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.

Join our mailing list below and we’ll  be able to notify you first of future events so you don’t miss out!

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

Watch Back: Murder One Online & Live Stream Events 2022

Murder in the Library: Online Only Events

Laura Lippman has been heralded as one of the great contemporary writers of crime fiction. Her slick, intelligent, socially-aware novels have won every mystery award, including the Edgar, Anthony and Agatha Awards. Her new short story collection, Seasonal Work, underscores her impressive versatility across the genre. A rare chance to hear a master discussing her work.

Jean Hanff Korelitz’s super-smart plotting caught the attention of a whole new audience when her novel, You Should Have Known, aired in an HBO adaptation entitled The Undoing starring Hugh Grant and Nicole Kidman. In fact, she had already published six critically-acclaimed novels, among them taut legal thrillers that have earned her a devoted readership.

Live Events: SATURDAY 

Let’s Twist Again: Catherine Ryan Howard, Andrea Mara and Arlene Hunt with Paul McNeive

Three bestselling authors known for their incredible twists discuss where their ideas come from, how much they plan and how they keep readers on the edge of their seats. Catherine Ryan Howard’s Run Time, set against the backdrop of a dark and disturbing horror movie is the latest of her award winning, bestselling standalone thrillers. Andrea Mara’s Hide and Seek reveals neighbourhood secrets with her trademark sting in the tail where ‘even the twists have twists’ (Lee Child) and after a string of bestsellers Arlene Hunt returns with While She Sleeps: from the shaky glamour of Irish high society to the cold heart of two broken families, Detective Inspector Elliot Ryan must work against hidden forces to solve a murder where nothing is quite as it seems.

Chaired by Paul McNeive, motivational speaker and author of Poison Sky

 

On the Case: Steve Cavanagh in conversation with Breda Brown

The Sandman killings have been solved. Daniel Miller murdered fourteen people before he vanished. His wife, Carrie, now faces trial as his accomplice. But Eddie Flynn won’t take a case unless his client is innocent. Steve Cavanagh was born in Belfast, and for twenty years he practiced civil rights law. All of his novels have been nominated for major awards and many are international bestsellers. Steve Cavanagh is author uniquely positioned to bring us into the tension of the court room – Breda Brown gets to the heart of Steve’s brilliant new novel The Accomplice.

Breda Brown is a keen book reviewer, Chair of the Irish Writers Centre board and the voice behind the Inside Books podcast.

Your Worst Nightmare: Brian McGilloway, Claire Allan & Louise Phillips talk to Sam Blake

Brian McGilloway’s The Empty Room, Claire Allan’s The Nurse and Louise Phillips They All Lied, share a common theme in a daughter going missing, but the hunt for the truth is handled it in very different ways – each one as gripping as the next. Sam Blake steps inside a mother’s worst nightmare to find out what drives and inspires these three very different authors.

Sam Blake is the No 1 bestselling author of Remember My Name and founder of Murder One.

Grounds for Murder: Ann Cleeves in conversation with Breda Brown

Award-winning crime writer, Ann Cleeves, OBE, is the author of more than thirty-five critically- acclaimed novels.  In 2017, she was awarded the highest accolade in crime writing, the CWA Diamond Dagger.  She is the creator of popular TV detectives Vera Stanhope, Jimmy Perez and Matthew Venn.  The books and the TV series they are based on — Vera, Shetland and The Long Call –have captured the imagination of millions worldwide.

Breda Brown is a keen book reviewer, Chair of the Irish Writers Centre board and the voice behind the Inside Books podcast

Live Events: SUNDAY

A Criminal Past: Vaseem Khan, Sinéad Crowley, WC Ryan with Henrietta McKervey

From 1950’s Bombay in Vaseem Khan’s award winning Malabar House series, to 1920’s Ireland in WC Ryan’s The Winter Guest via Sinéad Crowley’s dual timeline thriller The Belladonna Maze, readers are fascinated by the sins of the past. But how do writers’ achieve that total immersion and bring all the elements of great story together with the rich colour of times long ago? Henrietta McKervey digs deep to uncover the answers from three bestselling authors.

Henrietta McKervey is the award winning writer of A Talented Man, and the programmer of Echoes, Ireland’s only literary festival with Maeve Binchy at its heart.

Inside The Family Remains: Lisa Jewell in conversation with Sam Blake

As Lisa Jewell’s 20th bestseller The Family Remains hit the shelves earlier this year, her process was laid bare in The Truth About Lisa Jewell written by Professor of Cultural History, Will Brooker.  Lisa discusses the secrets of her continued success and evolution as a writer, how The Family Remains developed, and what it’s really like to have a book written about you. In conversation with Sam Blake.

Sam Blake is the No 1 bestselling author of Remember My Name and founder of Murder One.

 

The Scales of Justice: Nadine Matheson, Edel Coffey and Catherine Kirwan with Andrea Carter

Ex criminal defence barrister Nadine Matheson’s bestselling debut The Jigsaw Man brought DI Angelica Henley to readers with a gruesome tale of found body parts, Edel Coffey’s Irish Times No 1 centres on a courtroom and the question of guilt, and solicitor Catherine Kirwan takes us inside Finn Fitzpatrick’s own legal office in a gripping tale of Cruel Deeds.  In conversation with Andrea Carter, this panel will dig deep into the universal fascination with crime and the law.

Andea Carter studied law at Trinity College Dublin, and worked as a barrister before turning to write crime novels. She is the author of the Inishowen Mysteries, which will shortly be adapted for television.

Inside Slough House: Mick Herron in conversation with Declan Hughes

How many converts to the spy thrillers of Mick Herron the Apple TV series of Slow Horses may have added is impossible to say.  What’s certain is that the Slough House series already had a massive cult following among crime writing aficionados.  His latest novel, Bad Actors, is the eighth in the series.  Discover what makes the successor to John Le Carre tick when he talks to critic and uber-fan, Declan Hughes.

 

Crime in the City!

Our last event for 2022 followed on from 2021’s successful crime event,  gathering of some of the sharpest literary criminal minds from UNESCO Cities of Literature around the world.

This time, inspired by cities of literature Québec, Edinburgh and Kuhmo in Finland, we were joined by Roxanne Bouchard, Abir Mukherjee and Antti Tuomainen in conversation with Sinéad Crowley, as they discussed how their home cities have influenced and shaped their writing, how crime fiction crosses geographical divides and what prompted them to start a life in crime

Roxanne Bouchard

Roxanne Bouchard is one of French Canada’s most prestigious authors and playwrights. Her Detective Morales series has been shortlisted for the CWA Crime in Translation Dagger and won the Crime Writers of Canada Award for Best French Crime Book, and a number-one bestseller in her native Canada. Her writing has been widely compared to Annie Proulx and Louise Penny. Whisper of the Seals, book three in the series, was published by Orenda Books in August. She lives in Quebec with her partner.

Abir Mukherjee

Abir Mukherjee is the Times bestselling author of the Wyndham & Banerjee series of crime novels set in Raj-era India which have sold over 400,000 copies worldwide and been translated into 15 languages. His books have won numerous awards including the CWA Dagger for best Historical Novel, the Prix du Polar Européen, the Wilbur Smith Award for Adventure Writing and the Amazon Publishing Readers Award for E-book for the Year.

Alongside fellow author, Vaseem Khan, he also hosts the popular Red Hot Chilli Writers podcast, where every fortnight, joined by special guests from the media and literature, he takes a wry look at the world of books, writing, and the creative arts, tackling everything from bestsellers to pop culture.

Antti Tuomainen

Antti Tuomainen has been dubbed ‘the funniest writer in Europe’ by The Times, and he was one of the first to challenge the Scandinavian crime-fiction formula, with his poignant, dark and hilarious The Man Who Died, which has since become an international bestseller and a mini series. His books have won or been shortlisted for the Glass Key Award, the Petrona Award, the CWA Crime Fiction in Translation Dagger and the Last Laugh Award. The Rabbit Factor, the first in Antti’s first ever series, was a number-one bestseller and is now in production for a major motion picture, starring Steve Carell. Book two in the series, The Moose Paradox, was published in October by Orenda Books.  He lives in Finland with his wife.

Sinead Crowley

Journalist by day, author by night (and sometimes early mornings too), Sinéad Crowley is currently arts and media correspondent with RTE News in Dublin, covering all aspects of the arts and media on radio, TV and online. She is also an author. Her books include the bestselling DS Claire Boyle crime series while her most recent novel, The Belladonna Maze is described as a spooky dual timeline mystery set in the west of Ireland. The Belladonna Maze was published by Head of Zeus in May and spent three weeks in the Irish Times bestsellers charts. Sinéad is currently working on another novel, set in the 1920s and today.

