Authors
Image credit: Gary Walsh and Stockton-on-Tees Library
Engineer by day, writer by night.
Fiona Erskine is a professional engineer based in the North East of England and often the lone representative of her gender in board meetings, cargo ships, night-time factories and oil terminals. Her fiction offers a fascinating insight into this traditionally male world.
The Chemical Detective (shortlisted for the SPECSAVERS DEBUT CRIME NOVEL AWARD at Crimefest) and The Chemical Reaction (shortlisted for the 2020 STAUNCH Prize), the first thrillers in the Jaq Silver series are published by Point Blank, the literary crime imprint of Oneworld. Her protaganist Jaq Silver blows things up to keep people safe and is back in June 2022 with The Chemical Cocktail.
Fiona's stand-alone portrait of a factory Phosphate Rocks: A Death in Ten Objects, made the Literary Review's top ten crime novels in 2021 and is published by Sandstone Press.
Fiona is passionate about music and outdoor swimming, though not generally at the same time.
Want to preview Fiona's book before the event? Click on book ray for information on how to do so.
Fiona Erskine is a professional engineer based in the North East of England and often the lone representative of her gender in board meetings, cargo ships, night-time factories and oil terminals. Her fiction offers a fascinating insight into this traditionally male world.
The Chemical Detective (shortlisted for the SPECSAVERS DEBUT CRIME NOVEL AWARD at Crimefest) and The Chemical Reaction (shortlisted for the 2020 STAUNCH Prize), the first thrillers in the Jaq Silver series are published by Point Blank, the literary crime imprint of Oneworld. Her protaganist Jaq Silver blows things up to keep people safe and is back in June 2022 with The Chemical Cocktail.
Fiona's stand-alone portrait of a factory Phosphate Rocks: A Death in Ten Objects, made the Literary Review's top ten crime novels in 2021 and is published by Sandstone Press.
Fiona is passionate about music and outdoor swimming, though not generally at the same time.
Want to preview Fiona's book before the event? Click on book ray for information on how to do so.
Chris McGeorge studied MA Creative Writing (Crime/Thriller) at City University London where he wrote his first novel as his thesis. His interests are broad - spanning film, books, theatre and video games. He is a member of the Northern Crime Syndicate, a supergroup of writers from Northern England. To date, he has had four novels published (Guess Who, Now You See Me, Inside Out, Half-Past Tomorrow) with the fifth (A Murder at Balmoral) releasing simultaneously in the UK and the US in November. He has been translated into 13 languages. Chris lives in County Durham with his partner and many, many animals.
Want to preview Chris's book before the event? Click on book ray for information on how to do so.
Want to preview Chris's book before the event? Click on book ray for information on how to do so.
A.M. Peacock (Adam) is the author of the DCI Jack Lambert series, a character described as “a fantastic creation destined for a big following” by Howard Linskey. His debut novel, Open Grave, was published in September 2018 by Bloodhound Books. The second in the series, Grave Intent, was released in July 2019.
Adam has produced several short stories, winning the Writers’ Forum Magazine competition on two occasions. He has also written articles for both the local press and a university magazine. He also hosts the Northern Crime Syndicate Podcast, where he regularly interviews authors and other crime fiction industry experts.
Adam lives in South Shields, where he helps to run the South Shields Fiction Writers’ group.
Want to preview Adam's book before the event? Click on book ray for information on how to do so.
Adam has produced several short stories, winning the Writers’ Forum Magazine competition on two occasions. He has also written articles for both the local press and a university magazine. He also hosts the Northern Crime Syndicate Podcast, where he regularly interviews authors and other crime fiction industry experts.
Adam lives in South Shields, where he helps to run the South Shields Fiction Writers’ group.
Want to preview Adam's book before the event? Click on book ray for information on how to do so.
Anita Armstrong is a self-employed script writer. She has studied media and performance and is currently based in Manchester. She, together with Alan Lord have produced the true story of his Life in Strangeways. This is currently being made into a screen play.about the life of Alan Lord and his 32 years fighting the prison regime for the human rights of fellow prisoners. Standing up to the prison regimes brutality, racism and inhumane treatment that prisoners had to adhere to for centuries.
Want to preview Anita's book before the event? Click on book ray for information on how to do so.
Want to preview Anita's book before the event? Click on book ray for information on how to do so.
Introducing Dr Noir
Dr Jacky Collins, formerly Senior Lecturer at Northumbria University in Literature, Film & TV and Spanish Language & Culture, is also known as Dr Noir. In 2014 Jacky established the International Crime Fiction Festival that is Newcastle Noir, hosted annually at Newcastle’s City Library. With a keen passion for crime in translation, the festival regularly welcomes authors from the Nordic countries, Germany, France and more recently from Romania. In addition, Dr Noir runs the monthly Eurocrime Book Club, also held at this venue. Jacky is regularly invited to moderate at other national and international crime writing festivals. More recently, she has been venturing into local radio, co-hosting a fortnightly crime fiction programme on SpiceFM, hosting literary events in Edinburgh with the Honey & Stag events team, and has joined Corylus Books, a brand new indie publisher of fine crime fiction in translation: from Romania, Iceland and beyond.
Guest Appearance
Safron Mitchelson lives in Northumberland and is a talented crafter. She has been a bookcrosser (Safrolistics) for many years and some may recognise her from the above photo taken at the Nottingham Unconvention.
During this years event she will be teaching us how to do paper cutting and, hopefully, help us to make some fantastic creations. Sounds fun! (Provisionally booked due to personal commitments)
During this years event she will be teaching us how to do paper cutting and, hopefully, help us to make some fantastic creations. Sounds fun! (Provisionally booked due to personal commitments)