Murder Squad

For the past 25 years, Murder Squad has been a brilliant part of the lives of Ann Cleeves, Margaret Murphy, Cath Staincliffe and me. For over a decade Chris Simms and Kate Ellis have been part of the group and before them, John Baker, Chaz Brenchley and the late Stuart Pawson were founder members. The above photo of the original group was taken by Zoe Sharp in 2006 and the below photo of the current group four years ago. We've had a great time this year, celebrating a quarter-century of collaboration and fun, a time during which there have been many highlights, certainly too many to cram into a single blog post.

The real challenge that we faced was simply, where do we go from here? The Squad has done so much over the years - anthologies (yielding Dagger-winning stories), a website, a newsletter (long before such things became commonplace), a CD, a TV appearance, and innumerable events. Because we live in different parts of the north of England, it has become increasingly difficult for all six of us to get together in the same place at the same time. We managed it for our big celebration at Stockport's Guild Hall this year, and it was wonderful. But the last time we'd done so was a very long time ago, to celebrate our 21st anniversary with a launch of our last anthology, in Whitley Bay, and before then at a lovely weekend at the Word in South Shields before the pandemic. Diaries being what they are, it did look as though it might be a long time before all six of us could get together again.

To cut a long story short, as we said in our latest newsletter, we came unanimously to the view that, as a collective, it made sense to quit while we're ahead, while continuing to work collaboratively whenever the opportunity arises. We've achieved what we set out to do and much more besides. In practical terms, it has to be emphasised that the only difference this decision makes is that we'll retire our website and the group newsletter (though I am now sending out a newsletter each month via Substack and encourage new subscribers!) For instance, the latest CWA anthology, Then There Were More, contains stories by most of us, and we'll continue to get together in smaller groups in future as in the past few years.

The above photo was taken at Ann's house in Huddersfield at the time we were discussing the TV programme; some filming also took place that evening, as well as on location. It's poignant to see Stuart and Ann's late husband Tim in the picture - it brings back so many happy memories. Murder Squad has been a massive success, and particular credit goes to Margaret Murphy, whose brainchild it was. I've loved every minute of my involvement with my friends in the Squad - and I'm looking forward to our continuing to give each other mutual support whenever the opportunity arises. As I'm sure it often will.

And finally, let me sign off this blog post with a favourite photo. For one event in CrimeFest, John Baker became unavailable (yes, even twenty years ago, diaries were a challenge). So Cath created a puppet of John to take his place on the panel!