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Murder One 2021 The Talent

We have a fabulous line up of authors and editors for you this year – scroll down to find out more about them and their books (alphabetial order)

Following a lifelong love for everything British, over twenty-three years ago Stefanie Bierwerth moved  from Germany to London. During her final year at university she became the ‘press cuttings girl’ at Pan Macmillan, a role which taught her everything about photocopiers, publishing parties (which still existed at the time) and the kind of things that make an editor tick. She ended up staying for ten years at Macmillan, where she started building her own list with a strong focus on crime and thriller fiction, including the launch of the bestselling Roy Grace series by Peter James.

In 2009 Stefanie moved to Penguin as Editorial Director for crime &thrillers at Michael Joseph where she worked with authors like P. D. James and Tim Weaver. Stefanie has been with Quercus since late 2013 and her current suspense list includes JP Delaney, Jo Spain, Romy Hausmann, Olivia Kiernan and Lucy Atkins. Most of Stefanie’s books tend to have a darker edge. She’s always on the hunt for novels with unique characters, a twist that she didn’t see coming and new international writers that haven’t yet been discovered in the UK. Follow Stefanie on Twitter @stef_bier

 

Sam Blake has been writing fiction since her husband set sail across the Atlantic for eight weeks and she had an idea for a book. Her debut novel Little Bones (Bonnier 2016) was a runaway bestseller, staying at No 1 in Ireland for four weeks, and remaining in the top 10 for another four. Little Bones was nominated for Irish Crime Novel of the Year and launched the bestselling Cat Connolly trilogy.

Sam loves strong female characters, and after the Cat series, began writing psychological thrillers for Corvus Books. Keep Your Eyes On Me went straight to No 1 in January 2020 and The Dark Room was an Eason Ireland No 1 for three weeks in January 2021. A spiderweb thriller that links the Cat Connolly trilogy with Sam’s standalones, High Pressure, was released as a worldwide digital exclusive in September 2021 and her next standalone Remember My Name is out in January 2022. She is the founder of the Murder One festival and of Writing.ie

Sam is originally from St. Albans in Hertfordshire but has lived at the foot of the Wicklow mountains for more years that she lived in the UK. She has two teenagers, three cats and lives in a 200-year-old cottage with an occasional poltergeist who moves things at the most inconvenient moments.

Follow Sam on all social @samblakebooks Visit www.samblakebooks.com for news and events and get a bonus free short story in audio & text when you subscribe to her newsletter.

 

Declan Burke is an award-winning author and editor. His novel Absolute Zero Cool won the Goldsboro Award in 2012. Books to Die For (2013), co-edited with John Connolly, won the Anthony Award for Best Non-Fiction Crime. The Lammisters, a comic novel, is published by No Alibis Press.

Find out more and follow Declan’s Crime Always Pays blog here.

 

 

 

Crime is a family affair for Jane Casey. Married to a criminal barrister, she has a unique insight into the brutal underbelly of urban life, from the smell of a police cell to the darkest motives of a serial killer. This gritty realism has made her books international bestsellers and critical successes; while Detective Constable Maeve Kerrigan has quickly become one of the most popular characters in crime fiction.

Winner of the Mary Higgins Clark Award for The Stranger You Know, Jane has been shortlisted four times for the Irish Crime Novel of the Year Award and longlisted for the CWA Dagger in the Library Award. She is a top ten Sunday Times bestselling author. Her No 1 bestseller, standalone thriller The Killing Kind is out now. Follow Jane on Facebook here and on Twitter @JaneCaseyAuthor

 

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 her memoir, 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.

 

 

 

Professor Jim Fraser is a forensic investigator who has been involved in hundreds of murder investigations as an expert witness and cold case reviewer. He has given evidence many times as an expert witness. A Research Professor in Forensic Science at the University of Strathclyde and a Commissioner on the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission, he has advised many public agencies including police organisations in the UK and abroad, the Home Office, the Scottish Parliament and the UK Parliament. He is the author of Murder under the Microscope. Find out more at http://www.jimfraser.net

 

 

Sophie Hannah is a Sunday Times and New York Times bestselling writer of crime fiction, published in 49 languages and 51 countries. Her books have sold millions of copies worldwide. In 2014, with the blessing of Agatha Christie’s family and estate, Sophie published a new Poirot novel, The Monogram Murders, which was a bestseller in more than fifteen countries. She has since published three more nationally and internationally bestselling Poirot novels: Closed Casket, The Mystery of Three Quarters and The Killings at Kingfisher Hill.

In 2013, Sophie’s novel The Carrier won the Crime Thriller of the Year Award at the Specsavers National Book Awards.  She has also published two short story collections and five collections of poetry – the fifth of which, Pessimism for Beginners, was shortlisted for the T S Eliot Award. Her poetry is studied at GCSE, A Level and degree level across the UK. Most recently, she has published a self-help book called How to Hold a Grudge: From Resentment to Contentment – The Power of Grudges to Transform Your Life and launched the How To Hold a Grudge Podcast. Sophie is co-creator and course director of the University of Cambridge’s new  Masters programme in Crime and Thriller Writing, and founder and CEO of the DREAM AUTHOR coaching programme for writers. She lives with her husband, children and dog in Cambridge, where she is an Honorary Fellow of Lucy Cavendish College.

 

Joanne Harris is an Anglo-French writer, whose books include fourteen novels, two cookbooks and many short stories. Her work is extremely diverse, covering aspects of magic realism, suspense, historical fiction, mythology and fantasy. In 2000, her 1999 novel CHOCOLAT was adapted to the screen, starring Juliette Binoche and Johnny Depp.
CHOCOLAT has sold over a million copies in the UK alone and was a global bestseller. She is an Honorary Fellow of St Catherine’s College, Cambridge, and in 2013 was awarded an MBE by the Queen.

Joanne is a judge for the Whitbread Prize, the Orange Prize, the Desmond Elliott Prize, the Betty Trask Award, the Prima Donna Prize and the Royal Society Winton Prize for Science, as well as for the Fragrance Foundation awards for perfume and perfume journalism (for which she also received an award in 2017).

She is a passionate advocate for authors’ rights, and is currently the Chair of the Society of Authors (SOA), and member of the Board of the Authors’ Licensing and Collecting Society (ALCS). Find out more here, and follow Joanne on Twitter @Joannechocolat

 

Sarah Hodgson is the Publishing Director of Corvus, the commercial fiction imprint of independent publisher Atlantic. She has over twenty years’ experience as an editor, previously with Harper Collins, and has worked with many bestselling authors, including Stuart MacBride, Elizabeth Buchan, Catherine Ryan Howard, Eithne Shortall and Sam Blake. Follow Sarah on Twitter @SarahHeditor

 

 

 

Femi Kayode has spent the last two decades in advertising. In fits and starts. In between, he was a Packard Gates Fellow in Film at the University of Southern California and a Gates Fellow in International Health at the University of Washington. He also managed to build an impressive resume on prime-time television by creating, writing and developing several award-winning TV dramas.

He recently completed an MA in Crime Fiction at the University of East Anglia, where his novel Lightseekers won the Little, Brown / UEA Crime Fiction Award. Lightseekers is his first novel and the beginning of a series of books based on the investigations of Dr Philip K. Talwo. He lives in Namibia with his wife, two sons and two overly friendly dogs. Follow Femi on Twitter @FemiKay_Author

 

Awais Khan is a graduate of the University of Western Ontario and Durham University, and studied creative writing with Faber Academy. His debut novel, In the Company of Strangers, was published to much critical acclaim, and he now regularly appears on TV and radio. Awais also teaches a popular online creative writing course to aspiring writers around the world. He lives in Lahore and is currently working on his third novel. Follow Awais on Twitter @AwaisKhanAuthor

 

Vaseem Khan is the author of two crime series set in India, the Baby Ganesh Agency series set in modern Mumbai, and the Malabar House historical crime novels set in 1950s Bombay. His first book, The Unexpected Inheritance of Inspector Chopra, was a Times bestseller, now translated into 15 languages. The second in the series won the Shamus Award in the US. In 2018, he was awarded the Eastern Eye Arts, Culture and Theatre Award for Literature. Vaseem was born in England, but spent a decade working in India. In 2021, Midnight at Malabar House won the Crime Writers Association Historical Dagger. His latest book is The Dying Day about the theft of one of the world’s great treasures, a 600-year-old copy of Dante’s The Divine Comedy, stored at Bombay’s Asiatic Society. Find out more at https://vaseemkhan.com/

 

Olivia Kiernan is an Irish writer of crime thrillers and suspense fiction. Kiernan’s fourth novel, The Murder Box, was released in 2021 and sees Detective Frankie Sheehan receive a murder mystery game only to discover that the fictional victim at the game’s centre bears a striking resemblance to a missing woman. On release, the Irish Independent said of The Murder Box: “A clever, original story is augmented by Kiernan’s masterful writing, credible characters, and a smashing finale”. The Daily Mail said, “The plot crackles from first page to last, and the tension never lifts until the darkest of twists brings it to a superb conclusion.” Olivia grew up just outside the town of Kells in County Meath, Ireland and currently lives in Oxford with her partner and daughter. Find out more at https://oliviakiernan.com/

 

Andrea Mara is an Irish Times Top Ten bestselling author, who has been shortlisted for a number of awards, including Irish Crime Novel of the Year at the An Post Book Awards. Her most recent novel, All Her Fault, was Sunday Times Crime Book of the Month, and a Kindle Top 5 bestseller.

