Coastal Crime 2027

 Crime writer starts new chapter as Coastal Crime announces 2027 date

Crime author Alex Stone publishes her latest thriller, The Jealous Girl, and launches a major new festival in the South: Coastal Crime.

Crime writer Alex Stone is preparing for a major new chapter this autumn - the publication of her latest psychological thriller, The Jealous Girl, and the launch of a new crime fiction festival.

Coastal Crime – The South's Crime Writing Festival takes place on Saturday 6 March 2027 at the Leonardo Royal Hotel Southampton Grand Harbour, bringing some of the biggest names in crime fiction together with emerging authors, aspiring writers, and readers for a day dedicated to the genre by the sea.

Festival founder Alex Stone was awarded a Katie Fforde Bursary in 2019 and published her debut thriller The Perfect Daughter with Boldwood Books in 2021. Her new Dorset-set psychological thriller, The Jealous Girl, is published by Boldwood Books on 10 September.

Alex Stone said: “It feels particularly appropriate that, just as The Jealous Girl is about to reach readers, Coastal Crime is beginning its first chapter.'

“Writing can often be a solitary profession, which is one of the reasons I'm so passionate about bringing writers and readers together. Coastal Crime is about celebrating the authors people already love, helping readers discover brilliant new voices, and creating a community where anyone with a passion for crime fiction feels welcome.”

The inaugural Coastal Crime programme is packed with panels exploring topics from reinventing the whodunnit, coastal noir, and adapting novels for screen.

Featured authors whose books have been adapted for screen include Sarah Pinborough, with the Netflix smash, Behind Her Eyes, Luke Jenning, whose books inspired the global sensation Killing Eve, TM Logan, whose The Holiday was adapted by Ch5 starring Jill Halfpenny, and New York Times bestselling screenwriter and novelist M J Arlidge, whose book was adapted for ITV’s Innocent.

Other bestselling authors include the award-winning Vaseem Khan, who was commissioned by the Ian Fleming Estate as an official author of the James Bond spin offs, featuring Q.

Journalist turned author Jackie Kabler also stars. Jackie worked as a news correspondent for the BBC, ITV and GMTV before writing bestsellers including The Perfect Couple and The Happy Family, selling over a million copies.

Sarah Pearse, Heidi Perks, Antony Johnston and Ava Glass also feature in a programme of talks, panels and opportunities for readers to meet new, emerging authors.

Alex said: “We’re creating a festival that celebrates bestselling names while championing new voices.”

Alex also runs an Author Events Academy, which has informed Coastal Crime’s dedicated Industry Hub, which will also run alongside the main festival.

The hub is aimed at aspiring and established writers, with sessions on breaking into the genre, understanding publishing routes, building visibility, mastering research, and pitching to agents, with expert contributors, including UK NetGalley Director Stuart Evers, on building a sustainable and visible writing career.

The hub also features forensic scientist Jo Millington, whose team has advised on major TV productions including Silent Witness, and Graham Bartlett, a former senior police officer turned bestselling author.

Writers will gain direct industry perspective from Curtis Brown Creative, sharing what agents are really looking for and how to approach submissions with confidence, alongside additional publishing professionals and specialists offering guidance across craft, research and career development.

A limited number of one-to-one appointments with agents and editors are now available to book.

Alex said: “Developing new, aspiring and emerging writers is something of a passion of mine. I’ve been through the process of dreaming of being a writer to published author. My Author Events Academy provides online workshops and development opportunities for writers, so that expertise and learning have really helped shape what we feel is an inspirational and practical day at Coastal Crime.”

The day concludes with a relaxed drinks reception, to meet authors and fellow crime fans.

Alex’s latest book The Jealous Girl explores toxic relationships, obsession and revenge. The novel follows Kirsty, whose obsession with the woman who has replaced her in her former boyfriend's life draws her into a web of family secrets, lies and ultimately something much darker. 

Dorset's dramatic coastline has long provided inspiration and settings for Alex's psychological thrillers, making the creation of a major crime writing festival on the South Coast a natural progression for the author.

Coastal Crime takes place on Saturday 6 March 2027 at the Leonardo Royal Hotel Southampton Grand Harbour. Early Bird tickets with 25% off are available until 31 October.

For tickets and further information please visit the website.

Death and Detection: Exploring Golden Age Crime Fiction,

Every Spring Christ Church hosts a Special Interest Event, where a group of specialists discuss the chosen topic in a series of lectures during the four-day event. Accommodation is provided in buildings of architectural and historical interest which reflect the different centuries since the college's foundation. All meals are included and are prepared under the direction of the college's Executive Head Chef and are served in the magnificent Tudor Hall. In 2027 they will be hosting 'Death and Detection: Exploring Golden Age Crime Fiction' taking place from the 8/4/27. 

 

Ticket information can be found here.

