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Secrets, Suspense and Suspicion; Meet the Crime Writers
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Secrets, Suspense and Suspicion; Meet the Crime Writers

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About This Event

Secrets, Suspense and Suspicion; Meet the Crime Writers will occur on 4 November 2026 at The Forum in Southend on Sea. This event features crime authors BP Walter, Rebecca Hannigan, and Julie Haworth, who will discuss their writing journeys and read excerpts from their works. A Q&A session will allow attendees to engage with the authors.

Crime authors BP Walter, Rebecca Hannigan and Julie Haworth join us for an afternoon of mystery, conversation and inspiration.

Meet our fabulous crime-writing trio; BP Walter, a Sunday Times bestselling author including The Dinner Guest, The Garden Party and The New Boyfriend; Rebecca Hannigan, Little Brown Crime Prize author of the intricate thriller “Darkrooms” and Julie Haworth, RNA Romantic Novel Award author of “Murder at Honeysuckle Cottage”. Our wonderful authors will share their writing journeys, read extracts from their books and answer your questions in a Q&A session

BP Walter Sunday Times bestselling author of thirteen twisty thrillers, including The Dinner Guest, The Garden Party, The Locked Attic, The Winter Visitor and The New Boyfriend. My new festive mystery The Christmas Guest publishes in autumn 2026. Born and raised in Essex, my novel The Dinner Guest was a Number 1 Times Bestseller and a Sunday Times Top 10 bestseller. I have also written a fantasy horror novel, Scuttle, under the name Barnaby Walter and a gothic thriller, Medlock, as S G Hartnell.

Rebecca Hannigan has an MA in Creative Writing Crime Fiction from UEA, graduating in 2023. She won the UEA/Little Brown Crime Prize for her dissertation. She has also been shortlisted for Virago/The Pool’s Best New Crime Writer.

Julie Haworth writes both cosy crime and contemporary romance novels about love, friendship and community, bursting with charm and just a dash of mystery, from her home in the bustling city of Chelmsford, Essex. Her debut novel, Always By Your Side, won the RNA's Debut Romantic Novel award in 2023 and her second novel, New Beginnings at the Cosy Cat Café, was shortlisted for the RNA’s Popular Romantic Novel award in 2025. Julie's first cosy crime novel, Murder at Honeysuckle Harbour, is scheduled for publication in autumn 2026

There will also be an opportunity to buy books and have them signed by the authors - please note; sales will be cash only.

The Christmas Guest

This Christmas will be murder…

Once a year, the Wentworth siblings come to Liars Island. For the rest of the year they avoid each other – but Christmas is for family. There’s Nicole, smart and quiet. Archie, ambitious and reckless. Cliff, sweet and confused.

Six years ago, one of them killed their mother.

I’m here to find out which one.

But as the Wentworths avoid each other’s eyes and gently deflect my questions, outside a storm is rising.

And the trap I thought I’d set for them might be closing around me…

Murder At Honeysuckle Harbour

'An idyllic Devon village. A murdered pug breeder. And a vet with a nose for trouble...

When Daisy Turner returns to the seaside village of Honeysuckle Harbour to take over her late father's vet practice, she's expecting muddy paws, cuddly cats, and the chance to grieve in peace. What she gets is a new vet trying to drive her out of business, a handsome new colleague... and a dead body.

Margot Kinkade was a successful local pug breeder, and when the police say her death was an accident, Daisy isn't convinced. Margot was meticulous – and the pet passport Daisy spots at the scene raises questions no one else seems willing to ask.

With the village police refusing to listen and a whiteboard full of clues set up in her spare room, Daisy sets out to diagnose this mystery the only way she knows how: gathering symptoms until a pattern emerges.

Can Daisy unravel a web of secrets without putting herself - or her animals - in danger?'

Darkrooms

Two girls went into the Hanging Woods. Only one returned.

Twenty years ago Caitlin vowed never to return to her small Irish hometown. Now she drifts from temporary jobs to temporary men, trying to escape memories of the Hanging Woods. Of what happened to Roisin there.

But with news of her estranged mother's sudden death, Caitlin is forced to return home, back to the town where everyone knows each other's business and old resentments run deep.

Roisin's sister Deedee, now a Garda, has never given up on finding the truth of what happened in those woods. And Caitlin's return makes old wounds fresh, threatening to exhume secrets that have lain buried for two decades - while the Hanging Woods begin their siren call to Caitlin and Deedee once more . . .

Description supplied by the event organiser.

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Frequently asked questions

Secrets, Suspense and Suspicion; Meet the Crime Writers takes place on Wednesday, 4 November 2026 at 14:30.

Secrets, Suspense and Suspicion; Meet the Crime Writers is held at The Forum in Southend-on-Sea (Elmer Square, Southend-on-Sea, SS1 1NS).

Entry to Secrets, Suspense and Suspicion; Meet the Crime Writers is free.

The forecast for Secrets, Suspense and Suspicion; Meet the Crime Writers is Clear · 9°C.

Yes — hotels within walking distance of The Forum can be compared using the accommodation search further down this page.

Tickets for Secrets, Suspense and Suspicion; Meet the Crime Writers can be booked via Eventbrite using the "Check Tickets & Live Prices" button on this page, which opens the official booking site in a new tab.

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