October Author Event at West Barnes Library on Monday 27th

It doesn't seem that long ago we had our previous event but it's been four months! We're returning to police procedural again but we have some amazing authors for you – Simon McCleave and John Sunderland. Here's more about them.

Simon McCleave is a multi million-selling crime novelist who lives in North Wales with his wife and two children.

Before he was an author, Simon worked as a script editor at the BBC and a producer at Channel 4 before working as a story analyst in Los Angeles. He then became a script writer, writing on series such as Silent Witness, The Bill, EastEnders and many more. His Channel 4 film Out of the Game was critically acclaimed and described as ‘an unflinching portrayal of male friendship’ by Time Out.

His first book, The Snowdonia Killings, was released in January 2020 and soon became an Amazon Bestseller, reaching No 1 in the UK Chart and selling over 400,000 copies. His twenty subsequent novels in the DI Ruth Hunter Snowdonia Series have all been Amazon bestsellers, with most of them hitting the top of the digital charts. He has sold over 3 million books to date. 

The Dark Tide, Simon’s first book in an Anglesey based crime series for publishing giant Harper Collins (Avon), was a major hit in 2022, becoming the highest selling Waterstone’s Welsh Book of the Month ever. 

This year, Simon is releasing the first in a new series of books, Marshal of Snowdonia with several more planned for 2025. 

Simon has also written a one-off psychological thriller, Last Night at Villa Lucia, for Storm Publishing, which was a major hit, The Times describing it as  ‘…well above the usual seasonal villa thriller…’ with its ‘…empathetic portrayal of lives spent in the shadow of coercion and abuse.’ 

The Snowdonia based DI Ruth Hunter books are now set to be filmed as a major new television series, with shooting to begin in North Wales in 2025. 

John Sutherland joined the Metropolitan Police Service in 1992, serving for more than 25 years, until his early retirement on medical grounds in 2018.

Having started out as a uniformed PC, responding to emergencies on the streets of inner London, he rose through the ranks to become a highly respected senior officer. His last operational posting was as the Borough Commander for Southwark. He is an experienced Hostage & Crisis Negotiator, having served on both the national and international cadres.

Since leaving the Met, John has become an established author. His first book, Blue: A Memoir, was an instant Sunday Times bestseller and his second, Crossing the Line was selected as a BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week. His first novel, The Siege - which introduced readers to the worlds of police negotiators Alex Lewis and Pip Williams - was published by Orion Fiction in June 2022 and shortlisted for the Specsavers Debut Come Novel of the Year. Its sequel, The Fallen, was published in 2023 to significant critical acclaim and the third book in the series, The Castle, is out now.

I'm sure it's going to be a great evening so if you'd like to come, you can book here to save your place. £2 cash entry on the door. Look forward to seeing you!