Murder One ‘It would have been criminal to miss it!’

‘I always love being part of Murder One – it has rapidly become an important fixture in the literary calendar for anyone connected to the  crime and thriller genre. I also enjoy the fact it takes place in a library – it is impossible NOT to quietly look for a body, a dagger and a rapidly disappearing Colonel Mustard’
SIMON TREWIN – Literary Agent

We were thrilled with the success this year of Murder One Fest 2023, which was brought to you with the invaluable support of DLR Libraries. Back in it’s weekend format, October 6th-8th, we welcomed a host of Irish and international authors. We were delighted to have the wonderful Bob Johnston of The Gutter Bookshop on hand supplying everyone with books from both new, and already favourite, authors. Also a big thank you to Paul Sherwood Photography for all the fantastic photos which really capture the spirit of the festival.

Crime is one of the biggest-selling genres in the book business and Ireland boasts some of the world’s top crime writers. The festival showcased the cream of Irish crime writing talent with Tana FrenchJane Casey, Colin Walsh, Catherine Ryan Howard, Steve Cavanagh, Andrea Mara, Sam Blake, and Catherine Kirwan among those appearing on a range of solo events and hot-topic panels.

UK visitors included the hugely popular, Sophie Hannah, 2023 Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year, Tom Benn, Alice Feeney, author of the phenomenally successful Daisy Darker, plus cosy crime specialist, British Book Awards winner Janice Hallett, and highly praised debutante, Alice Bell.

Once a name synonymous with breaking news of high-profile crime cases, Dr Marie Cassidy has turned her hand to crime fiction and she discussed her debut novel, Body of Truth, in conversation with bestselling crime writer, Liz Nugent. 

True crime fans were entertained by award-winning political journalist, Harry McGee whose book, The Murderer and the Taoiseach, retraces the extraordinary happenings in Dublin’s notorious Malcolm Macarthur murder case.

Wherever your tastes in the crime genre lie, we hope you were gripped by the plot of Murder One this year.

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Murder One is run by crime author Sam Blake and festival director Bert Wright.

Two black chairs on a stage with posters
©Paul Sherwood Photographer

 

Earlier in the year we kicked off 2023 with international blockbuster Harlan Coben on 21st March at the Lexicon Library in Dun Laoghaire which was an amazing event.

On March 26th we had an exciting evening at The Pavilion Theatre in Dun Laoghaire  with Liz Nugent giving us all a wonderful opportunity to get right inside the  head of Strange Sally Diamond!

And on 20th June we were back at the Lexicon Library for a fantastic evening of crime with international bestseller Karin Slaughter.

Three faces looking at the camera

‘MURDER ONE has established a huge following among Irish crime fans in a short space of time and in a country that boasts so many successful crime writers, it’s a joy to get fans and writers together on an annual basis in an ideal location like Dun Laoghaire.’ – Bert Wright

 

A stage
©Paul Sherwood Photographer 

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“Literary festivals, writing festivals, readers’ festivals … however you wish to call an
event that brings readers and writers together … are magical spaces where magical things happen.
Being at Murder One has reminded me of that.” – Amy Gaffney

Look Back Murder One 2020 with Dublin Book Festival

In a year when live performances have had to be rethought, we were delighted to work with the Dublin Book Fesitval to bring you The Murder One Festival  2020 in a series of boutique online events. All events were presented digitally for audiences to enjoy at home.

Murder One with Dublin Book Festival 2020 headline with an event in association with Eason:

Dr. Marie Cassidy, Beyond the Tape: The Life and Many Deaths of a State Pathologist

on 11th October 2020

Former State Pathologist Dr. Marie Cassidy will release her memoirs Beyond the Tape: The Life and Many Deaths of a State Pathologist this October and to mark this Dr. Cassidy will be in conversation to discuss translating her experiences into her memoirs.

“For over thirty years, bodies have been my business. The lucky ones have died peacefully in their own bed, surrounded by loved ones. But, life, or should I say death, is not always like that. This is your opportunity to duck under the police tape with me. Walk carefully in my footprints and follow me into the scene but don’t touch anything, just look. Remember Locard’s principle, every contact leaves a trace . . .”

The ticket price of €20 includes access to this exclusive event via a custom url link and a signed copy of Beyond the Tape. Ticketholders will receive their signed copy of the novel in the post as quickly as possible after its release date on 1st October 2020. Instructions on how to view the event via your custom url will be sent to all ticket holders in advance of the event.

Dr. Marie Cassidy was Ireland’s State Pathologist from 2004 until 2018. During that time, she was involved in many high-profile cases, including the Stardust exhumation and the deaths of Siobhan Kearney, Rachel O’Reilly, Robert Holohan and Tom O’Gorman. In Beyond the Tape, she invites us into the world of forensic pathology, and shares her remarkable personal journey, from working-class Glasgow to becoming Ireland’s head pathologist. A fascinating, behind-the-scenes account of real-life forensics, the intricate processes central to solving modern crime, and the stories from behind the crime tape.

