A weekend at the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival
This weekend, several members of the Mushens Entertainment team made their way up to the lovely town of Harrogate for the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival. Authors, publishers, and readers alike gathered to hear the community’s leading voices speak about their craft, fill tote bags with the latest crime novels, and battle it out to win the legendary late night quiz!
The first (and most important) task on our agenda was to find the free ice cream! Organised by Michael Joseph to promote Amy McCulloch’s debut adult thriller Breathless, Amy herself was there handing out samplers of the novel and speaking to readers about her adventures as the youngest Canadian woman to summit Mt Manaslu in Nepal. Inspired by this expedition (with a serial killer added in for good measure) Breathless is due to be published in February 2022 all over the world.
After grabbing our ice creams, everyone made their way to Who Killed the Police Procedural?, expertly moderated by James Oswald and featuring authors Will Dean, Mari Hannah, Olivia Kiernan and Alex North. After discussing exactly what a police procedural is, the panel decided that the phrase is too stuffy for the exciting current landscape of detective-led crime fiction. James did a wonderful job of facilitating the discussion, posing especially interesting questions about the ethics of portraying police as heroes, and bringing the team to the conclusion that the police procedural is far from dead! James, of course, is due to publish his twelfth novel featuring Inspector Tony McLean (All That Lives) in February 2022, and his third featuring DC Constance Fairchild (Nowhere to Run) in November 2021 from Wildfire Books.
With our two organised events of the day ticked off, we went in search of Mushens Entertainment authors and goodies. We had a chance to catch up with Fiona Erskine, Anna Mazzola (whose gothic historical novel The Clockwork Girl is out from Orion next year), Richard Osman, James Oswald and Laure Van Rensburg. We spotted lots of people holding samplers for Girl A by Abigail Dean and posing next to the giant neon yellow ‘A’s dotted around the festival! In the bookshop, we found Richard Osman’s The Thursday Murder Club, James Oswald’s Inspector McLean series, and some gorgeous proofs for Robert Gold’s debut Twelve Secrets.
The second panel of our weekend featured The Chemical Detective author Fiona Erskine, who was part of a fascinating discussion titled The Writing Life Scientific. Along with AK Turner, Lin Anderson, Niamh Nic Deaid, and Lesley Kelly, the authors spent an hour discussing how they incorporate the scientific elements of the crime world into their books. To the audience’s delight, they shared plenty of stories from their research, ranging from their experiences with dead bodies to how the police use forensic mapping to locate suspects. It was a brilliant discussion and much talked about for the rest of the weekend! Fiona has just signed a new two-book deal with Point Blank to continue the adventures of the irrepressible Jaq Silver.
On Saturday evening, a highlight of the festival began – the legendary (and very competitive) late night quiz. Hosted by Mark Billingham and Val McDermid, publishers and readers alike put their crime knowledge to the test to see who would take home the coveted trophy. The saving grace of our team - aptly named The Thursday Drinking Club - was the wonderful Laure Van Rensburg, whose debut thriller Nobody But Us will be published in April 2022 by Michael Joseph. After a tense and hilarious quiz, Richard Osman’s team stole the victory, and The Thursday Drinking Club was very happy to end up solidly in the middle of the scoreboard!
The final event of the weekend was Richard Osman, ably – and humorously – interviewed by his long-time friend and fellow crime writer Mark Billingham. Richard revealed a little bit about what readers can expect from The Man Who Died Twice, as well as his pride in the book’s success internationally. He also announced that he’ll be touring with Mark early next year – so eyes peeled for that one!
