Richard Osman announced as special guest for Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival in Harrogate

Hosted at the Old Swan Hotel, Harrogate, between July 18 and 21, the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival is returning for 2024.

Award-winning author, producer and television presenter, Richard Osman will be a star guest at the festival that is returning to Yorkshire for its 21st year.

Osman may be well known for his top knowledge when presenting the BBC show Pointless, his first three novels, The Thursday Murder Club, The Man Who Died Twice and The Bullet That Missed were multi-million-copy record-breaking bestsellers around the world.

Coinciding with the announcement of his special guest slot, on Tuesday (Feb 20), Osman announced details of his upcoming book, We Solve Murders.

On X (formerly Twitter), he said: “Absolutely DELIGHTED to finally reveal details of my brand-new book series 'We Solve Murders', about Amy and Steve, a daughter-in-law/father-in-law detective duo. If you like The Thursday Murder Club, I think you'll love this. Out in September, and I can't wait for you to read it!”

Other special guests include Ruth Ware, Chris Carter, Jane Casey, Elly Griffiths, Erin Kelly, Vaseem Khan, Dorothy Koomson, Shari Lapena, Abir Mukherjee and Liz Nugent.

Ruth Ware isn’t just a guest, but the festival’s programming chair.

In 2015 her debut thriller In a Dark, Dark Wood, about a bachelorette party gone disastrously wrong, was a Richard and Judy Choice, and a Sunday Times and New York Times top ten bestseller.

Since then, her novels have repeatedly appeared on bestseller lists around the world and have sold more than six million copies.

In June 2023, her psychological thriller The It Girl was shortlisted for the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year.

Another notable guest is Erin Kelly who has four Sunday Times bestsellers under her belt including, The Poison Tree, The Sick Rose, The Burning and a novelisation of the BAFTA-winning Broadchurch.

Her latest novel, The House of Mirrors, is published in April 2024.

The multi-award-winning author, Elly Griffiths, is returning for 2024 after she was shortlisted for the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award six times and was highly commended in 2023 for The Locked Room.