Welcome to the latest Dead East newsletter: news and exclusive content from crime authors based in East Anglia, in the UK.
In this issue:
Dead East News and Events — The Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival — Crime Fiction News and Events — Interview: Trevor Wood — For Writers— Reviews — New Releases by Other Hands — More from Dead East — And finally…
Dead East New and Events
Three-book Deal for Heather Peck
Joffe Books have announced a deal with Dead East author Heather Peck for a further three books in her popular DCI Greg Geldard series of Norfolk-based crime novels. Announcing the deal, Joffe Publishing Director, Kate Lyall Grant, says, “A series of suspicious deaths among the elderly; the body of a farmer’s wife found in a slurry pit; and a badly burned body found in the local reservoir. Heather has devised three more fiendishly twisty mysteries for her fans to devour.” Heather says, “I am thrilled to sign a contract for a further three books with Joffe. Expect thrills, spills and sinister mysteries in the Norfolk Broads. This is going to be fun.” See below for news of the latest books published in this series.
DCI Greg Geldard, books 8 to 10
Fear on the Norfolk Broads, book 8 in Heather Peck’s DCI Greg Geldard series will be republished by Joffe Books on the 17th August, and is available for pre-order now. Book 9, Secrets on the Norfolk Broads will follow soon. The tenth, which is the first of the brand new books in the series, will follow soon after that, with two more in January and May 2027.
Fear on the Norfolk Broads by Heather Peck
Autumn on the Norfolk Broads. As the summer visitors drift away and mist settles over the reedbeds, bodies are starting to pile up.
Please note this book was previously published as Spinning into the Dark.
DCI Greg Geldard and his fiancée Chris have just found out there’s a baby on the way. Geldard would like nothing more than to take his pregnant partner home to relax, feed the cat, and put the job out of his mind for a while.
No chance.
An elderly woman has been run off the road on her bike, dumped in a ditch and left to die. And she isn’t the only one.
Another body surfaces in the water near Martham. An old man knocked from his bike and swept into the river, still wearing his bicycle clips.
Two lonely deaths. The same brutal hand.
Someone is hunting the back roads of the Broads … a killer who strikes fast and leaves nothing behind.
And anyone riding the lanes alone could be next.
Fear on the Norfolk Broads, is published on 17th August 2026 and available for pre-order at Amazon and other booksellers.
Guilty Secrets
The Crime Writers' Association anthology Guilty Secrets, edited by Martin Edwards, was published on 21st July, and it features a story from Dead East author Nick Guthrie. Nick’s story, “Old Friends”, is about a veteran of Cold War Berlin living the quiet and very cautious life in a North-East Essex town when his past life — and guilty secret — catches up with him. It’s Nick’s sixth short story published this year, with two more, plus a novel, scheduled for later in the year.
The Shadows of Crime!
It seemed appropriate that the East Anglian chapter of the Crime Writers’ Association were meeting in the shadows on July 15th… but there were no mysterious murders discussed in hushed tones, or those guilty of killing characters shrinking away in case the harsh light of reality exposed what they’d done. No, we were just grabbing some shade from the midday sun in Bury St Edmunds (well, that’s our defence!).
The usual discussions of publishing news, events and plans spilled out across the table, with social media and marketing again coming to the fore, especially for those of us with small publishers or self-publishing, and the effectiveness of social media ads and other ads. Facebook seemed to be the best performer for those of us there, with Amazon ads and TikTok almost falling off the scale. Perhaps it’s the profile of the readers of those of us present? Publishers, it seems, are becoming more ruthless or more focused on results, with stories shared of writers being dropped mid-series. There were many positives too, with the sounds of enthusiasm and drive rising above the clattering cutlery. The Sudbury Authors Fair was promoted as a coming highlight, which will see some of us meeting readers and writers on Sunday September 27th in Suffolk. Our next lunch is likely to be on the menu mid to late September, when crime writers’ thoughts turn to plots emerging in the growing shadows of autumn nights.
