed author of historical fiction set in south London – The Midnight Man, A Death in the Afternoon and Festival Days (coming Spring 2026).  She reviews for Time and Leisure Magazine and is co-founder of Clapham Book Festival. She has recently been working with St Pauls Opera Company on their production of L’Elisi d’Amore.

Christina Koning

Christina has worked as a journalist, reviewing fiction for The Times, and has taught Creative Writing at the University of Oxford and Birkbeck, University of London. From 2013 to 2015, she was Royal Literary Fund Fellow at Newnham College, Cambridge. She won the Encore Prize in 1999 and was long-listed for the Orange Prize in the same year.

Chris Lloyd

Chris has worked as a translator and travel writer. He now writes the Eddie Giral series, about a Paris police detective under the Nazi Occupation. He has won the HWA Gold Crown for best historical novel of the year and been shortlisted twice for the CWA Historical Dagger.

Mary-Jane Riley

Mary-Jane spent many years as a BBC journalist, presenting on local radio and covering major crime stories. Interviews with Ruth Rendell and PD James encouraged her to write her own crime fiction. A fellow of the Royal Literary Fund, she has published four contemporary psychological thrillers before turning to the aftermath of WWII and the character of Beattie Cavendish.

Val Penny - Moderator

Val’s crime novels form the bestselling series of DI Hunter Wilson Thrillers set in Edinburgh. She also writes the bestselling Jane Renwick Thrillers set in Scotland. She is published by SpellBound Books. Val is an American author living in SW Scotland with her husband and their cat.

Marnie Riches

In the decade since Marnie Riches’ award-winning crime-thriller debut, The Girl Who Wouldn’t Die, published, she has become a bestselling contributor to the genre, with five critically acclaimed series and hundreds of thousands of books sold in the UK alone. The Gardeners’ Club is her first foray into cosy crime!

Martin Edwards

Martin Edwards’s latest novel is Miss Winter in the Library with a Knife. The author of the Lake District and Rachel Savernake series, he has won three Daggers and two Edgars and had ten further Dagger nominations. He has received lifetime achievement awards for fiction, non-fiction, short stories, and scholarship.

Olga Wojtas

Olga has spent most of her life as a journalist, starting off in the Toon where she developed a lifelong love of stottie cakes. But she finds the news very depressing, leading her to write escapist comic crime in the “Miss Blaine’s Prefect” series.

Rosie White - Moderator

Rosie is a retired academic who published work on popular fiction, film and television.  She has lived in Newcastle for nearly thirty years and reads a lot of crime fiction but is not planning any murders so far…

Michael J. Malone

Michael is a prize-winning poet and author. Blood Tears, his best-selling debut novel, won the Pitlochry Prize from the Scottish Association of Writers. His psychological thriller, A Suitable Lie, was a number one bestseller, the critically acclaimed House Of Spines and After He Died following suit. With 15 novels published, the Annie Jackson Mysteries series is his most recent focus, starting with The Murmurs and continuing more recently with The Howling.

Elisabeth Wolf

Elisabeth is a writer of contemporary gothic fiction, creating classic tales that utilize the genre’s most beloved tropes – crumbling mansions, vulnerable heroines, windswept landscapes and dark, brooding antiheroes. “Gothic sits right at the intersection between dangerous romance and spine-tingling horror, and it’s this combination that makes them so irresistible,” she explains. Elisabeth lives in Edinburgh and has eight crime novels published as Alison Belsham.

A.D. Bergin

A. D. was born in Northumberland and raised on Tyneside. He graduated from Cambridge University with a first class degree in History, since when he has worked as an archaeologist, historian, researcher, postman, roofer, builder and barman. The Wicked of the Earth is his first published work of fiction.

Suzy Aspley - Moderator

Originally from the North-east of England, Scotland-based writer Suzy Aspley’s debut contemporary gothic thriller Crow Moon was published in March 2024 by Orenda Books. A former Bloody Scotland Pitch Perfect winner (2019), the novel was shortlisted for the McDermid Debut Prize at Harrogate and the Bloody Scotland Debut Prize in 2024. The Bone Mother – the next book in the Martha Strangeways Series – will be published in May 2026.

Mari Hannah

Mari is a multi-award-winning author and screenwriter. Her work is sold around the world and has been translated into other languages. Two of her three series are in development for TV. She lives in rural Northumberland with her partner, an ex-murder detective.

Kate Rhodes

Kate is an acclaimed crime novelist, selected by Val McDermid’s New Blood panel at Theakston Crime Writing Festival, twice nominated for the prestigious CWA Dagger in the Library, and a founder of the Killer Women writing group. She is author of Deadman’s Pool, the latest instalment in the exceptional Isles of Scilly Mystery series.

James Routledge - Moderator

James is a bookseller and events manager with over a decade of experience in independent bookselling. Through Opt Indie Books, he runs an online platform and live events programme celebrating small-press publishing, indie bookshops, northern writing, and the literary communities that connect readers and writers across the North East.

