Hall of Fame

The following authors have appeared on Bay Tales or supported us in some way. We thank them all.

Click on a photo for profiles where the author has provided one

Amen Alonge

Amen was born in Lagos and moved to London as a teenager almost twenty years ago. He took a Master’s Degree at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, then worked as an engineer. He went on to take a screenwriting course at London Film Academy and is currently training to become a solicitor. A Good Day to Die is his debut novel and scheduled for release February 2022. Click on the image for more detail.

Suzy Aspley

Suzy is a winner of Bloody Scotland’s Pitch Perfect competition and was one of the earliest contributors to our Virtual Noir at the Bar shows where she also appeared with a memorable tale in our Halloween Special. You can find out more about her by clicking on the image. You can read her chilling short story Derry Lodge here.

Anna Bailey

Anna is the author of Tall Bones – currently getting incredible feedback from authors and readers alike. You can read more about Anna by clicking on the photo or here. We were thrilled to have Anna on Bay Tales Live #5 in interview alongside SJ Watson. You can watch a recording of the show for free here.

Simon Bewick

Simon is one half of Bay Tales and Virtual Noir at the Bar. As well as editing “Noir from the Bar“, a charity fundraising collection featuring Noir authors, he’s published a few books himself. Click on the photo for more detail or, you can find a novella of his here.

Neil Broadfoot

A former journalist, Neil Broadfoot’s debut novel, “Falling Fast“, was shortlisted for the Dundee International Book Prize and the Bloody Scotland Book of the Year Award. His Stirling-set series, featuring close protection expert Connor Fraser, has been hailed as “tense, fast moving and bloody”. “No Man’s Land” was longlisted for the 2019 McIlvanney Award. For more information about Neil, click on his photo.You can read an exclusive article by Neil.

James Burnett

James is a novelist and short story writer. He has worked as a journalist and was an award-winning documentary maker and correspondent for BBC Television. He is currently working on a psychological thriller set in the New Forest. Click on the image for his profile, or you can read his short story The ‘You’ Me here.

Louise Candlish

Louise Candlish is the Sunday Times bestselling author of fourteen novels. Our House won the Crime & Thriller Book of the Year at the 2019 British Book Awards, and is coming soon to ITV. You can see the launch of Louise’s novel The Heights here. Click on the image for a full profile.

Steve Cavanagh

Steve is the bestselling author of the Eddie Flynn novels and standalone thrillers. He has won the CWA God Dagger for Crime Novel of the Year (The Liar) and the Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Novel of the year in 2019 for Thirteen. Click on the photo for Steve’s full profile. You can see Steve’s appearance on Bay Tales Live here.

Ann Cleeves

Ann Cleeves

Ann is the winner of the most respected award in British Crime Writing – the Diamond Dagger of the Crime Writers’ Association, and the author of over thirty novels including the Shetland series and Vera, both hugely successful television series. Click on the image for a fuller profile of Ann. You can see her in an extended interview on Bay Tales Live #3 here.

Andrew Cotto

Andrew Cotto is an award-winning author and a regular contributor to The New York Times. He has written for Parade, Men’s Journal, Rolling Stone, La Cucina Italiana, AARP, Brooklyn Magazine, Rachael Ray In Season, Maxim, The Huffington Post, the Good Men Project, Salon, Conde Nast Traveler, Italy magazine and more. Andrew has an MFA in Creative Writing from The New School. He lives in Brooklyn, NY. You can read Andrew’s short story Gasoline & Matches here

Luke Deckard

Luke is a London-based crime writer and Creative Writing PhD student at Kingston University. He was written various short crime fiction stories, novellas, and essays and was a 2020 Bloody Scotland Pitch Perfect finalist. Luke has edited short story anthologies for Kingston University and for Virtual Noir at the Bar’s “Noir From the Bar“. He is also the co-convenor for the CWA London Chapter. You can find him on twitter @lukewritescrimes. Read an exclusive short story from Luke.

