Mysteries set at Conferences.

I was at a conference at the weekend and someone said 'are there any mysteries set at conferences'.
I have found a few.

CrimeFest 2024: Bad People: Serial Killers, Psychopaths and Scary Strangers.

Saturday, 11 May
13:40 - 14:30

The Panel are C.V. Chauhan, Sam Holland,
Joanna Wallace, Sarah Ward,
and the participating Moderator is Alex North 

C.V. Chauhan is the creator of the crime thrillers set in Leicester, featuring DI Rohan Sharma. The first book in the series, The Dance of Death was published in August 2022 and the second, Shattered Dreams in March 2023. The third, Tripswitch will be published in early May 2024. Champak graduated from the University of York, taught history in London and Birmingham, and worked in state education at a senior level. He now writes full-time.

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. The Puppet Master will be published in May. She also writes as Louisa Scarr, and a new series, about a police dog handler, will launch in July 2024 with Gallows Wood. Sam can be found on Instagram and Twitter at @samhollandbooks.

www.samhollandbooks.com 

Joanna Wallace studied Law at Birmingham University before working as a commercial litigation solicitor in London. She now runs a family business and lives in Buckinghamshire with her husband, four children and two dogs. Her first novel, You’d Look Better as a Ghost, was published by Viper in 2023 and won the Crime Fiction Lover Debut Novel Award. Her second novel, The Dead Friend Project, will be published in July 2024. 

Sarah Ward is a crime novelist who writes gothic historical thrillers as Rhiannon Ward. The Birthday Girl, the first book in her new Welsh based series, was published in 2023 and described in the FT as 'channelling Christie-esque tropes' and was followed by The Sixth Lie. She has also written Doctor Who audio dramas. Sarah is Vice-Chair of the Crime Writers Association and Treasurer of Crime Cymru, the Welsh crime writing collective. 

Alex North’s first novel, The Whisper Man, was a Sunday Times, New York Times and international bestseller. It has been published in over 30 languages and is currently being adapted for film. It was followed by The Shadow Friend, and his most recent thriller is The Half Burnt House. Alex is the pseudonym for a previously award-winning crime novelist, and he lives in Leeds with his wife and son.  

CrimeFest 2024: Saturday 11 May: Not in My Job Description: Crime-Solving Amateurs.

 Saturday, 11 May
11:20 - 12:10

The Panel are J.G. Goodhind, Ada Moncrieffe,
Kate Wells, Ovidia Yu,
and the participating Moderator is Dolores Gordon Smith 

J.G. Goodhind was born and raised in Bristol. Winner of the BBC New Writers Award she sold up, sailed away, qualified as a skipper and lived on a yacht for five years. The thirteenth book in the Honey Driver series is set in Bath. A bestseller in Germany, it reached the top 200 on amazon.com. May 2024 sees book fourteen, A Claim for Murder, being released by Joffe Books. J.G. Goodhind also writes as Lizzie Lane. 

www.lizzielane.com

Ada Moncrieff was born in London and has lived in Madrid and Paris. She studied English at Cambridge University, and has worked in theatre, publishing and as a teacher. She is the author of Murder Most Festive, Murder at the Theatre Royale and Murder at Maybridge Castle. She now lives and works in London. 

Kate Wells is the author of the Malvern Farm Mystery series, published by Boldwood books, which is inspired by her upbringing on the Worcestershire/Herefordshire border, and her time spent living and working on farms. When not writing, she is frequently found in a field talking to the sheep, or out on the Malvern Hills walking her border collie cross. She also writes books for children under the name Kate Poels.

 www.katewellscrime.co.uk

 Ovidia Yu is a Singapore based writer of Singapore based mysteries who’ll be travelling to the UK just for Crimefest. Her ‘tree’ books, The Angsana Tree Mystery, The Mimosa Tree Mystery, The Mushroom Tree Mystery, The Yellow Rambutan Tree Mystery are history mysteries and her ‘Aunty’ books, Aunty Lee’s Delights and Aunty Lee’s Chilled Revenge etc are contemporary foodie mysteries.

www.ovidiayu.com

Dolores Gordon-Smith lives in Greater Manchester and is the author of the Jack Haldean series set in 1920’s England, Serpent’s Eye, How to write a Classic Murder Mystery and two WW1 spy stories. Married with five daughters, a growing number of grandchildren and various dogs and cats, Dolores has been a teacher, a factory worker and the front end of a cow in a pantomime.  

www.doloresgordon-smith.co.uk 

CrimeFest 2024: Saturday 11 May: History's Untold Stories: The Joys of Historical Crime Fiction.