McIlvanney Prize Shortllist announced

 

BLOODY SCOTLAND REVEALS THE FINALISTS FOR 

THE McILVANNEY PRIZE 2026 

sponsored by the Glencairn Glass

Winner to be presented at 5pm on Friday 18 September 2026

This year the McIlvanney Prize is being judged by well-known broadcasters, Nicola Meighan and Sally Magnusson and crime reviewer, Gordon McGhie. Today they reveal the books they have selected as finalists and why:

Tariq Ashkanani - The Hollow Boys (Viper)

‘A powerful evocation of small town America and a deftly handled plot with an impossibly chilling mystery at its heart.’

Gavin Bell - 138 Main Street (S&S)

‘A genuinely unputdownable serial killer novel. We loved the originality and the sheer scale (both geographical and imaginative) of this thriller.’

Frances Crawford - A Bad, Bad Place (Transworld)

‘A bold, vital and original voice in Scottish crime writing. Full of wit and humanity, the characters stay with you long after you put the novel down.’

Philip Miller - The Diary of Lies (Polygon)

‘Absolutely beautiful prose evoking the Fife Coast and Edinburgh under snow. A truly exquisite sense of pace and a strong female lead character.’

Zoë Rankin - The Vanishing Place (Viper)

‘A gripping story about a forgotten family, alone and vulnerable in the New Zealand wilderness. We loved the strong characterisation in this compelling debut.’

Tariq Ashkanani was the winner of the McIlvanney Prize 2025 and also won the Bloody Scotland Debut Prize in 2022. He is one of the most established names on the list, which includes two debut authors – Frances Crawford and Zoë Rankin – who are also shortlisted for the Bloody Scotland Debut Prize, the latest book by Gavin Bell (who has previously written as Mason Cross and Alex Knight) and Philip Miller who appears on the McIlvanney shortlist for the first time. 

It’s also a triumph for indie publishers with Viper (Profile) appearing twice and Polygon (Birlinn) ensuring that indies dominate the list of finalists. 

Kirsty Nicholson, Head of Marketing at awards sponsor Glencairn Crystal, said:

“We’re thrilled to once again be part of the McIlvanney Prize and to celebrate the incredible talent at the heart of Scotland’s crime-writing community. This year’s finalists have delivered stories that intrigue, thrill and captivate, showcasing the imagination and originality that make this crime fiction prize so special. We’ll be raising a Glencairn Glass to every finalist as we look forward to discovering who takes home this year’s prize. Congratulations to all the shortlisted authors and the best of luck!”

The presentation of both prizes will take place in the Church of the Holy Rude at 5pm on Friday 18 September before a grand procession led by the two winners and guest programmer Denise Mina to her event with Lee Child at The Albert Halls. 

Derek Byrne on the Boy He Didn’t Trust.

Before I wrote Pretty Boy Red, I found myself drawn to writing from the perspective of a boy who was not entirely innocent. His name was Troy, the central character from my first novel Shotline. He seemed vulnerable until the moment he became dangerous. To get into his head I had to enter a different mental space, tripping along in a kind of stream-of-consciousness where madness was never far away. It was fun in a reckless sort of way, but I didn’t really think this kind of ruleless writing would see the light of day. Shotline has never been published, but the character Troy was knocking around in my head waiting for another chance. And it came. 

My attachment to Australia stretches back decades, along with a fascination for those quirky crime cases rooted in the landscape – kidnappings, murders, people vanishing without trace into the vastness. In June 2022, I read a news report from Perth in Western Australia: boys as young as fourteen had been transferred from Banksia Hill Youth Detention Centre to the adult prison at Casuarina, after they’d left their own facility unfit for habitation. There was an outcry. Children in an adult prison. Opinions divided. Some argued they deserved it; others that they were victims of a system that had failed them. Out of that tension, the character Joel Brady was born. Fourteen years old, nicknamed “Psycho” for his violent outbursts, he is awaiting trial for a crime so grave that he is to be judged in adult court before the public. Although inspired by contemporary events, I chose to set the story back in the late 80s early 90s, when I lived in Australia and was immersed in youth culture. This was a pre-digital world: no mobile phones, networked computing confined largely to academic and official settings. Distance, silence, and institutional opacity allowed dark undercurrents to fester, the kind that would later surface in crimes such as the Snowtown murders and backpacker murders. 

Joel is part of a cohort transferred into the wing of a harsh adult prison. I imagined a setting like Fremantle Gaol in Western Australia, closed in 1991, with its slopping out, rats, dirty brick walls and imposing gatehouse entrance, the site of a violent riot in 1988 in which guards were taken hostage. The aim was to place these boys under relentless pressure. 

The story begins when Joel catches sight of an adult prisoner who seems to recognise him, triggering a memory buried deep in his subconscious. There can be no contact between adult and juvenile inmates, but Joel senses a creeping menace behind the walls and corridors of the wing – a smell he seems to recognize, a name scratched onto a wall, a drawing shoved under the door to his cell. When a prisoner goes missing, his imagination begins to fill in the gaps. 

The difficulty with Joel is not simply that he may be guilty. It’s that he may not be telling the truth, even to himself. Joel is awaiting trial for his role in a series of abductions. Hugh, one of the boys who survived, is called by the Crown to testify. The trial becomes a central tension in the novel, the clash between Joel and Hugh. Who is telling the truth? 