Gavin Dimmock

Gavin is a Writing Magazine Short Story Winner, “New Voices” Award Nominee at Capital Crime 2019 and a “Northern Noir” Winner at Bradford Lit Festival 2018. You can read his short story The Heart of Maisie-Rae here. Click on the image to see Gavin’s full profile

Philippa East

Philippa’s debut novel Little White Lies was longlisted for The Guardian’s Not The Booker Prize and shortlisted for the CWA ‘New Blood’ Award 2020. Her next book “Safe and Sound” is another twisty and compelling tale, and will be released in February 2021. You can read an exclusive sample today. Click on the photo for a full description and biography of Philippa.

Martin Edwards

Martin Edwards is the winner of the CWA Diamond Dagger – the highest honour in UK crime writing. As Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine commented, he has “earned distinction in every area of the crime-fiction field” Martin spent two years as Chair of the CWA and in 2015 he was elected eighth President of the Detection Club. For a fuller profile click on the image. You can read an extended essay Martin has written for us on his views on the short story.

Fiona Erskine

Engineer by day, writer by night. Fiona is the author of The Chemical Detective, The Chemical Reaction and, coming in 2022, The Chemical Cocktail. Click on the image for a full profile.

Derek Farrell

Derek is the author of five Danny Bird Mysteries, all published by Fahrenheit Press. Click on the photo for his full profile and more information about Danny Bird, or, read three chapters from the first Danny Bird book “Death of a Diva“, or to read an exclusive background on the origins of the character (Bird, not Derek…) visit our non-fiction section.

Helen Fields

Helen is the author of the Callanach novels, as well as historical and legal thrillers. Her most recent publication is the chilling The Shadow Man. Click on the image for a full profile and the chance to see Helen answering questions from four of our favourite authors at the launch of her latest book. You can read an exclusive short story from Helen here.

Josephine Greenland

Josephine’s debut novel ‘Embers‘ is out now. She has previously won 2019’s Bumble Bee Flash Fiction Competition by Pulp Literature, and the 2018 Fantastic Female Fables Competition. Read Josephine’s full profile here, and her short story here.

Tony Hutchinson

Tony was involved in the detection of over 40 murder investigations throughout his police career including his time as Detective Superintendent in charge of Cleveland Police’s Murder Squad. He approaches his writing with the premise ‘if that crime occurred, how would I investigate it? Click on the photo for Tony’s full profile and see him appearing on Bay Tales Live 2 here.

Peter James

Peter James, creator of the much-loved DS Roy Grace series needs little introduction. With 17 Sunday Times No. 1s and over 20 million copies sold to date, we were thrilled to have Peter as our very first guest on Bay Tales Live. You can view the full show here. Click on the image for Peter’s fuller author profile.

Lesley Kara

Lesley’s debut ‘The Rumour‘ was a Sunday Times bestseller and the highest selling crime fiction debut of 2019 in the UK. You can find out more about her by clicking on the image or click here to see Lesley appear on our fourth Bay Tales Live show.

Roxie Key

Roxie is a writer from Northampton. Ahead of the publication of her first novel, she is our in-house favourite book critic. Click on the image for Roxie’s full profile and you can read an exclusive short story from Roxie.

Vaseem Khan

Vaseem is the author of two crime series set in India, the Baby Ganesh Agency series set in modern Mumbai, and the Malabar House historical crime novels set in 1950s Bombay. You can see him on VNatB here and we’re thrilled he joins us for Bay Tales Live, in conversation with Ann Cleeves. Click on the image for a full profile.

Olivia Kiernan

In a previous life, Olivia completed a diploma in anatomy and physiology then a BSc in Chiropractic before embarking on an MA in Creative writing. In 2015, she began writing Play Dead For Me (formerly titled Too Close to Breathe), the first in the Frankie Sheehan series. You can find out more about Olivia by clicking on the image.

Margaret Kirk

Writer of ‘Highland Noir’ Scottish crime fiction with a gothic twist, set in and around her home town of Inverness, Margaret Kirk won the Good Housekeeping First Novel Competition with her debut novel “Shadow Man”. Click on Margaret’s photo to read more about her. Click here for Margaret’s review of Craig Russell’s “Hyde”.