She lives in Dublin, Ireland, with her husband and three young children, and also runs multi-award-winning parent and lifestyle blog, OfficeMum.ie.

 

 

Val McDermid’s novels have been translated into forty languages, and have sold over seventeen million copies. A remarkably versatile writer, as well as novels, Val has written radio plays, short stories, non-fiction and even a children’s book and has won many awards internationally, including the CWA Gold Dagger for best crime novel of the year and the LA Times Book of the Year Award. She was inducted into the ITV3 Crime Thriller Awards Hall of Fame in 2009, was the recipient of the CWA Cartier Diamond Dagger in 2010 and received the Lambda Literary Foundation Pioneer Award in 2011. In 2016, Val received the Outstanding Contribution to Crime Fiction Award at the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival and in 2017 received the DIVA Literary Prize for Crime. Find out more here https://www.valmcdermid.com/

 

Nadine Matheson has always been passionate about writing and storytelling. She was born and lives in London and is a Criminal Solicitor. In 2016, she won the City University Crime Writing Competition and completed the Creative Writing (Crime/Thriller Novels) MA at City University of London with Distinction in 2018.

Her crime novel, The Jigsaw Man is out now. Find out more at https://www.nadinematheson.com/

 

 

Before becoming a full-time writer, Liz Nugent worked in Irish film, theatre and television. Her novels – Unravelling Oliver, Lying in Wait and Skin Deep and Our Little Cruelties have been Number One bestsellers in Ireland and she has won four Irish Book Awards (two for Skin Deep). She lives in Dublin with her husband.

Find out more at http://www.liznugent.ie/

 

 

 

 

Adele Parks was born in North Yorkshire. Selling over 4 million books in the UK and translated into 31 languages, she is the author of twenty bestselling novels including the recent Sunday Times Number One hits Lies Lies Lies and Just My Luck. Both optioned for development for TV in conjunction with Netflix producers. She’s an ambassador for The National Literacy Trust and a judge for the Costa. Adele has lived in Botswana, Italy and London, and is now settled in Guildford, Surrey, with her husband, son and cat. Both of You is Adele’s 21st book in 21 years.

Find out more at https://www.adeleparks.com/

 

 

William Ryan is the author of six novels, including the Captain Korolev series set in 1930s Moscow and The Constant Soldier. They have been shortlisted for numerous awards, including the Irish Fiction Award, the Theakstons Crime Novel of the Year and the Crime Writer Association’s Steel, Historical and New Blood Daggers. A House of Ghosts (2018), set in 1917, was described as ‘an atmospheric, hugely entertaining mystery that offers all the pleasures of a classic ghost story – with an appealing dash of romance’. His next novel, The Winter Guest is set in the Irish War of Independence and will be published in January 2021.

William is also the author, with Matthew Hall, of Writing Crime Fiction for Guardian Masterclasses (2015) and Writers & Artists Guide to How to Write: How to plan, structure and write your novel (2021). He has taught creative writing at the University of East Anglia and City, University of London as well as regular courses for Writers & Artists and  The Irish Writers Centre. Find out more at https://www.william-ryan.com/

 

Icelandic crime-writer Lilja Sigurðardóttir was born in the town of Akranes in 1972 and raised in Mexico, Sweden, Spain and Iceland. An award-winning playwright, Lilja has written four crime novels, with Snare, her English debut shortlisting for the CWA International Dagger and hitting bestseller lists worldwide. Trap soon followed suit, with the third in the trilogy Cage winning the Best Icelandic Crime Novel of the Year, and was a Guardian Book of the Year. Lilja’s standalone Betrayal, was shortlisted for the Glass Key Award for Best Nordic Crime Novel. The film rights have been bought by Palomar Pictures in California. Lilja is also an award-winning screenwriter in her native Iceland. She lives in Reykjavík with her partner. Find out more at http://www.liljawriter.com/

 

Vanda Symon is a crime writer, TV presenter and radio host from Dunedin, New Zealand, and the chair of the Otago Southland branch of the New Zealand Society of Authors. The Sam Shephard series has climbed to number one on the New Zealand bestseller list, and has also been shortlisted for the Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Crime Novel and for the CWA John Creasey (New Blood) Dagger. She currently lives in Dunedin, with her husband and two sons.

Find out more at http://vandasymon.com/

 

Murder One Main Space Events 2019

Friday 1st November

The Gutter Bookshop 10th Birthday Celebrations @ The Gutter Bookshop

Join Bob Johnston and the Murder One team to celebrate Bob’s 10 years in Temple Bar – an informal evening of chat with some criminally good speeches – rub shoulders with your writer friends and colleagues to celebrate with one of
Dublin’s landmark independent bookshops!

The Gutter Bookshop  

Friday 1 November, 6.30pm | Free entry
Booking essential

Book now


Saturday 2nd November

Things that Go Bump in the Night: CJ Tudor & Stuart Turton in conversation with Sinéad Crowley

If you loved The Chalk Man and The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle, this is the event for you.
Taking crime fiction in new directions, two incredible authors discuss inspiration, outstanding debuts and spine tingling goings on with bestselling crime author, RTE’s Sinéad Crowley. C.J. Tudor’s debut novel, The Chalk Man, was published by Penguin in January 2018 and was a Sunday Times Bestseller. Her second novel, The Taking of Annie Thorne, was published in February 2019. Stuart Turton’s The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle won the Books Are My
Bag Readers Award for Best Novel and the Costa First Novel Award 2018.

Smock Alley Main Space
Saturday 2 November
11.00am -12.00 pm | €12/€10

Book now


Destination Murder: Alex Barclay and Lucy Foley with WC Ryan

From a luxury inn on a remote west coast peninsula in Ireland, to a Scottish hunting lodge, these dark stories are told by two of crimes leading female voices. Chaired by WC Ryan, author of House of Ghosts, a man who knows a thing or two about dangerous, lonely places. Lucy Foley’s departure to the dark side is her fourth bestseller, and Alex Barclay, the first lady of Irish crime, brings us her first Irish set standalone in a gripping event that will keep you on the edge of your seat.

Smock Alley Main Space
Saturday 2 November
12.30pm-1.30pm | €12/€10

Book now


Untold Stories: The Five. Hallie Rubenhold with Joseph O’Connor

Polly, Annie, Elizabeth, Catherine and Mary-Jane are famous for the same thing, though they never met. They came from Fleet Street, Knightsbridge, Wolverhampton, Sweden and Wales. They wrote ballads, ran coffee houses, lived on country estates, they breathed ink-dust from printing presses and escaped people-traffickers. What they had in common was the year of their murders – 1888 – and their murderer, the man known as Jack the Ripper. Historian Hallie Rubenhold talks to Joseph O’Connor and sets the record straight, giving these women back their stories. Set just ten years previously, in his latest novel Shadowplay, O’Connor reveals the hidden stories of Bram Stoker’s life. Enter the dark world of Victorian London with two eminent authors.

Smock Alley Main Space
Saturday 2 November
2.00pm-3.00pm | €12/€10

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Sam Blake’s Fresh Blood Meet three stunning debut authors: Holly Jackson, Catherine Kirwan and James Delargy

Three completely different stories, three completely different books but one passion. Find out how these authors got their break and what made the difference for them. How did they get their ideas and how long did it take to go from idea to bookshelf? From ingenious premise, to writing what you know, do good girls really get away with murder?

Smock Alley Main Space
Saturday 2 November                                                                                3.30pm-4.30pm | €12/€10

Book now


Past Crimes: Jess Kidd, Henrietta McKervey and Paddy Hirsch with Declan Burke

From Things in Jars to Violet Hill, London’s only female detective, via Hudson’s Kill and the Irish
gangs of New York, three novelists use the past as a backdrop to their page-turning adventures of deception, danger – and detection. Declan Burke, previously Dublin City of Literature’s Writer in Residence is an award winning author whose latest book is due soon from No Alibi’s Press.

