Yesterday, Saturday 8^th February 2024, I packed up my stuff, got in the car and headed up the M6 towards Stockport Masonic Guildhall (which I easily found despite it being disguised as a giant box of corrugated iron). It was the inaugural hosting of Stockport Noir, a crime fiction festival created and run by author Chris McDonald aka Chris Frost and Serenity Booksellers, the owners of two independent bookshops in Greater Manchester.

I’ve been keeping an eye out for crime festivals that I can a) get to, b) aren’t on a weekday in term-time and c) I can afford. Ideally, there’d be authors who I’ve enjoyed there as well, but that’s not a deal-breaker – I’m always on the hunt for something new to read. So when a while ago I came across a tweet about this one, I checked the diary and booked it. Good thing too, because it sold out really quickly.

By the way, next year it’s on January 31^st at the same venue, and tickets are already on sale for forty quid plus a booking fee. Just saying…

It started off with a panel on Genre-Busters, a panel containing Guy Hale, Lauren Beukes and Catherine Wimpeney. One of the issues of panel talks is trying to get divide 3n writers into n panels with common themes as there seemed to be a world of difference between the authors’ works – Catherine’s didn’t seem particularly genre-busting to me from the description – but the contrast between the writers worked well and provided a very entertaining session.

The second session was A Hop Back In Timewith historical authors Anna Mazzola, D V Bishop and Dominic Nolan, and the first author (D V Bishop) who I’ve previous read. I thought the moderator, Chris McDonald, did a great job in balancing the panel given that two of the authors write books set centuries ago on foreign shores, whereas one writes about mid-twentieth century London. My personal preference is for distant history, but all three authors gave fascinating insights into recreating the past and, most importantly, telling a good story in that setting.

This was followed by a lively panel entitled Call The Police! on police procedurals with Mari Hannah, T M Payne and Trevor Wood sitting in for his not-brother Michael Wood who was ill (but did call in at the end of the panel) moderated by Graham Bartlett. It’s not quite true to say that I’ve not read anything from the authors, I started reading Trevor Wood’s The Silent Killer, but dementia is something that terrifies me and I found the depiction of a police officer worrying about his diagnosis a very hard read, so I stopped. I’m going to go back to it again, though – in fact, I’ll be trying something by all the authors on the panel – as they all did a great job of piquing my interest about their books.

After lunch – the nearby Co-op was well-stocked with provisions but the one thing about the venue is that there wasn’t an awful lot of room to sit and eat in the bar area – there was a panel on Psychological Suspense with Natalie Chandler, Caroline England and Lesley Kara chaired by bookseller Chris Willocks. I’m one of those readers, I’m afraid, who isn’t a fan of the slow-burn crime thriller – I prefer the problem to be posed early in the narrative, rather than the growing but nebulous sense of something being wrong. I’ve read a few books where it’s only in the last quarter where the plot gains any direction, so I’ve been burned somewhat in this area. Having said that, I’m intrigued by some of the books mentioned in the panel so might well give them a try – despite my lack of interest in the subgenre, it was still interesting to hear the authors’ passion for what they write.

The next panel was Crime With A Twist with Adam Simcox (ghosts), Jo Callaghan (AI) and Sarah Moorhead (near-future sci-fi), chaired by Antony Johnston (dog sitter). Now I have read both Jo and Antony’s work – they’ve both won the Puzzly in fact – and if my book budget hadn’t already been splurged, I’d have bought books by the other authors too. What I thought was interesting was how the authors spoke about using the fantast/sci-fi setting but still ensuring that the story was the most important aspect of the book. I’m always wary when the setting takes priority, but that clearly won’t be the case with these books. Looking forward to trying books from both Adam and Sarah (and reading more Dog Sitter Detective books from Antony – I’ll have to wait for the next one from Jo.

Finally, for me, was M W (Mike) Craven, one of my favourite authors, current or otherwise, and clearly the majority of the audience shared my opinion. Mike had already done me a favour in one of the tea breaks by signing my extremely rare pristine copy of his early book of short stories, Assume Nothing, Believe Nobody, Challenge Everything and advising me to sell it – apparently as it’s undedicated, people would be willing to pay a small fortune for it. Just pop your offers in the comments section below. Mike was also one of the few people to mention the importance of outwitting the reader, which long-time readers know is very much my thing. He also managed to answer a question I had before I asked it, namely about the darkness of the series. I was going to ask how dark it could possibly get after The Mercy Chair, but he makes a point of varying the levels of darkness in the series – makes perfect sense. It’s really impressive how much of the big picture, with things such as this, is already considered. It makes sense that the best thrillers out there would have some thought put into them, but it looks like Poe and Tilly will be around for a long time to come. And I can’t wait to read about Tilly and the pornographers…

There was a final session from members of the Northern Crime Syndicate (including Rob Parker). Alas I had to go a little early due to other stuff, but I’m sure it was a fantastic end to the day.

All in all, it was a great day, with a whole slew of authors whose work I now want to try. I should mention as well the bookshop run by Serenity books, run by very friendly staff and very well=stocked. Unfortunately they’re not my local bookseller, but if you’re in Greater Manchester, I strongly recommend you check them out. As for the conference, I’d hope next time there might be a little more discussion on plot and trying to fool the reader – as I said, I think it was only Mike Craven who directly mentioned this sort of thing – but nevertheless it was a fantastic day. I’ve already got my ticket for next year, and let’s hope Stockport Noir will run and run.