 Saturday, 11 May
11:20 - 12:10

The Panel are Martin Edwards, Kate Griffin,
Christina Koning, Abir Mukherjee,
and the participating Moderator is Donna Moore. 

Martin Edwards’ novels include the Lake District Mysteries and the Rachel Savernake books, most recently Sepulchre Street. His non-fiction includes a multi-award-winning history of crime fiction, The Life of Crime, the updated paperback edition of which has just been published. He has received three Daggers, including the Diamond Dagger, two Edgars, and four lifetime achievement awards. He is consultant to the British Library’s Crime Classics and recently wrote an audio drama for Doctor Who. 

Martin Edwards - Martin Edwards Books  

Kate Griffin has worked for an antiques dealer, as a journalist and in PR. Until recently she was Head of Communications for Britain’s oldest conservation charity. Fyneshade is her love letter to Victorian Gothic. It’s a murderously twisted homage to the greats of the genre. Kitty Peck and the Music Hall Murders, Kate’s first book, was shortlisted for the Crime Writing Association’s Debut Dagger. She is also the author of three subsequent Kitty Peck novels.

Christina Koning has worked as a journalist, reviewing fiction for The Times, and 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. Murder at Bletchley Park is the eighth novel in the Blind Detective series.

Abir Mukherjee is the bestselling author of the Wyndham & Banerjee novels set in colonial-era India. His books have been translated into fifteen languages and won various awards including the CWA Dagger for best Historical Novel and the Prix du Polar Européen. His first standalone thriller, Hunted is out in May. He also co-hosts the Red Hot Chilli Writers podcast which takes a wry look at the world of books, writing, and the creative arts.

www.abirmukherjee.com 

Donna Moore, CrimeFest’s co-host, also works as a literacy tutor for marginalised women and has a PhD in creative writing. Her first novel, Go To Helena Handbasket won the Lefty Award for most humorous crime fiction novel and her second novel, Old Dogs, was shortlisted for both the Lefty and Last Laugh Awards. Her third novel, The Unpicking, spanning three generations of ‘hysterical women’ who experience systemic corruption and injustice, was published in October 2023. 

www.donnamooreauthor.com 

CrimeFest 2024: Saturday 11 May: Tick Tock: A Race Against Time

Saturday, 11 May
09:00 - 09:50

The Panel are Michelle Kidd, Simon McCleave,
Brian Price, Michael Stanley (Stan Trollip),
and the participating Moderator is Martin Edwards

Michelle Kidd is best known for the DI Jack MacIntosh and DI Nicki Hardcastle crime novels. After qualifying as a legal executive, she spent ten years practising civil and criminal litigation. However, the dream to write was never far away. In 2008 she began writing the first book in what would become the DI Jack MacIntosh series. Michelle currently works full-time for the NHS. She enjoys reading, wine and cats – not necessarily in that order. 

www.michellekiddauthor.com 

Simon McCleave is a multi-million selling crime novelist living in North Wales. His debut novel, The Snowdonia Killings reached No. 1 in the Amazon charts and the eighteen book series has sold over two million copies. It is currently in development for television. He also has a crime series set on Anglesey with Harper Collins (Avon) and is currently writing a thriller for Storm. Before writing novels, Simon was a screenwriter in film and television. 

www.simonmccleave.com  

Brian Price is the West Country-based author of the DC Mel Cotton series and of a guide for authors on the scientific aspects of crime such as poisons, knockouts and DNA. A chemist and biologist, he has worked for the NHS, the Environment Agency, as a consultant and was an OU tutor for twenty-six years. 

www.brianpriceauthor.co.uk  

Michael Stanley is the pen-name for writing partnership Michael Sears and Stanley Trollip. Their mystery series, featuring Detective Kubu, is set in Botswana, a fascinating country with magnificent conservation areas, varied peoples, and intriguing backstories. They have won a Barry Award and have been finalists for an Edgar, an ITW, and a CWA award. The latest book in the series is a prequel, titled A Deadly Covenant. They also wrote a thriller about rhino poaching, Dead of Night, set in South Africa, featuring investigative journalist Crystal Nguyen. Stanley also wrote a Crystal Nguyen thriller, Wolfman, set in Minnesota. 