Heleen Kist

Heleen’s first novel, In Servitude, was the winner of the Silver medal at the Independent Publisher Book Awards 2019. Her latest novel Stay Mad, Sweetheart is available now. You can find out more about Heleen by clicking on the image, or read her poem Heaven Sent here.

Howard Linskey

Howard is best known for the David Blake crime fiction series. This series and his subsequent crime novels are set in the north east of England. Linskey is also the author of two historical thrillers set during the Second World War. See Howard on Virtual Noir at the Bar here or click on the image for a full profile.

Gytha Lodge

Gytha is the Sunday Times Bestselling author of the Jonah Sheens series. Read a review of Watching from the Dark here and click on the image for a full profile.

Jackie McLean

Jackie is the author of the DI Donna Davenport series, described as a ‘superbly plotted and gripping police procedural that will leave you breathless‘ by Tana Collins. Click on the photo to see a full profile of Jackie and find a non-fiction piece Jackie has written on the nature of Noir.

Amy McCulloch

Amy is the co-author of the #1 YA bestselling novel THE MAGPIE SOCIETY: One for Sorrow, and has written seven solo novels for children and young adults. She has hit the bestseller lists in several countries around the world, and been published in fifteen different languages. Her first adult crime novel ‘Breathless‘ comes out in 2022.

Louise Mangos

Louise is the author of “Strangers on a Bridge” and “Her Husband’s Secrets“, published by HQ. Click on the photo for a full profile and more information about Louise’s books and you can read her winning entry to Crimefest’s 2017 Flash Bang competition.

Danny Marshall

Danny was born and raised in Halifax, West Yorkshire. Influenced by the dark industrial architecture, steep wooded valleys, and vast bleak moors of the Calderdale Pennines, he writes thrillers tinged with horror, exploring the impact of geography and isolation. You can read his short story I Survived!”

His debut novel “Anthrax Island” was published Spring 2021.

Nicola Martin

Nicola is the author of “Dead Ringer“, the tense and compelling debut described by the Daily Mail as a book that will delight fans of “Killing Eve“. Click on the photo to see a full profile of Nicola, and you can read Nicola’s article 5 ways to deepen the emotion in your psychological thriller.

Nikki May

Nikki’s debut novel WAHALA was inspired by a long (and loud) lunch with friends. It will be published around the world in January 2022 and is being adapted into a major BBC TV drama. Click on the image for a full profile of Nikki.

Effie Merryl

Effie is a woman of many names … as you’ll see when you start to look at her profile page. What you should know is she’s an ex-cop who who writes great fiction. Click on her photo to see her full profile and bibliography. You can find a specially written short story by Effie.

Louise Mumford

Since being discovered by her publisher at the Primadonna Festival in 2019, Louise Mumford’s writing career has been something of a whirlwind. Her debut thriller, “Sleepless”, was published by HQ Digital in December 2020.Click on Louise’s photo to read more about her. Check out Louise’s short story “Night Watch” here or click here to read an exclusive sample of her debut novel “Sleepless”.

Lauren North

Lauren is the author of One Step Behind, The Perfect Betrayal and Safe at Home. You can find a full profile of Lauren by clicking on her photo. If you’d like to see Lauren’s appearance on Bay Tales Live, you can find the recording here.

Rob Parker

Rob is the author of the Ben Bracken series, several stand-alone novels, and co-host of a whole ton of podcasts. Click on the photo for a full description and biography of Rob, including details of where you can find his shows. . If you’d like to see Rob on OUR show, you can click here to see Bay Tales Live #4, where Rob was our featured guest alongside Lesley Kara and Lauren North.

Rachel Sargeant

Rachel is a Top Ten-Kindle bestselling author, published by HarperCollins. Click on the photo for a full description and biography of Rachel. You can read Rachel’s fascinating article on the lengths and breadths of sub genres within Crime Writing today.

Rob Scragg

Rob is the author of the Porter and Styles series, as well as the contributor to numerous short story collections. Click on the photo for his full profile and book information. You can find three exclusive flash fiction pieces from Rob in our Fiction section.