Joel has memory gaps. Fragments arrive out of sync, often in second person, as if he is watching someone else. “There is a difference between unwilling and unable,” his psychiatrist tells the court when questioned about Joel’s dissociative amnesia. Even inside prison, Joel’s version of events is not left unchallenged. His cellmate Glenn – initially an enemy – becomes one of the few steady points in Joel’s fractured world,pushing him towards truths he would rather avoid. And me, the writer – can I trust Joel? At times it feels as though he is leading me, not the other way round. 

And what of Troy? He gave me the clues to get inside Joel’s head, to explore that space, to understand what it would be like to be that boy standing in rooms created for adults: a dock cell, a corridor of stone, a slop-stained cell, wondering who he is supposed to be, swinging between crisis, submission, and defiance. Joel resists explanation. He withholds. He distorts. The only way to write Joel was to keep following him, even when I no longer knew where he was leading me. But that is the point. Joel was never meant to be fully understood, or fully believed. He was the boy I didn’t trust.

Pretty Boy Red by Derek Byrne (Eye Books) Out Now

Child prisoner Joel Brady is facing trial for murder. If he can survive that long. 'Vivid, complex, hard-hitting and compelling' Ray Robinson In the juvenile wing of a prison in Western Australia, fourteen-year-old Joel Brady - small, girly-voiced, nicknamed 'Psycho' - is awaiting trial for his role as sidekick to child abductor Marcus Welby. Joel still isn't sure what he did that last day at Welby's outback house of horror; his memory has blotted it out. Is his mind playing tricks in other respects too? Did he really see the malevolent Quentin, another of Welby's associates, in the adult wing of the prison? Or is Quentin a figment of his imagination, as Joel's lawyers insist? A more immediate priority is hiding from the rampaging cons who have escaped the adult wing, one of whom wants Joel's head. Will his cellmate Glenn, an arch-enemy who has become his first real friend, stay loyal? Set in an ultra-violent, alpha-male world where human connection is a double-edged sword, and interwoven with a gripping courtroom drama in which the truth about Welby's chilling set-up gradually emerges.

More information about the author can be found on his website. He can also be found on Instagram @Derek171923. On Facebook and on X@Bai39878353Paul.

The Idea Behind An Ordinary House by Rae Starling

In August 2006 – almost 20 years ago to the day that I’m writing this article – I was living in Germany and driving to collect my young children from a play party. The news came on the car radio with a lead headline about a girl who had suddenly appeared on a street in neighbouring Austria after being missing for eight years. The story sounded fantastical. Thinking my German must have let me down, I quickly tuned to an English-language radio station. What I thought I’d heard was confirmed. Natascha Kampusch hadn’t been seen since she vanished on her way to school at the age of ten. Now, as a resilient eighteen-year-old, she finally escaped from her captor.

World media went mad. Her first TV interview for ORF, the Austrian national broadcaster, aired in full in ten countries, and excerpts were shown in another one hundred and twenty.

Inspired by the case, I thought about writing a thriller that would explore the aftermath of a kidnap victim’s escape and the challenges facing them as they adjust to life outside. It felt like a sensitive issue that would need respectful handling and thorough research, so I enrolled on a PhD at the University of Birmingham.

My thesis title was: Hijacking Survivor Narratives: A Creative and Critical Study of Trauma Appropriation in Fiction. I examined topics in several disciplines, including trauma writing and post-traumatic stress disorder. However, within a month of starting my research, I read one academic article and two personal memoirs that made me rethink my approach.

(i)The article, by Fairleigh Gilmour, examined the media coverage of the ‘Kampusch’ case. Gilmour discovered that initially sympathetic reporting soon turned against the teenager. In Gilmour’s view, Natascha Kampusch received negative press because she did not present as the typical stereotype of a victim. Instead, she claimed her independence and seemed to hold a complex and contradictory attitude towards her abductor.

 Gilmour analysed 355 newspaper articles in English language newspapers from 2006 to 2010 and noted the occurrence of four story ‘angles’ to refer to Natascha Kampusch: the ‘mad’ woman (28% of coverage referred to Natascha Kampusch in this way); the ‘bad’ woman (15%); the ‘sex slave’ (19%); and the ‘virgin bride’ (16%).

The two memoirs that made me review my plans were written by Natascha Kampusch herself. (ii) In her first book, 3096 Days, she powerfully contests each of these stereotypes and (iii) in her second book, 10 Years of Freedom, published some eleven years after she escaped, she is still citing incidents of ongoing media intrusion and unwelcome attention from the public.

Sadly, since hearing what I thought was an unbelievable news story about Natascha Kampusch’s captivity and escape, I have heard of other women and girls – including Elizabeth Smart, Sarah Smith, Jaycee Dugard, Amanda Berry, Gina De Jesus, Michelle Knight, and Katy Morgan-Davies – who all suffered long-term abuse and captivity. I read memoirs by these survivors as well as the two by Natascha Kampusch. One point that several mentioned was the difficulty of readjusting afterwards under a media spotlight.

These memoirs, together with the Gilmour article, inspired me to write about how an individual's experience of crime might be rewritten by the media and social media. When we soak up true-crime headlines, we can sometimes forget about the effects of media sensationalism on the victims.

