Blood in t'Dales

Author of:

• All the Dead Men Lie

• Hollow - Who Put Bella in the Wych-Elm?

• Broken Wings

• Keeper of Souls

• Only the Silence Moves

After teaching in inner-city schools in the West Midlands, Barry now lives and writes in North Yorkshire. He says he began writing his new series of darkly funny crime thrillers feeling that his new life in the Dales ought to be less about looking after cats and chickens and more about wild car chases and finding the best places to hide a body…

The first book in his new series is Broken Wings (A Trail of Crumbs). With the Yorkshire Dales as a key element in its telling the book is a darkly humourous, rain-lashed thriller about guilt, obsession, and the dangerous comforts of denial that has been described by reviewers as “a North Yorkshire Slow Horses” and “Thursday Murder Club meets Slow Horses”

His two previous books All the Dead Men Lie and Hollow: Who Put Bella in the Wych-Elm? offer a more serious take on the crime thriller genre, the opportunity for Barry to tackle some of the social issues he feels strongly about that arise from four decades teaching in the inner-city – the destruction of communities and the treatment of vulnerable groups in society. Both these books deal with ideas of the slippery nature of truth and the determination of some to find it, no matter the cost to themselves.

Author of:

• The DI ‘Ziggy’ Thornes series

• The Shadow Killer

• Catch Me Twice

• When We Deceive

• The Web They Wove

• The Lie She Told

Catherine Yaffe is author of the compulsively readable, DI ‘Ziggy’ Thornes series. Her psychologically driven thrillers are rooted in character, motive and consequence - following complex cases, flawed suspects and the ripple effects of violence on victims, families and investigators alike.

She is fascinated with how people’s minds work, and why they make the decisions they do. Set around her home territory of Leeds in West Yorkshire, her stories stretch beyond the familiar and into much darker territory.

Cat graduated from Curtis Brown Creative Academy and wrote her first crime thriller, The Lie She Told in 2020. She is set to release book 6 in the series – Deliberate Harm – in June of this year.

She lives with her husband, two cats and a small flock of chickens (with the occasional visit from her grandpuppy Milo).

Author of 

• The Miss Clara Vale Mysteries 

• The Picture House Murders

• The Pantomime Murders

• The Pyramid Murders

• The Penford Manor Murders

• The Berlin Murders

• The Poppy Denby Investigates Series

Fiona Veitch Smith writes neo-Golden Age mysteries. Her debut, The Jazz Files (republished as A Front Page Murder), was shortlisted for the CWA Historical Dagger in 2016.  Her eleventh book, The Berlin Murders, was out in January. She is a board member of the Crime Writers’ Association and convenes the North East chapter. As part of research for her books, she makes vintage fashion from original patterns, collects vintage guide books and is working on a PhD in feminist representation in neo-Golden Age detective fiction at the University of Strathclyde. She lives in Newcastle upon Tyne.

Author of:

• The DCI Harry Grimm series, including

  • Grimm Up North

  • Best Served Cold

  • Corpse Road

  • Shooting Season

  • Left for Dead

• DI Haig Crime Thrillers, including

  • The Somerset Slayings

  • Hatchet Hill

  • Grave Omens

David J. Gatward is author of the DCI Harry Grimm crime thrillers series. Set in Wensleydale in North Yorkshire, the first book in the series – Grimm Up North – launched in 2020, captivating readers worldwide. David was nominated for the Kindle Storyteller Award in 2023, and Book 24 in the series is set to launch in the summer of this year.

Having grown up in Hawes, David’s love of the Dales shines through in his writing, transporting the reader to the fells he is so familiar with; “The scenery is an additional character in my books,” says David, “I want readers to experience the sights, sounds, and even smells of the Dales, as they follow the investigations.”

David has also created a much-loved spin-off series, featuring DI Gordanian Haig as she moved from Yorkshire to the South-West of England. He has just signed a deal with Thomas & Mercer for a new crime trilogy set in Wensleydale. Due for release in January 2027, the new series will bring a darker edge to David’s love of the Dales.

He lives with his two sons in rural Somerset and when not writing, can often be found cycling, climbing and camping in the Yorkshire Dales.

Author of 

• Wall of Lies

• Tracks in the Dark

• Proof Toxic

• Killer Lines

• Deadly Embers

• Stone Tomb

• Potent Poison

• Grand Depart

• Frozen Ground

• Purple Shroud

• Craven Scar

• Grave Hand

• Death Cart

• Corpse Way

Susan Parry is the author of two crime series set in some of the loveliest parts of the Yorkshire Dales, an area she knows well, having lived in Swaledale for many years.

Her first series features forensic archaeologist Dr Mills Sanderson, who combines her role as a lecturer with forensic work, using her expertise to assist the police in homicide investigations.

Her latest series introduces DI Miriam Abbott, who leads the Regional Unsolved Crime Unit. It is a new initiative to investigate recent crimes that other forces have failed to solve.

Susan is an analytical chemist and her research career at Imperial College involved forensics investigations, including some high-profile murder cases. She has recently moved to the Cotswolds, where she is currently completing her thirteenth book in the Dr Mills Sanderson series.