The first Cheshire Crime Writers Festival was held on the 7th and 8th of February 2026. The 2 day festival is dedicated to all things literary crime, murder mystery, police procedural and cozy crime. The Festival Will return on Saturday 6th and Sunday 7th February 2027 at the Best Western Forest Hills Hotel, Frodsham (Overton Drive, Frodsham WA6 6HH).
Interested in Speaking at the 2027 Festival?
We are taking applications and pitches for the 2027 Cheshire Crime Writers Festival, the 2026 saw over 200 people attend over 2 days. If you would like to pitch to speak at the 2027 event please email Hello@TheCuriousCatBookshop.co.uk with your pitch and we will consider it alongside other applications.
2026 Programme
8:30am – 9:30am – Registration Opens
9:30am – 10:15am – Keynote Main Hall
Clare Mackintosh
10:15am – 10:45am – Tea and Coffee Break
Clare Mackintosh (Foyer)
10:45am – 11:30am – Parallel Sessions
Room A: Murder Mystery – Jody Cooksley
Room B: Police Procedure – Rob Parker and David Beckler
Room C: Debut Authors – Jamie West and Katherine Black
Foyer: Morning Author Signings
11:45am – 12:30pm – Parallel Sessions
Room A: Psychological Thriller – Rachel North
Room B: Police Procedure – James Ellson
Room C: Cozy Crime – Catherine Wimpeney and Maureen Paton
Foyer: Morning Author Signings
12:30pm – 1:30pm – Buffet Lunch
Morning Author Signings (Foyer)
1:45pm – 2:30pm – Parallel Sessions
Room A: Murder Mystery – Caimh McDonnell
Room B: Psychological Thriller – Maureen Myant and Kingsley Pearson
Room C: Debut Author – A.K. Nairn
Foyer: Afternoon Author Signings
2:30pm – 3:00pm – Tea and Coffee Break
Afternoon Author Signings (Foyer)
3:00pm – 3:45pm – Keynote Main Hall
Lindsey Davis
4:00pm – 4:45pm – Keynote Main Hall
Louise Candlish and Lesley Kara
4:45pm – 5:30pm – Foyer
Lindsey, Louise and Lesley Signing
9:30am – 10:15am – Keynote Main Hall
Tom Hindle and Kelly Mullen
10:15am – 10:45am – Tea and Coffee Break
Tom and Kelly Signing (Foyer)
10:45am – 11:30am – Parallel Sessions
Room A: Psychological Thriller – Caroline England and Claire Wilson
Room B: Police Procedural – Kate Ellis and Trish Finnegan
Room C: Debut – Jonathan Stanyer and Ian Williamson
Foyer: Morning Author Signings
11:45am – 12:30pm – Parallel Sessions
Room A: Cozy Crime – Glenda Young and Fiona Veitch Smith
Room B: Police Procedural – Adam Oyebanji and Roger Price
Room C: Psychological Thriller: Daniel Aubrey and Simon Michael
Foyer: Morning Author Signings
12:30pm – 1:30pm Buffet Lunch
Morning Author Signings (Foyer)
1:45pm – 2:30pm – Parallel Sessions
Room A: Police Procedural – Sean Watkin and M J Lee
Room B: Murder Mystery – Jo Cunningham
Room C: Debut – Sarah McManus
Foyer: Afternoon Author Signings
2:30pm – 3:00pm – Tea and Coffee Break
Afternoon Author Signings (Foyer)
3:00pm – 3:45pm – Keynote Main Hall
Martin Edwards
4:00pm – 4:45pm – Keynote Main Hall
Anna Mazzola and Jack Anderson
4:45pm – 5:30pm Foyer
Martin, Jack and Anna Signing
Venue
The Best Western Forest Hills Hotel – Frodsham
Overton Drive, Frodsham WA6 6HH
Tel: 0333 003 4125
Rooms Available from £56.00 Single Occupancy £71.00 double occupancy to attendees including Breakfast.
Key Authors Confirmed 2026
Clare Mackintosh
Saturday 9:30am – 10:15am Main Hall
Clare Mackintosh is the multi-award winning author of seven Sunday Times bestselling novels. Translated into forty languages, her books have sold more than three million copies worldwide, have been New York Times and international bestsellers and have spent a combined total of 65 weeks in the Sunday Times bestseller chart. Clare lives in North Wales with her family.
Kelly Mullen
Sunday 9:30am – 10:15am Main Hall
Kelly Mullen’s debut novel, This Is Not A Game, published in April 2025 to critical acclaim with The Daily Mail calling it “Slick and witty” and The Guardian praising it as “Fabulous, over-the-top fun.” Her second novel, A Murder in Eight Cocktails, publishes April 2026.
