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CRIME WRITING CAPITAL OF THE UK

With an array of authors, a series of fictitious crimes scenes and a dedicated festival, the North West is turning into the crime fiction capital of the UK.

Inside Out has discovered there are more crime writers based in the North West than anywhere else in the country.

Locations

One feature that North West crime writers have in common is the use of the locality in their books.

A literary crime scene that some may be scared of

Best-selling Manchester author Val McDermid says the region’s towns and cities make the perfect locations in which to set a murder story.

"The area offers such dramatic backdrops, diversity and inspiration for authors.

"London is just so big. In Manchester you can deal with complex issues in a much more dynamic way."

Val’s book Wire In The Blood has already been turned into a successful television series starring Robson Green and Hermione Norris.

Murder squad

One group of writers from the region have formed their own club. Between them they have:

• Committed 200 brutal murders
• Unleashed several serial killers
• Kidnapped dozens of people
• Burgled countless homes

But it’s all in the name of fiction. Members of Murder Squad meet to use their combined talents and reputation to help promote their work.

Liverpool author Margaret Murphy is the author of Dying Embers.

She says, "Last year we decided to put together an anthology of our work and its selling really well."

Island isolation

Choosing a crime scene for a story can be quite a challenge.

Hilbre Island was just as Ann Cleeves remembered it

Former Merseyside probation officer Ann Cleeves has 17 crime novels to her name including The Living and The Dead.

She wrote her first book, Come Death and High Water, whilst living on Hilbre Island on the Wirral.

Ann said, "The island is 10 miles from Liverpool but gets completely cut off at high tide.

"It’s a wild, wonderful, lonely location - the perfect place for a murder."

For his next novel, Liverpool solicitor and author Martin Edwards is thinking of using one of the region’s most striking landmarks – the Runcorn Bridge.

It could be a messy murder.

Dead on Deansgate

The growing reputation of the region’s crime authors is attracting world wide attention.

Watch out for Runcorn Bridge in a Martin Edwards novel

Next month Manchester hosts the biggest crime writers’ festival in Europe.

The Dead on Deansgate annual festival is into its fifth year.

40 best-selling authors from the North West and beyond are due to take part including Ian Rankin, Ann Cleeves and Val McDermid.

It runs from October 1 to October 9 2002 at Waterstone’s on Deansgate, Manchester.

Waterstone’s crime buyer Jude Davies says, "The public interest here in crime books is phenomenal which is why the festival is so successful."

Organisers are predicting this will be the biggest and bloodiest yet!