In The St Hilda's Spotlight - Stuart Turton

Name: - Stuart Turton 

Job: - author and journalist

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

Instagram @stuturton

X @stu_turton

Introduction

Stuart Turton is the bestselling author of The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle (aka 7 ½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle) which won the 2018 Costa Book Award for First Novel, Best Novel in the 2018 Books Are My Bag Readers Award and was also shortlisted for the Debut book of the Year at the Specsavers National Book Awards and longlisted for both the CWA New Blood Dagger  and the Gold Dagger at the  CWA dagger awards. In 2019 it was shortlisted again for the Best Debut Novel at the Strand Magazine Critics’ Awards and longlisted for the Glass Bell Award. The Japanese edition of the book was shortlisted in 2019 For the Best Honkaku Mystery Novel translated into Japanese in the last decade. 

His second book, The Devil and the Dark Water won the 2020 Books Are My Bag Fiction Award and was shortlisted for the CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger and the Japanese version was nominated for the 2023 Mystery Writers of Japan Award for Mystery Fiction in Translation.

His most recent book is The Last Murder at the End of the World and was longlisted for the 2025 Theakstons Crime Novel of the Year

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

I’m currently reading the North Woods by Daniel Mason and it’s so astonishingly good that I want to quit reading, sulk, and then immediately try to replicate its ambition and beauty. It’s wondrous, expanding the scope of what a novel can be while telling a great story. God, I’m depressed again now.

Have any gothic book spooked you and if so which one and why?

I’m not easily spooked, unfortunately. Typically, I find gothic novels so daft that I end up laughing rather than trembling. This is sort of what I’ll be talking about at the festival, actually.

Which two gothic writers would you invite to dinner and why?

The Bronte sisters. I reckon they’d drive each other absolutely nuts and it would be fun to watch.

How do you relax?

Relax? I could do my job in a bed with no material difference to the outcome. Honestly, there’s nothing hard about it. Relaxing is for people with work to do. 

Which gothic book do you wish you had written and why?

I’m good on that front. If I’d written Dracula or Frankenstein, I’d be long dead, and would have spent my entire life without the internet. No thanks!

If you were to write a gothic book, where would you set it and why?

There’s always a bit of gothic in my novels, so I’ve sort of covered what I wanted to do. My first novel was set in a creepy old house with secrets in every corner, and my second was set on a haunted boat. I feel like I’ve got my gothic fix.

How would you describe your latest published book?

Agatha Christie does Lost. Except weirder.

Which 3 gothic films would you rewatch and why.

Oh god, I don’t really watch many movies. Can I pass?

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

I really like being let out of my office and chatting with people with similar interests. It’s a lovely way to spend an afternoon.

 

The Last Murder at the End of the World by Stuart Turton (Bloomsbury Publishing)

Abi keeps them safe. One hundred and twenty-two islanders and their three beloved scientists live in harmony, kept safe from a poisonous security barrier with the help of Abi's instructions. Niema keeps the islanders occupied. Niema is one of the scientists who remembers what life was like before the fog. She ensures that all of the islanders have a job to do, and everyone loves her. Almost everyone. Emory can't stop asking questions.

But then one of the scientists is found dead, and their murder triggers the dropping of the security barrier. The only way to reinstate it is to find the killer. But can Emory ask the right questions? They have 107 hours to solve the murder before the fog sweeps in. Can they stop the end of their world?

 

Information on how to buy online tickets can be found here. The programme can be found here.

The Case of the Mad Doctor by P D Lennon

 Settling down to read Kei Miller’s poetry* one day, it never crossed my mind that the idea for my first historical crime novel lay within his acclaimed verses. An eighteenth-century serial killer? In Jamaica?

As a crime fiction writer, this was a real “Whoa!” moment. This piece of Jamaican legend had managed to evade me. How? I do not know. I re-read page 47 about five times, intrigued by the knowledge that in or around 1760, a Scotsman sailed silvery blue oceans to the tropical climes of Jamaica for a new life and brought violence. He could have brought tartan, a few kilts or shawls to show off, but no. True, a great majority of Europeans also came to kill, but they had navies and the blessing of queen or king and country. Scottish immigrant Doctor Lewis Hutchinson had no navy, just cruel intent and ammunition. Bows, arrows, muskets and plenty of lead balls.

For years, I delayed writing about Doctor Hutchinson (referred to as ‘Hutchison’ in some journals) because information about his early life is quite scant. Believed to be born in the year 1732, he was twenty-eight when he left Scotland for Jamaica. Where he obtained medical training is unknown. His name is nowhere to be found in the register of Edinburgh physicians, nor was he a student or graduate of Edinburgh Medical School. Where he lived in Scotland or what informed his decision to leave that country is also a mystery.

Although Hutchinson’s infamy is rooted in Jamaican crimes, I do wonder if he was always a brutish fellow who fled Scotland to avoid law enforcers. He settled in Pedro, St Ann, a tiny remote district on the island and built a home boldly titled Edinburgh Castle. Before long he was accused of stealing cattle to start a cattle business - the first sign of his descent into lawlessness. His encore was to launch a vicious assault upon his neighbour, Dr Jonathan Hutton, of such severity that the victim returned to England for a trepanning operation. This was a mere taster of what Hutchinson could do. A lot more evil was concealed up his ruffled cuff sleeves.