Smock Alley Main Space
Saturday 2 November
5.00pm-6.00pm | €12/€10

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Martina Cole in conversation with Breda Brown

Martina Cole’s first novel Dangerous Lady caused a sensation when it was published, and launched one of the bestselling fiction writers of her generation. Twenty-seven years later, Martina has gone on to have more No.1 original  fiction bestsellers than any other author. She won the British Book Award for Crime Thriller of the Year with The Take , which then went on to be a hit TV series for Sky 1.  Her new novel No Mercy was published by Headline in October.

Smock Alley Main Space
Saturday 2 November
7.00pm-8.00pm | €12/€10

Book now


Sunday 3rd November

All About Agatha: John Curran and Andrew Wilson with Anna Carey

John Curran is one of the world’s leading experts on Agatha Christie and author of Agatha Christie’s Complete Secret Notebooks; Andrew Wilson brings her to life as the protagonist in his fiendishly plotted 1920’s mysteries – as AJ Finn put it, ‘Andrew Wilson’s Christie novels do Dame Agatha proud’. The latest, Death in a Desert Land takes Christie to 1928 Baghdad. Journalist and author Anna Carey discusses the living legend that is Agatha Christie, one of the world’s greatest crime writers with two authors whose lives she has influenced.

Smock Alley Main Space
Sunday 3 November
11.00am-12.00pm | €12/€10

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Steve Cavanagh in Conversation with Andrea Carter

Multi award winning author of the phenomenal international bestseller Thirteen, Steve Cavanagh is back this year with Twisted. Barrister turned bestselling crime writer Andrea Carter discusses life, the law and stunning plot twists with one of Ireland’s most brilliant writers.

Smock Alley Main Space
Sunday 3 November
12.30pm-1.30pm | €12/€10

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Watching the Detectives: John Banville, Jane Casey and Roz Watkins with Brian Cliff

Creating brilliant detectives is never easy, especially when so many great writers have left their mark on history. Mutli award winning authors John Banville (Benjamin Black), Jane Casey and Roz Watkins reveal who their fictional favourites are and why, and how they make their own characters stand out.  Brian Cliff is an Assistant Professor of English at Trinity College, Dublin. His most recent book is Irish Crime Fiction (2018), and he has published essays on authors including Emma Donoghue, John Connolly, Tana French, Paul Muldoon, and Deirdre Madden.

Smock Alley Main Space
Sunday 3 November
2.00pm-3.00pm | €12/€10

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Staring Death in the Eye: Unnatural Causes, Pathologist Dr Richard Shepherd in conversation with Paul Carson

As the UK’s leading forensic pathologist, Dr Richard Shepherd has faced serial killers, natural disaster, ‘perfect murders’ and freak accidents, all in the pursuit of the truth. And while he’s been involved in some of the most high-profile cases of recent times, it’s often the less well-known encounters that prove the most perplexing, intriguing and even bizarre. In or out of the public eye, his evidence has put killers behind bars, freed the innocent and turned open-and-shut cases on their heads. In his bestselling memoir, Richard Shepherd gives a unique
insight into a remarkable profession, and above all a powerful and reassuring testament to lives cut short.

In conversation with international bestselling crime writer Dr Paul Carson, Shepherd will take you into his world where he stares death in the eye.

Smock Alley Main Space
Sunday 3 November
3.30pm-4.30pm | €12/€10

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The Killer Pitch with Literary Agent Simon Trewin

Sam Blake chats to Simon Trewin about what catches an agent’s eye, famous hits and misses
and his top ten tips for writing a killer pitch. Giving examples of pitches that worked, find out how to make your book irresistible to a literary agent.

Smock Alley Main Space
Sunday 3 November
5.00pm-6.00pm | €12/€10

Book now

 


CrimeHawks: Three Must-Reads Before You Die

Rick O’Shea quizzes bestselling authors Catherine Ryan Howard, Louise Phillips and Liz Nugent on the three books they each recommend as lifetime must reads, bring your notebooks!

Smock Alley Main Space
Sunday 3 November
6.30pm-7.30pm | €12/€10


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Murder One 2018: The Talent

 

MURDER ONE is a unique literary festival weekend: a fun, action packed weekend for lovers of crime and mystery in all its guises.

This is the list of the incredible authors who appeared at Murder One in 2018, our 2019 festival will be just as strong. Click here to join our mailing list to get up to date news and find out more!

The Authors (in alphabetical order)

Claire Allan is a former journalist from Derry in Northern Ireland. She has previously published eight women’s fiction novels, before switching genre. Her Name Was Rose, her debut psychological thriller was published in June 2018 by Avon, and became an instant bestseller. Her second thriller Apple of My Eye will be published in January.

Mark Billingham is one of the UK’s most acclaimed and popular crime writers. A former actor, television writer and stand-up comedian, his series of novels featuring D.I. Tom Thorne has twice won him the Crime Novel Of The Year Award as well as the Sherlock Award for Best British Detective and been nominated for seven CWA Daggers. His standalone thriller IN THE DARK was chosen as one of the twelve best books of the year by the Times and his debut novel, SLEEPYHEAD was chosen by the Sunday Times as one of the 100 books that had shaped the decade. Each of his novels has been a Sunday Times Top Ten bestseller.

A television series based on the Thorne novels was screened in Autumn 2010, starring David Morrissey as Tom Thorne and series based on the standalone thrillers IN THE DARK and RUSH OF BLOOD are currently in development with the BBC.

Professor Dame Sue Black is one of the world’s leading anatomists and forensic anthropologists. Her expertise has been crucial to many high-profile criminal cases, and in 1999 she was the lead anthropologist for the British Forensic Team’s work in the war crimes investigations in Kosovo. She was one of the first forensic scientists to travel to Thailand following the Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004 to provide assistance in identifying the dead. Sue is a familiar face in the media where documentaries have been filmed about her work and she led the highly successful BBC 2 series – History Cold Case. In 2015 she moved many to tears with her stories on Desert Island Discs and more recently she stunned over 300,000 Outlander followers when she announced that Lord Lovat, Simon Fraser, was not residing in a coffin built for him at the Wardlaw Mausoleum.
Sue was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 2016 Queen’s Birthday Honours for services to forensic anthropology.

Sam Blake is a pseudonym for Vanessa Fox O’Loughlin, the founder of The Inkwell Group publishing consultancy , the national writing resources website Writing.ie, and the Murder One festival. She is Ireland’s leading literary scout. Vanessa has been writing fiction since her husband set sail across the Atlantic for eight weeks and she had an idea for a book.

Her debut novel Little Bones went straight into No 1 and stayed there for four weeks, spending another four weeks in the top 10, and was shortlisted for Irish Crime Novel of the Year. It was followed by bestsellers In Deep Water and No Turning Back. Find out more at www.samblakebooks.com or follow her on Twitter @samblakebooks

 

Siobháin Bunni  was born in Baghdad in 1968 to her Irish mother and Iraqi father. Juggling her writing with raising three children while managing a full time career is the constant challenge that keeps her alive and on her toes. Siobháin lives in Malahide, Co. Dublin with her three children and a very cheeky Golden Retriever called Milo.

 

Declan Burke Declan Burke is the author of Eightball Boogie (2003), The Big O (2007), Absolute Zero Cool (2011), Slaughter’s Hound (2012), Crime Always Pays (2014) and The Lost and the Blind (2014). Absolute Zero Cool was shortlisted in the crime fiction section for the Irish Book Awards, and received the Goldsboro Award for Best Humorous Crime Novel in 2012. Slaughter’s Hound was shortlisted in the Crime Fiction category for the 2012 Irish Book Awards. Declan is also the editor of Down These Green Streets: Irish Crime Writing in the 21st Century (2011) and Trouble is Our Business (2016), and the co-editor, with John Connolly, of Books to Die For (2013). He blogs at Crime Always Pays.

Declan works as a freelance arts journalist, now contributing to the Irish Times, the Irish Examiner and RTE’s arts programme Arena. Declan is the Dublin UNESCO City of Literature Writer in Residence, alongside Elizabeth Reapy

Andrea Carter studied law at Trinity College Dublin, then moved to the Inishowen peninsula in Co. Donegal where she ran the most northerly solicitors’ practice in the country. After ten years, she moved to Dublin to work as a barrister before turning to write crime novels, the most recent of which is Murder at Greysbridge. Her books are published by Little, Brown in the UK, Goldmann Verlag in Germany, Oceanview in the US and will be adapted for television next summer.

Jane Casey is the author of the award-winning, best-selling Maeve Kerrigan series. Married to a criminal barrister, she has a unique insight into the brutal underbelly of urban life. Winner of the Mary Higgins Clark Award for The Stranger You Know, Jane has been shortlisted four times for the Irish Crime Novel of the Year Award and longlisted for the CWA Dagger in the Library Award. The eighth Maeve Kerrigan novel, Cruel Acts, will be published by HarperCollins in April 2019.

