M.O.: Crimes of Practice

Martyn Bedford is the author of five novels, most recently The Island of Lost Souls (Bloomsbury, 2006). Between them they have been translated into 12 languages. His short fiction has appeared in newspapers, magazines, anthologies – including The Book of Leeds (Comma Press, 2006) – and has been broadcast on radio and the internet. In January 2008, he took up a teaching fellowship in creative writing at the University of Leeds. He lives in West Yorkshire with his wife and two young daughters.

Robert Barnard has be awarded the Cartier Diamond Dagger Lifetime Achievement in Crime Writing Award (2003). He has also won the prestigious Nero Wolfe Award as well as the Anthony, Agatha, and Macavity Awards. An eight-time Edgar nominee and a member of the Detection Club, Barnard is the author of The Mistress of Alderley, The Bones in the Attic, Unholy Dying, A Scandal in Belgravia, and many other distinguished mysteries. In 2006 he won the CWA Short Story Prize for his story ‘Sins of Scarlet’ (ID, Ed. Martin Edwards, Comma)

Ann Cleeves worked as a probation officer, bird observatory cook and auxiliary coastguard before she started writing, 20 years ago.  Her novel Raven Black, the first in the Shetland Quartet, won the Duncan Lawrie Dagger for 2006 and brought her to a wider audience. Her books have been translated into a dozen languages. White Nights the second in the series will be published in April 2008.

Bernie Crosthwaite has written plays for radio and stage, in fact, Vivisection began life as a five-minute dramatic monologue performed at Harrogate Theatre. She has won awards for her short stories, several of which have been broadcast on Radio 4. Her first crime novel, If It Bleeds, featuring press photographer Jude Baxendale, was long-listed for the new writing prize at the Guildford Book Festival. She has been a journalist, tour guide and teacher, and currently works with children with special needs. She lives in North Yorkshire

Carol Anne Davis believes that variety is the spice of life (as is turmeric) so she writes in several different genres, producing everything from dark crime novels to humorous articles for magazines. Her latest true crime book Couples Who Kill is described by the critics as ‘intelligent and compulsive reading’ and ‘an absolute must.’ You’ll find her virtual home at www.carolannedavis.co.uk 

Martin Edwards’ Lake District Mysteries include The Coffin Trail (short-listed for the Theakston’s prize for best British crime novel of 2006), The Cipher Garden and The Arsenic Labyrinth. He has written eight novels about Liverpool lawyer Harry Devlin, as well as a stand-alone novel of psychological suspense, Take My Breath Away, and a novel featuring Dr Crippen, Dancing for the Hangman. A well-known commentator on crime fiction, he has edited 16 anthologies and published eight non-fiction books, including a study of homicide investigation, Urge to Kill. 

Jüergen Ehlers, born in 1948, works as an ice age geologist at Hamburg State Geological Survey (Geologisches Landesamt Hamburg). He has written two crime novels and over 50 short stories. His first novel "Mitgegangen" about the hunt for a serial killer in Düsseldorf was nominated as one of the five best debut crime novels in 2005. Ehlers won the Friedrich-Glauser-Preis for the best German short mystery in 2006 und the Krefelder Kurzkrimi-Preis in 2007.

Kate Ellis was born in Liverpool and studied drama in Manchester. She is interested in archaeology and she lives in Cheshire. Kate’s short stories have been nominated for a Barry Award and twice for the CWA Dagger, and her novel The Plague Maiden was nominated for the Theakstons Crime Novel of the Year. She is working on her thirteenth Wesley Peterson novel and is soon to publish a new series set in York.

Liz Evans is in her early forties. She has worked in all sorts of companies from plastic moulding manufacturers to Japanese banks through to film production and BBC Radio. She was born in Highgate, went to school in Barnet and now lives in Boreham Wood, Hertfordshire.  Her previous books featuring PI Grace Smith are Who Killed Marilyn Monroe?, JFK Is Missing!, Don’t Mess With Mrs In-Between, Barking! and Sick As A Parrot.  Liz Evans has been nominated for the CWA Dagger in the Library and is Secretary of the CWA.

Paul A Freeman was born in London, in 1963, and presently works as a teacher of English in Saudi Arabia. He is a regular contributor of short stories to The Weekly News, a UK newspaper. His debut novel Rumours of Ophir, a crime thriller set in Zimbabwe, has recently been translated into German and will be an ‘A’ level set book in Zimbabwe from 2008 to 2012. He recently finished a trilogy of crime novels set in the Middle East, the first instalment of which, Vice and Virtue, is scheduled for publication in German translation in 2008. He is married with three children.

Jim Gregson is one of that once common but now much rarer breed, the academic turned crimewriter. He taught in schools, colleges and universities and directed the training of teachers before taking early retirement to become a full-time writer. He is the author of thirty-four published crime novels: his Lambert and Hook series is set in the Gloucestershire area and his Peach and Blake series in his native Lancashire.

Mick Herron has published four novels, the most recent of which is Reconstruction (Constable and Robinson, 2008). His short fiction regularly appears in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine. He lives in Oxford.

Sarah Hilary won the Fish Historical Crime Contest with a tale of Lizzie Borden, and has two stories published in the Fish Anthology 2008. The Subatomic Anthology, One Step Beyond, features her suspense story, ‘LoveFM’. She lives in the Cotswolds with her husband and daughter, where she is writing a series of crime novels set in London and L.A.

André Marois is acclaimed as one of the leading noir writers in Quebec. He is the author of 15 novels for both young people and adults, as well as numerous collections of short stories, including 38 Deaths of which 9 are Women (2001), and Scapegoat (2005). His novel The Effects are Secondary earned him a nomination for the Saint-Pacome Crime Novel Prize and the Arthur-Ellis Crime Writers of Canada prize in 2003.

Amy Myers’ stories appear in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, Best British Mysteries series, edited by Maxim Jakubowski, and Mammoth anthologies edited by Mike Ashley. A collection, Murder ’Orrible Murder, is published by Crippen & Landru. Her novels include the Auguste Didier and Marsh & Daughter series, and the first of a new series featuring a Victorian chimney sweep, Tom Wasp, and the Murdered Stunner. She lives in Kent.

Christine Poulson had a career as an art historian before she turned to crime. She has written three novels set in Cambridge, featuring academic turned amateur detective, Cassandra James, the most recent being Footfall. She has also written widely on nineteenth century art and literature and is a research fellow in the Department of Nineteenth Century Studies at the University of Sheffiel. She also has stories in ID (Ed. Martin Edwards, Comma) and Phobic (Ed. Andy Murray, Comma)

Born in Glasgow, Douglas Stewart became a London solicitor but alongside his legal career, wrote novels published through Robert Hale and Collins Crime Club. His seventh mystery thriller, Late Bet was published in 2007 and is attracting interest in Hollywood. Douglas has also written various non-fiction works including The Brutal Seas. This hit the Amazon Top Ten Hot New Releases during 2007.

Karline Smith is a Manchester-based writer and playwright. Her novels include Moss Side Massive (X-Press), which has also been dramatised by Liverpool’s Unity Theatre, as well as serialised for TV by DNA Films, and Full Crew (X-Press, 2002). Her stories have appeared in Brit Noir (Hodder, 1999) and The City Life Book of Manchester Short Stories (Penguin, 1999).

Yvonne Eve Walus has lived on three continents and her work reflects the wealth of her cultural background. Her crime fiction is published in USA and in Britain, and it includes Murder @ Work which is set in the tumultuous and exotic South Africa.