Skip to content
Translate page
Change text size
More +
News

Southwold Library to host eighth Slaughter in Southwold crime writers’ festival!

Southwold Library will be holding its popular Slaughter in Southwold crime festival on the weekend of 17 to 19 June. This will be the eighth Slaughter event since the event was launched in 2013, with the event taking a two-year break during the pandemic.

The event will once again offer an exciting programme of interviews with best-selling crime novelists including Louise Candlish, William Shaw, Rory Clements and more.

The event will take place at Southwold Arts Centre and is part of Southwold Arts Festival. It has been organised by Southwold Library with support from the Friends of Southwold Library and the Crime Writers' Association.

Charlotte Clark, Executive Library Manager for Southwold Library and the organiser of the festival said:

“We’re delighted to be bringing Slaughter back to Southwold after a two-year break and I’m excited about the wonderful range of authors we’ve got booked. It’ll be lovely to welcome people back to the festival and you can also try and solve a mystery yourself at our special murder mystery dinner!”

The event kicks off with a special murder mystery dinner on Friday 17 June at 7PM. ‘Murder in the Lemon Grove’ is an engaging murder mystery from best-selling author Kate Ellis. Can you help solve the murder of Sicilian businessman Paolo Brusconi? Enjoy a delicious meal from Café 51 and test your abilities as a sleuth. Tickets are £12 and can be booked online. Dinner must be booked by Wednesday 1 June.

The full programme of author talks is as follows:

  • Fiona Cummins - Saturday 18 June at 10AM. Fiona will be talking to us about her latest novel Into the Dark. Fiona Cummins is an award-winning former journalist. Rattle, her debut novel, was the subject of a huge international auction and has been translated into several languages.

  • James Henry - Saturday 18 June at 11:30AM. James will be talking about his latest novel Whitethroat. James Henry is the pen name for James Gurbutt, who has written four prequels to R. D. Wingfield's popular Detective Jack Frost series.

  • Lesley Thomson - Saturday 18 June at 3.30PM. Lesley will be talking to us about her latest novel The Companion. Lesley Thomson is a British crime writer born in West London. Her first novel, A Kind of Vanishing, won the People's Book Prize in 2010, and her second novel, The Detective's Daughter, was a no.1 bestseller and sold over 500,000 copies.

  • Lin La Versha - Sunday 19 June at 10AM. Lin will be talking to us about her latest novel Blood Lines. Lin Le Versha has drawn on her experience in London and Surrey schools and colleges as the inspiration for the Steph Grant crime series which now includes two books and a novella.

  • William Shaw - Sunday 19 June at 11.30AM. William will be talking to us about his new book Dead Rich. William Shaw was born in Devon, grew up in Nigeria and lived for sixteen years in Hackney. He has been shortlisted for the CWA Historical Dagger, longlisted for the Theakstons Crime Novel of the Year and nominated for a Barry Award.

  • Rory Clements - Sunday 19 June at 2PM. Rory has won the CWA Historical Dagger twice — in 2010 for Revenger and in 2018 for Nucleus — and he has been shortlisted for several awards. He is the author of the Sunday Times bestselling thriller Hitler's Secret. His latest novel is The Man In The Bunker and he is currently working on the seventh in the Tom Wilde spy series.

  • Louise Candlish - Sunday 19 June at 3:30PM. Louise will be talking about her latest novel The Heights and her career so far. Louise Candlish is the Sunday Times and internationally bestselling author of 15 novels, translated into over 20 languages. Our House won the Crime & Thriller Book of the Year at the 2019 British Book Awards and is now a major ITV drama starring Martin Compston, Tuppence Middleton and Rupert Penry-Jones.

Each event is £6 but you can book a Saturday ticket or Sunday ticket for £20, or a weekend ticket for £40 with the option to also buy lunch.

Tickets can also be bought from Southwold Library, which recently moved to the new Southwold Hospital Hub.