Speakers

Trevor Wood is an award-winning writer of gritty crime novels set in the North East. His highly-acclaimed debut novel, The Man on the Street, set in Newcastle’s homeless community, picked up the Crime Writers’ Association’s John Creasey New Blood Dagger and the Crimefest Specsavers Debut Novel of the Year. It was also shortlisted for the Theakston’s Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year. 

His latest series, which has been optioned for TV by Filmnation TV UK, began with The Silent Killer, featuring DCI Jack Parker, who’s confronting the one killer he can’t stop: early onset dementia. The sequel, The Inside Man, sees Jack investigating the disappearance of a woman and her young son. 

Trevor was brought up in the Midlands but after serving in the Royal Navy for 16 years he married a Geordie and settled in Newcastle where he has lived for more than 30 years with his wife and daughter.

Suzy Aspley is a former journalist whose debut novel Crow Moon was published by Orenda Books in 2024. It was the first in a series of gothic thrillers featuring journalist Martha Strangeways and set in remote and rural parts of Scotland. Originally from the north-east, Suzy has lived in Scotland for more than thirty years and draws inspiration from the landscapes in which her novels are set.

She won Bloody Scotland’s Pitch Perfect competition in 2019 and was shortlisted in the Capital Crime New Voices award. Crow Moon was shortlisted for the Bloody Scotland and Theakston's McDermid debut prizes and longlisted for the Caledonia Novel Award. In 2026, she has been awarded a residency at Moniack Mhor creative writing centre in the Highlands.

Her second novel in the Martha Strangeways series The Bone Mother, was released on May 7th 2026. 

Abigail Fenton joined Ampersand in September 2025. Prior to that she spent over a decade in editorial at Hachette and HarperCollins, latterly as Editorial Director for HQ Digital, and worked as a freelance editor and book coach.

Abigail is looking for adult fiction across genres, including book-club reads, crime and thrillers, and women’s fiction and romance of all stripes. She loves high-concept hooks, page-turning plots, and books that pose juicy questions. Books she has read and enjoyed recently include Happy Place, Lessons in Chemistry, So Thrilled for You, Wrong Place Wrong Time and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow. 

Noelle Holten is an award-winning blogger at CrimeBookJunkie. 

She is a book publicist by day, and previously worked as a Senior Probation Officer for eighteen years, covering a variety of risk cases as well as working in a multi-agency setting.

She has three Hons BA's - Philosophy, Sociology (Crime & Deviance) and Community Justice - and a Masters in Criminology.

Noelle's hobbies include reading, attending as many book festivals as she can afford and sharing the booklove via her blog.

Michael J. Malone was born and brought up in the heart of Burns' country, just a stone's throw from the great man's cottage in Ayr. Well, a stone thrown by a catapult, maybe.

He has published over 200 poems in literary magazines throughout the UK, including New Writing Scotland, Poetry Scotland and Markings. 

BLOOD TEARS, his debut novel won the Pitlochry Prize (judge: Alex Gray) from the Scottish Association of Writers and when it was published he added a "J" to his name to differentiate it from the work of his talented U.S. namesake.

Emma Tallon is a British author of gripping, gritty, organised crime thrillers.

Having worked as a freelance ghostwriter for several years, Emma decided to take the professional leap after the birth of her son and finished the first full novel of her own.

After months of rejection from publishers and agents alike, in December 2017 Emma signed a publishing contract with Bookouture for the first three books in the Tyler Family series. She has since gone on to sign several more contracts with Bookouture and has become an established name within her genre.