Dr Richard Shepherd

Richard Shepherd has conducted thousands of post-mortems, including some of the most high profile cases in recent history. He is the best-selling author of Unnatural Causes and The Seven Ages of Death. Find out more by clicking on the image.

Dave Sivers

Dave is the author of nine novels including the popular Archer and Baines books and a new series featuring DI Nathan Quarrel. Co-founder of the BeaconLit book festival you can read Dave’s full profile by clicking on the image. Read his short story ‘One Last Job‘.

Ian Skewis

Ian Skewis is the author of No.1 Bestseller A Murder Of Crows which was longlisted for the Guardian’s Not the Booker Prize and won the Gold Acorn for best audiobook, which Ian also narrated. You can read The Uninvited Guest – an exclusive short story from Ian. Click on the photo for a full profile.

Eve Smith

Eve’s debut novel The Waiting Rooms was released in 2020 and made a lot of readers’ books of the year list (including one half of the Bay Tales team). You can read Resistance – something of a flash companion piece to Eve’s novel. Click on the image for Eve’s full profile.

Nikki Smith

Nikki signed up for a Curtis Brown creative writing course in 2017, going on to win a short story competition and mentorship by the author Amanda Reynolds. LOOK WHAT YOU MADE ME DO is her second novel and will be published in April 2021. You can read the prologue and first two chapters here, and read about the inspiration behind her first novel, ALL IN HER HEAD here. Click on the image for Nikki’s profile.

Cath Staincliffe

Cath is a best-selling, award-winning novelist, radio playwright and also the creator
of ITV’s hit series Blue Murder. Her standalone titles tend to focus on the psychological impact on ordinary people when they are caught up in extraordinary events. You can click on the image for a fuller profile of Cath and her work, and see her interview as part of Bay Tales Live #3 here AND you can also read an exclusive short story- All of a Sudden – from Cath here.

Brian Stewart

Brian Stewart

Brian is a self published author, and long-time supporter of both Bay Tales and Virtual Noir at the Bar. He has recently published his latest novel The CalDat Investigation. You can read more about Brian by clicking on the image, or read his short story, Through The Crime Writer’s Looking Glass here.

Russ Thomas

Russ is the author of “Firewatching“, described as the ‘Red hot debut of 2020’ by Sarah Hilary. Click on the photo to see a full profile of Russ and you can find an exclusive short story Russ has written for us – “Doorstepped“.

Sarah Vaughan

Sarah is the author of the best selling titles Little Disasters and Anatomy of a Scandal – soon to be a Netflix series. Her new novel Reputation is out in 2022. You can see more of Sarah in our Virtual Noir at the Bar archives here or click on the image for a full profile. We’re looking forward to having Sarah join us at our Bay Tales Live event in February 2022.

Paul Waters

Paul Waters is a Belfast-born, Buckinghamshire-based crime writer and the author of Blackwatertown, a historical crime thriller set on the Irish border in the 1950s. He’s also the co-presenter of the We’d Like A Word books and authors podcast, which was runner-up Books Podcast of the Year at the 2020 London Book Fair. Click on the image to find out more about Paul, and read his non-fiction article considering who really owns a story here.

Olga Wojtas

Longlisted for the Comedy Women in Print Prize 2020, Olga is the writer of unconventional postmodern crime fiction. Her surrealist humour has been compared to the likes of PG Wodehouse, Jasper Fforde and the Marx Bros. Read Olga’s short story, “The Humber Convertible” here.

Tim Weaver

Tim is the author of 12 novels, including the David Raker mysteries You Were Gone and No One Home, and the standalone novel, Missing Pieces. His books have twice been selected for the Richard and Judy Book Club, shortlisted for a National Book Award, and been nominated for both the Crime Writers’ Association Dagger in the Library and Ian Fleming Steel Dagger awards. Find out more about Tim by clicking on the image.

Trevor Wood

Trevor has lived in Newcastle for 25 years and considers himself an adopted Geordie, though he still can’t speak the language. His first novel The Man on the Street won all the awards going, including the CWA John Creasey Dagger and the Specsavers Debut of the Year. You can see Trevor here on Bay Tales Live, and click on the image for a full profile.

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