Nicola Cassidy is a Drogheda based author and blogger. She worked as a journalist, political press officer and marketing manager, before turning her hand to novel writing. Her debut novel December Girl, an historical fiction novel set in the Boyne Valley, was published by Bombshell Books in 2017 and became a number one Amazon best seller in 2018.

Michael Connelly is the bestselling author of twenty-eight novels and one work of nonfiction. With over sixty million copies of his books sold worldwide and translated into thirty-nine foreign languages, he is one of the most successful writers working today. A former newspaper reporter who worked the crime beat at the Los Angeles Times and the Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel, Connelly has won numerous awards for his journalism and his fiction. His very first novel, The Black Echo, won the prestigious Mystery Writers of America Edgar Award for Best First Novel in 1992. In 2002, Clint Eastwood directed and starred in the movie adaptation of Connelly’s 1998 novel, Blood Work. In March 2011, the movie adaptation of his #1 bestselling novel, The Lincoln Lawyer, hit cinemas worldwide starring Matthew McConaughey as Mickey Haller. His most recent #1 New York Times bestsellers include The Wrong Side Of Goodbye, The Crossing, The Burning Room, The Gods of Guilt, The Black Box, and The Drop. Michael is the executive producer of BOSCH, an Amazon Studios original drama series based on his bestselling character. He spends his time in California and Florida. Dark Sacred Night is out now.

Aidan Conway was born in Birmingham and has lived in Italy since 2001. He has been a barman, a bookseller, and a teacher, translator and editor for the UNFAO. He is currently an assistant university lecturer in Rome where he lives with his family. A Cold Flame is the second novel in his DI Michael Rossi series.

Robert Craven lives in Rush, County Dublin. After a journeyman period of switching and working with small and Indie presses, he re-released all the novels on Kobo and Amazon platforms: Get Lenin, Zinnman, A Finger of Night, and Hollow Point. Eagles Hunt Wolves is due January 2019. He’s also written a Steampunk novella, The Mandarin Cipher, and has two horror stories published in anthologies: A Communion of Blood  in ‘Broken Mirrors Fractured Minds’ (Vamptasy Press) and ‘Vodou’ in Red Rattle Book’s ‘Zombie Bites’. Follow him @cravenrobert

Sinéad Crowley is a journalist by day, crime writer by night. Arts and media correspondent with RTE News, she is the author of the DS Claire Boyle series, crime fiction set in Ireland. All three books in the series, Can Anybody Help Me, Are You Watching Me? and One Bad Turn were shortlisted for Crime Book of the Year awards at the BGE Irish book awards. Sinéad was also a contributor to ‘Trouble is our Business’, a collection of new Irish crime writing published by New Island in 2016 and is currently working on her fourth, stand-alone novel.

Sharon Dempsey’s crime debut Little Bird was released July 2017 with Bloodhound Books. She tutors at Queen’s University and Stranmillis College and has published three health books. She also writes contemporary women’s fiction. Sharon is working on the follow up to Little Bird and a collection of dark short stories.

Shane Dunphy (also writing as S.A. Dunphy) is the million-selling author of twelve books. His series of non-fiction titles, relating the years he spent as a child protection worker, have been sold in translation across several territories, while his series of crime novels featuring the emotionally scarred criminologist, David Dunnigan, have been widely acclaimed.

Tanya Farrelly is the author of three books: a short fiction collection When Black Dogs Sing (Kate O’ Brien Award 2017), and two psychological thrillers: The Girl Behind the Lens and When Your Eyes Close. She holds a PhD in Creative and Critical Writing from Bangor University, Wales, and teaches at the Irish Writers Centre, Dublin.

Derek Flynn is a writer and musician with a Masters in Creative Writing from Trinity College, Dublin. The author of two crime/thriller novels – Broken Falls and The Dead Girls – he was also featured in Surge, an anthology of new Irish writing published by O’ Brien Press. He is a regular contributor to “Writing.ie”.

Patricia Gibney’s debut novel, The Missing Ones, was published by London based digital publisher, Bookouture, in March 2017 and since then three further books in the Detective Lottie Parker series have been published, achieving over one million sales in just fourteen months. Her books, already in audio format, are now being published in paperback by Little Brown UK. Foreign translations have sold to Norway, Italy, France, Poland, Hungary, Spain, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Turkey, Taiwan and China. Tell Nobody is the latest in the series and out in digital now. Patricia lives in Mullingar.

Robert Goddard was born in Hampshire and read History at Cambridge. His first novel,Past Caring, was an instant bestseller. Since then his books have captivated readers worldwide with their edge-of-the-seat pace and their labyrinthine plotting. The first Harry Barnett novel, Into the Blue, was winner of the first WHSmith Thumping Good Read Award and was dramatized for TV, starring John Thaw. His thriller, Long Time Coming won an Edgar in the Mystery Writers of America awards. Robert’s most recent books feature hero James ‘Max’ Maxted.

Mick Herron’s first Jackson Lamb novel, Slow Horses, was described as the ‘most enjoyable British spy novel in years’ by the Mail on Sunday and picked as one of the best twenty spy novels of all time’ by the Daily Telegraph. The second, Dead Lions, won the 2013 CWA Goldsboro Gold Dagger. The third, Real Tigers, was shortlisted for the Theakston’s Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year, and both the CWA Goldsboro Gold Dagger and the CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger. The fourth, Spook Street, was shortlisted for the Gold Dagger and won the Steel Dagger. London Rules is the fifth. Mick Herron was born in Newcastle upon Tyne, and now lives in Oxford.

Maria Hoey’s short story, Reading Brother Boniface, was shortlisted for the Michael McLaverty Short Story Award. Her debut novel, The Last Lost Girl, was published in July 2016 and has gone on to be shortlisted for the Kate O’Brien Debut Award 2018 and the Annie McHale Debut Award 2018. Her second novel, On Bone Bridge, was published in July. Maria lives in Portmarnock.

Cat Hogan is an Irish Times Best seller and BGE Irish Book Awards nominated author who lives by the sea in Co.Wexford with her partner and two sons. When she’s not writing crime fiction, she lectures in Adult Education and Literacy. Cat is represented by Curtis Brown and a panellist with Co. Wexford Arts department.

Declan Hughes co-founded Dublin’s Rough Magic Theatre Company; his first novel, The Wrong Kind of Blood won the Shamus Award for Best First PI novel and the Le Point magazine prize for best European crime novel. Subsequent novels include The Colour of Blood; The Dying Breed; All The Dead Voices and City of Lost Girls. His books have been nominated for the Edgar, Macavity, Theakstons, CWA New Blood Dagger and Irish Book awards. His latest novel is All The Things You Are. Declan lives in Dublin.

Arlene Hunt is an author of ten novels and co-founder of Portnoy Publishing. She is currently working on a new series, the first to be published early 2019. Her last novel was released in May 2018, entitled The Last Goodbye. She lives in Dublin with her husband and can usually be found half way up a mountain with two German Shepherds.

Peter James is an international bestselling thriller writer. He is a New York Times bestseller, as well as having 11 consecutive Sunday Times No 1s, and he is published in 37 languages. His DS Roy Grace crime novels have sold 18 million copies worldwide. Prior to becoming a full-time author, he was responsible for 25 movies. In 1994 Penguin published his novel, Host, on two floppy discs as the world’s first electronic novel. His novels have won numerous awards, most recently the coveted 2016 CWA Diamond Dagger for sustained excellence, and he was publicly voted by WH Smith – Britain’s biggest book selling chain – The Best Crime Author Of All Time. Visit Peter James on YouTube: www.peterjames.com/youtube

Lisa Jewell wrote her first book when she was twenty-seven and had just been made redundant from her job as a secretary. Inspired by Nick Hornby’s High Fidelity, a book about young people just like her who lived in London, she wrote the first three chapters of what was to become her first novel, Ralph’s Party. It went on to become the bestselling debut novel of 1998.  Fourteen bestselling novels later and a move to crime has opened up a whole new world.  Lisa lives in London with her husband and their two daughters.