A recent example concerns the media coverage of the search for a missing Lancashire woman in January 2023.  (I won’t name her as she never had the opportunity for a right of reply to the coverage.) Social media platforms were rife with speculation and keyboard warriors flocked to the River Wyre, where she was last seen, to make videos and play at amateur sleuthing.

With their working hypothesis being undermined by the media and social media, the police divulged private details about the woman’s health, and some TV news channels invaded her family’s privacy. Although there was no survivor in this case – she had sadly drowned – the potentially traumatising effect of media intrusion on her family cannot be overlooked. 

In my thriller, An Ordinary House, a traumatised teenager finds his story sensationalised after rescue from years locked in a suburban house. As well as navigating lurid headlines and false allegations, he must suppress nightmarish memories of his ordeal to stop himself spiralling out of control. We see him face scrutiny not only from the media but also from detectives, lawyers, psychologists and social media keyboard warriors.

If you like dark thrillers, I hope you’ll give this one a go. 

Sources

(i)             Fairleigh Gilmour, ‘The Girl in the Cellar: Media Representations of Natascha Kampusch’, Current Issues in Criminal Justice, 25. 2 (2013), 645-666.

(ii)           Natascha Kampusch and Heike Gronemeier, 10 Years of Freedom (Berlin: Ullstein Buchverlage, 2017).

(iii)         Natascha Kampusch and Heike Gronemeier, 3096 Days (London: Penguin, 2010)

An Ordinary House by Rae Starling (Hera Books) Out 3^rd September 2026

We lived in a house on Beech Avenue. Outside-People say we're safe now. But one of us wants to go back. Back to that house and the darkness it held. Police raid an ordinary house in a quiet suburban street and find a traumatised teenager held captive with his family. They call him a survivor, but he doesn't know what to believe. His memories don't match what his siblings and the press tell him about his home. As he struggles to make sense of his new world, he must find and face the truth. With one of his siblings set on revenge, should he forget his family, or turn from victim to killer?

You can find more information about Rae Starling and her work on her website.

 Rae Starling can also be found on X @RachelSargeant3 on Instagram @raesargeant3 and on Facebook.

In The St Hilda's Spotlight - Jo Callaghan

 Name:- Jo Callaghan

Job:- Author and senior strategist 

Instagram:- @Jocallaghankat

Introduction:

Jo Callaghan is the author of four books in the Kat and Lock series. Her debut novel In The Blink of an Eye was published in 2023 and won the John Creasey (New Blood) Dagger and the Theakston's Crime Novel of the Year in 2024. It was shortlisted for CrimeFest Debut novel and the Barry Award for Best First Novel. Human Remains the third book in the Kit and Lock series was longlisted for the Theakston's Crime Novel of the Year Award in 2026. Her most recent novel is Body Of Lies which is the final book in the Kat and Lock series.

Current book? (This can either be the current book that you are reading or writing or both) 

I have just finished The Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel (Station Eleven is one of my favourite books) and I have just started Quantum of Menace by Vaseem Khan. I am consuming a lot of non-fiction books and podcasts at the moment to help with the novel I am currently writing, which is taking me into the world of Quantum Physics and elite athletics. I know nothing about either, but both are absolutely fascinating, so I am having a ball!

Why do you think anti-heroes are so interesting to readers? 

To be honest, I don’t accept the term ‘anti-heroes’ as it relies upon a false, binary premise that people are either heroes or anti-heroes, when in reality, we are all both. I think readers and viewers are fascinated by so-called ‘anti-heroes’ as they are more complex, rounded characters that reveal more about humanity and ourselves.

Which two anti-heroes or enemies would you invite to dinner and why? 

Hmm. I think most so-called ‘anti-heroes’ tend to have huge egos and personalities, so if I wanted the evening to be fun and enjoyable I would only invite one, with maybe another quiet, non-assuming person who would listen in awe. I am struggling to choose between Tony Soprano and Tommy Shelby, so I think I will invite them both but on separate days. I think Tony would help with the cooking, and Tommy could help with the washing up.

How do you relax? 

The truth is I don’t. It is something that I really struggle with. I work full-time in a very pressured job and there is usually a lot going on at home too. I think reading a really good book in the sun is the most relaxing thing I do – but it is all too rare. Writing is also a type of relaxation to me, as I can be so completely immersed in the next word, the next sentence that it shuts everything else out – I suspect this is what other people get from running or yoga. But conversely, the plot and characters keep me awake at night!

Which anti hero would you like to be on your side in a difficult situation.

Depends on the situation! If it was physically dangerous, then I’m going for Tommy Shelby again as he could probably prevent any violence with just the sheer force of his barely controlled rage. He is also very clever, so I am sure we could concoct a strategy whereby no one gets hurt, but ultimately, we still win.

If you were to write a book involving an anti-hero where would you set it and why? 

We are all anti-heroes as well as heroes and novels are a way of holding the mirror up to humanity and ourselves. So, they could be set anywhere. But my stories are often high-concept, so I try and ground them in reality, which is why they are set in the Midlands where I am from.

