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I've come up with a canon of Yorkshire crime writers. The form is so wide ranging now that I think it should be celebrated. So here they are, in no particular order - Robert Edric - I first came across him when his book Cradle Song was longlisted for the Theakston's crime prize. I thought it was such great writing. Set in Hull, bleak and ironic. The first couple of sentences are wonderful. It was only later I found out he's a 'real' writer and had been longlisted for the Booker.
Stuart Pawson - Also a Theakston longlister. Lives in Fairburn and sets his stuff around Halifax. Quite traditional but in no sense cosy. His detective Charlie Priest is entirely believable - and shares Stu's sense of humour. Peter Robinson - Now a huge best seller. Comes from Leeds but lives in Toronto. His Banks series is set in the Dales. Danuta Reah - an academic who lives in Sheffield. Also writes as Carla Banks. One of her early novels has some really chilling scenes set in a small branch station and along a railway line.
Robert Barnard. Lives in Leeds. Has written dozens of novels - well-crafted, witty and disurbing in a way which isn't at all obvious. Hugely famous in the States but has never really taken off here.
John Baker. Comes from Hull and lives in Leeds and sets his books in both cities. Compassionate and idiosyncratic. David Stuart Davies. Lives in Huddersfield. A world expert on Sherlock Holmes. He does the commentaries on the BBC DVDs of the telly series. But also a crime novelist in his own right, he has a series set in the forties.
Bernie Crossthwaite. Lives near Harrogate and is published by one of a couple of small independent crime presses - Creme de la Crime.
John Connor. Very pacy and interesting Orion author. He's a prosecuting barrister working out of Halifax.
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