Somehow, someway, this mysterious character belonged in a story. What I had to do was work out a structure, and that evaded me for some time until I saw an article about a book called Black Tudors. I liked the idea of gainfully employed Black people in King Henry VIII’s time and wanted to write about a clever Black man. After all, literature has to find space for a different type of hero. They can’t all be Tom Holland lookalikes. King Henry’s Tudor era was sixteenth century. Doctor Hutchinson’s reign of terror came much later in the Georgian era. A light bulb went off. I decided that my tale would be about a smart Black Georgian, a fictional hero to take down the Mad Doctor. Originally entitled The Adventures Of Isaiah Ollenu, it was later changed to The Case of the Mad Doctor in consultation with my astute editor, Craig Lye.

The desolate district of Pedro would have been too restrictive as a setting for the entire book. Instead, much of the island is on show. Spanish Town (St Jago de la Vega), St Catherine, was the capital city and features prominently throughout. A few of the imposing buildings from that era still exist in Spanish Town square, some as ruins, others as local government facilities. The populous and popular Kingston gets a look in too, as does Montego Bay where a magnificent ball is held. Determined to include Jamaican folklore - as not many books do - I added elements of magical realism in the tale, including African mermaids and a rolling calf. Yes, Jamaica’s most terrifying four-legged duppy gets a whole scene to run riot.

Despair can be a close companion when conducting research into what was a barbarous time for people in Africa, the West Indies and the Americas, but creating art through pain is something that writers of dark fiction must get used to.

In the colonial era, unimaginable cruelty was inflicted upon human beings, enslaved and forced to work in degrading conditions to ensure Europe grew wealthy. Doctor Hutchinson ran a sugar plantation and owned enslaved Africans. While we do not know much about their lives, they deserve a voice and were given one.

Combining fiction with dark fact to produce entertainment is a delicate task. Early on, I realised that the only way to write the tale without falling into depression was to include a good dose of humour, which tone is set from chapter one. Whether you chose to root for the good guys or the bad guy, I hope you savour the antics of the very different characters.

 

The Case of the Mad Doctor by P D Lennon (Canelo Press) Out Now.

Inspired by the true story of Jamaica’s first serial killer. Jamaica, 1772. Caribbean jewel, or a killer's playground? On the island of Jamaica, people have started disappearing without trace. Have they run away, trying to start new lives in the British colony under assumed names, or is something darker afoot? Some of the missing had taken out large life insurance policies before leaving England, and so word of the vanishings reaches Bristol when relatives try to collect their pay outs. With suspicion of a grand fraud in the air, ambitious Black barrister’s clerk Isaiah Ollenu is thrown together with pious insurance agent Ruben Ashby and ordered to the Caribbean to investigate. But, confronted by prejudice, untoward characters and vengeful spirits, the task may cost this unlikely duo more than either man is willing to pay…

P D Lennon can be found on X @PaulaDL16 and on Instagram @pauladl16

*Kei Miller - The Cartographer Tries to Map a Way to Zion, Carcanet Press.

Conan Doyle Estate to collaborate with Simon and Schuster

 

Arthur Conan Doyle © Conan Doyle Estate

Simon & Schuster UK has entered into an official collaboration with the Conan Doyle Estate on a programme of new and backlist titles following on from their recent collaboration, Holmes & Moriarty by Gareth Rubin.

The partnership will see the creation of “new works based on the characters created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle”, and some backlist titles, both inside and outside the Holmes canon, “repackaged and republished”. All titles will be officially endorsed by the Conan Doyle Estate.

To launch the publishing programme, Simon & Schuster UK will be publishing a short-story anthology entitled Sherlock, which will feature an introduction by Stephen Fry, along with new stories from Kate Mosse, Anthony Horowitz, SA Cosby, Sarah Perry, Joe Hill, Vaseem Khan, Janice Hallett, Abir Mukherjee and Steve Cavanagh. Sherlock will be published in autumn 2026.

Katherine Armstrong, deputy publishing director for Crime and Thriller Fiction, agreed the deal with Jon Wood at Rogers, Coleridge and White for world all-language rights including audio. Atria, part of Simon & Schuster US, will also be publishing the new works and distributing the backlist titles.

Armstrong said: “I am particularly delighted to be working with the Conan Doyle Estate on these projects. Not only do I – and everyone at Simon & Schuster – share the Estate’s aim to create a lasting legacy of Conan Doyle’s works for many generations to come, but the Sherlock Holmes stories were some of my favourites growing up. I could not be more thrilled to be collaborating with the Estate on a full programme of backlist and new projects to take us to at least 2030”.

“Doyle’s influence on the crime-fiction genre has been immense and the character of Sherlock Holmes has seen and inspired many iterations over the past 140 years, but Doyle was also an intrepid traveller, a soldier, a campaigner for justice, and a scientist, among other things, so there is a wealth of material to explore. I am incredibly excited by the brilliant authors who have already agreed to write new short stories for our Sherlock anthology, and we are also working on a new official biography of Conan Doyle to publish on the anniversary of his death in 2030. There are many exciting projects in the pipeline that I can’t wait to share with existing fans and to introduce to new readers!”

