There’s a reason – several, actually – why crime drama is so popular on television. The thrill of a chase, the whodunnit factor, the edge of seat menace. Our Crime Seen panel at the festival consists of three authors infinitely qualified to discuss why taking crime and thriller books to screen is so successful, as well as give us an insight into the creation of their own work.

Jane Lythell is a former TV producer and commissioning editor with 15 years experience, and was both Deputy Director of the BFI and Chief Executive of BAFTA before turning to writing full time. At the launch of her fourth novel Behind Her Back this year, the exciting announcement was made that Jane’s debut novel, psychological thriller The Lie of You, has been adapted and will be released as a feature film, starring Tuppence Middleton, Rupert Graves, Lydia Wilson and Luke Roberts.

Jane’s second novel, After The Storm, has also been optioned by Great Point Media (Lady Macbeth, Doc Martin). Her latest two novels feature TV executive Liz Lyon, and is a timely response to the issues currently playing out across the film and television industry. Woman of the Hour introduced us to Liz, with Behind her Back continuing the insider’s story.

Twitter: @janelythell

Facebook: Jane Lythell Books

Web: http://www.sheilland.com/jane-lythell

 

Hugh Fraser is best known for playing Captain Hastings in Agatha Christie’s ‘Poirot’ and the Duke of Wellington in ‘Sharpe’. His films include Patriot Games, 101 Dalmatians, The Draughtsman’s Contract and Clint Eastwood’s Firefox. In the theatre he has appeared in Teeth’n’Smiles at the Royal Court and Wyndhams and in several roles with the Royal Shakespeare Company. He has also narrated many of Agatha Christie’s novels as audio books. He has now written three books in the Rina Walker series – Harm, Threat and Malice. Stealth is due on October 4th  2018.

STEALTH  When a step out of line means a fight to the death…                            

London 1967                                                                                

A working girl is brutally murdered in a Soho club. Rina Walker takes out the killer and attracts the attention of a sinister line-up of gangland enforcers with a great deal to prove. When a member of British Military Intelligence becomes aware of her failure to fulfill a contract issued by an inmate of Broadmoor, he forces her into the deadly arena of the Cold War, with orders to kill an enemy agent. Rina needs to call upon all her dark skills, not simply to survive, but to protect the ones she loves.

 

Twitter: @realhughfraser

Facebook: realhughfraser

 

Julie Wassmer was born in the East End of London, studied at Kingston University and had a variety of different jobs before she settled down to become a television drama writer.

She worked on several TV series, including ITV’s London’s Burning, C5’s Family Affairs and the popular BBC soap, Eastenders, which she wrote for almost 20 years.

In 2010, her autobiography More Than Just Coincidence was published by Harper Collins, telling the story of how, twenty years before, she was reunited by an extraordinary quirk of fate with the baby daughter she had given up for adoption when she was a teenager. The book entered the Sunday Times Best Selling Non-Fiction Top Twenty and went on to become Mumsnet Book of the Year

In 2015, her debut crime novel, The Whitstable Pearl Mystery, was published by Little, Brown – followed by four more titles in a crime series featuring “seafood, murder and multi-tasking heroine, Pearl Nolan”. The books are set against a backdrop of captivating Kent locations, including Whitstable itself which has been Julie’s home for almost twenty years.

The TV rights to the series have been optioned by the production company, Buccaneer, and the Daily Mail writes: “While Oxford had Morse, Whitstable, famous for its oysters, has Pearl . . . True to the tradition of classic crime, Julie Wassmer weaves a strong story into a setting that has more to offer than murder and mayhem….A tried-and-tested crime recipe with Whitstable flavours that makes for a Michelin-starred read.”

Twitter: @juliewassmer

Facebook: juliewassmerauthor

Website: http://www.juliewassmer.com

 

Join us all day on October 6 for five panels of crime writers, with time after each one for signings. Tickets will available in due course and you can be the first to know when by signing up to our email newsletter.

The Crime Writers’ Day will take place between 11am-6pm at the Rochester Community Hub, Eastgate.