www.michaelstanleybooks.com 

Martin Edwards’ novels include the Lake District Mysteries and the Rachel Savernake books, most recently Sepulchre Street. His non-fiction includes a multi-award-winning history of crime fiction, The Life of Crime, the updated paperback edition of which has just been published. He has received three Daggers, including the Diamond Dagger, two Edgars, and four lifetime achievement awards. He is consultant to the British Library’s Crime Classics and recently wrote an audio drama for Doctor Who. 

Martin Edwards - Martin Edwards Books 

CrimeFest 2024: Saturday 11 May: Partners in Crime: When Two Heads are Better Than One.

Saturday, 11 May
09:00 - 09:50

The Panel are Ruth Dudley Edwards, A. J. Hill,
C.L. Miller, Marrisse Whittaker,
and the participating Moderator is Cathy Ace

Ruth Dudley Edwards is an historian and journalist. The targets of her satirical crime novels include academia, the civil service, the House of Lords, the Church of England, literary prizes and political correctness. She won CrimeFest’s Goldsboro Last Laugh Award for Murdering Americans (2008) and Killing the Emperors (2013), as well as the CWA Non-Fiction Gold Dagger for Aftermath: The Omagh Bombings and The Families’ Pursuit Of Justice (2010).

 www.ruthdudleyedwards.com 

A.J. (Andy) Hill is a former Customs and Police Officer, now working in property. Dead Drift and Bloody Butcher start the series, with central characters of Jack Lunn and Gemma Bryce. The manuscript for book three is with his Literary Agents and he’s halfway through writing a standalone, at the same time as Jack & Gem book four. An avid reader and reviewer for Shotsmag, Andy has been a long-time attendee at CrimeFest. 

C.L. Miller is the author of the internationally bestselling novel – The Antique Hunter’s Guide to Murder which was published in Feb 2024 and translated in over sixteen languages. The second in the Antique Hunter’s series will be out in 2025. Cara started working life in publishing before moving into hospitality and events and now writes full time from her medieval cottage in Dedham Vale, Suffolk where she lives with her family.  

 www.clmillerauthor.com 

Marrisse Whittaker has been creating characters for all of her working life, first in the world of TV and films and now writing crime thrillers. In 2021, Marrisse was offered a three-book deal by Bloodhound Books, creating the DSI Billie Wilde crime thriller series. Her fifth book, Deepfake, in the spin-off Wilde & Darque series, will be published in July.

 www.marrissewhittaker.com  

Cathy Ace’s Cait Morgan Mysteries are Christie-esque whodunits featuring a globetrotting Welsh Canadian psychologist (optioned for TV by Free@LastTV). Her WISE Enquiries Agency Mysteries feature a quartet of softly poached female PIs solving cases from a Welsh stately home. She’s won the Bony Blithe Award, IPPY and IBA Awards, and has been twice shortlisted for CWC Awards of Excellence, plus the CrimeFictionLover Best Indie. She’s a Past Chair of Crime Writers of Canada. 

 www.cathyace.com 

CrimeFest 2024: Friday 10 May : Shades of Grey: Developing Plots and Characters

 Friday 10 May
17:10 - 18:00

The Panel are Alison Bruce, Paul Gitsham
Kate Griffin, Nell Pattison,
and the participating Moderator is Kate London.

Alison Bruce, acclaimed for her gripping crime novels, introduced Detective DC Gary Goodhew in Cambridge Blue (2008). With intricate plots and vivid characters, she has written seven Goodhew novels. Bruce’s commitment to realism, bolstered by her studies in crime and investigation, continues with her two standalone novels, I Did it for Us and The Moment Before Impact. The first in the Ronnie Blake series, Because She Looked Away, will be published in 2024.

www.alisonbruce.com 

Paul Gitsham is a former research biologist now writing alongside his day job as a science tutor. Along the way, Paul spent time working for a major high-street bank, ensuring that banned individuals, such as international terrorists and other n’er do wells, weren’t squirreling their ill-gotten gains into child trust funds. Paul writes the DCI Warren Jones series. The latest is Web of Lies, out now.  

www.paulgitsham.com

Kate Griffin has worked for an antiques dealer, as a journalist and in PR. Until recently she was Head of Communications for Britain’s oldest conservation charity. Fyneshade is her love letter to Victorian Gothic. It’s a murderously twisted homage to the greats of the genre. Kitty Peck and the Music Hall Murders, Kate’s first book, was shortlisted for the Crime Writing Association’s Debut Dagger. She is also the author of three subsequent Kitty Peck novels.