Richard Pooley from the Conan Doyle Estate said: “The Conan Doyle Estate’s mission is to further the works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and keep a torch shining on him and his characters for generations to come. Nearly 140 years ago, Conan Doyle created one of the world’s most famous fictional characters. To our knowledge, Sherlock Holmes is still the most depicted character in print, film and TV. But it was Conan Doyle’s genius and significant involvement in so many aspects of life we must also remember. As he himself wrote: ’I have had a life which, for variety and romance, could hardly be exceeded.’  The Simon & Schuster official collaboration with the Conan Doyle Estate will help to bring Sir Arthur out of the shadow of Sherlock Holmes and to continue to tell the life story and work of this remarkable renaissance man.”

Jon Wood added: “Arthur Conan Doyle was a renaissance genius in so many ways – a crime writer, a science-fiction novelist, a politician, a thinker and a visionary. He was also the creator of unarguably the most successful fictional character of all time – Sherlock Holmes. This new relationship with Simon & Schuster worldwide is an unparalleled opportunity to rediscover Arthur and revitalise all his works. I’m so grateful to be part of these efforts along with the Estate, Katherine Armstrong and the whole team around the world.” 

 

92 Is Just a Number

 So, who says so? Me of course!

My name is Dennis Higgins. Born in Surrey but now living in Yorkshire, I am a debut author at the grand old age of 92, but don't let my age put anyone off. 'The Heidorf Legacy ‘is a unique Cold War thriller that is as appropriate today as it would have been at the time of the original Cold War between the old Soviet Union and the Western Allies.

The inspiration for the story comes from the many visits that I made behind the so-called 'Iron Curtain' to East Germany, or the German Democratic Republic as it was then known as, during the time between 1953 and 1964 whilst I was serving in the Royal Air Force. This was at the height of the Cold War when East Germany was still under Russian rule.

Whilst serving time at RAF Oldenburg in West Germany I met and married a girl who had escaped to the West via the Berlin Underground Railway, a journey fraught with danger for anyone travelling without a permit. All of my friends were smitten by her, but it was a case of 'to the victor the spoils' as I was the only one who spoke fluent German. She was never able to return to her home in East Germany and sadly she died from cancer at a very young age. One of the main characters in my book, Helga, is my tribute to her. In the meantime I managed to make contact with her family on several of my visits to the East, and it was from her father, an ex-member of the old Kaiser's Prussian Guard that I learned much about Germany's decline during the rise of the Nazi regime. At the same time, I was also able to witness for myself the oppressive and devious methods used by both the Russian rulers and the East German Nationals who chose to support them.

As a widower with two very young children I was granted a compassionate discharge from the RAF but found the transition to civilian life very difficult. I tried my hand at several jobs, all of which I failed at before becoming the Administrator for a small group of Care Homes for elderly dementia sufferers, a post from which I retired at the age of seventy-five.

Fast forward fifteen years into the Covid epidemic. Now housebound by lockdown, I started to spend most of my time on the internet where I saw an advert for an international song-writing contest and, despite never having written anything before, decided to enter the lyric writing category. The contest attracted over ten thousand entries from eighty-three different countries worldwide and, much to my surprise and delight I not only won the lyrics category, but I became the overall winner of the whole contest. As a result of this I was asked to write lyrics for the late Queen's Platinum Jubilee Song.

Now ninety years old, and spurred on by these successes, I decided to try and write a thriller from an idea that had been lurking at the back of my mind ever since my time in East Germany, and The Heidorf Legacy is the result.

I am currently married to my second wife Bettina. We have been married sixty years this year and I describe her as the person who made my life worth living again. In total I now have three wonderful sons and an equally wonderful daughter.

My second novel, a crime thriller, based on a terrorist campaign against the innocent citizens of London, is almost ready for publication, as are my memoirs. I am also trying to follow another new path by attempting to write a film script for The Heidorf Legacy. Hopefully, I live long enough to finish it.

The Heidorf Legacy by Dennis Higgins (Foreshore Publishing) Out Now

Destiny is no matter of chance. It is 1945 and a young German physician pioneering genetic experiments to breed the new Nazi race is killed during the fall of Berlin to the Soviet Red Army. Straightforward: secrets to the grave. But a shocking legacy is discovered. A unique set of new-born identical twin boys - the world's first with matching fingerprints - are found by a Russian army officer. The babies are taken to Moscow for further examination. There plans are made to exploit the twin boy’s uniqueness. Years later with the Cold War rapidly becoming a distant memory the fate of the twin boys could not be more different. One is working for the Soviet Union's secret intelligence agency. The other has a privileged life in the upper echelons of American society. Both powerful men in their own right. The plan is simple. make the switch. reignite the cold war. from the inside.

To Morrow-on-Sea: Setting Dead As Gold on the Coast

      Morrow is not a glamorous place, and as                 Ophelia reaches the high street, she begins to skirt takeaway bins that have been raided by foxes. Between the pound shop and the shuttered nail bar is a homeless man who has given up asking for change and stares dully at his feet. 

