Panel - Blood on the Page

In this intimate panel, writers discuss how they tackle wildly different types of crime novels - from comedic to domestic suspense - and share excerpts and anecdotes along the way.

Panel Lead

Amine Makele

Amina Makele is a British-Nigerian writer working on her debut novel, which was recently longlisted for the Lucy Cavendish Prize 2024. She is an alumnae of Hachette's inaugural "Grow Your Story" Programme and has been shortlisted for various mentorships, including Penguin #WriteNow, Spread the Word (London Writers' Awards) and HarperCollins' Author Academy. An avid reader, she regularly shares book reviews on her #bookstagram and #booktok accounts @aminasbookshelf and blog: www.aminasbookshelf.com.

Authors

Lee Stuart Evans

A full-time comedy writer since 2002, Lee worked with the late Sean Lock for 15 years as well as for many other brilliant comedians, including Harry Hill, Dawn French, Jimmy Carr, Patrick Kielty, Jonathan Ross and Frank Skinner. Some jokes he co-wrote for Ant & Dec were mentioned in the Houses of Parliament and nominated for a BAFTA.

His new novel Pleasantly Disturbed is a comedy crime caper about the power of music and the dreams of young love. Set in the late-1980s, it's an hilarious and heart-warming story of Robin and Fliss, misfit teenage sweethearts whose romantic and musical dreams are shattered when someone is killed and they find themselves drawn into a police investigation.

‘A love story to rival Gregory's Girl… I absolutely loved it.’ - Cathi Unsworth (Season of the Witch: The Book of Goth)

‘I laughed like a drain… Magnificent.’ - Pete Paphides (Broken Greek)

***** Andy Miller (Backlisted podcast)

Chris Bridges

Chris is an alumni of the London Writers Award 2022.Fanatical about crime fiction, he uses the genre as a vehicle to depict what he’s passionate about. As an NHS nurse with a hidden disability, he l interweaves the untold stories of sick, dying, and disabled people into psychological thrillers and subverts the trope of the passive disabled character who is resolved or dead by the end of the story.

'Chris's debut psychological thriller, Sick to Death, is out in paperback in February 2025 via Avon.

Meet Emma. Emma is sick. She can’t work because of a neurological condition, so is stuck in her family’s tiny council house. Emma is sick of being told to ‘get over it’. Her stepfather, her doctors, strangers – everyone has an opinion. Her boyfriend Adam is perfect: he’s got a great job and an amazing home. His wife Celeste is the problem. Emma is sick of being underestimated. All she needed was a target. And now she has Celeste… Emma is sick. Just not in the way you thought.

Lily Samson

 Lily Samson studied English at Oxford University and works in publishing. She divides her time between London and Paris, where her French partner resides. In her spare time, she enjoys watching Hitchcock movies and moonlighting as a freelance artist. 

The Switch is an intricate portrayal of friendship, passion, obsession, and the mind games people play on each other, that will keep you guessing to the very end. Think Magpie by Elizabeth Day with a psycho-thriller edge. 

TV rights have already been sold to Matt Tolmach Productions, creator of The Amazing Spider-Man, and Sony Pictures. 

Roxie Key

Roxie Key is a crime thriller author from Northampton, where she lives with her wife Laura and daughter Hallie. From a young age Roxie knew that one day she wanted to see her name on a book cover... although she assures us the childhood stories she wrote about her pets will never see the light of day. After studying Creative & Media Writing at Middlesex University, Roxie went on to become a copywriter for a global brand. When not writing (or mumming!), she can usually be found swimming, reading or gaming.

Her crime novel The Deadly Spark has been described as "Brilliant... twisty and compelling," and "an essential read."