Olivia Kiernan is an Irish writer living in the UK and author of crime thriller, Too Close to Breathe. She was born and raised in County Meath, near the famed heritage town of Kells and holds an MA in Creative Writing awarded by the University of Sussex. Website: www.oliviakiernan.com

Lynda La Plante was born in Liverpool. She trained for the stage at RADA and worked with the National Theatre and RDC before becoming a television actress. She then turned to writing – and made her breakthrough with the phenomenally successful TV series WIDOWS, that has been adapted for film this year. Directed by Steve McQueen from a screenplay by McQueen and Gillian Flynn WIDOWS features Colin Farrell, Robert Duvall and Liam Neeson, and is released by 20th Century Fox on November 16 2018

Lynda’s novels have all been international bestsellers. Her original script for the much-acclaimed PRIME SUSPECT won awards from BAFTA, Emmys, British Broadcasting and Royal Television Society as well as the 1993 Edgar Allan Poe Writer’s Award.  Since 1993 Lynda has spearheaded La Plante Productions. In that time the company has produced a stunning slate of innovative dramas with proven success and enduring international appeal. Based on Lynda’s best selling series of Anna Travis novels, Above Suspicion, Silent Scream, Deadly Intent and Silent Scream have all adapted into TV scripts.

Lynda has been made honorary fellow of the British Film Institute and was awarded the BAFTA Dennis Potter Writer’s Award 2000, and in 2008 Lynda was awarded a CBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List (Writer and Producer for services to Literature, Drama and to Charity).

Her latest book, Murder Mile is out now.

Visit www.lyndalaplante.com for further information. You can also follow Lynda on Facebook and Twitter.

Sheena Lambert grew up in County Dublin, where she worked as an environmental engineer before becoming a full-time writer. Her stories, novels and screenplays have been shortlisted in a number of prestigious UK competitions. The Lake, was published by HarperCollins and she is represented by Laetitia Rutherford at Watson, Little.

Ali Land: After graduating from university with a degree in Mental Health, Ali spent a decade working as a Child and Adolescent Mental Health Nurse in both hospitals and schools in the UK and Australia. Ali’s debut novel Good Me Bad Me is a Sunday Times and international bestseller and translated into twenty-four languages. It was short-listed twice for Dead Good Reader Awards, the Crime Writers Association John Creasey New Blood Dagger, and won Book Of The Year at Heat magazine Unmissables Awards. It’s also a New York Times Editors choice and a Richard and Judy book club pick. Ali is now a full-time writer and lives in London. She is currently working on her second novel.

Clare Mackintosh spent twelve years in the police force, including time on CID, and as a public order commander. She left the police in 2011 to work as a freelance journalist and social media consultant and is the founder of the Chipping Norton Literary Festival. She now writes full time and lives in North Wales with her husband and their three children. Clare’s debut novel, I Let You Go, was a Sunday Times bestseller and the fastest-selling title by a new crime writer in 2015. It was selected for both the Richard and Judy Book Club (and was the winning title of the readers’ vote for the summer 2015 selection) and for ITV’s Loose Women’s Loose Books. It is a New York Times bestseller, with translation rights sold to more than 30 countries.

Andrea Mara is a freelance writer, author, and blogger. She writes features for Irish newspapers, and has won a number of awards for blogging on OfficeMum.ie.

Her first book, The Other Side of the Wall, was shortlisted for the Kate O’Brien award in 2018. Her second book, One Click, is out now.

Niamh McBrannan was a nominee in the ‘No Exit Press’ 2015 short story competition. Her debut novel, The Devil Looks After His Own (Arlen House, 2018) is the first book in the gritty, Dublin-based Silver Bullet series. An extract from the forthcoming sequel, The Devil’s Own Job is published in Writing the Future, the Hodges Figgis 250th anniversary anthology.

Val McDermid grew up in a Scottish mining community then read English at Oxford. She was a journalist for sixteen years, spending the last three as Northern Bureau Chief of a national Sunday tabloid. She divides her time between Northumberland and Cheshire

Paul McNeive’s debut thriller The Manhattan Project was published in May in the UK and Ireland, making the Irish bestseller list. Various foreign rights have also been sold. Paul is a motivational speaker and journalist. His autobiographical non-fiction book, “Small Steps,” is also a bestseller.

Helen Moorhouse is the author of The Dead Summer (2011), The Dark Water (2012), Sing Me To Sleep (2013) and Ever This Day (2017). As well as writing fiction, she works as a freelance voiceover artist and copywriter. Her interests include reading, TV, cinema, walking and things that go bump in the night. Originally from Co. Laois, she lives in Dublin with her family. For more, see www.helenmoorhouse.com

Bernice M. Murphy is lecturer in Popular Literature in the School of English, Trinity College, Dublin, and a Fellow of the college. She is co-director of the M.Phil in Popular Literature and has published extensively on topics related to popular literature, especially horror and Gothic fiction and film. Her books include The Rural Gothic: Backwoods Horror and Terror in the Wilderness (2013), The Highway Horror Film (2014), Key Concepts in Contemporary Popular Fiction (2017), and, with, Stephen Matterson, the edited collection Twenty-First Century Popular Fiction (2018). She is the co-founder of the online Irish Journal of Gothic and Horror Studies and is a founding member of the recently established Irish Network for Gothic Studies (INGS).

Liz Nugent worked in Irish film, theatre and television before becoming a fulltime novelist. In 2014 her first novel, Unravelling Oliver, was a Number One bestseller and won the Crime Fiction Prize in the 2014 Irish Book Awards. Her second novel, Lying in Wait, went straight to Number One in the Irish bestseller charts, remained there for nearly two months and won her a second IBA. Skin Deep is her third bestseller. She lives in Dublin with her husband.

Laurence O’Bryan had three crime/mystery novels published by Harper Collins. He has been published in 10 languages and has won awards for his writing. He recently self-published two further novels in the puzzle series. He is on the committee of the Irish Writers Union and founded the Dublin Writers Conference.

Niamh O’Connor is a crime journalist and best-selling author of true crime and crime fiction. She has been nominated three times for an Irish Book Award and studied creative writing at the University of East Anglia, Norwich. She is represented by Jane Gregory at the David Higham agency.

Cormac O’Keeffe is the security correspondent of the Irish Examiner, where he has covered crime, policing, drugs, justice, terrorism and legal issues since 2000. Black Water is his debut crime novel and tells the tale of a young boy groomed into a criminal gang and the fight to save him.

Nessa O’Mahony is a Dublin-born writer. She has published four books of poetry and is a recipient of two literature bursaries from the Arts Council. She was Writer Fellow at the John Hume Institute for Global Irish Studies in UCD in 2008/09. She produces and presents a monthly podcast for writers called The Attic Sessions. The Branchman (Arlen House 2018) is her debut crime novel.

Adele O’Neill is published with Aria Fiction, an imprint of Head of Zeus. Her debut, Brothers and Sisters, a number one bestseller on Amazon was awarded The Annie McHale Debut Novel Award 2017 and her second novel, Behind a Closed Door was also a number one Amazon bestseller. When The Time Comes, is due for release in 2019

Julie Parsons’ most recent thriller, The Therapy House, won the Crime Fiction Book of the Year award at the Irish Book Awards, 2017. She has been a full-time writer since 1998 when her first novel Mary, Mary was published to critical and commercial success. It was translated into 17 languages and published in the US. Her subsequent novels were The Courtship Gift, Eager to Please, The Guilty Heart, The Hourglass and I Saw You. Julie is currently a columnist with the Irish Times. Her column, ‘In Praise of Older Books’ appears weekly in The Ticket.

Karen Perry is the Sunday Times bestselling author of Your Closest FriendCan You Keep A Secret?Girl UnknownOnly We Know and The Boy That Never Was, which was selected for the Simon Mayo BBC Radio 2 Book Club. Her books have been translated into several European languages, and have been optioned for both film and television. She lives in Dublin with her family.

Anthony J Quinn is the author of eight novels, including Undertow, which was published in June. His  debut novel Disappeared was a Daily Mail Crime Novel of the Year, and was shortlisted for a Strand Literary Award in the US. It was also picked by Kirkus Reviews as one of the top ten thrillers of the year, and by the Sunday Times as one of the best books of the year.

Alex Reeve is a university lecturer, intermittently working on his PhD. The House on Half Moon Street is his debut novel, and the first in a series of books featuring Leo Stanhope.

Catherine Ryan Howard is from Cork, Ireland and now lives in Dublin. Her debut novel, DISTRESS SIGNALS, was an Irish Times and USA Today bestseller, shortlisted for both the IBA Crime Novel of the Year and the CWA John Creasey/New Blood Dagger Award, and was optioned for TV by Jet Stone Media. Her second novel, THE LIAR’S GIRL, was released in 2018. Catherine has just completed a BA in English Literature at Trinity College Dublin as a mature student and is currently working on her third novel.

William Ryan is the author of five novels, including the Captain Korolev series set in 1930s Moscow. They have been shortlisted for numerous awards, including the CWA’s Steel, Historical and New Blood Daggers, the Irish Fiction Award and the Theakstons Crime Novel of the Year, as well as published in 18 jurisdictions. Writing as WC Ryan, his latest novel, A House of Ghosts, has been described by Liz Nugent as ‘almost unbearably creepy and beautifully written’.