Ophelia has been told that, in summer, tourists return Morrow to something of its former splendour. There are artists, pop-ups, concerts, hash-tags and social media presence. She has been promised it is the next Margate by loyal middle-class locals and she suspects there is a grain of truth in it; the town has declined substantially since her childhood visits, but there are still the bijou spots[…] 

My second crime novel, Dead As Gold, is set in fictional Morrow-on-Sea: a place we have all been, at one time or another. It is the rundown, out-of-season seaside town that everyone has spent a wet and windy day enjoying. In my childhood, this was Weston-super-Mare on the Somerset coast. Usually grey, haunted by shrieking gulls, sandy and uncomfortable; indefinably magical and intrinsically gothic. It stuck in my subconscious and stayed there like the sand carried home in socks. How easy and natural to set a crime novel there.

Adam Conlan, the protagonist of Dead As Gold, has moved his goldsmith’s workshop to Morrow after fathering a child on a one-night stand. Seven years later, his life is calmer, and he has found a measure of peace in co-parenting his son. Yet, by the sea, he still feels alone. Then, damaged writer Ophelia Richards arrives at his door and wants to sell her mother’s gold. Adam receives an animal heart in the post, his studio is robbed, strange faces appear at his window. A body is washed in on the tide. 

Like so many British coastal towns, Weston’s (and Morrow’s) heyday was during the nineteenth- and early-twentieth-centuries, as tourists flocked to the fresh air and the sea. As holidaying abroad became more affordable, fortunes dwindled, and so began a slow decline into seasonal work, poverty, poor infrastructure, and blossoming drugs trades. And so, the juxtapositions of Weston and Morrow breathe crime. 

A place that is meant to embody pleasure and fun is also grimy and decaying. What is an escape from everyday life for some is a place where others endure poverty and harsh winters. These are habitations positioned at the edge of the world, liminal, between land and sea. Just the presence of the water lends life-giving and life-taking opportunities. Who hasn’t stood at the tideline and felt the instability of the sand being sucked from under their feet? That half-second panic that we will be pulled away and drowned? The sea has a violence and strength that renders us powerless and echoes the dynamics of a murder. Without spoilers (perhaps just a light tease…), some of the most dramatic moments in Dead As Gold occur next to, or in, the water.

To Morrow-on-Sea, to Morrow-on-Sea

To the gulls with their cries, and the wind whistling free.

The seaside is also the writer’s friend because it is intrinsically sensory and evocative. Everyone can imagine the sounds (gulls, waves, wind, children) and smells (salt, seaweed, chip fat) and touch (gritty sand, cold water, harsh wind) of it. It’s a place that the reader can feel and therefore become immersed in. Ophelia herself is a writer, returning to Morrow to make sense of traumatic events she experienced there as a child, to draw a ‘portrait’ of the place through its characters, folktales, and animals. She can feel Morrow in the way the reader can, and like many readers, it is a repository for her childhood, and all the complex associations that can bring.

The late morning sky is low and heavy, resting its leaden belly on the clifftop where Ophelia walks. The wind is urgent, and she errs away from the edge, where thrift and grass cling on in clumps. From the path, she can still see the sea, making dark laps at itself and the beach, ceaseless, restless, like it had been in her childhood. She thinks of Adam Conlan, living at the edge of the world.

The natural co-existence of murder, mystery, and the sea is demonstrated by the sheer number and quality of classic crime novels you’ll find set on the coast. Consider Poirot’s various adventures (Peril At End House, Evil Under the Sun) or Daphne du Maurier’s OG gothic thriller Rebecca. More recently, Tom Mead’s The House at Devil’s Neck and Louise Minchin’s Isolation Island testify to the enduring appeal of the seaside as a setting for murder; a place where the writer can draw from its drama and power and contrast. And like the tide rolling back in, the more readers return to the setting, the more commissioning editors will keep snapping these books up.

Long live crime novels, and long live the great British seaside

Dead as Gold by Bonnie Burke-Patel (Bedford Square Publishers) Out Now

Adam Conlan has made a new life for himself in Morrow-on-Sea. After a wild youth, the goldsmith had settled down, determined to be around for his young son. But now Ophelia Richards appears at his studio door, asking if he will buy her gold. The writer entices and unsettles him; he sees she is adrift in the same cold pain and loneliness as he is. At the same time, faces begin appearing at the studio window, an unwelcome gift arrives in the post, gold goes missing. Then comes death, then comes Detective Inspector William Kent. Woven through with Morrow’s fairy tales, Dead as Gold is a modern gothic crime novel veined with love, violence, family, and desire. Humans still use fairy tales to explore their deepest truths. So who is a wolf, and who is a sparrow?

You can find Bonnie Burke-Patel on Instagram @bonnieburkepatel

2025 David Thompson Special Service Award Winners

 

Lucinda Surber and Stan Ulrich Awards Banquet at Left Coast Crime 2012 Sacramento

Photo by Clark Lohr from leftcoastcrime.org

Bouchercon, the world’s largest mystery writers and fans conference, congratulates Lucinda Surber and Stan Ulrich, the 2025 winners of the David Thompson Memorial Special Service award, for their extraordinary efforts to develop and promote the crime fiction field.

“We’re insanely thrilled to receive the David Thompson Award and humbled to join the starry ranks of past honorees!” Stan and Lucinda reacted when notified of the award.

