‘Hull Noir’ writers to lift the lid on boom in crime-fiction

The region is providing the setting for a series of crime-fiction novels and giving the city a burgeoning reputation for “Hull Noir”, one that could rival the hugely successful Scandinavian brand of the genre made famous by authors such as Henning Mankell.

Three of its exponents are coming together for an afternoon of readings and discussions at Hull History Centre on Saturday, from 2pm until 4pm.

The trio - Nick Quantrill, Alfie Robins and Nick Triplow - are all published by Caffeine Nights and have released new books in the last six months, and Mr Quantrill’s latest, The Crooked Beat, is due to be published next year.

They will be signing copies of their books at the free event in Worship Street and offering readers a chance to talk to them about their work.

Mr Quantrill said: “Hull as a region is ripe with character and it helps define the books each of us have written. Hull crime-fiction is as topical as Scandinavian crime-fiction and deserves to be more widely read.”

Asked to explain the attraction, Darren Laws, spokesman for the publishers, added: “I think it’s also Yorkshire as well and for similar reasons why it’s popular in Scandinavia. There are links with the landscape and the sense of isolation that lends itself to that genre.

“Hull is pretty much an enclave - you are cut off there on the north-east coast and I think that lends itself to that mentality, where people are more resilient and the landscape lends itself to great fiction.”

The new year will also see the crime-fiction debut of city-born author Russ Litten, who will publish Swear Down through the Birmingham-based Tindal Street Press.

It will be the 44-year-old’s second novel, following last year’s publication of Scream If You Want to Go Faster, which was set in Hull and published by William Heinemann.

His new book, however, is set around three sweltering days in inner-city London during England’s bid for the football World Cup, although Hull features as the location for the arrest of its two central characters.