 Nell Pattison’s first novel, The Silent House, was a USA Today bestseller, and the series has been optioned for TV by Hot Coals and Banijay. Nell’s first and subsequent novels, Silent Night, The Silent Suspect, Hide, Friends Don’t Lie, all feature d/Deaf characters. She is passionate about disability representation in fiction.

Kate London served in the Metropolitan Police Service first in uniform, then as a detective. She finished her service working in the Met’s homicide command. Her first book, Post Mortem, was published in 2015. In 2019 she was named runner-up in Harper Bazaar's 2019 short-story competition. Her books are being adapted and broadcast by ITV as The Tower with Gemma Whelan in the lead. Kate also executive produces the series.

CrimeFest 2024: Friday 10 May: What A Thrill: Page Turners and Cliff Hangers.

 Friday 10 May
17:10 - 18:00

The Panel are Chris Curran, Antony Dunford
Charles Harris, Christine Poulson 
and the participating Moderator is Jeffrey Siger

Chris Curran writes psychological suspense under her own name and also as Abbie Frost (The Guesthouse). She lives on the south coast of England, moving recently from Hastings, a location for several of her novels, to the fascinating Romney Marsh area. Her latest novel, When the Lights Go Out, is set in the atmospheric Forest of Dean and was inspired by her early, and spectacularly unsuccessful, acting career.

 www.chriscurranauthor.com

Antony Dunford is from Bradford in West Yorkshire. He has been writing for as long as he can remember, and reading for longer than that. His debut novel, Hunted, an action-adventure eco-thriller set in Kenya was published by Hobeck Books in January 2021. His second novel, Born the Same, a prequel to Hunted set in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, was published in May 2023. He is currently working on his third novel, Endangered.

Charles Harris trained in acting with Peter Frye of the New York Actors Studio, before working his way up to direct award-winning cinema and TV. His debut political thriller novel The Breaking of Liam Glass was shortlisted for Wishing Shelf and Eyelands International Literary Awards. His second is the psychological thriller Room 15. He has also written books on screenwriting and police slang, is a director of the SoA and a black belt in Aikido. 

www.charles-harris.co.uk

Christine Poulson was a respectable academic with a PhD in History of Art. Then she turned to crime. Deep Water (2016) was the first in a series of medical thrillers featuring scientist Katie Flanagan. Cold Cold Heart (2017), is set in Antarctica, An Air That Kills (2019) in a high security lab. She has written numerous short stories and in 2018 was short-listed for both the Margery Allingham Prize and the CWA Short Story Dagger. 

www.christinepoulson.co.uk 

Jeffrey Siger fled his position as a name partner in his own NYC law firm to write Greece-based mystery thrillers on Mykonos. The New York Times picked him as Greece’s thriller novelist of record, and Reader’s Digest Select Editions described him as among its “new favorite authors.” He’s received Lefty and Barry “Best Novel” nominations for his CI Andreas Kaldis series, been Chair of Bouchercon, and served as an adjunct college professor teaching mystery writing.

www.jeffreysiger.com 

CrimeFest 2024: Friday 10 May: Domestic Noir: When Murder is Close to Home.

  Friday, 10 May
16:00 - 16:50

The Panel are Emma Curtis, Caroline England,
Laura Lipmann, Dan Malakin
and the participating Moderator is Louise Mangos

Emma Curtis lives in West London with her husband. Her children have left home. Emma's twelve years as a school secretary turned out to be the ideal foundation for a later career in writing domestic thrillers. Emma has published five titles with Transworld: One Little Mistake, When I Find You, The Night You Left, Keep Her Quiet and Invite Me In. Her latest thriller The Babysitter is published by Corvus. 