Mystery/crime fiction enthusiasts, Lucinda and Stan have been key leaders in the landscape for more than twenty years. Their first mystery convention was Bouchercon 2007 in Anchorage, Alaska and they have since served in a variety of Bouchercon volunteer positions. Stan joined the Bouchercon national board serving as Treasurer and Rules Committee Chair. Later Stan and Lucinda were Chairs of the volunteer subcommittee for two Bouchercon conventions, and Anthony Awards Chairs in Long Beach in 2014 and in Dallas in 2019.

Lucinda and Stan are also the driving force behind the mystery conference, Left Coast Crime. Stan, a retired lawyer, is President of the Left Coast Crime Conference, Inc. Lucinda, a former educator, is the organization’s Secretary. They’ve been managing the Lefty Awards since 2011.

"Stan and Lucinda exemplify the dedication and expertise of those in a special category: key volunteers,” says Cheryl Head, Bouchercon Board Chair. “We couldn’t be successful without them.”

The David Thompson Award will be presented to Stan and Lucinda at the Opening Ceremonies of Blood on the Bayou: Case Closed in New Orleans, September 3-7, 2025.

The David Thompson Memorial Special Service Award is given by the Bouchercon Board to honour the memory and contributions to the crime fiction community of David Thompson, a much beloved Houston bookseller who passed away in 2010.

Past winners selected by the Bouchercon National Board of Directors for their “extraordinary efforts to develop and promote the crime fiction field” are:

2024 - Crime Writers of Color

2023 - Sarah Paretsky

2022 - Les and Leslie Blatt

2021 - Janet Rudolph

2020 - Al Abramson

2019 - Don and Jenn Longmuir

2018 - Lesa Holstine

2017 - George Easter

2016 - Otto Penzler

2015 - Bill and Toby Gottfried

2014 - Judy Bobalik

2013 - Marv Lachman

2012 - Len and June Moffatt

2011 - Ali Karim

For more information about Bouchercon and the David Thompson Award: visit website: www.bouchercon.com

‘Crime writer Elly Griffiths awarded Theakston Old Peculier Outstanding Contribution Award 2025

‘Remarkable’ crime writer Elly Griffiths awarded 

Theakston Old Peculier Outstanding Contribution Award 2025

Festival Dates: 17 – 20 July 2025

www.harrogateinternationalfestivals.com

#TheakstonsCrime

Tuesday 8 July 2025: Bestselling novelist Elly Griffiths will be honoured with the Theakston Old Peculier Outstanding Contribution Award in recognition of her remarkable crime fiction writing career and ‘unwavering commitment to the genre.’ The award will be presented at the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival, the world’s most prestigious celebration of crime fiction and thriller writing, on Thursday 17th July. 

Elly Griffiths is the author of the Dr Ruth Galloway Mysteries; the Brighton Mysteries, the Detective Harbinder Kaur series and an exhilarating new series featuring time-travelling detective Ali Dawson. Her intricately plotted novels told with wry humour and featuring engaging characters have sold over 5 million copies worldwide, winning her fans across the globe. Griffiths, who has been shortlisted an impressive seven times for the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year, was highly commended in 2023 for The Locked Room and served as Festival Programming Chair in 2017. She is shortlisted for the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year 2025 for The Last Word (Quercus Books.)  

Elly Griffiths is the latest in a line of acclaimed authors to have received the coveted Outstanding Contribution Award, with previous winners including Sir Ian Rankin, Lynda La Plante, James Patterson, John Grisham, Lee Child, Val McDermid, P.D. James, Michael Connelly, Ann Cleeves and last year’s recipient, Martina Cole.  

The award will be presented alongside the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year 2025, the UK and Ireland’s most prestigious crime fiction award, and the McDermid Debut Award for new writers, on the opening night of the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival, Thursday 17 July.   

Simon Theakston, Chairman of T&R Theakston, said: 

“Elly Griffiths has been awarded the Theakston Old Peculier Outstanding Contribution award in recognition of her exceptional contribution to crime fiction, captivating readers with her distinctive characters, rich sense of place, and unwavering commitment to the genre over a remarkable career. Beloved by readers around the world, Elly Griffiths has an amazing ability to combine tough subjects with the greatest warmth. Her characters may have their eccentricities, but they are all believable and their dilemmas as easy to share.”  

Elly Griffiths said: 

“It means the world to me to receive this award. Sixteen years ago, when I wrote my first crime novel, I received such a warm welcome from the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival and from other, more established, authors. Now, 32 books later, I’m thrilled to be honoured in this way and humbled to join the ranks of previous winners. I hope to continue the tradition of welcoming new writers and giving back to the crime-writing community.”

The Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival is delivered by the north of England’s leading arts Festival organisation, Harrogate International Festivals, and forms part of their diverse year-round portfolio of events, which aims to bring immersive cultural experiences to as many people as possible. For more details about the Festival see here. 

In The St Hilda's Spotlight - Ruth Ware

 Name:- Ruth Ware

Job: Author

Website: https://ruthware.com

Facebook: @Ruthwarewriter

Instagram: @Ruthwarewriter

Introduction

Ruth Ware has written 10 psychological thrillers and is an award nominated author. Her novel One by One was shortlisted for the Ian Fleming Steel Dagger in 2020. Her novel The Woman in Cabin 10 is to become a Netflix film later on this year. Her novels in A Dark Dark Wood and The Lying Game are in development and her writing style being compared to that of Agatha Christie. Her most recent novel is The Woman in Suite 11

Current book? 