Becoming a Writer
On 29th August, Dead East Author Julia Stone is leading an Introductory Novel Writing Workshop, the first in a series of six running through the autumn and winter at Sudbury Arts Centre:
29th Aug – 1pm–2.30pm – Becoming a Writer
Always wanted to write a novel but don’t know where to start?19th Sept – 1pm–2.30pm – Finding Your Story
Want to write a novel but unsure what story to tell?10th Oct 1pm–2.30pm – Getting to Know Your Characters
Want to create characters that leap off the page?14th Nov 1pm–2.30pm – Working with Dialogue
Want to write authentic dialogue?12 Dec 1pm–2.30pm – Building Your World
Struggling to create a strong sense of time or place?16 Jan 1pm–2.30pm – Beta Readers & Competitions
Ready to share your work?
The Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival
This is perhaps the highlight of UK crime festivals, and this year’s event was no disappointment, with its biggest attendance ever. Harrogate International Festivals put together a very slick event, with a programme expertly curated by author Lisa Jewell. Programme items on the main stage ranged from the nitty gritty of the writing process through a wide selection of author interviews and panels, to interview bingo and even a spot of Irish dancing by Steph McGovern and Brenda Blethyn when the microphones failed. The sessions were full of insights, including forensic scientist Sue Black’s chilling observation that she would never have to be worried about prosecution if she were actually a serial killer, because she knows exactly how to undermine any evidence against her; discussions about the challenges presented by writing about bad people, with the key point being that depiction is not necessarily endorsement; and MW Craven’s straightforward explanation of why he can’t work anywhere beyond his office — “because it’s not my office.” A friendly and informative event, and above all an excellent way to discover new books and authors.
[report by Nick Guthrie]
Nick’s novel, The Custodian, is published in November 2026 and available for pre-order at Amazon and other booksellers.
Crime Fiction News and Events
New: SMFS Mystery Magazine
Murderous Ink Press and editor John Connor will soon be launching SMFS Mystery Magazine, described as “an exciting venture aimed at promoting the Short Mystery Fiction Society and providing our members with a new platform for their talents”. Current plans call for three issues a year, offering fiction, essays, interviews, and reviews highlighting the work of our tremendous writers.
The release of the first issue is scheduled for October, in time for the Calgary Bouchercon. The exact publication date and pricing will be announced soon, and the issue will be available in both print and electronic versions. Among the contents in the premiere edition: fiction from Ginny Swart, Eve Fisher, SB Watson, Vinnie Hansen, Jim Guigli, Kevin R Tipple, Ed Teja, and Nikki Knight; interviews from Kevin Tipple and ME Proctor; an essay by NM Cedeno; and reviews by June Lorraine Roberts and Mat Coward.
More news and updates about the project will be coming soon. Membership of the Short Mystery Fiction Society is free, and recommended for anyone with an interest in reading and writing short crime fiction.
Awards
The Theakston Crime Awards were presented at the opening ceremony of this year’s Harrogate Writing Festival, on 23rd July. Frances Crawford won the McDermid Debut Award, with A Bad Bad Place, a thriller set in Glasgow’s Possilpark in the 1970s; The Outstanding Contribution Award went to David Baldacci; and Elly Griffiths won the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year 2026 with The Frozen People, where an unsolved mystery takes time-travelling cold cases investigator Ali Dawson back to the frozen Victorian London of January 1850 to explore a series of killings that have twenty-first century consequences for politicians and Ali’s own family.
Crime & Nourishment
A date for the diary: on 7th November 2026, Cambridge’s excellent Bodies in the Bookshop is holding an afternoon of author talks against the bell, with Q&A, book signings — and delicious tea and cake. Crime & Nourishment will be at the Wesley Methodist Chapel, Cambridge, from 3-5pm.
