Fiona Erskine

Engineer. Writer. Swimmer.

News & events

The prolific Northern Crime Syndicate and the covers of their books

June 2025 – A Month of Crime

Posted on June 10, 2025 in Events

Update: Unfortunately the Crossing The Tees Festival event with Jess Kidd due to take place on Friday 13th June at Acklam Library has been cancelled.

June is National Crime Reading Month in the UK, and I’m gong to be busy.

On Saturday 21st June at 2.00pm, I’ll be in The Accidental Bookshop in Alnwick to celebrate Independent Bookshop Week. Don’t forget to support your local bookshop all year round!

On Monday 23 June at 6.30pm Crossing the Tees Festival with Guisborough Library are hosting the Northern Crime Syndicate in Whose Crime is it Anyway?

We (that’s me and my criminal gang: Robert Rutherford, Rob Parker, Trevor Wood and Chris McGeorge) invite you to assist us in writing a bestseller in an hour. Prepare to laugh until you cry…

Whose crime is it anyway?

And last – but most definitely not least – on Tuesday 24th June at 7.30 pm, I’ll be interrogating Terry Deary (yes, THE TERRY DEARY of Horrible Histories fame) about his new crime novel Actually I’m a Murderer, at Ceddesfield Hall in Sedgefield, thanks to Back of Beyond Books.


Sunny southern sojourn with friends and family and a stonkingly good book. London looking stunning!


In Houston for the day job, I went back to visit my old house and primary school from when my dad had a sabbatical at Rice University. Fleming park is much smaller than I remember but the fire ants are still there! Highlight was a full Tex-Mex with Theresa and Bhopal expert Kenneth Bloch - plans afoot for a new book.


I swam 24km in 5 days. Hard work?

Try tuna canning, salt drying or sulphur mining...

https://fionaerskine.substack.com/p/sulphur-and-salt


Goodbye #egadiislands and thank you @swimtrek for an amazing week - 24 kilometres with wonderful guides, fellow swimmers and multicoloured fishes!


Follow me on Instagram

Thank you @AniaJeruc for your sensitive and moving #Violetta in La Traviata - not a dry eye in the house and the standing ovation so well deserved!
Amazing production! @goteborgsoperan

Congratulations to Carole Cadwalladr, @carolecadwalla, who together with colleagues first revealed this story.

Off to the printers.

Bluemoose Books - Hebden to Hollywood - 20 years of Independent publishing.

Re-mortgaging the house, Lit prizes, One Book Bookshop, Dukes, Boilers, Les Dawson, Eric the Literary hound, Roast potatoes, Julia Roberts & TV shows.

@thebookseller
@guardian

The perfect book for a wet Keswick day. Thank you #johnlawton for #HammertoFall @GrovePressUK
Next TV slow horses?

Looking forward to this!

https://amzn.eu/d/0fA8SkeF

More than 30 writers set to star in first-ever Hartlepool Author Showcase https://www.hartlepool.gov.uk/news/article/334/more-than-30-writers-set-to-star-in-first-ever-hartlepool-author-showcase

Great to see Ravenglass in @Annecdotist's blog post: Page-turning historical fiction from indie publishers with attitude 🤩 🙏🏻
@northodoxpress

Good morning.

If you are able

Please support your local bookshops.

@thebookseller
@BAbooksellers

Special 99p summer cocktail offer
‘Fast-paced, roller-coaster ride… The action-packed storyline, just the right side of bonkers, roams from Lisbon to England to the steamy depths of the Brazilian jungle...’ - Financial Times, best summer books of 2022
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Chemical-Cocktail-Silver-Thrillers-Book-ebook/dp/B0FG8X59MT

Celebrating Reviewers - 0.99 offer!
(with the link this time!)

Losing Control: Terror in Teesside (The Teesside Murders: DI Julie Cadell Investigates Book 1)

Celebrating reviewers everywhere
Losing Control is $0.99 / £0.99 for 1 week

It’s darker than it looks.
It’s later than you think.
She’s braver than she knows.

@amwbooks @EastHullPete @northern_crime @NJCooper_crime @NolanDom @evecsmith @AntonyJohnston @william1shaw

Follow me on X

All my books