I never like talking about the book I’m working on, but I will say it has some very strong gothic elements!

Has any gothic book spooked you and if so which one and why? 

The book that I remain most haunted by is probably The Yellow Wallpaper, which I think qualifies as Gothic with a twist, in that the madwoman in the attic is the protagonist of the story, and we see her unravelling in front of us. It’s short (it’s really a longish short story) but truly terrifying.

But I also find myself thinking very often about Wide Sargasso Sea, Jean Rhys’s extraordinary prequel to / rebuttal of Jane Eyre. You need a huge amount of chutzpah to reimagine a book like Jane Eyre, but Rhys does it with huge anger and confidence, and the result is mesmerising. It is haunting in a very different way to The Yellow Wallpaper but in some ways equally chilling, not least because you read it knowing where poor Antoinette will end up.

Which two gothic writers would you invite to dinner and why? 

Bram Stoker and Daphne du Maurier. Daphne du Maurier because she’s one of my favourite novelists and I would love to have heard her speak in person. Bram Stoker because I adore Dracula but he also sounds like a very interesting person. He was a theatre agent for most of his life and met a huge number of the great and good of his day.

How do you relax? 

I wish I had a fancy hobby to put here, but the truth is I read, watch TV, walk and cook. If I am feeling particularly stressed for some reason, my greatest treat is a spa massage. There’s something about being cared for and pummelled that helps my brain switch off! 

Which gothic book do you wish you had written and why? 

My Cousin Rachel. I think it’s a masterpiece. 

If you were to write a gothic book where would you set it and why? 

I have actually written a couple so I guess, I have to answer about those! The Death of Mrs Westaway is set in a Mandalay-ish crumbling country house in Cornwall, and The Turn of the Key (which, as you can probably guess, is a riff on Henry James) is set in a smart house in Scotland with an eerie poison garden. I love an evocative setting – one that’s just as much a character as the people in the book. 

How would you describe your latest published book? 

It’s a follow up / companion volume to The Woman in Cabin 10 and has some very Gothic themes – sinister, controlling husbands, terrified women, and a fight to be believed. It was great fun to write!

With Detecting the Gothic: tales from the Dark Heart of Crime Fiction the theme at St Hilda's this year, which are you three favourite gothic authors or books? 

Probably… Rebecca, My Cousin Rachel and Dracula. If I can count Daphne du Maurier as one, then I’d add in The Secret History which stretches the definition a little, but probably counts as modern Gothic.

Which 3 gothic films would you rewatch and why? 

Probably… Rebecca, the Laurence Olivier version, even though it completely changes the key revelation of the book, and makes it much less daring than the novel. It’s so stylishly filmed, you forgive the transgressions. Gaslight, for obvious reasons – I actually drew on that film for The Turn of the Key and it’s so cleverly done. And I’ve actually never seen it, but I’ve always wanted to watch Rosemary’s Baby. I’ve read the book, but never seen the film. I was on the fence about whether to count that as Gothic, since it’s more usually categorised as horror, but the novel has some strong Gothic elements so I think it qualifies. 

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

Well obviously the other speakers – it’s a stunning line up and the talks sound fascinating. But I am particularly looking forward to the play which I apparently get to act in. I love a murder mystery!

The Woman in Suite 11 by Ruth Ware (Simon and Schuster)

Lo Blacklock returns to attend the opening of a luxury hotel, only to find herself in a white-knuckled race across Europe. When the invitation to attend the press opening of a luxury Swiss hotel – owned by reclusive billionaire Marcus Leidmann – arrives, it’s like the answer to a prayer. Three years after the birth of her youngest child, Lo Blacklock is ready to re-establish her journalism career, but post-pandemic travel journalism is a very different landscape from the one she left ten years ago. The chateau on the shores of Lake Geneva is everything Lo’s ever dreamed of, and she hopes she can snag an interview with Marcus. Unfortunately, he proves to be even more difficult to pin down than his reputation suggests. When Lo gets a late-night call asking her to come to Marcus’s hotel room, she agrees despite her own misgivings. She’s greeted, however, by a woman claiming to be Marcus’s mistress, and in life-or-death jeopardy. What follows is a thrilling cat-and-mouse pursuit across Europe, forcing Lo to ask herself just how much she’s willing to sacrifice to save this woman…and if she can even trust her?

Information on how to buy online tickets can be found here. The programme can be found here.

Extract from Murder Tide by Stella Blómkvist

‘Where is this man you dreamed?’

‘He was tied to some kind of construction, and there’s seaweed floating all around him.’

‘Yes, but whereabouts in the country?’

‘I don’t know that.’

‘What’s his name?’

‘There was black tape covering the lower half of his face so I couldn’t recognise him, but I felt I ought to know him.’

She closes her eyes.

‘His hair is dark grey and there’s fear and horror in his eyes,’ she continues, as if in a trance. ‘This man knows he is about to die, knows there’s nothing he can do, knows he’s caught in death’s grip.’

Phew!

I know from my own experience the dreadful feeling of helplessness when every escape route is closed. When there’s no way home.

She leans forward and stares at me.