How would you describe your latest published book? 

It is called Body of Lies, and it’s the fourth and FINAL book in the Kat and Lock series, which pairs the lead – DCS Kat Frank with AI Detective, AIDE Lock. It opens on Halloween, with a local MP found murdered on medieval stocks with a taunting message written in binary code that seems to target Kat and Lock: catch me if you can. Like all good crime novels, my series explores what it means to be human, and the question at the heart of my books is, how much can AI learn, and what happens when it does? I hope I provide an answer of sorts in this fourth and final instalment…

With Bad Apples: crime fiction’s enemies and anti-heroes theme at St Hilda's this year, who are you three favourite anti-heroes: 

Walter White (Breaking Bad)

Tommy Shelby (Peaky Blinders)

Villanelle (Killing Eve)

Which 3 films or television series featuring anti-heroes would you rewatch and why.

The best TV series are the ones that get better the more you watch them. I have watched Breaking Bad and Peaky Blinders 3 times, and I am currently re-watching Widow’s Bay – Tom Loftis might be my new favourite ‘anti-hero’!

What are you looking forward to at St Hilda's? 

I have never been before, so don’t quite know what to expect (and I’m a bit nervous about it to be honest). But I am looking forward to seeing other writers who have become friends, and I expect to learn a lot from listening to all the other talks. That is the best thing about crime festivals: most crime writers are intellectually and emotionally curious people and we are constantly trying to learn and improve our craft. I have already learnt a lot just preparing for my own talk, so I am looking forward to an emotionally uplifting and intellectually stimulating weekend – if that doesn’t make me sound too swotty! 

Bodies of Lies by Jo Callaghan (Simon & Schuster)

Human suspicion. AI manipulation. When truth can be rewritten, who can you trust? DCS Kat Frank is back at the Future Policing Unit after a devastating loss - and straight into her most disturbing case yet. On Halloween night, a local MP is found murdered. Beside the body is a taunting message in binary code, aimed directly at Kat: Catch me if you can. The victim was a vocal opponent of AI. The motive looks political. But as Kat investigates with her partner, AIDE Lock - the world’s first AI detective - the case spirals into something far more dangerous. Then a cyberattack takes down the National Grid. With the country in chaos and lives on the line, Kat and Lock must track a killer who is always one step ahead. But in a world of deepfakes, deception and digital ghosts, instinct is no longer enough. Kat must decide whether to trust the one thing she still fears most: her AI partner. Because this time, Lock may not just be solving the case. He may be changing what it means to be human. Can Kat stop a killer before the lights go out for good?

Information about programme and ticket sales including on line tickets can be found here.

#HCFW26

In The St Hilda's Spotlight - Sarah Vaughan

Name: - Sarah Vaughan

Job: - Author

Website: - https://www.sarahvaughanauthor.com

Instagram: - @svaughanauthor

Facebook: - @Sarah Vaughan Author

Introduction: -

Sarah Vaughan is a former journalist turned author.  Her first two novels are women’s fiction. Her first political thriller Anatomy of a Scandal was published in 2018 and was a Sunday Times bestseller and is now a global Netflix limited series. Her second crime book Little Disasters was published in 2020 and was shown in May 2025 on Paramount Plus. Reputation has been optioned by the team behind Anatomy of a Scandal. Her most recent book is entitled Based on a True Story.

Current book? (This can either be the current book that you are reading or writing or both)

I’ve just read Sabine Durrant’s superb Dead Heat which features an unreliable narrator anti-hero and has really Ripley and Gatsby vibes.  As with her Lie With Me, she is excellent at capturing the precariousness of being an outsider and the oppressiveness of Greek heat.

Why do you think anti-heroes are so interesting to readers?

I think we love a psychological puzzle. No one wants to read about an anodyne character: we want to know what motivates deeply flawed, even villainous, characters. And when they’re extreme – and criminal – they make us feel better about ourselves.

Which two anti-heroes or enemies would you invite to dinner and why?

Tom Ripley and Iago. Think of their waspishness. Thankfully I don’t smoke, so I don’t possess an ash tray.

How do you relax?

A bit of a cliché but “getting out in nature”. In an ideal world, that means walking on a Cornish cliff. Day to day, it’s walking my dog Olive in the fields near my home. Sitting at a desk all day is terrible for one’s posture and I feel scratchy if I don’t get out first thing. Swimming – which I don’t do enough of; holidays; meals with family and friends; reading in bed. Having said that, I’m currently finishing a book so feel a constant low thrum of anxiety.

Which anti-hero would you like to be on your side in a difficult situation.

The one with the least scruples.

If you were to write a book involving an anti-hero, where would you set it and why?

I love London and think it lends itself brilliantly to anti-heroes: think of the potential for deception, for getting deliberately lost, and to reinvention. But my son’s about to go off to university in the north-east and I’m looking forward to exploring Northumberland (I can’t keep setting books in north Cornwall.) It feels remote and beautiful.

How would you describe your latest published book?

