"I felt like I'd been talking to myself for the past 40 years," author James Walvin told an audience of 200-plus at yesterday's Yorkshire Post Literary Lunch.

"Then suddenly everyone wanted to discuss it. There wasn't a single institution that didn't celebrate the end of the slave trade in some way – from government right down to the tiniest library."

The Trader, The Owner, The Slave, Mr Walvin's latest book, is a study of slavery seen through the eyes of three people involved – trader John Newton, best known for writing the hymn Amazing Grace, owner Thomas Thistlewood and former slave Olaudah Equiano.

"Historians tend to hide behind the statistics of slavery, but I wanted to tell the actual story," explained Mr Walvin.

Also speaking at the lunch, held at the Majestic Hotel in Harrogate, was Simon Brett, author of popular television series After Henry and a string of detective novels. Blood at the Bookies is his ninth Fethering mystery, featuring amateur sleuths Carole and Jude, and starts with the murder of a Polish immigrant.

Mr Brett, renowned for the humour in his writing, said he did once produce what he thought was a serious psychological thriller.

"I was really pleased with it, but when it came out all the reviews commented on its wonderful black humour, so perhaps that didn't quite work," he said.

The third speaker was biographer David Bret, who talked about his work chronicling the lives of some of the world's greatest screen icons.

Doris Day "might have been portrayed as the girl-next-door and perennial virgin, but she certainly wasn't".

Mr Bret's current book, Joan Crawford: Hollywood Martyr, is a portrait of the fiercely ambitious and outspoken Oscar-winning actress. As well as feuds with rivals such as Bette Davis, it explains the real reason why she disinherited two of her four children and talks about her devotion to Christian Science in later life.