‘But you can save him.’

‘How so?’

‘By finding the man before it’s too late.’

The crap this fake medium dares to come out with!

‘And how am I supposed to track down this damp dreamboat of yours?’

‘Don’t you make a habit of solving cases that everyone else gives up on?’

‘Yes, sure. But you haven’t told me anything concrete. Such as the name of this man you ought to recognise.’

‘I don’t have a name, unfortunately.’

‘And you don’t know whereabouts in the country he is?’

‘No. But I know if nobody does anything, he’s going to die.’

‘And I know that I have to spend my time in the real world. Your crazy dreams are no business of mine.’

‘There’s nothing crazy about this.’

‘If you’re so certain about this vision or whatever you’ve imagined, then go back to the police. Nonsense like this is their department.’

‘They threw me out.’

‘I’m going to do the same.’

Dýrleif looks at me for a moment without speaking, her eyes mournful.

‘Why won’t anyone believe me?’ she asks at last.

‘Go home and put in a request for a new, clearer vision,’ I tell her coldly. ‘A name and a phone number would help. Then you can call your dreamboat guy.’

She sighs, gets to her feet and slowly leaves the meeting room.

I accompany her out into the corridor. I open the door of the red town house that’s both my office and my home.

‘If you won’t take any notice of me, then he’s condemned to die,’ she says, looking beseechingly at me.

I shrug.

‘I was sure you’d listen to me,’ Dýrleif adds. ‘It was your mother who gave me your name.’

Yeah, right!

‘Did she email you?’

‘Our connection is on another, much higher plane,’ she replies.

‘Yes, a plane of sick imagination.’

I shut the door with a bang. Straight back to the office, slamming the door behind me.

That fucking freak!

I don’t have it in me to sit in front of the computer again. Instead, I slip on my russet-brown leather jacket. I look in on Lísa Björk.

‘Taking a walk to clear my head,’ I tell her.

There’s a gloom over Reykjavík. I don’t let it affect me. I follow my nose along the damp pavement down to Laugavegur.

There’s a fresh breeze that plays around my face. It cools my mood.

I suppose I shouldn’t have let my temper get the better of me over this two-bit medium who makes a living deceiving those who are already in enough pain.

 

Murder Tide by Stella Blómkvist (Corylus Books) Out Now

The ruthless businessman left to drown by the risking tide at the dock by Reykjavik's Grotta lighthouse had never been short of enemies. The police have their suspect, and he calls in Stella Blómkvist to fight his corner as he furiously protests his innocence. Yet this angry fisherman had more reason than many to bear the dead man a grudge. It's a busy summer for razor-tongued, no-nonsense lawyer Stella. A young woman looking for a long-lost parent finds more than she bargained for. An old adversary calls from prison, looking for Stella to broker a dangerous deal with the police to put one of the city's untouchable crime lords behind bars at long last. Is the mysterious medium right, warning that deep waters are waiting for Stella as well?

Stella Blómkvist can be found on X @StellaBlomkv

2025 CWA Dagger Awards Announced

The 2025 winners of the prestigious Crime Writers’ Association (CWA) Dagger Awards, which honour the very best in the crime-writing genre, have been announced.

Created in 1955, the world-famous CWA Daggers are the oldest awards in the genre and have been synonymous with quality crime writing for over half a century.

The awards were announced this evening 3^rd July 2025 at the CWA gala dinner at De Vere Grand Connaught Rooms, London.

The prestigious KAA Gold Dagger, sponsored by Kevin Anderson & Associates, which is awarded for the best crime novel of the year, went to Anna Mazzola for Book of Secrets.

Inspired by real events, prosecutor Stefano Bracchi investigates why men are dying in unnatural numbers months after the plague has ravaged Rome. Judges praised it as an expertly crafted ‘engrossing cat-and-mouse thriller’ set in 17th century Rome.

The Ian Fleming Steel Dagger, sponsored by Ian Fleming Publications Ltd, showcases the thriller of the year and was awarded to Lou Berney for his masterful thriller, Dark Ride, where an unlikely hero goes up against a deadly crime boss. Judges praised it as ‘sublime thriller full of heartache and humanity’ and a ‘moving yet nail-biting novel.’

The much-anticipated ILP John Creasey First Novel Dagger which highlights the best debut novels of the year went to Katy Massey’s debut set in the shadow of the Yorkshire Ripper, All Us Sinners. Judges praised it as ‘vivid and brutally honest’ and an ‘important and bold take on the Yorkshire Ripper murders told with passion and respect from the point of view of the women who were never heard.’

The Historical Dagger, sponsored by Morgan Witzel in memory of Dr Marilyn Livingstone, went to A.J. West with The Betrayal of Thomas True which is set in the excitement and squalor of London’s underworld in the year 1710.

Nadine Matheson, Chair of the CWA, said: "This has been another exemplary year, and our judges once again faced the exciting but difficult task of selecting from a truly impressive shortlist. The winners reflect the strength, diversity, and continuing legacy of crime writing today.

“I would also like to extend our congratulations to the winners of the Twisted Dagger and the Whodunnit Dagger, Tracy Sierra and Lisa Hall. The inclusion of these two new categories continues to highlight the evolution and innovation happening within the genre.”