Caroline England (aka C.E. Rose) is the CWA Short Story Dagger shortlisted author of six multi-layered, dark and edgy domestic noir novels, Beneath the Skin, My Husband’s Lies, Betray Her, Truth Games, The Sinner and The Stranger Beside Me. As C.E. Rose she has written four gothic-tinged psychological thrillers, The House of Hidden Secrets, The House on the Water’s Edge, The Shadows of Rutherford House and The Attic at Wilton Place. 

www.carolineenglandauthor.co.uk  

Laura Lippman was a reporter for twenty years, including twelve years at The (Baltimore) Sun. She began writing novels while working fulltime and published seven books about "accidental PI" Tess Monaghan before leaving daily journalism in 2001. Her work has been awarded the Edgar ®, the Anthony, the Agatha, the Shamus, the Nero Wolfe, Gumshoe and Barry awards. She was the first-ever recipient of the Mayor's Prize for Literary Excellence and the first genre writer recognized as Author of the Year by the Maryland Library Association. Ms. Lippman attended Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism. 

Dan Malakin's debut novel, The Regret, was a Kindle bestseller. His second novel, The Box, was published in 2022 and his new novel, The Wreckage of Us, will be out in June 2024. When not writing thrillers, he works as a data-security consultant, teaching corporations how to protect themselves from hackers. He lives in North London with his wife and daughter.  

www.danmalakin.com

Louise Mangos writes psychological suspense, historical mystery (as L.S. Mangos) and short fiction which has won prizes, placed on shortlists and has been narrated on BBC radio. Her novels are set mostly in Switzerland where she lives in the foothills of the Alps with her Kiwi husband and two sons, enjoying skate skiing and wild swimming when she’s not writing. She holds  

 

CrimeFest 2024: A Skeleton in the Cupboard: Keeping Secrets

  Friday, 10 May
10:10 - 11:00

The Panel are Mark Ellis, Felix Francis,
Simon McCleave, Kaaron Warren
and the participating Moderator is Caroline England

Mark Ellis is the author of the acclaimed DCI Frank Merlin series set in World War Two London. Six books have been published so far and a fifth will be out in May. His third book, Merlin At War, was nominated for the CWA Historical Dagger Award. He is a member of Crime Cymru and Treasurer of  Gŵyl Crime Cymru Festival.

                               www.markellisauthor.com 

Felix Francis took over writing the ‘Dick Francis Novels’ from his father. He has recently finished Syndicate, which will be published in September 2024. It will be his eighteenth crime novel. Felix lives in Oxfordshire with his wife, Debbie, and two dogs. A keen cricket supporter, he is a member of MCC and the Lord’s Taverners, as well as of the Crime Writers Association, the International Thriller Writers, the Detection Club and The Garrick. 

www.felixfrancis.com  

Simon McCleave was born in South London. When leaving University, he worked in television and film development. He was a Script Editor at the BBC, a producer at Channel 4 before working as a Story Analyst in Los Angeles. He worked on films such as ‘The Full Monty’ and television series such as ‘Our Friends In The North’. He then became a script writer for television and film. He wrote on series such as Silent Witness, Murder In Suburbia, Teachers, Attachments, The Bill, Eastenders and many more.  

Kaaron Warren is an award-winning Australian writer based in Canberra, Australia. Kaaron was a Fellow at the Museum for Australian Democracy, where she researched prime ministers, artists and serial killers. Her novel The Underhistory, from Viper Books, came from this Fellowship. Her other novels are Slights, Mistification, Walking the Tree, The Grief Hole and Tide of Stone. She has seven short story collections. Her writing podcast Let the Cat In showcases ideas, objects, and inspirations.  

www.kaaronwarren.wordpress.com 

Caroline England (aka C.E. Rose) is the CWA Short Story Dagger shortlisted author of six multi-layered, dark and edgy domestic noir novels, Beneath the Skin, My Husband’s Lies, Betray Her, Truth Games , The Sinner and The Stranger Beside Me. As C.E. Rose she has written four gothic-tinged psychological thrillers, The House of Hidden Secrets, The House on the Water’s Edge, The Shadows of Rutherford House and The Attic at Wilton Place. 

www.carolineenglandauthor.co.uk