Introducing
The BloodShed
Crime Fiction Festival 2024
18-20 October 2024
Delta Hotels Marriott Swindon
A new interactive crime fiction festival that will bring authors and readers together - with writing workshops led by published crime authors from across the UK!
NEWS OF BLOODSHED 2025 COMING SOON!
BLOODSHED 2024 GALLERY
We had an incredible time at the first ever BloodShed Crime Fiction Festival!
We had a variety of panels, different styles of workshops, and made many new connections - plus Bookseller Joe had the BEST time!
Take a look at our gallery to see some of what we got up to, and we'll see you in 2025!
Featured Authors
Eleanor Barker-White
We are beyond thrilled to announce that Swindon author Eleanor Barker-White will be joining us for all three days of the festival!
'My Name Was Eden' is a compelling debut, both tense and chilling while dealing with grief, misplaced loyalty, and family bonds...
Published by HarperNorth in March 2024, this exceptional psychological thriller puts Eleanor Barker-White firmly on our list of ones to watch!
Anne Corlett
We are pleased to announce that Anne Corlett will be joining us for this year's festival (following an event at the wonderful Bert's Books the day before)!
Anne is originally from the north-east, but 'sort of slid down the map', ending up in a tiny village near Bath, where she lives with her partner and their three sons.
Anne started writing seriously in 2011, after many years working as a criminal lawyer. 'The Theatre of Glass and Shadows' was published in May 2024 and is a place where nothing is as it seems - perfect for fans of The Miniaturist and The Doll Factory!
Sorrel Pitts
We are delighted to announce that Sorrel Pitts will be joining us!
Sorrel's first novel was published in 2011 and her second novel 'Broken Shadows', a haunting psychological suspense set on the Marlborough Downs, was published in February 2024.
Sorrel has extensive knowledge of publishing, having worked in the industry for over 25 years, and alongside her novels she has a plethora of written adaptations and editorial work, including ghost writing and using a pen name.
We are so looking forward to having Sorrel on our panels and writing workshops!
Tom Mead
Excited to announce that Tom Mead will also be joining us fresh from an event at Bert's Books the day before!
Tom Mead is a Derbyshire mystery writer and aficionado of Golden Age Crime Fiction.
His debut novel was an international bestseller, nominated for several awards, and named one of the best mysteries of the year by The Guardian and Publishers Weekly. Its sequel was described as “pure nostalgic pleasure” by the Wall Street Journal and “a delight” by the Daily Mail. It was also named one of the Best Traditional Mysteries of 2023 by Crimereads, and nominated for both a Capital Crime Award and a CWA Historical Dagger. Quite the list of accomplishments!
His third novel, 'Cabaret Macabre', was published in 2024.
Emma Styles
Beyond thrilled to welcome Emma Styles to the festival!
Emma Styles writes contemporary Australian noir about young women taking on the patriarchy. No Country for Girls is her debut novel. It was a New Blood pick at Theakston’s Crime and won the Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing Prize - it's also a BloodShed favourite!
Emma grew up on Whadjuk Noongar Country in Perth, Western Australia and now lives in London where she was born. She spent her teens and twenties learning to ski, snowboard, ride horses and motorcycles, and fly small aeroplanes. She loves a road trip and once sat out a cyclone on the north west coast of WA in a LandCruiser Troop Carrier.
M. A. Hunter
Very pleased to say that M.A. Hunter will be joining us!
M.A. Hunter (who also writes crime as Stephen Edger) is the prolific author of psychological thrillers, including The Boat Party, One Wrong Turn, Every Step You Take, and Mummy’s Little Secret. In his latest thriller, Sleepwalker (published by Boldwood Books in July 2024), a former soldier, accused of murdering his wife, is sent to a revolutionary new clinic to determine whether he killed her while sleepwalking.
Alex Stone
We are delighted to welcome Alex Stone to The BloodShed 2024!
Alex is a psychological thriller author based in Bournemouth, writing slow burn psychological character led thrillers. They are all standalone stories, but typically examine the psychology of close relationships and how events in the past can shape our future for the better and the worse.
Overlooked or misunderstood aspects of mental health are often highlighted in Alex's novels. The stories are set on the stunning Dorset coast in the south of England. Beautiful and dramatic, it’s the perfect setting for suspense!
Phoebe Morgan
Excited to announce that Phoebe Morgan will be joining us!
Phoebe is a bestselling author and experienced editor. Her books have sold over 150,000 copies and been translated into ten languages including French, Italian, Polish and Croatian. Phoebe is the winner of a Trailblazer Award in Association with the London Book Fair in 2018, the Bookseller Shooting Star Award in 2021, and was shortlisted for Editor of the Year at the British Book Awards in 2022. Her fifth thriller 'The Trip' was published in May 2024, and is a sizzling beach read thriller with a jaw-dropping ending!
Kate Wells
We are delighted that Kate Wells will be joining us this year!
Kate is the author of the Malvern Farm Mystery books, which are inspired by her upbringing on the Worcestershire/Herefordshire border, and her time spent living and working on farms.
Kate often imagined running a sheep farm, especially when she married the son of a farmer. It wasn't to be though, so instead, she lives out her farming dreams through researching and writing her books. These days Kate is frequently found in a field talking to the sheep, or out on the Malvern Hills walking her two border collie crosses.
Kate also writes for children and delivers creative writing workshops as Kate Poels.
Tom Hindle
We are positively giddy to announce that Tom Hindle will be joining us!