Trevor Wood

Trevor is the writer of the Jimmy Mullen trilogy set in Newcastle’s homeless community which began with the multi-award winning The Man on the Street. His latest book, The Inside Man, is the second in a series featuring DCI Jack Parker, a senior cop in the first stages of Early Onset Dementia, which was recently optioned for TV by Filmnation UK.

Sean Watkin

Sean is the author of Black Water Rising, shortlisted for the McDermid Debut Award 2025. His atmospheric crime novels are set against the gritty backdrop of Merseyside, blending psychological tension with intricate plotting. His second novel, Better Off Dead, will be published in January 2026.

Photo: Lee Isserow, Vessel Studios

Daniel Aubery

Daniel is the bestselling author of the “Orkney Mysteries” series starring neurodivergent reporter, Freya Sinclair. Daniel was picked for the prestigious Critics’ New Blood panel at the Theakston’s Old Peculiar Crime Writing Festival in Harrogate, and his first two books, Dark Island and The Dying Light, have been nominated for multiple awards.

Michael Wood - Moderator

Michael is a former journalist and the author of the bestselling DCI Matilda Darke series set in his home city of Sheffield. He also writes the Dr Olivia Winter psychological thrillers and four standalone novels. He currently lives in Newcastle where he spends his days writing and reading.

Jamie West

Jamie has spent twenty years working in London’s West End Theatres. DEATH ON THE PIER introduces Bertie Carroll, a 1930s murder mystery playwright who is forced to turn real-life detective. The second book in the series MURDER AT THE MATINEE was shortlisted for a CWA Whodunnit Dagger Award.

Fiona Veitch Smith

Fiona writes Golden Age mysteries. Her debut, The Jazz Files, was shortlisted for the CWA Historical Dagger in 2016. Her eleventh book, The Berlin Murders, is out in January. As part of her research, she makes vintage fashion from original patterns, collects vintage guide books and is working on a PhD in feminist representation in Golden Age detective fiction at the University of Strathclyde.

Essie Fox

Sunday Times bestselling author Essie Fox is an award-winning author of historical fiction. Her latest mystery, Dangerous – set in Venice, where an exiled Lord Byron turns detective to clear his name when he’s accused of the murders of local women – was a Times Book of the Month. Essie also hosts the podcast Talking the Gothic, and lives in Windsor.

Heidi Amsinck

Heidi is the author of the bestselling crime series featuring Jensen, a Copenhagen reporter. A journalist by background, Heidi spent many years covering Britain for the Danish press. Born in Denmark, she now lives in the UK where her work has been broadcast frequently on BBC Radio 4.

Sally-Anne Martyn

Sally-Anne is an Amazon best-selling author of three novels; all dark thrillers set in the north of England. Coming from a working-class background, her writing is inspired by those women who are constantly left on the sidelines and ignored. She takes the underdog and gives her the freedom to do what she wants (good or bad) and see where that takes her. Her novels are all published by Joffe Books.

Rob Parker - Moderator

Rob is the author of The Troubled Deep and the bestselling Thirty Miles trilogy, as well as eight novels for independent publishers. He lives in Warrington with his wife, three children and their dogs, and is the host of Manchester Library’s monthly crime fiction panel show, Crime Central.

Lilja Sigurðardóttir

Lilja is an award-winning Icelandic crime-writer and author of ten thrillers, including the international bestselling Reykjavik Noir trilogy and the award-winning An Árora Investigation series. Black as Death, translated by Lorenza Garcia, is the latest in this gripping, chilling series. Lilja lives in Reykjavik with her partner.

Eva Björg Ægisdóttir

Eva Björg is the international bestselling author of the Forbidden Iceland series – currently filming for the screen – and she has won multiple awards, including the CWA New Blood Dagger. Eva’s chilling standalone, critically acclaimed psychological thriller, Home Before Dark, translated by Victoria Cribb, was published earlier this year. She lives in Reykjavik with her family.

Ørjan Karlsson

Ørjan, from Bodø in northern Norway, is a sociologist and former army officer who has served on multiple overseas missions. Now head of department at the Norwegian Directorate for Civil Protection, he’s also an award-winning author. Into Thin Air, translated by Ian Giles, launched his first crime series, featuring Jakob Weber.

Karen Sullivan - Moderator

Karen is publisher and owner of indie publisher Orenda Books – winner of the CWA Crime & Mystery Publisher of the Year in 2020 and 2025, and recipient of a Creative Europe award. Orenda published upmarket fiction, with a heavy emphasis on genre fiction, half in translation. Canadian by birth, she lives in London, and remains a voracious reader and a passionate supporter of the book community.

David Warriner

David Warriner grew up in Northern England with a passion for crime fiction and has been a professional translator from French for over half his life. He lives in Canada and has translated books for publishers on both sides of the Atlantic, including Johana Gustawsson’s gothic thriller, The Bleeding.