RBmedia Buys Boldwood
RBmedia, the largest audiobook publisher in the world, has acquired Boldwood Books, an award-winning independent fiction publisher based in the United Kingdom. In addition to acquiring Boldwood’s existing catalogue of 2,000 titles, Boldwood will become a publishing division of RBmedia and continue to operate as an independent business. Michael Paull, CEO of RBmedia, said, “Boldwood Books brings valuable expertise in multi-format publishing and additional depth in key genres like mystery, thriller, and romance.”
New Imprint for One More Chapter
HarperCollins’ One More Chapter has launched a new crime and thriller imprint, Cliffhanger, led by publishing director Jennie Rothwell. The list will include existing OMC authors, including Michael Wood, Fiona Leitch, Jackie Kabler and DB Stephens, plus new acquisitions. Rothwell said, “Launching Cliffhanger, One More Chapter’s first new imprint, is a fantastic opportunity to champion the very best in crime, adventure and thriller writing, and to bring bold, pulse-racing storytelling to readers who are hungry for it. I firmly believe there is a real appetite in the market for a dedicated imprint with a strong editorial vision and a genuine passion for these genres. I could not be more excited to build a list that will keep readers up past their bedtimes and have them reaching for the next book before they have even finished the last.”
Mad About Books
Authors Robert Ashton and Simon Eyre will launch a new show, Mad About Books, on their local radio station Alde and Blyth Community Radio on 19th August. They will be supported by broadcaster and co-presenter Brad Young. Ashton said, “We want to encourage more people to read, and as well as featuring authors, we’ll be interviewing bookshop owners and the organisers of the book festival in east Suffolk.”
Crime Fiction Festivals
Crime fiction festivals coming up:
4th-6th September 2026 St Hilda’s Crime Fiction Weekend, Oxford
18th-20th September 2026 Bloody Scotland, Stirling
26th September 2026 Coastal Crime, Southampton
26th September 2026 Bay Tales presents The Word Is Murder, South Tyneside
25th-27th September 2026 Preston Crime Fiction Festival
CANCELLED: 3rd October 2026 Chiltern Kills
4th October 2026 Crime at the Coast, Torquay
16th-18th October 2026 Murder One, Ireland’s International Crime Writing Festival
16th-18th October 2026 Death in the Dales, Sedbergh
24th October 2026 Only Murders in the Library, Basingstoke
Interview: Trevor Wood
The Angel of Death is the third in your acclaimed DCI Jack Parker series, this time adding a particularly poignant twist as dementia-sufferer Parker pursues a killer offering the terminally ill a dignified escape.
What made you choose to write about a detective suffering from early-onset dementia, and what challenges does it present?
For some reason I’m usually compelled to write about social issues within the guise of a crime novel, which often makes my life more complicated than it need be. My first series was set in the homeless community and ended up with me working at a soup kitchen one day a week for around five years!
When I came to write the new series I was very conscious of the number of people I knew whose lives were affected by dementia, mostly as carers but some as sufferers too. I’m also of an age where my memory is undoubtedly deteriorating and there is a small fear of what might be around the corner so, in some ways the books help me explore that too. The medical world is leaning heavily towards early diagnosis of potential dementia, for the sensible reason that it’s easier to slow down progression a little if you start earlier — but as a writer I’m interested in how that early diagnosis (before there are any real signs) will shape the way you live and look to the future immediately. Particularly if you are a cop and memory is pretty important to your work!
When you’re dealing with a sensitive subject which people have a real stake in you have to make sure you’re getting the details right. I wanted Jack to get the diagnosis before he had any behavioural symptoms so I had to do a lot of research into the different types of dementia — and was particularly interested in those forms that have a possible hereditary factor. The brilliant charity Alzheimer’s Research has been a great help in that regard, introducing me to carers, sufferers and scientists working in the field, which was particularly helpful as I’m trying to stay on top of developments in the search for a cure of some kind, which may, of course, not only affect the future of my main character but that of the series itself.
I’d imagine the series has a clear trajectory, following Parker’s illness. Do you have it all planned ahead, or do you prefer to take it one book at a time?
