Murder Squad

Murder Squad is virtual collective of seven crime writers from the North of England, comprising, from left to right: Stuart Pawson, Martin Edwards, Margaret Murphy, Chaz Brenchley, Cath Staincliffe, Ann Cleeves and John Baker.

They are keen to gain a wider audience for their work, which has been highly praised by both readers and reviewers, and has gained them many prizes. They appear collectively and individually across the country: for details of their joint activities see the links on the left. More information about each of the writers, and their latest books, can be found by following the links on the right.

Latest: Martin Edwards' story The Bookbinder's Apprentice has has won the 2008 CWA Short Story Award. The judges described his story as ‘A subtle, insidious, and disturbingly creepy tale of how an Englishman in Venice finds himself offered the job of apprentice to a bookbinder with unusual methods.’ More on Martin's page.

You’ll see from our list of events that we continue to work with libraries around the country as well as developing links with independent bookshops, visiting readers’ and writers’ groups and contributing to literature festivals. Further afield several of us have new foreign publishers and our international theme continues with Ann’s trip over the pond.

As well as promoting our own work we are also variously involved in helping to promote new writers and the genre of crime fiction in general: Martin and Cath review for Tangled Web and Deadly Pleasures, John recommends books on his blog, Margaret has been busy discovering new talent via the CWA Debut Dagger and Chaz and Ann are both acting as judges for the Lit & Phil's 'Criminal Shorts' short story competition (This page on the Lit & Phil's website has more details).