As an executive producer, Kelly’s credits include Academy Award-nominated Trumbo starring Bryan Cranston and Helen Mirren, and AppleTV+’s Dads produced with Ron Howard. Her creative work for brands has won more than 50 awards, including Cannes Lions and Clios. Born and raised in Iowa, Kelly is now a dual citizen of the UK and US. She lives in London with her husband and their rescue cats.
Lindsey Davis
Saturday 3:00pm – 3:45pm Main Hall
Lindsey Davis is best known for Roman detectives, Marcus Didius Falco, and his daughter Flavia Albia. She has also written standalones, a Quickread and novellas.
Her books are translated and have been dramatized on BBC Radio 4. Her awards include the Premio Colosseo (from the city of Rome), the Crimewriters’ Cartier Diamond Dagger for lifetime achievement and most recently the Ivanhoe Award, given to historical novelists in Spain.
She has been Chair of the UK Crimewriters, President of the Classical Association and is a Fellow of the UK Society of Authors.
Tom Hindle
Sunday 9:30am – 10:15am Main Hall
Tom Hindle was born and raised in Yorkshire and now lives in Oxfordshire with his wife, daughter, a cat and two surprisingly cunning tortoises. A Fatal Crossing, Tom’s hugely successful debut novel, was a Waterstones Thriller of the Month. He is also the author of The Murder Game, a Waterstones Paperback of the Year in 2023, and Murder on Lake Garda is Tom’s third, and bestselling, novel. He is hard at work on his next murder mystery, inspired by masters of the crime genre including Agatha Christie and Anthony Horowitz.
Martin Edwards
Sunday 3:00pm – 3:45pm Main Hall
Martin Edwards’ latest novel is a stand-alone puzzle mystery, Miss Winter in the Library with a Knife. His novels include three distinct series. The Lake District Mysteries are cold case detective stories featuring DCI Hannah Scarlett and historian Daniel Kind, while he has also written a series featuring Liverpool lawyer Harry Devlin and the bestselling Rachel Savernake series of Golden Age gothic historical mysteries.
His non-fiction includes the multi-award-winning The Golden Age of Murder and The Life of Crime. He has received three Daggers (including the CWA Diamond Dagger) as well as ten further nominations.
He has also received two Edgar awards from the Mystery Writers of America, as well as no fewer than four lifetime achievement awards – for his fiction, non-fiction, short stories, and scholarship. He was born in Knutsford, grew up in Northwich, and now lives in Lymm. He is a member of the CWA’s Hall of Fame, consultant to the British Library’s Crime Classics and current President of the legendary Detection Club..
Louise Candlish
Saturday 3:00pm – 3:45pm Main Hall
Louise Candlish is the internationally bestselling author of 18 novels, including The Only Suspect, winner in 2024 of a Ned Kelly Award and a Capital Crime Fingerprint Award, and Our House, winner of a British Book Award for Crime & Thriller Book of the Year and now a major ITV drama.
Louise lives in a South London neighbourhood not unlike the ones in her books, with her husband, daughter, and a fox-red Labrador called Bertie.
Anna Mazzola
Sunday 4:00pm – 3:45pm Main Hall
Anna is the award-winning author of historical, crime and Gothic novels. Her latest historical novel, The Book of Secrets, won the CWA Gold Dagger for Best Crime Novel of the Year 2025. Her debut novel, The Unseeing, won an Edgar Allan Poe award. Anna also writes legal thrillers under the name Anna Sharpe, the first of which, Notes on a Drowning, was a Times thriller of the month.
When not writing or teaching, Anna is a human rights and criminal justice solicitor, working with survivors of crime. She lives in South London with two children, one husband, a black cat and a snake.
Lesley Kara
Saturday 4:00pm – 4:45pm Main Hall
Lesley Kara is a Sunday Times bestselling author of psychological thrillers. Her first novel, The Rumour, was the highest selling print crime fiction debut of 2019. It sold in over 18 countries and is now a major TV series on Channel 5. Her subsequent novels are Who Did You Tell, The Dare, The Apartment Upstairs and The Other Tenant. Lesley is also the founder and co-host of the popular podcast, In Suspense.
Jack Anderson
Sunday 4:00pm – 4:45pm Main Hall
Jack Anderson is the author of the viral internet serial ‘Has Anyone Heard of The Left/Right Game?’, which has since been adapted into a hit QCode podcast. He lives with his wife in Sheffield. The Grief Doctor is his debut novel.