There is a pretty obvious endpoint for the series but, as I’m trying to set it pretty much in the present day, I do have to keep an eye on any so-called miracle cures in the offing. It’s unlikely they will come in time to save Jack but there have been some interesting drug trials which have had more positive effects than before so he may get lucky. I’m not by any stretch a planner either within a single book or a series but my original publisher felt it should be a longer series than my previous one (which was a trilogy) so I had thought I would aim for five books, which would mean slowing the progression of Jack’s disease so he could keep doing his job until at least book four.
At the time I hadn’t anticipated my editor retiring and me having to find a new publisher after book two, The Inside Man, but thankfully the brilliant Orenda Books offered to pick up the series and gave me a three-book deal to complete it so I’m still on track. However, that meant me at least giving them a vague outline of how those three books would look so I do have a very rough idea of where each book would lead — though I’m prone to heading off in a different direction than planned so who knows!
You’re a founder member of Northern Crime Syndicate, starting out with online events during Covid lockdowns and going on to take the popular ‘Whose Crime Is It Anyway’ panel game on the road to various crime festivals. What did you get out of being part of the group, and are you still active?
It’s fantastic being part of a gang and as well as doing our live events we try and support each other in other ways, whether that’s early reads of a work in progress or helping to promote new work, it all helps. It’s always good to talk through issues with the industry too, I think every one of us has had to deal with changing agents or publishers so having someone who’s been there already is very helpful. We’re still doing some live events, mainly our Whose Crime improvisation game and very much still supporting each other. My main advice to aspiring writers is always to find their tribe, it can be a lonely business and it’s great to have others in the same situation to talk to.
What’s a typical writing day for you?
I try very hard to treat writing as a normal job and aim for a Monday to Friday, 9 to 5 working routine. I don’t always succeed but have mostly managed to stick to that model — which also gives me plenty of family time. Sometimes that time is taken with helping to promote the books, doing podcasts, writing blurbs, keeping my social media current etc. but mostly I spend that time writing. I know that with that routine I can stay on the publishing treadmill which generally requires a book a year.
What do you like to do when you’re not writing?
When my ageing knees permit I like to do some gently jogging — which is also where I get my best ideas. I’m also a huge music fan so go to a lot of gigs and festivals, including Glastonbury which I’ve been lucky enough to get tickets for almost every year since I started going back there about 15 years ago. I also like to travel though since our daughter moved to Vancouver seven years ago, most of our longer trips are planned around there.
Tell us about your route into writing.
I was in the Royal Navy for 16 years but when I left I retrained as a journalist and started writing for a living. I teamed up with a fellow journalist and for some reason we decided we’d try and write a play. Astonishing both ourselves and our families, that play was on stage within six months of us starting, did well, and we went on to write about a dozen plays which were all performed professionally, one of which, Dirty Dusting, is still playing all over the world some 25 years later. You can read about all of this here www.edwaughandtrevorwood.co.uk
After that I decided to try my hand at writing a crime novel — I’d always been a big reader of them — and after my first book got me an agent but not a publishing deal I did the first MA in Crime Writing at the University of East Anglia. The book I wrote on that course, The Man on the Street, secured my first publishing deal and went on to win a CWA Dagger and was shortlisted for the Theakston’s Crime Novel of the Year.
What’s coming next?
I’m currently working on the fourth book of the Jack Parker series. Its working title is The Ticking Clock but that may change. I’m due to deliver it by the end of January 2027 and am about 40k words in so just about on track. If all goes well it should be out next July.
For more info my website is https://trevorwoodauthor.co.uk/ and you can follow me on twitter at @TrevorWoodWrite and Bluesky on @trevorwoodwrite.bsky.social
Trevor Wood’s latest Jack Parker novel, The Angel of Death, was published 16th July 2026 by Orenda Books, and can be bought online at Amazon and other booksellers.
For Writers
Chalk Scribblers
Meet the editor: Katie Seaman
Venue: online
Date: Wednesday 5th August
Time: 7pm
Entry fee: free
Meetup page: TBA
Katie is an editor who is now freelance, after ten years of working for Penguin Random House and HarperCollins. She’ll be sharing insights into both the editing process and the publishing industry.