Originally hailing from Leeds, Tom Hindle now lives in Oxfordshire with his wife, a cat and two surprisingly cunning tortoises. He is the Sunday Times bestselling author of A Fatal Crossing, The Murder Game and Murder on Lake Garda - all of which were inspired by masters of the crime genre such as Agatha Christie and Anthony Horowitz. Two of his books have been chosen as Waterstones Thriller of the Month, and he is also the recipient of a Capital Crime 'Historical Novel of the Year' award. His next mystery, Death in the Arctic, will be on shelves in January.
Simon Mason
We are very pleased that Simon Mason will be joining us!
Simon has pursued parallel careers as a publisher and an author, whose YA crime novels Running Girl, Kid Got Shot and Hey, Sherlock! feature the sixteen-year-old slacker genius Garvie Smith. A former Managing Director of David Fickling Books, where he worked with many wonderful writers, including Philip Pullman, he has also taught at Oxford Brookes University and has been a Royal Literary Fund Fellow at Exeter College, Oxford. Lost and Never Found is the third book in the DI Ryan Wilkins Mysteries. The first book, A Killing in November, received widespread critical acclaim and was shortlisted for the CWA Gold Dagger. The Second book, The Broken Afternoon, was a Times Audio Book of the Week and a Sunday Times Crime Book of the Month.
James Delargy
UNFORTUNATELY, JAMES DELARGY IS UNABLE TO ATTEND DUE TO ILLNESS. WE ARE SURE YOU WILL JOIN US IN WISHING HIM A SPEEDY RECOVERY!
James Delargy was born and raised in Ireland and lived in South Africa, Australia and Scotland before ending up in England. He incorporates this diverse knowledge of towns, landscapes and cultures into his writing. His first novel, 55, was published in 2019 and sold to over twenty territories. It was followed in 2021 by the standalone thriller Vanished. His third book, Into the Flames, set during a bushfire in NSW was published in July 2024.
Chris Lloyd
UNFORTUNATELY, CHRIS LLOYD IS UNABLE TO ATTEND DUE TO ILLNESS. WE ARE SURE YOU WILL JOIN US IN WISHING HIM A SPEEDY RECOVERY!
Chris writes the Occupation series, featuring Eddie Giral, a French police detective in Paris under Nazi rule. The first book in the series, The Unwanted Dead, won the HWA Gold Crown Award for best historical novel of the year, was shortlisted for the CWA Historical Dagger Award and was Waterstone’s Welsh Book of the Month. The second, Paris Requiem, was a Sunday Times Best Historical Fiction Book of 2023. Third in the series, Banquet of Beggars, comes out in August 2024.
Chris lives in a seaside town in his native Wales with his wife. When he’s not writing or trying to keep up with his reading pile, he loves losing himself in European cities, languages, red wine, old movies, rock music, Euro-crime TV series and – recently, thanks to Eddie – 1920s to 1940s French jazz. He is a member of Crime Cymru, a co-operative of crime fiction writers with a connection to Wales, and was part of the team that brought the country’s first international crime fiction festival to Aberystwyth, in 2023.
D. V. Bishop
Delighted that D.V. Bishop will be joining us!
D. V. BISHOP writes the award-winning Cesare Aldo historical thrillers. A writer of many narrative forms, his love for Florence, Italy and the Renaissance meant there could only be one setting for his original crime fiction.
His first Cesare Aldo novel, City of Vengeance (2021). won the Pitch Perfect competition at the Bloody Scotland international crime fiction festival and the NZ Booklovers Award for Best Adult Fiction Novel. It was shortlisted for the Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing Prize, and longlisted for the CWA Gold Dagger, the CWA Historical Dagger and the Ngaio Marsh Award. The Darkest Sin (2022), won the CWA Historical Dagger in 2023, was shortlisted for the NZ Booklovers Award for Best Adult Fiction Novel, and longlisted for the Ngaio Marsh Award. Ritual of Fire (2023), is a finalist for the Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Novel, was shortlisted for the NZ Booklovers Award for Best Adult Fiction Novel, and longlisted for Bloody Scotland’s McIlvanney Prize.
The fourth Aldo novel, A Divine Fury (2024), is longlisted for the McIlvanney Prize and was a Historical Fiction Book of the Month in The Times.
James Woolf
We are very pleased to announce that James Woolf will be joining us!
James is a London based writer. Around 30 of his short stories have been published in magazines and books, including four in the longstanding arts magazine Ambit. He enjoys breaking down traditional structures and finding new ways to engage readers.
James also writes stage plays and has had about 15 professionally produced. Recent productions include the meta comedy The Play with Speeches, featuring actors auditioning to be in a play made up of audition speeches, and Empty in Angel, the true story of a cycle courier who takes her ‘employer’ to a tribunal. He has also written radio plays for Radio 4 and LBC, including Kerton’s Story with Bill Nighy.
James is married with two daughters and works in professional ethics. His job inspired him to write his debut novel, Indefensible, a legal thriller published in January 2024.
Alison Bruce
We are excited to announce that Alison Bruce will be joining us!
Alison, acclaimed for her gripping crime novels, introduced Detective DC Gary Goodhew in Cambridge Blue (2008). She continued to weave intricate plots in six more novels within the DC Goodhew series, including Cambridge Siren, Cambridge Calling, and Cambridge Silence. She has twice been shortlisted for the Crime Writers’ Association Dagger in the Library Award.
Bruce’s commitment to realism, bolstered by her studies in crime and investigation, continues with her two standalone novels, I Did it for Us and The Moment Before Impact. The first in the Ronnie Blake series, Because She Looked Away, was published in September 2024.
Sponsorship and Funding
If you have a company that would like to sponsor The BloodShed or get involved, please contact accessfund@swindonstoryshed.co.uk
Support from our sponsors helps us to keep ticket prices low and offer greater accessibility to all.
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