The Crime Fiction in Translation Dagger, sponsored in honour of Dolores Jakubowski, was awarded to the debut gangland thriller The Night of Baba Yaga from Japan’s Akira Otani translated by Sam Bett – hot-on-the-heels from winning the 2025 CrimeFest Specsavers Debut Crime Novel of the Year.

Judges said: “Like a manga cartoon, this savage depiction of Japanese yakuza life is relentlessly violent if only to highlight the deep humanity of its fish out of water characters. Mean and lean, this saga sparkles with originality and delivers a splendid if bizarre love story.” 

The Night of Baba Yaga pipped another Japanese bestseller to the post, Asako Yuzuki’s Butter translated by Polly Barton.

The ALCS Gold Dagger for Non-Fiction was awarded to Kate Summerscale’s retelling of the Christie murders, The Peepshow: The Murders at 10 Rillington Place. It was praised as a ‘remarkable read, riveting without ever being salacious’ offering a fresh perspective on one of Britain’s most notorious cases.

The CWA Daggers are one of the few high-profile awards that honour the short story. This year Short Story Dagger went to the academic and expert on Agatha Christie, J.C Bernthal, for A Date on Yarmouth Pier, praised as a ‘mini-masterpiece with a killer twist.’

2025 saw the announcement of two new CWA Dagger Awards.

The Twisted Dagger celebrates psychological thrillers and dark and twisty tales that often feature unreliable narrators, disturbed emotions, a healthy dose of moral ambiguity, and a sting in the tail. 

It was awarded to Nightwatching by Tracy Sierra, a slow-burning tale of a mother who will do anything to protect her children. The books unusual voice captured the judges, who praised it as, ‘horrific, compelling, nerve-shreddingly tense and cleverly twisted.’

The Whodunnit Dagger celebrates books that focus on the intellectual challenge at the heart of a good mystery. Books in this category include cosy crime, traditional crime, and Golden Age-inspired mysteries.

The inaugural winner is Lisa Hall with The Case of the Singer and the Showgirl. Judges admired its cleverly handled twist on a classic mystery featuring Hollywood icons: ‘A glamorous, evocative timeslip mystery that took us right back to sparkling Vegas in the fifties.’ 

The Emerging Author Dagger, which has been going for over 20 years, celebrates aspiring crime novelists, sponsored by Fiction Feedback. The competition is open to unpublished authors, and is judged on the best opening for an unpublished crime novel. Over two dozen past winners and shortlisted Debut Dagger authors have signed publishing deals to date.

2025’s Emerging Author Dagger was awarded to Joe Eurell for Ashland. Judges compared it as Mare of Easttown meets We Begin at the End: “A beautifully written story evoking a powerful sense of place and conveying a rare energy. Rounded characters are portrayed in fascinating depth.” 

Richard Osman was awarded the 2025 Dagger in the Library award. The nominee longlist is voted by librarians and library users, chosen for the author’s body of work and support of libraries. 

Best Crime and Mystery Publisher of the Year Dagger, which celebrates publishers and imprints demonstrating excellence and diversity in crime writing, was awarded to Orenda Books. 

The CWA Diamond Dagger, awarded to an author whose crime-writing career has been marked by sustained excellence, is announced in early spring and in 2025 was awarded to Mick Herron.

Mick Herron said: “I’ve spent the best part of my life – not the majority of it; just the best part – in the crime writers’ community, and to receive this accolade from these friends and colleagues is both a career highlight and a personal joy. I’m touched and thrilled beyond measure, and will try to live up to the honour.”

The 2025 Winners in Full:

The KAA GOLD DAGGER

Book of Secrets by Anna Mazzola: (Orion)

THE IAN FLEMING STEEL DAGGER

Dark Ride by Lou Berney (Hemlock Press/ HarperCollins)

THE ILP JOHN CREASEY FIRST NOVEL DAGGER

All Us Sinners by Katy Massey (Little, Brown /Sphere)

THE TWISTED DAGGER

Nightwatching by Tracy Sierra (PRH/ Viking)

THE WHODUNNIT DAGGER

The Case of the Singer and the Showgirl by Lisa Hall (Hera)

THE HISTORICAL DAGGER (Sponsored in Honour of Dr. Marilyn Livingstone)

The Betrayal of Thomas True by A.J. West, (Orenda Books)

 THE ALCS GOLD DAGGER FOR NON-FICTION

The Peepshow: The Murders at 10 Rillington Place by Kate Summerscale: (Bloomsbury Circus)   

THE CRIME FICTION IN TRANSLATION DAGGER (Sponsored in Honour of Dolores Jakubowski)

The Night of Baba Yaga by Akira Otani:  (Faber) tr. Sam Bett

THE SHORT STORY DAGGER

‘A Date on Yarmouth Pier’ by J.C Bernthal in Midsummer Mysteries edited by Martin Edwards (Flame Tree Publishing/Flame Tree Collections)

THE DAGGER IN THE LIBRARY

Richard Osman

THE DAGGER FOR THE BEST CRIME AND MYSTERY PUBLISHERS

Orenda Books

THE EMERGING AUTHOR DAGGER (sponsored by Fiction Feedback)

Ashland by Joe Eurell, 

 THE CWA DIAMOND DAGGER AWARD

 Mick Herron