Meet the agent: Paula Munier
Venue: online
Date: Wednesday 19th August
Time: 7pm
Entry fee: £5
Meetup page: TBA
Paula Munier is an agent and content strategist at the US-based Talcott Notch agency as well as being the author of the Mercy Carr mystery series and several books on writing.
In brief:
The National Centre for Writing’s annual programme — Escalator New Writing Fellowships — is open for applications from writers in the east of England.
Verve Books is welcoming submissions of fiction and non-fiction, from both new and established writers.
The rise of AI: on 31st July, three of The Bookseller’s seven lead headlines related to authors being accused of using AI, one referring to a crime novel being withdrawn by an agent after securing a $2.4m deal in a 14-way auction in the US, and two referring to publishers backing their authors after allegations.
The CWA expert panel ‘Reading and Writing Crime in Difficult Times’, featuring Penny Batchelor, Heather Critchlow, Professor Jim Fraser, Victoria Dowd, Linda Mather and host Emma Christie, is now available on YouTube.
Over on Sleuthsayers, Michael Bracken has posted a very handy guide to finding short fiction markets. Our own Nick Guthrie also hosts a guide to short crime and mystery fiction markets.
Reviews
In the Dark Places by Helen H Durrant
One of the nice things about reviewing is that you get to see lots of different kinds of books, often by authors new to you, and while I was familiar with this author’s name, I hadn’t read her work before, so wasn’t quite sure what to expect. In the Dark Places opens with a scene of sheer brutality, a woman being beaten viciously, while her small child sits in a nearby pushchair. This is going to be no cosy mystery.
DIs Vincent Swann and Kat Jardine are both assigned to be senior investigating officers on the case, as a young boy finds the woman’s body dumped in a skip. Sparks fly the moment the two meet — neither of them likes the arrangement, particularly as Swann is a newcomer and favourite for the new DCI position that Jardine has worked her socks off to get. What she slowly learns is that Swann is a man with secrets… and a past. He knows the rough estate where the body was found better than most, but will that inside knowledge help or hinder? And will he be able to stop the escalation ending up in gang war?
This is an unflinching novel full of twists and dark secrets that is hard to put down. For me, though, there’s a little too much time spent on the increasingly tiresome verbal sparring between the two DIs when I want to be getting on with the investigation, but the pacy storytelling carries it though.
(review by Nick Guthrie)
For more excellent crime reviews, see Barry Forshaw’s Financial Times reviews and Maxim Jakubowski’s To the Max reviews, both courtesy of Crime Time.
New Releases by Other Hands
Eden Falls by Ajay Chowdhury — “When Aisha’s husband vanishes in plain sight, she is pulled into a nightmare to find him in this race-against-time tech thriller...”
The Chapel of Bones by Kate Ellis — “South Devon is returning to its usual calm after the summer tourist season when DI Wesley Peterson and his team receive a disturbing call. A mummified body has been discovered, hidden behind a wall, during the renovation of nearby Sycamore House.”
A Nest of Wasps by Mark Ezra — “Former spy Felicity Jardine is caught up in the long tentacles of an operation at the Greek Embassy in the 1980s, in this gripping new spy thriller by the author of A Sting in her Tale.”
Hiding Season by AC Glass — “All Maya wants is to be alone. But she’s not alone on the mountain. Someone else is there. A killer with his next victim in his sights.”
Codename: 61 by Alex Shaw — “Targeted by assassins and forced to operate outside the law, Tate and Snow must resurrect their old partnership to stop a madman, in a lethal game of cat-and-mouse that takes them from the sun-scorched plains of Kenya to the frosty streets of Vienna.”
More from Dead East: the Anglian Crime Authors Collective
Facebook: Dead East: the Anglian Crime Authors Collective
Contact Dead East: acacwriters@gmail.com
And finally…
“I always refer to style as sound. The sound of the writing.” —Elmore Leonard