Death in the Dales 2026

I'm just back from an exhilarating weekend in England's Book Town, Sedbergh, where the third Death in the Dales festival was a great success. Warm congratulations to my friend and fellow crime writer Jean Briggs, who was in charge of things, not forgetting the hard-working behind-the-scenes team who helped everything to run so smoothly, resulting in a glitch-free experience from start to finish.

The relatively short journey north from Lymm on Friday afternoon turned into a three-hour nightmare thanks to multiple roadworks, which made the title of the film which kicked off the festivities rather ironic: Detour. I've mentioned this film noir briefly on the blog in the past, but I plan to discuss it more fully in due course.

The first event the next morning was a conversation about puzzle mysteries between Antony Johnston and me; I always enjoy sharing a platform with Antony and an hour whizzed by. There was a good talk about true crime influences on fiction from Carrie de Silva, while in the afternoon there were entertaining panels featuring a variety of writers, including Tom Mead, who kindly signed a number of his books for me.

Saturday evening was devoted to a murder mystery play written by me and splendidly performed by Antony, Dea Parkin, Fiona Veitch Smith and Jason Monaghan. I very much enjoyed their lively interpretation of the script, and an excellent dinner followed to end a busy but very satisfying day.

Further panels on Sunday morning were followed by Matthew Booth's original and excellent presentation on the history of crime fiction. There was a delightful added dimension to the presentation, but I'll avoid spoilers. Suffice to say that a good time was had by all and I very much hope that Death in the Dales will return again next year.