Jo Spain is the author of No. 1 Bestseller The Confession and the international bestselling DCI Tom Reynolds series. A Richard and Judy Search for a Bestseller finalist, Jo’s books have sold in over 13 countries. Jo writes for TV and has co-written new Irish crime drama Taken Down for RTE. Her Reynolds series has also been optioned for TV. She lives in Dublin with her husband and four children.

Sharon Thompson’s debut crime novel The Abandoned launched as a Number 1 bestseller on Amazon kindle. Sharon writes crime fiction, short stories and commercial fiction. Sharon’s short stories have been published in various on-line magazines. www.Indulgeinwriting.com is her new online writing group. She is a regular contributor to Donegal Woman with her Woman’s Words column. Indulgeme.ie features her short-list of Irish, monthly, book releases at #indulgeinbooks. Sharon co-founded the trending, writing tweet-chat, called #WritersWise.

Simon Trewin is a Partner in the global entertainment agency WME. He has been an agent for over twenty years and is a three time nominee for the Bookseller Industry Awards Literary Agent of the Year. Trewin began his career in the theatre and moved to the world of literary agenting 25 years ago and has worked with a string of internationally bestselling authors who have, between them, either been nominated or have won the Man Booker, the Baileys, the Costa, the CWA Daggers, the Irish Book Awards and the IMPAC. Simon represents a number of crime and thriller writers including Robert Goddard, Alex Barclay, Luke Delaney, A A Dhand, Jake Woodhouse and Sam Blake. Simon Trewin is always on the look out for new talent in this area and he also has a particular affinity for the Irish market – representing, as he does, John Boyne, Mary Costello, Alex Barclay, Paul Lynch, Claire Kilroy, John Connell, Sarah Griffin and Sam Blake.

Ruth Ware is an international number one bestseller. Her thrillers In a Dark, Dark Wood, The Woman in Cabin 10, The Lying Game and The Death of Mrs Westaway have appeared on bestseller lists around the world, including the Sunday Times and New York Times, and she is published in more than 40 languages. Ruth lives near Brighton with her family. Visit www.ruthware.com to find out more, or find her on facebook or twitter as @RuthWareWriter

 

 

 

 

 

Want to get involved? Contact Vanessa@writing.ie

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Murder One Main Space Events 2018

 

Sorry! This is what you missed in 2018, we’ve so much more to come in 2019!

All events listed below lasted approximately 60  minutes and occured in the Main Theatre Space in Smock Alley. Books were on sale in The Banquet Hall where our our stellar authors were very happy to sign them.

Use these links to jump to:

 Friday Events

Saturday Events

Sunday Events

Our WEEKEND ROVER TICKET will get you into every single event below for just €130, saving you money and all the hassle of fiddling with multiple tickets, PLUS rover ticket holders will receive some extra special, exclusive killer goodies….scroll down to see all the incredible authors appearing…

Friday 2nd November

 

Friday 2nd November 7pm

A Mind to Kill                       

Liz Nugent & Ali Land with Declan Burke

Now a massively-popular sub-genre of crime writing, Domestic Noir takes as its premise the belief that the domestic sphere can be a dark and dangerous environment for women.  Two fresh and highly-successful new voices discuss how their work fits into the genre with Declan Burke.

Ali Land’s debut novel Good Me Bad Me became a Sunday Times and international bestseller. It was short-listed for Dead Good Reader Awards and for the Crime Writers Association New Blood Dagger.  It also became a Richard and Judy book club pick. Ali is currently working on her second novel.

In a mere four years, Liz Nugent has become one of Ireland’s most popular and successful novelists.  With her three intriguing and deeply sinister novels, Unravelling Oliver, Lying in Wait, and most recently Skin Deep, she has built an enormous following both at home and abroad.

 


 

Friday 2 November 8.30pm                             

Peter James in conversation with Breda Brown

From the number one bestselling author, Peter Jamescomes an explosive standalone thriller that will grip you and won’t let go until the very last page. Investigative reporter Ross Hunter nearly didn’t answer the phone call that would change his life – and possibly the world – for ever.  Britain’s number one  crime writer shares  some of his secrets with Breda Brown.

Peter James’s novels have been translated into thirty-seven languages with worldwide sales of over eighteen million copies. In 2015 WH Smith customers publicly voted him the Greatest Crime Author of All Time and in 2016 he became the recipient of the coveted CWA Diamond Dagger lifetime achievement award for sustained excellence.

 

 


Saturday 3 November

 

Saturday 3 November 11am   

Fresh Blood: Paul McNeive, Olivia Kiernan & Alex Reeve with Sam Blake

Bestseller Sam Blake brings you some of the strongest new voices in crime fiction and finds out just how they did it.

Paul McNeive’s debut The Manhatten Project is set in New York, with its insatiable hunger for fast food, easy fixes and life lived at breakneck speed. But the city that never sleeps is hurtling towards disaster. John Wyse, an ordinary New York cop, looks set to be the only person who can thwart catastrophe on an apocalyptic scale. Bioterrorism is a very real threat today, and this breakneck bestseller will take you to the edge of your seat.

In Too Close to Breathe, Olivia Kiernan introduces DCS Frankie Sheehan, a trained profiler. When Dr Eleanor Costello is found hanging in her immaculate home, something about the scene doesn’t add up and Sheehan immediately spots foul play, but what at first looks like an open and shut case of suicide quickly starts to fall apart.

In The House on Half Moon Street Alex Reeve brings us the first in a truly original series, set in Victorian London and rich with atmosphere. Introducing Leo Stanhope, a Victorian transgender coroner’s assistant who must uncover a killer without risking his own future, this is a gripping, clever debut.

 


 

Saturday 3 November 12.30                 

Clare Mackintosh in conversation with Sinead Crowley

Since the shocking suicides of her parents, Anna, their daughter, has struggled to come to terms with their loss.  Now with a young baby of her own, Anna starts to ask questions but by digging up the past, is she putting her future in danger? Sometimes it’s safer to let things lie.  Clare Mackintosh discusses her third novel, Let Me Lie, with author and RTE Arts correspondent Sinead Crowley

Clare Mackintosh spent twelve years in the police force, including time on the CID, and as a public order commander. Her debut novel, I Let You Go, was the fastest-selling title by a new crime writer in 2015 and became a New York Times bestseller, with translation rights sold to more than 30 countries.

 


 

Saturday 3 November  2.15pm 

The Devil’s in the Detail: A Dublin & Edinburgh UNESCO Cities of Literature Event

Val McDermid with Niamh O’Connor 

                 

        

Val McDermid needs little introduction to crime fans.  In a writing career that spans more than three decades and roughly forty books she has become one of the key figures in British crime writing and her novels have won countless literary awards. In 2010 she won the Crime Writers’ Association Cartier Diamond Dagger Award for outstanding achievement. Val McDermid has also written the seminal text for crime writers who want to get their procedure right. She talks all things forensic with Niamh O’Connor.

 


 

Saturday 3 November 4.00pm                  

Murder by the Book: Lisa Jewell & Ruth Ware with Madeleine Keane

A disastrously ill-judged crush on the gentleman next door, an inheritance letter mistakenly sent to the wrong beneficiary; these are the ingenious premises of Lisa Jewell’s and Ruth Ware’s latest novels.  How does a thriller writer know when the right premise demands to be developed into a novel?  Two highly inventive authors discuss the well-springs of inspiration.

Since her first book, Ralph’s Party (1998) Lisa Jewell has published another fourteen books which have demonstrated a remarkable versatility and development in subject and style.  Recently, she has made the transition into the realm of domestic thrillers with consummate mastery and brilliance.

A former bookseller, TEFL teacher and press officer, Ruth Ware is the author of four splendid psychological thrillers which have appeared on bestseller lists around the world. The Woman in Cabin 10 was a number one New York Times bestseller.  Her latest novel is the Death of Mrs Westaway.

Madeleine Keane is the Literary Editor of the Sunday Independent.

 


 

Saturday 3 Nov 5.30pm                 

Mark Billingham in conversation with Declan Hughes

In Mark’s latest novel, The Killing Habit, DI Tom Thorne is tasked with catching a notorious killer of domestic cats.  Knowing the psychological profile of such offenders all too well, he sees the chance to stop a series of homicides before it happens. Mark talks to fellow crime-writer Declan Hughes about his new book and the writing life in what promises to be a vastly entertaining event.

Having worked for some years as an actor, a TV writer, and stand-up comedian, Mark Billingham published his first crime novel in 2001. Since then, his series of crime novels featuring London-based detective Tom Thorne has earned him his rightful place at the top table of UK crime fiction.