Based on a True Story is a feminised King Lear about power lies and family narratives which starts with a body found on a storm-lashed north Cornwall beach. Famed children’s author Dame Eleanor Kingman has gathered family and friends to celebrate her 70^th birthday and her latest number one bestseller. But someone’s been sending emails threatening to expose a secret she’s kept for half a century. With a TV documentary crew arriving to film a retrospective, can she unearth her nemesis and maintain the fiction on which her multi-million-pound career depends?

With Bad Apples: crime fiction’s enemies and anti-hero’s theme at St Hilda's this year, who are you three favourite anti-heroes?

At the risk of being horribly unoriginal: Ripley, Iago, Moriarty.

Which 3 films or television series featuring anti-heroes would you rewatch and why?

I adore Succession. How many anti-heroes does it have? Not just Logan Roy and his kids but the like of Lukas Matsson (played by Alexander Skarsgard) who sends frozen bricks of his blood to an employee with whom he’d been involved.

I’ve just watched The Beast in Me. Matthew Rhys’ Nile Jarvis is not so much an anti-hero as a psychopath and is horribly compelling.

Talking of Alexander Skarsgard, he also excelled at being charming and then toxic in Big Little Lies (where he is not so much anti-hero as outright villain.)

What are you looking forward to at St Hilda's?

Writing’s such a solitary job and I thrived best, career-wise, when I worked in a cramped lobby room: I miss the banter of fellow journalists, so I’m giddy about being with other writers for a weekend. And, having spent three gorgeous years at Oxford, I’m looking forward to pretending I live there again. I used to plod round Christ Church meadow so might even manage that.

Based on a True Story by Sarah Vaughan (Simon & Schuster Ltd)

All families have secrets. But it's the lies that can kill. A lavish 70th birthday party. A body found on a storm-lashed beach. And a secret that someone is dying to tell...  Famed children’s author Dame Eleanor Kingman has summoned her family and friends to her exquisite manor house on the cliffs. They're celebrating her birthday – and her latest number one bestseller in her series of books based on a mother fox and her cubs. But the night before the party, Eleanor receives an email: an email that threatens to expose the lie she’s kept up for over half a century. Someone knows her secret. Is it her estranged literary agent? Is it her ex-husband, to whom she no longer speaks? Is it the nanny she fired all those years ago, who always did have a knack for storytelling? Or is it one of her three daughters, all of whom have a stake in the publishing empire she has built... With a TV crew arriving to film a documentary of her life, Eleanor needs to find out who sent the email – and preserve her multimillion-pound career. But when push comes to shove, and it's time to tell the truth - will anyone actually believe her?

 More information about St Hilda's and how to purchase online tickets can be found here.

#HCFW26

Petrona Award 2026 - Longlist

 

Outstanding crime fiction from Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden longlisted for the 2026 petrona award

Twelve crime novels from Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden have made the longlist for the 2026 Petrona Award for the Best Scandinavian Crime Novel of the Year.

They are:

One True Word by Snæbjörn Arngrímsson - tr. Larissa Kyzer (Pushkin Vertigo, Iceland)

Murder Tide by Stella Blómkvist tr. Quentin Bates (Corylus Books, Iceland)

Broken by Jón Atli Jónasson - tr. Quentin Bates (Corylus Books, Iceland)

Into Thin Air by Ørjan N Karlsson - tr. Ian Giles (Orenda Books, Norway)

The Writing in the Water by John Ajvide Lindqvist - tr. Michael Meigs (Amazon Crossing, Sweden)

Wolf Hour by Jo Nesbø - tr. Robert Ferguson (Harvill Secker, Norway)

The Heirs of the Arctic by Aslak Nore - tr. Sean Kinsella (MacLehose Press, Norway)

The Grave in the Ice by Satu Rämö - tr. Kristian London (Zaffre, Finland)

Black as Death by Lilja Sigurðardóttir - tr. Lorenza Garcia (Orenda Books, Iceland)

The Wake by Yrsa Sigurðardóttir - tr. Victoria Cribb (Hodder & Stoughton, Iceland)

The Girl with Ice in her Veins by Karin Smirnoff - tr. Sarah Death (MacLehose Press , Sweden)

The Winter Job by Antti Tuomainen - tr. David Hackston (Orenda Books, Finland)

The longlist contains a mix of newer and more established authors including previous Petrona Award winners Satu Rämö, Yrsa Sigurðardóttir and Antti Tuomainen.

Both large and small publishers are represented on the longlist, with Orenda Books having three entries and Corylus Books and MacLehose Press having two apiece. Both longlisted entries by Corylus Books have been translated by Quentin Bates.

The breakdown by country is Iceland (5), Norway (3), Finland (2) and Sweden (2).

The shortlist will be announced on 24 September 2026.

The Petrona Award 2026 judging panel comprises Jackie Farrant, the creator of RAVEN CRIME READS and a bookseller for a major book chain in the UK, Ewa Sherman, translator and writer, and blogger at NORDIC LIGHTHOUSE, and Sonja van der Westhuizen, a book critic for print and online publications in the UK and South Africa, as well as a blogger at WEST WORDS REVIEWS. 

The Award administrator is Karen Meek, owner of the EURO CRIME blog and website.