#MurderOneFest2020  #DBF2020 #EasonEvent

The Dublin Book Festival

Since 2006 the Dublin Book Festival has been a mainstay of the Irish writing and publishing scene and a highlight of the literary year. With its special focus on Irish-published authors, the 2020 Festival continues that tradition of promoting and supporting Irish literary voices, both established and emerging. This year the festival will be presenting its programme online from 27th November to 6th December, due to the ongoing Covid-19 crisis.

The festival will be running events every week throughout the Autumn in the run-up to the festival, many in collaboration with publishers, arts organisations and other literary festivals, for families, schools and book lovers of all ages to enjoy from the comfort and safety of their own homes.

The programme will showcase the wealth of talented authors published in Ireland, supporting our home-grown talent and publishers. Events will be presented from many of our usual attractive and intimate venues throughout Dublin city, even if audiences cannot attend in person, authors will bring the unique character of these Dublin locations to their virtual events.

The Dublin Book Festival has always been one of collaboration, and in 2020 the range of these partnerships has grown. The festival will host events in collaboration with literary festivals including Listowel Writers’ Week, IMRAM, Belfast Book Festival, Cuirt International Literature Festival and Murder One, literary organisations such as Dublin UNESCO City of Literature, Dublin City Libraries, Children’s Books Ireland, Poetry Ireland and many more. In a time when the arts are struggling Dublin Book Festival will bring together as many as possible, to work together to showcase the breadth of talent in Ireland today.

Other events include:

Dublin UNESCO City of Literature in association with Dublin Book Festival: Dublin One City One Book: Christine Dywer Hickey in conversation with Niall MacMonagle and musical performances (Thursday 24th September)

Dublin Book Festival and Eason present: Graham Norton in conversation with Rick OShea (Sunday, 4th October)

Dublin One City One Book: Christine Dywer Hickey in conversation with Niall MacMonagle and musical performances  Join us for a special evening with Christine Dwyer Hickey, author of this year’s Dublin One City One Book choice Tatty. Christine will be in conversation with literary critic Niall MacMonagle in the beautiful setting of Kevin Street Library, Dublin. She will discuss Tatty, her varied writing career, and in particular how music influences her writing.

Musical interludes will be contributed by pianist Leonora Carney, trumpeter Colm Byrne and piper Donnacha Dwyer.

Tatty was originally published in 2004 and earlier this year a special Dublin One City One Book edition, with a new introduction by Dermot Bolger, was published by New Island Books. Christine recently won the 2020 Dalkey Literary Award and the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction for her most recent novel The Narrow Land. This event is in association with Dublin UNESCO City of Literature.

This event will be available to watch online via www.dublinbookfestival.com and www.rte.ie/culture. Please note that you will need to register in advance to watch the event.

Graham Norton, Home Stretch, (4th October)   To celebrate the October release of his new novel Home Stretch, Graham Norton will join RTÉ broadcaster Rick O’Shea in conversation, to discuss his new novel, his writing process, and his love of literature.

This exclusive event will take place with a link sent to all ticket holders in advance of its airing on 4th October 2020. Price of admission includes a signed copy of Home Stretch, which ticket holders will receive by post as quickly as possible after its release date on 1st October. Instructions on how to view the event via your custom url will also be sent to all ticket holders in advance.

Graham Norton’s novels Holding and A Keeper were an Irish bestsellers and loved by readers everywhere. His new novel, Home Stretch begins in 1987 where a small Irish community is preparing for the wedding of two of its young inhabitants. They’re barely adults, not so long out of school and still part of the same set of friends they’ve grown up with. As the friends head home from the beach that last night before the wedding, there is a car accident. Three survive the crash but three are killed. And the reverberations are felt throughout the small town.

Connor, the young driver of the car, lives. But staying among the angry and the mourning is almost as hard as living with the shame, and so he leaves the only place he knows for another life. Travelling first to Liverpool, then London, by the noughties he has made a home – of sorts – for himself in New York. The city provides shelter and possibility for the displaced, somewhere Connor can forget his past and forge a new life.

But the secrets, the unspoken longings and regrets that have come to haunt those left behind will not be silenced. And before long, Connor will have to meet his past.

This event is co-presented with Eason.

The Dublin Book Festival is supported by Arts Council of Ireland, Irish Copyright Licensing Agency, Dublin City Council, Dublin UNESCO City of Literature.

All events will be presented digitally for audiences to enjoy at home.

Tickets can be booked at – dublinbookfestival.com