A feast is in store for crime fiction lovers when four of Cumbria’s finest writers appear together on stage in Cockermouth to discuss their work and the evocative settings they share.
The Cumbria Crime Writers Night at the Kirkgate Centre, on Wednesday May 22, will be hosted by Ruth Sutton, author of a series of locally-set crime novels.
Sutton will ask questions and encourage audience members to do the same. She says: ‘I interviewed Ann Cleeves (author of the Vera and Shetland series) when she came to Cockermouth in 2017 at the invitation of The New Bookshop. It was such a popular event, and I enjoyed it so much, that I was sure we could do something similar, only bigger.’
This time three acclaimed crime writers will join Sutton on stage. Martin Edwards is President of the Crime Writers’ Association and author of The Lake District Mysteries series.
Award winning author Paula Daly lives near Windermere, and her acclaimed Cumbrian crime novels are being filmed by ITV under the title Deep Water.
The third guest is Mike Craven, who hails from Carlisle. His run-away success novel, The Puppet Show, is famous for its gruesome opening scene, set at one our county’s many stone circles. Ruth Sutton’s latest West Cumbrian crime story Burning Secrets is set in and around Cockermouth and Carlisle during the catastrophic Foot and Mouth outbreak of 2001.
All four authors will be signing and selling their books during the interval, assisted by Catherine Hetherington and her colleagues from The New Bookshop in Main Street. For tickets visit www.kirkgatearts.org.uk, or phone 01900 826448. Prices are £10 or £5 for Under 18s.
‘It should be a great night,’ says Sutton. ‘Do come and join us.’