Adele Parks on Eyes on You and love in 2026

If I met you in an elevator and we were travelling a few floors together I might try to pitch to you, my new suspense thriller, Eyes On You I would tell you that it is about a brutal murder, a broken witness, a dangerous obsession and that Amy, our traumatised but resilient, protagonist is all three of those things. Humans are complex, we can be many things at once. We’re formed by all our experiences, relationships, memories and secrets. When Amy was just 15, she watched her father brutally murder his secret lover. Her testimony put him behind bars for a very long time. She’s basically very troubled.

We meet Amy age 32, just when her father might be eligible for parole. Unsurprisingly, after that childhood trauma, Amy hasn’t reached her full potential but lives in the shadow of that infamous night. She works in a grotty, noodle bar; she’s wasted away her twenties in shock and shame hiding from the notoriety of the crime, she’s set to do the same with her thirties. Given the chance, therapists would have a lot to investigate, but she’s a loner and doesn’t let anyone in, personally or professionally. However, that is about to change when a stranger walks into the restaurant where she works. Oliver Harrington also has a past he’d rather not dwell on; he too is an example of trauma shaping identity. The pair feel an instant attraction, that mercurial, much sought after, once in a lifetime fascination with each other. They bond so intensely that it feels like love. But is it?

In this book I wanted to dive deep into what we think love is now in 2026; a complex, much-therapized, emotionally intelligent, extremely exposed, cynical world. I’ve written a particularly dark and twisty psychological suspense novel which is very character based. The more I investigated this matter, the more questions I had on how love can turn dangerous. What is the difference between extreme sexual attraction and being ‘in love’? I drew the conclusion that love is just a blink away from obsession, it is basically a matter of reciprocity. And stalking? The insidious companion to obsession, what’s that about? How do people justify such extremities in the name of love? 

In Eyes On You I write from various points of view, all the narrators consider themselves reliable, but are they? How do people who behave as wildly as they do in my novel – crossing moral, socially acceptable and even legal lines - justify their actions and see themselves as reasonable? I want readers to ask whether we ever truly know anyone, including ourselves. 

Eyes On You also looks at the themes of truth and perspective. I know there’s a fashion for ‘my truth’ or ‘their truth’, an acceptance that truth is subjective sometimes; I’m wondering if we’ve dismantled facts so much that there is no longer such a thing as the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. If there is, I believe the reader is going to find it, not my characters who are as previously mentioned unreliable, far too good at telling themselves what they want to hear! I’m depending on you to sort through their dark minds and work it out. Who can you trust? 

This novel is fast paced and has multiple layers of secrets, secrets kept from the world, secrets kept within families, and secrets people keep from themselves. This meant I certainly challenged myself with plotting; constantly having to keep in mind who knows what about whom. Most of the time, readers know more than the characters do, although (I hope) not always and not everything because I’m here to entertain and I want you to gasp at some of the twists as you dig down. 

I often write about ordinary families who find themselves in extraordinary situations. Before Amy’s dad murdered his mistress in a jealous rage, she had believed her family were living a perfectly average, happy-enough life. She had no idea her father was having an affair. She thought he was a wonderful dad. I believe if readers relate to the characters starting point, they feel invested and perhaps, in some cases, even sympathetic when things get complicated. It was interesting to explore the way trauma echoes down through families and across generations. The idea behind this story is that whilst we don't choose our families or our history, we can choose what we do with what we inherit. I’m a believer in freewill. 

Eyes on You by Adele Parks (HQ HarperCollins) out 27th August 2026

Be afraid. Someone’s watching. At fifteen, Amy witnessed her father brutally murder his secret lover. Her testimony sealed her father’s fate. With him in prison, Amy and her mother must rebuild their lives in the shadow of a notorious crime. Years later, Oliver Harrington walks into the restaurant where Amy works. Just like Amy, Oliver has a past he’d rather forget. Amy is drawn to him at a profound level; they feel a connection, an understanding… This seems a lot like love, but does it hide something darker – an obsession that could lead Amy into a web of deception and violence she thought she’d escaped? As the truth looms ever closer, Amy must confront a harsh reality: where there is love, there is often betrayal.

More information about Adele Parks can be found on her website. You can also find her on X @adeleparks.and on Instagram @adele_parks.

C J Parsons on the Inspiration for The Bad Mother

The maternal instinct is, in my opinion, an unrecognised superpower: a natural force so strong it trumps even self-preservation. Mothers have lifted cars to save trapped children. They run into burning buildings and across the path of gunfire.

So why isn’t the world perpetually in awe of this extraordinary female phenomenon? To me, it seems taken for granted.

In writing The Bad Mother, I set out to explore the power of the maternal instinct when it succeeds – and the catastrophic damage when it fails. One of my characters fears herself incapable of this protective drive because her own mother didn’t possess it. She wonders: do bad mothers beget bad mothers… or can the cycle be broken? She finds out the answer when her child’s life is in danger.