 


 

Saturday 3 November 7pm                        

Lynda La Plante in conversation with Niamh O’Connor

International bestselling & award winning author, Lynda La Plante, whose TV dramas from Prime Suspect to Trial & Retribution have kept viewers on the edge of their seats, discusses her criminal passions and her latest novel, Murder Mile, with Niamh O’Connor.

As Widows, the movie inspired by Lynda’s hit TV series is released, does print still pull her back and how does she keep those ideas coming?

Lynda La Plante was born in Liverpool. She trained for the stage at RADA and worked with the National Theatre and RDC before becoming a television actress. She then turned to writing – and made her breakthrough with the phenomenally successful TV series WIDOWS, that has been adapted for film this year. Directed by Steve McQueen from a screenplay by McQueen and Gillian Flynn WIDOWS features Colin Farrell, Robert Duvall and Liam Neeson, and is released by 20th Century Fox on November 16 2018.

In her latest book, Murder Mile, Prime Suspect meets Ashes to Ashes as we see Jane Tennison starting out on her police career .

The fourth in the bestselling Jane Tennison series, Murder Mile  is set at the height of the ‘Winter of Discontent’ in February 1979. Can Jane Tennison uncover a serial killer?

Economic chaos has led to widespread strikes across Britain. Jane Tennison, now a Detective Sergeant, has been posted to Peckham Criminal Investigation Department, one of London’s toughest areas. As the rubbish on the streets begins to pile up, so does the murder count: two bodies in as many days. There are no suspects and the manner of death is different in each case. The only link between the two victims is the location of the bodies, found within a short distance of each other near Rye Lane in Peckham. Three days later another murder occurs in the same area. Press headlines scream that a serial killer is loose on ‘Murder Mile’ and that police incompetence is hampering the investigation. Jane is under immense pressure to catch the killer before they strike again. Working long hours with little sleep, what she uncovers leaves her doubting her own mind.

 


Sunday 4th November

 

Sunday 4 November 11am         

Stranger than Fiction: Shane Dunphy, Andrea Carter & Cormac O’Keefe with Jane Casey

How much does real life influence fiction? Is the truth sometimes stranger? Four crime writers with close ties to the law and law makers, discuss how real life has influenced their writing and how much they just plain make up.

Shane Dunphy is the million-selling author of ten books. His series of non-fiction titles, relating to the years he spent as a child protection worker, have been internationally successful. Writing as S.A. Dunphy, Shane has recently turned to crime, his novels featuring the emotionally damaged criminologist David Dunnigan. When She Was Gone was released earlier this year.

After studying law in Trinity, Andrea Carter moved to the Inishowen peninsula in Donegal where she ran the most northerly solicitors’ practice in the country. After ten years, she moved to Dublin to work as a barrister before turning to writing crime. Her Inishowen Mysteries series, featuring Solicitor Benedicta ‘Ben’ O’Keeffe, Death at Whitewater Church, Treacherous Strand and The Well of Ice are published internationally and have recently been optioned for television. Murder at Greysbridge came out in October.

Cormac O’Keefe’s debut novel Black Water draws on his experience as the award-winning security correspondent for the Irish Examiner – work that has given him unique access to contacts in the police and the community. Using his first hand experience of crime and criminals to inform and fuel his debut novel, Black Water focuses on The Grand Canal and Dublin’s criminal gangs.

Jane Casey worked in publishing before she debuted with her International award winning Maeve Kerrigan series. Married to a barrister, Jane has unique access to the world Maeve Kerrigan occupies, but how much can writers draw on the truth and how much do they make up? In Jane Casey’s seventh novel to feature London-based police detective Maeve Kerrigan, Let the Dead Speak, an unusually naïve 18-year-old, returns home from a weekend away to discover a bloodbath in the family home, all the signs point to the frenzied murder of Chloe’s mother, Kate — except there is no body.

 


 

Sunday 4 November 12.30

The Confessions of a Secret Agent                                  

Simon Trewin has spent the last twenty-five years as a literary agent working with some of the biggest names in the world and helping launch the careers of countless debuts. In this candid, and, at times, irreverent event he will lock the doors, swear you all to secrecy and reveal his top ten essential tips to getting published and also tell some stories of people who got it terribly terribly wrong…and right.

Simon is a Partner in the global entertainment agency WME. He has been a three time nominee for the Bookseller Industry Awards Literary Agent of the Year. Trewin began his career in the theatre and moved to the world of literary agenting. He has worked with a string of internationally bestselling authors who have, between them, either been nominated or have won the Man Booker, the Baileys, the Costa, the CWA Daggers, the Irish Book Awards and the IMPAC. Simon represents a number of crime and thriller writers including Robert Goddard, Alex Barclay, Luke Delaney, A A Dhand, Jake Woodhouse and Sam Blake. Simon Trewin is always on the look out for new talent in this area and he also has a particular affinity for the Irish market – representing, as he does, John Boyne, Mary Costello, Alex Barclay, Paul Lynch, Claire Kilroy, John Connell, Sarah Griffin and Sam Blake.

 


 

 Sunday 4 Nov 2.15pm                  

Bloody Woman: Patricia Gibney, Jo Spain and Claire Allan with Tanya Farrelly

Are female writers deadlier than the male? What do they think of violence in crime fiction and how do they handle it in their books? Do crime novel have to be bloody? Our panel of bestselling ladies will discuss with crime author Tanya Farrelly   whose novel When Your Eyes Close was launched at the start of our festival.

Patricia Gibney is the million selling author of the Lottie Parker series. With five titles released in digital, The Missing Ones, the first of the series now is out in print. Lottie Parker is a woman living on the edge, struggling with grief following the death of her husband and juggling her full-time Detective Inspector job while trying to do her best for her three teenage children.

Jo Spain’s The Confession opens with a violent and bloody scene – late one night a man walks into the luxurious home of disgraced banker Harry McNamara and his wife Julie and launches an unspeakably brutal attack on Harry. It looks like Harry’s many sins have finally caught up with him. But sometimes a confession is only the beginning.

Claire Allan is a former journalist with the Derry Journal who made the jump to writing full time in 2016 with a series of bestselling women’s fiction novels. Claire has now switched to a life of crime, with Her Name is Rose hitting the bestseller lists earlier this year.

€12/€10 BOOK HERE

 


 

Sunday 4 Nov 3.45pm                 

Criminal Intent: Solo or Serial? Karen Perry, WC Ryan, Anthony J Quinn with Catherine Ryan Howard

How does an author decide to write a series or a book that stands alone, is it the plot or the characters who guide them? And what do readers think? What makes a series character and why are the most talked about books often stand alones? Catherine Ryan Howard will cross examine our expert panel.

Karen Perry’s sixth standalone thriller Your Closest Friend opens with a bang – with a terrorist attack in London, developing into a complex psychological thriller.

WC Ryan’s latest novel is another departure from his Korolev series, taking us back to wartime, but in A House of Ghosts, it’s winter 1917 and on an island off the Devon coast, Lord Highmount has arranged a spiritualist gathering to contact his two sons who were lost in the conflict. But it gradually becomes clear that each of his guests has something to hide.

Anthony J Quinn brought us Celcius Daly, a Belfast Police Inspector laden with flawed judgment and misplaced loyalties, but in his latest book The Listeners, Detective Carla Herron is leading the investigation into the savage murder of a respected psychotherapist whose decapitated head has been found in a forest clearing.

The Liar’s Girl is Catherine Ryan Howard’s second novel, following the award winning bestseller Distress Signals. In The Liar’s Girl, Dublin’s notorious Canal Killer, Will Hurley, is ten years into his life sentence when the body of a young woman is fished out of the Grand Canal.

 


 

Sunday 4  Nov 5.30pm     

Does Genre Matter? Mick Herron & Robert Goddard with Martin Doyle

The novels of Robert Goddard have ranged freely across the generic landscape.  Mick Herron has said “my earlier novels were crime fiction but I wanted to write about broader issues, and the spy genre offers that opportunity.”    So how important is the concept of genre?  Is it a burden for authors to bear, a useful taxonomic principal, or an irrelevance in the new century. The authors discuss the issue with Irish Times Literary editor Martin Doyle.

Mick Herron has been called “the UK’s new spy novel master” and the natural heir to Len Deighton and John Le Carre.   Combining wit and ingenious plotting, his Slough House series, featuring the incorrigible Jackson Lamb, have earned him numerous CWA Daggers and a passionately loyal readership.

Robert Goddard’s writing has been classified under various genres from thriller to mystery and crime as well as historical romance but regardless of category, Goddard is a consummate stylist and a champion of the traditional virtues of pace, narrative propulsion and plot. Panic Room is his 27th novel.

Literary Editor of the Irish Times, Martin Doyle digs into the truth about crime fiction with two of its most successful proponents.