By Lucy Neill | 17 April 2026
Calling all crime fiction fans! The popular crime festival Slaughter in Southwold will be returning for its 12th year this June. This year’s programme takes place from Saturday 13 to Sunday 14 June and features a variety of crime and thriller novelists.
Slaughter in Southwold will be held at Southwold Arts Centre. The festival is organised by Southwold Library with support from the Friends of Southwold Library and the Crime Writers’ Association (CWA).
Previous authors have included Anthony Horowitz, Val McDermid, Reverend Richard Coles and many more.
Individual author tickets are available to book for £7 each. You can also book an All Day Saturday Pass, an All Day Sunday Pass, or a full Weekend Pass to see all nine author talks. Tickets are available to book online via TicketSource.
- Millicent Binks – Saturday 13 June at 10:00. A writer, former costume designer, and burlesque performer, her latest book is Murder at the Scottish Ball.
- Andrew Hunter Murray – Saturday 13 June at 11:30. Writer and broadcaster, best known for The Naked Week on BBC Radio 4, will be talking about his latest novel, Bad Deeds.
- Harriet Tyce – Saturday 13 June at 14:00. Former criminal barrister and The Traitors contestant, Harriet’s fifth novel is Witch Trial.
- Elly Griffiths – Saturday 13 June at 15:30. Multi-award-winning author of the popular Dr Ruth Galloway mysteries, Elly will be talking about her latest time-travelling thriller The Killing Time.
- Julie Wassmer – Saturday 13 June at 17:00. Professional television drama writer, Julie has recently released her latest Pearl Nolan mystery, Murder at St. Alfred’s.
- Salman Shaheen – Sunday 14 June at 10:00. Politician and journalist, Salman will be sharing the behind-the-scenes of his debut novel, Freebourne.
- Nicci French – Sunday 14 June at 11:30. Bestselling psychological thriller author duo will be talking about their latest novel, What Happened That Night.
- Anna Sharpe & Abir Mukherjee – Sunday 14 June at 14:00. Award-winning historical thriller novelist Anna Sharpe (Mazzola) will be chatting with bestselling author of the Wyndham & Banerjee series Abir Mukherjee.
- Simon Brett – Sunday 14 June at 15:30. A titan of crime fiction and recipient of the CWA Diamond Dagger, Simon has written over 100 books – his latest, Major Bricket and the Body in the Bell Tower, is set in a fictional Suffolk village.
As with previous years, Slaughter in Southwold will also feature a special murder-mystery dinner from the pen of bestselling author Kate Ellis, and a crime-tastic quiz with a raffle!
New for 2026 – author Millicent Binks will be running a writing workshop where you can plot your own murder-mystery story!
Charlotte Clark is the manager of Southwold Library and organises the festival in collaboration with Southwold Arts Centre. Charlotte said:
“We are excited to welcome back some firm favourites, like Elly Griffiths and Nicci French, as well as a longed hoped for return of Simon Brett, plus lots of new faces.
“It is great to see such a breadth of genres from the world of crime writing represented throughout the weekend. Every year brings something different and is always fascinating and fun!”
For more information and to book tickets, visit: suffolkcommunitylibraries.co.uk/slaughter