Growing up, I never had a particularly strong maternal instinct. While others cooed and marvelled, I thought babies were boring (and let’s be honest; if they’re not yours, they kind of are). Motherhood was always something I thought I might try ‘in five years.’ Except the five years moved with me, never becoming four or three. Until I was hitting the snooze alarm on my biological clock. I didn’t feel ready – what if I wasn’t any good at it? - but if I wanted to be a parent, I could put it off no longer.

And along came Kai.

I quickly discovered that being a mother was far harder than I’d imagined when watching young Mums wheeling their babies around the park or bouncing them on a knee during chats over lattes in Starbucks.

‘Why didn’t you tell me how bad the nights are?’ I asked my sister once through a haze of exhaustion, after being pulled from sleep five times a night for four months.

‘I was afraid it would put you off doing it,’ she said.

And it might well have. Because I wouldn’t have factored in that primal drive, how it would change me. I am a naturally selfish person, but having a baby turned my own wants and needs into secondary considerations. And ignited my protective instinct: I would have killed, without hesitation, anyone who threatened my baby. I would have stepped in front of a knife or gun aimed her way.

Which is why, to quote Rudyard Kipling, ‘the female of the species is more deadly than the male.’ This is true right across the animal kingdom. Mother bears are the endlessly cited example, though personally, I think that misses the point. Because yes, mother bears fight to protect their cubs. But they are huge creatures with giant teeth and claws, so the risks tend to be higher on their opponent’s side. More impressive to me are the tiny mothers pitting themselves against giants. My friends and I scuba dive, and once accidentally trespassed on a trigger fish’s territory during breeding season. There were six of us, all skyscrapers compared to the little fish. But that didn’t stop her from darting out and attacking the enormous, bubbling monsters that had dared encroach on her nest.

Such is the power of the mother’s instinct – when it works. It doesn’t always.

An older woman – a no-nonsense, unsentimental Scot – told me that after she gave birth to her first child, she felt nothing. When she looked at her new born, she experienced only a dull sense of duty.

For two days, she went through the motions of maternal care, fearing she had made a terrible mistake, trapping herself with the responsibility for another life from which she felt completely detached.

But then something happened. Something that sounds small but turned out to be immensely powerful.

 She smelled the top of her baby’s head. That scent – like mown grass and fresh bread baking – opened a door inside her, unleashing an emotional flood that was unlike anything she’d ever never known: a fierce love so pure and unfiltered that it felt like light.

Well. That was my interpretation anyway.

Her exact words were: ‘I smelled the top of her head and thought “There. That’s me sorted.”’

Her story, in a less understated-Scot form, was the inspiration for a pivotal scene in my novel, marking a dramatic and unexpected change in a new mother’s relationship with her baby.

My own child is now a teenager, still in bed as I write this at one-thirty pm, in a room whose floor is infuriatingly covered with mounds of flung, mostly black, clothing. These days I am woken in the night, not by cries, but by too-loud speakerphone chats with other nocturnal teenagers. Much has changed. But one thing remains the same.

I would still fight or die to protect her. 

The Bad Mother by C J Parsons (HarperCollins Publisher) Out 27 August 2026

Natasha was plunged into every parent’s ultimate nightmare when her son was taken from hospital shortly after his birth. Worse still, in the vital twenty-four hours after Baby Justin went missing, the police focused on the wrong suspect. TV producer Chloe, greedy for a quick headline, broke the rules by revealing the suspect's identity. The mistake derailed the case, and her career. Now Chloe has a chance at redemption. New evidence surrounding Justin’s abduction has come to light. But for both Natasha and Chloe, revisiting the past means facing up to their own decisions. And unspeakable secrets…

More information about the author and her work can be found on her website. She can also be found on Instagram @CJParsons2021. On X @charlopar and on Facebook @CJ Parsons Author.

The Dashiell Hammett Prize 2026

I am delighted to hear from Rap Sheet’s Jeff Pierce that author Ron Currie has been awarded the 2026 Dashiell Hammett Prize for his novel The Savage Noble Death of Babs Dionne - awarded by the North American Branch of the International Association of Crime Writers. All the books on the nominations shortlist were/are great works, and all of them deserve to be sampled. 

The other nominees -

El Dorado Drive by Megan Abbott (G.P. Putnam's Sons)

The Lizard by Domenic Stansberry (Molotov)

The Big Empty by Robert Crais (G.P. Putnam's Sons)

Party of Liars by Kelsey Cox (Minotaur)

I recall how much I enjoyed Ron Currie’s crime novel, writing at the time -

This extraordinary crime thriller set in Northern Maine caught me completely by surprise; but once I cracked the spine - the narrative would not release its grip until the elegiac climax.  Recommend by debut novelist Travis Kennedy, I was curious due to Whyte Python authors’ enthusiasm. However, as I had not heard about the author Ron Currie before, nor read any other reviews or word-of mouth – my expectations were low – hence the surprise when I clung to the narrative as if it were a life-raft.

Ostensibly a criminal family saga, set over generations of French Catholic Immigrants to the [north-eastern] American state of Maine – Currie’s novel details how the crime boss, a tough woman in her Sixties, the eponymous Babs Dionne finds herself in the cross-hairs of the Canadian Mafia.

Read the Full Review HERE