Can Crime Ever Be Cosy?

Antony Johnston is one of the most versatile writers of the modern era, with a body of work spanning books, film, graphic novels, video games, and non-fiction. His modern cosy novel The Dog Sitter Detective won the Barker Book Award for fiction, and the series has been called “cosy crime at its very best”. His other creations include Atomic Blonde, the Brigitte Sharp thrillers, and much more.

Katy Watson, hailing from North Wales, was immersed in a world of folk music, storytelling, and crime fiction from a young age. A passionate reader and collector of notebooks, her fascination with murder mysteries led her to pen her own crime novel after years of professional writing. Despite crafting over forty-five non-murderous books across various genres, it took her eight years to debut her first murder mystery, The Three Dahlias. Now entrenched in the genre, she continues the adventures of Rosalind, Caro, and Posy with A Very Lively Murder, and anticipates the release of Seven Lively Suspects this summer.

J.M. Hall is an author, playwright and deputy head of a primary school. His plays have been produced in theatres across the UK as well as for radio, the most recent being Trust, starring Julie Hesmondhalgh on BBC Radio 4. He writes about retired primary school teachers who turn to sleuthing. He lives in Shipley, Yorkshire.

David Barnett is a journalist and author. He has several published books, including Hinterland, Angelglass and The Janus House and Other Two-Faced Tales. Born in Wigan, Lancashire, England, he has worked at the Telegraph & Argus.