Martine Bailey writes crime and historical mysteries. Her debut, An Appetite for Violets, was credited by Fay Weldon as inventing a new 'culinary Gothic' genre. Her latest books, Sharp Scratch and Isolation Ward, draw on her early NHS career and MSc research, to explore whether personality tests could catch a killer.

Christine Poulson’s stories have been short-listed for various awards including the Short Mystery Fiction Derringer, the Margery Allingham Prize and the CWA Short Story Dagger. She is the author of a series of crime novels featuring medical researcher Katie Flanagan, most recently, An Air That Kills. Find out more at christinepoulson.co.uk

Dea Parkin writes fiction and poetry and has won prizes from the Lancashire Authors Association. Her day job is editing and she critiques and edits novels at her editorial consultancy Fiction Feedback, sponsor of the CWA’s Emerging Author Dagger. Besides writing, her passions are history, travel and tennis.

C.J. Carver won the CWA Debut Dagger and the USA Barry Award for her first novel Blood Junction. She has written a further seventeen critically acclaimed novels. Spare Me The Truth, the first in the Dan Forrester series, and The Snow Thief have both been shortlisted for the Ngaio Marsh Award.

Kate Ellis is best known for her Devon-based crime series featuring DI Wesley Peterson, the latest of which is The Killing Place, and her Joe Plantagenet series. Winner of the CWA Dagger in the Library, she has also published a trilogy set in the aftermath of WW1. Find out more at: kateellis.co.uk.

Shawn Reilly Simmons is an Agatha and Anthony Award-winning author and editor. She written eight novels in her Red Carpet Catering mystery series, and over thirty of her short stories have appeared in various anthologies.

Phil Lecomber was born on the outskirts of South East London. His debut novel, Midnight Streets – the first in the Piccadilly Noir series – appeared in 2025. The Devil’s Banquet is the next book.

L.C. Tyler is a former CWA Chair, who has twice won the Goldsboro Last Laugh Award for comic crime novels and also a CWA Dagger. He writes two crimes series: one set in the seventeenth century and one with a narrator who has not moved on much since the 1950s.

Glenda Young is a bestselling author of historical sagas. She turned to crime during lockdown and began writing cosy crimes set in Scarborough. The novels were shortlisted with Richard Osman and Val McDermid for Best New Crime Series in the Dead Good Readers Awards.

Antony Johnston is one of the most versatile writers of the modern era, with a body of work spanning books, film, graphic novels, videogames, and non-fiction. An award-winning author and New York Times bestseller, his creations include the interactive novel Can You Solve the Murder?

Simon Dinsdale is a retired police officer who spent most of his career as a detective. His retirement plan was simple, turn to crime. The Christian Dane crime thrillers are the result of that change in direction and he has plans for many more. Find out more on his website: simondinsdaleauthor.co.uk.

Renita D’Silva's Heartache on West India Dock Road, the third book in her historical saga series set on West India Dock Road, is out now. Her short stories have been nominated for the Pushcart prize, the Best of the Net anthology, and shortlisted for the LoveReading Very Short Story award.

Paul Gitsham is a former biologist and recovering science teacher who now tutors online. He is the creator of the DCI Warren Jones series, the standalone thriller The Aftermath and the new Coventry-based Foxe and Kennard police series. He lives with his wife in the West Midlands in a house with more books than shelf space.

Yvonne Walus is a novelist, Doctor of Mathematics, business analyst, people leader, as well as a wife and mother. Her intercontinental upbringing spans communist Poland, apartheid South Africa, and, ultimately, New Zealand. Her novels include the bestseller The Wrong Girl, Serial Wives, Operation Genocide and Welcome to Perfectville.

Brian Price is the author of the DC Mel Cotton detective thriller series, a collection of short stories called A Pocketful of Poisons, and also the guide for writers Crime writing: How to write the science. A scientist by training, he has worked for the NHS, the Environment Agency and the Open University.

Pam Plumb is a crime writer from the North East of England. She was shortlisted for the Northern Writers’ Award Fiction category in 2025 and was a Bloody Scotland Pitch Perfect finalist in 2024.

Nick Guthrie lives surrounded by nature in a remote cottage in Suffolk, but he grew up in the North Essex port town where his story, 'Old Friends', is set. His first two crime novels are due to be published. You can find out more about Nick at www.nickguthrie.co.uk

Margaret Holbrook writes whodunnits set in the late 1920s featuring landed amateur sleuth and racing driver Jack France. She has also written Mr and Mrs Wilmott Investigate, a collection of short stories featuring retired sleuthing couple Edward and Millie Wilmott. She lives in Cheshire, England.

Andy Sykes has been writing fiction since retiring. As COVID struck in 2020, to stay mentally active, he formed a small writing group. This later became Stockport Storytellers. Andy has always preferred Crime, so has written quite a few amongst the 100 or more he has penned. He is currently seeking representation for his debut crime novel.

Cath Staincliffe is a best-selling, award-winning novelist, radio playwright and creator of ITV’s hit series Blue Murder. Cath has been shortlisted for the Crime Writers’ Association Daggers six times, winning the Short Story Dagger in 2012. Her stand-alone novels tell stories of ordinary families caught up in extraordinary events.

Roland Moore is a scriptwriter and novelist who lives near London. He wrote the Land Girls trilogy, based on the award-winning TV drama series he created for BBC1. His supernatural TV drama series, Fallen, recently won an International Emmy Award.

Rachel Amphlett is a USA Today bestselling crime author who, before turning to writing, played guitar in bands, worked as a TV and film extra, and dabbled in radio as a presenter and freelance producer for the BBC. She now wields a pen instead of a plectrum and writes crime fiction with over 40 novels and short stories featuring spies, detectives, and assassins.