Main Event

Manchester Crime Scene

Tom Benn, Val McDermid & Cath Staincliffe

  • 15
  • Oct

2013

Tuesday

7.00pm

Crime writer Val McDermid looking like one of her protagonists in moody monochrome.Mimsy Moller

Thriller writer Tom Benn infront of a pale blue corrugated iron wall.Alex Ivey


How does a city influence and shape its writers? Are the scenes and characters they write about inspired by real locations and atmospheres or strictly based on their dark imaginings? And what happens when a city becomes gentrified; does the crime disappear or become more extreme? Three of the city’s favourite crime writers will be discussing and reading extracts from their latest novels with journalist Helen Carter.

Val McDermid has written 25 bestselling novels and has been described by the Guardian as ‘the acknowledged queen of the psychological thriller.’ Her latest book is The Vanishing Point. Cath Staincliffe is the author of the acclaimed Sal Kilkenny mysteries and the Scott & Bailey novels. Her latest book is Blink of An Eye. Tom Benn’s Chamber Music and The Doll Princess are electrifying noir novels that document a mordant Manchester underworld.