Cath Staincliffe has been a friend of mine since she joined the Northern Chapter of the Crime Writers’ Association, not long after her first Sal Kilkenny novel, published by a small Mancunian press, achieved a great deal of acclaim. Later, when our mutual friend Margaret Murphy formed Murder Squad, she invited Cath and I to join, along with Ann Cleeves, Chaz Brenchley, John Baker and Stuart Pawson. That was ten years ago, and Murder Squad is still going strong.
In the intervening years, Cath has enjoyed a great deal of success. She is best known for Blue Murder, starring Caroline Quentin. This began life as a novel for which she could not find a publisher. But she sold the concept to television, and it was quickly turned into a highly successful cop show that ran for several series.
In the meantime, she continued to write Sal Kilkenny novels, as well as turning out several Blue Murder books, and a stand-alone book called Trio. We’ve done a good many events together over the years and they are always god fun. It was great to catch up with her at Crimefest and, along with Ann, we had a meal together before joining up with the rest of The Monkey Coalition for the pub quiz.
Now, she has signed up with a new publisher to bring out her latest novel, The Kindest Thing. I’ve just received a copy and I’m looking forward to it very much. And Cath will be contributing a guest blog here in July around the time of publication of the paperback edition.
I love Cath Staincliffe's Blue Murder series. They haven't cancelled it have they because I recent saw Caroline Quinton on another show. I just love the chemistry between the two MCs and the team.
ReplyDeleteAlthough, I really loved CQ in the series Jonathan Creek too.
CD
Martin - Thanks for the introduction. I wish Cath the very best with her writing and I look forward to her guest blog.
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to the guest post and looking up the series!
ReplyDeleteI adore Blue Murder, but sadly I don't think we get all the episodes over here via Netflix. They were called 'sets' or 'collections.' I also love Caroline Q. in Life Begins, but only series 1 is available. Maybe there weren't any more?
ReplyDeleteI want to look into the author now. Thanks for the post.
Thanks for these comments. Caroline Quentin is also terrific in the early Jonathan Creek shows. I haven't seen Life Begins, though, Nan, so I don't know if there was another series.
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